After that first trip to the vet, my lady didn’t lie about trying to do something with my infected eye. She told the man that she was going to the store to buy something called sterile saline solution. She said it had been recommended on the Internet, whatever that means. I just know that she started holding me down and squirting liquid into my eye. She did it a number of times each day. I didn’t like it, but it didn’t take long each time. She always cuddled me after she did it. I like the way she cuddles me. After about five days, my eye started to feel different. It no longer hurt. I knew that it had been swollen so much that I really couldn’t blink. Now I could actually close both eyes. I still had to turn my head to look in both directions, but I almost feel normal.

In addition to the liquid in my eye, Mom and Dad both held me while she pushed a tube in my mouth with nasty tasting stuff. I yelled and cried, but they still did it. I heard Dad swear when I scratched him. I didn’t want to hurt him, but I tried to tell them that the stuff really tasted bad. I even tried to hide, but they still found me, and then pushed that tube into my mouth. This was far worse than the liquid in my eye. I vowed that when I’m all grown up, I’d never allow them to make me take that stuff ever again. I’m not sure Mom will be happy about that, but she really doesn’t know how awful it is.

A few days later we make another trip to the vet. I heard some of the vet women say how much better I looked, but they still put that big thing in my butt. I told them not to do it, but they did it anyway. Why do they think they can do anything they want to me just because I’m smaller than they are? One of them said the antibiotics must have worked, because my temperature is normal. The lady who put the tubes in her ears and that round thing against my body did it again. When she flashed the light in my eyes, she said she was surprised that the swelling had gone down so quickly. She also told my lady that I was blind in that eye. My lady said that wasn’t a surprise. The lady with the tubes picked up the skin on the back of my neck and stuck me with something sharp. It was a quick jab and then it burned. My lady kissed my head, and said that I might be sleepy from my shot by the time we got home. When all of them were done looking at me and poking me, my lady took me to that counter where that black-and-white cat just sat and looked at me again. The least he could have done was give me a thumbs up. I feel like I’ve won an important prize. I have a family. Back at the house, the man lets me curl up on his lap. I can’t seem to keep my eyes open. As I start to drift off to sleep, I realize that I need to make a change. I will never forget my mother nor my brothers and sisters, but since this is my new family, this man must be my dad. Fred is my brother and my lady is Mom. Somehow calling them by these names just seems right.