I once had a cat named Mia. She was white with black spots and she was not very nice. She would scratch and bite me when I walked by, but I loved her. She was my constant companion throughout my twenties and think about her often. Like this story, for example:
I had just gotten Mia a few months prior and was not quite sure what to do with a cat. I had dogs my entire life and I always thought of myself as a cat hater. But, she was cute and nice to have around the house, even if she tore through my sweaters and sliced my skin wide open with her raptor claws. She rarely let me pet her, but when she did, she really liked it. One day, she was letting me pet her and rolled over on her back so I could pet her belly. I happily obliged when my hand ran over a little bump. What the hell? That did not feel normal. I had read that outside cats sometimes get ticks and Mia was from a greenhouse. She had spent most of her baby kitty weeks outside! Could it be that she has had a tick living under her skin this entire time?? I panicked. I felt the spot again and, sure enough, the bump was no mirage. It was there and it was hard. I quickly ran to my bathroom and grabbed a pair of tweezers then grabbed a box of matches. I saw this on TV once; you burn the head of the tick off and pluck it out. OK. I can do this. The burning was out of the question, upon further inspection. She had WAY too much white, fluffy hair. OK. I’ll just pluck it out, right? I grabbed her, she hissed and flailed around. I finally got her pinned between my knees and I started looking for the culprit. She was hissing and growling and not very happy. Doesn’t she know I’m saving her life?? I finally find the tiny hard bump and begin to wildly pluck at it as Mia is flailing and not making this very easy. I grabbed it and pulled and nothing happened. I tried at least 10 more times and nothing came out. Not even the head of the little bugger. I let her go and called the vet. I didn’t know what else to do! When the nurse picked up, I told her what was going on. Sensing the panic in my voice, she promptly got the veterinarian on the phone. He asked me what the tick looked like. I told him I couldn’t see it because of all the fur, but I could feel the bump. He asked me if I felt any other bumps. I grabbed the cat and began to feel. No. Just the one. WAIT! There’s another one! Oh my GOD, there’s another one. OH SHIT! There’s THREE! He told me to calm down and pull Mia’s hair out of the way to really get a good look at the bumps. I pinned her down, pulled her hair WAY back from the tick bump and took a good look. The bump was pink. I told the vet that the ticks were so deep in her that her skin grew back on top of the tick. He asked me then to really give her a once over and count the bumps. I did. Holy SHIT. There were EIGHT!!! EIGHT! He said….. “Robyn? Those are her nipples.”
Oh. Thank you for your time, Doctor. CLICK.
XOXOXOXO
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