alexist

She was already under my bed when I went to put her in the carrier--as soon as I went for her she ran and hid under Mom's bed. There's no way to retrieve a cat from under a king-sized bed (I've tried!)

Luckily the vet's office was very understanding, and I'm bringing her in at 14:15. I'll start the caging good and early this time!

The only problem is that I have other errands to do today. I went shopping last night, but I have to return some of it (couldn't be bothered to try things on in the store... it was late :) )

Oh well... plenty to do tomorrow too. Late flight though :)

Cat caged, taken to vet's, chipped and given her shot (after a bit of explaining to the vet why I had to give Zoe a rabies shot only 4 months after her last one!)

Next step: take her back in 3 weeks for her test. Stupid thing can only be done at one lab, in Kansas! Luckily they're very helpful and have all their forms on the web, and they only charge $40 for the testing, which isn't too bad (I was worried they'd charge something stupid).

After that, just a 6 month wait, then the vet checks her for ticks and issues the certificate :)

(Actually, must make sure he's certified by APHIS to issue them... if not will have to find another vet to issue it! I'm sure there's one in the area, though.)

(Oh, wait--I can have the certificate issued as soon as the blood test comes back positive for antibodies--it just won't be valid till 6 months after the blood sample was taken. Gah, confusing!)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/women/story/0,3604,1201291,00.html

For example:

"In the name of foetal rights, women across the US have been dragged bleeding from hospitals into prison cells hours after giving birth, charged with homicide following stillbirths, pinned to hospital beds and forced to have Caesareans against their will, or had their babies removed at birth after a single positive test for alcohol or drugs."

I'm pro-choice, and I think that some of these "fetal protection" laws are intended to roll back choice by the back door--first make it human, then make killing it equal to murder. I would be leery of any law that sought to turn the death of a fetus into murder, certainly when it's due to action by the mother. (Obviously, if you attack an eight-months pregnant woman and cause her to miscarry, it's another matter--again, not the same as murder, but it's easy enough to criminalize that without taking away a woman's rights over her own body.) But that doesn't mean a fetus should have no rights, or that a woman should be allowed to put her fetus at serious risk with no consequences. If a woman repeatedly abuses alcohol during her pregnancy, causing Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, I feel that is child endangerment and justifies taking the child away if the woman doesn't clean up. For other cases--like refusing a Caesarian when you know the child will be stillborn without it--I don't know.

Of course, I could just view it as yet another Grauniad "look at those silly Yanks" piece....