Our boy Broccoli needed to see the vet yesterday. It was sort of unexpected. He developed a weird cough over the last two weeks and we wanted to make sure that he didn’t have a serious heart or lung issue. We thought it was probably asthma, but it doesn’t hurt to be sure. Luckily, we were able to get a visit set up pretty quickly at Uptown Paws on the Upper East Side in Manhattan.
The trip down was pretty quick. We left earlier than we needed to because we weren’t sure what the traffic situation would be on Halloween. I was also concerned about the parking situation. The New York City marathon was the next day (today) and roads are usually cleared of parked vehicles.
Unluckily for us, the vet clinic was right on the marathon route, but luckily for us, I found a parking spot half a block away on a side street. I was kind of surprised by how convenient the spot was.
Anyway, Broccoli was a good boy. He was panicking on the trip down but relaxed while we were at the vet. He got his ears cleaned and wound up needing some medication because he has an ear infection in both ears. I’m not sure how that happened, but that explains why he’s always scratching at his right ear in particular. My mom’s cat had ear infections recently too. That’s weird. I wonder what’s going on with that.
The vet told us that it’s common for cats to develop asthma around this time of year. Spring is also another common trigger for asthma. I liked that instead of jumping straight to multiple expensive procedures and tests, she talked to us about limiting environmental triggers and recommended we go that route first. Going to the vet can make your wallet a lot thinner in NYC, so it was nice that the visit was low pressure and we were presented with a measured approach first.
While we were at the vet, we saw a lot of kids and their adults coming in for Halloween candy. There were some really nice costumes this year. Halloween on the UES seems pretty wholesome, at least in the late afternoon. Broccoli got to see some dogs come in and out. He got to make three new friends at the vet clinic. He’s a very friendly boy and apparently good with the ladies. I’m sure he’d much rather have been out trick or treating, but after getting his ears cleaned out he was super relaxed and napped all the way home.
It wasn’t our usual Halloween, marathoning horror movies, but it was a productive day and Broccoli is getting his health back on track, so totally worth it.
