Maybe I need a time-out for being a neglectful cat owner. But first in my defense let me say–or maybe just rationalize–that I always make sure my kids get flu-shots and regular immunizations; my house is completely child-proofed (probably to the extreme); I check for lead paint; I read labels before feeding my kids; when I heard about the mercury warnings in some vaccinations, I made sure my kids’ vaccine contained no mercury. In other words, I heed almost all safety and health advice when it comes to my kids. Yes, I am the annoying, neurotic mother that drives pediatricians, teachers, friends and family members crazy.

Somehow, during all of my parenting insecurities and neuroses, I neglected my dear sweet pets–2 cats, Dinah and Othello. Once I became a parent, vet visits got put on the back-burner. Those tantalizing car rides with two high-screaching animals lost out to the daily activities of motherhood. Paying the pediatrician came first, and I just never found the extra money or time to get my cats to the vet for all their immunizations. It was something I always planned to do…with next month’s paycheck. Besides, my cats were indoor; they were never let outside. Oh, I almost forgot, we feed them the expensive cat food in the green bag. Shouldn’t that help compensate for the lapsed vet visits?

Well, take my advice it doesn’t. My three year old darling daughter, likes to pick up our cats. Dinah, who is ten years old and can be a bit cranky at times, is not real fond of the way DD picks her up. Have you ever seen a 3 three year old pick up a giant, overweight cat?

The other day, DD picked Dinah up, and in an effort to get away, Dinah, nipped at her. There were no tears and no blood drawn. After searching her arm for about 5 minutes I finally found the tiny mark where the cat’s tooth went. It was so tiny, I couldn’t tell if she broke the skin–I think the top layer of skin may have been broken, but it didn’t seem like it penetrated beyond that. To be safe, I washed out the bite with soap and water really well. Then, I thought I should put some Neosporin on it as an added precaution. The package warned that a doctor should be contacted for any animal bites. This seemed reasonable. So I put the Neosporin on and then called the doctor’s office. This fateful call changed everything.

The nurse asked if the cat had a recent rabies vaccination. I told her no, but also explained she was a housecat. I also told her that both my cats had not been around any animals or outside since their last rabies vaccination, so it would be impossible to contract it. Well, apparently I was wrong on that.

The nurse informed me that bats fly in houses all the time and can bite animals or small children without them ever knowing it. My reply was that we had never had a bat in our house. If we did, wouldn’t we know because he would be flying around. (As far as I know, bats don’t just fly in houses and then leave at their leisure. Wouldn’t they be stuck in the house?) The nurse wasn’t convinced, she would need to talk to the doctor and find out if my daughter needed to come in for a series of raby shots. I felt completely sick when she told me this. What had my negligence exposed my child to? The nurse also said that she would also need to report this to Animal Control.

I hung up the phone worried sick and guilt-ridden and went to pick my son up at school. When I got home, my husband took a message from the nurse after she had talked to the doctor. She said not to worry about rabies if the cat hasn’t been in contact with any other animals, but that I should watch for any possible infection. She added that Animal Control would probably contact me to ask some questions. After breathing a sigh of relief, I told my husband I would make a vet appointment tommorow afternoon for the cats, and I vowed never to lapse in vaccinations again.

Well, I never got a chance to make that appointment. Early the next afternoon, I had just gotten home and was fixing my daughter lunch when a woman from Animal Control showed up on my doorstep. She said she would have to follow me to a vet’s office right now to make sure my cat was quarantined for 10 days. After questioning the rationale of this, she told my husband and I the other choice was for her to take the cat with her to be euthanized. She finally agreed that I could make an appointment to take her there, but I would need to make the appointment now with her witnessing it. Then the vet would have to fax over a form to Animal Control as proof that Dinah was in quarentine. Besides feeling like the world’s worst mother, I felt like a criminal who was about to be escorted to jail–except my cat would serve out my sentence.

To add to this, my husband, who often works at home, was getting ready to go into a conference call and I needed to finish preparing for a presentation for a children’s story hour at our local library that I would be doing the next day. Oh btw, the story hour presentation was on bats.

Needless to say both cats are getting all their shots. Tomorrow, the kids and I our going to visit our sweet Dinah in kitty jail. I promise not to smuggle in any nail files to break her out.

Did I mention that the quarentine is $19 a day for 10 days?