1. Move both cat carriers into the living room. A palpable mistake as this immediately alerts the two sleep beauties.
2. Decide to put Boy Cat into one carrier first. He is much stronger and tougher to deal with. Proof to follow.
3. Spend ten minutes chasing Boy Cat out of spots he cannot be reached.
4. Catch him. The struggle begins and he wins the first round.
5. Lock Boy Cat in my bedroom so there is absolutely NO escape.
6. Struggle and begin to break a sweat. I enclose my body over him so there is nowhere to go except inside the box. He is clawing at my shirt, my pants, the outside of the box, anything within reach. Feisty boy puts up a good fight. Keep in mind while all this is happening, he is screaming as if I am ripping each of his nails out one by one. Anyone outside would surely think I was causing my cat a slow and painful death.
7. Success! Boy Cat is in the box but he is still ear splittingly loud.
8. Girl Cat who normally trusts me and usually allows me to put her into the carrier at any time is now hesitant due to Boy Cat's distress.
9. Girl Cat puts up a fight. Perhaps putting Girl Cat in the cat carrier first would have been a better plan.
10. Boy Cat has now taken to consistently gripping the hard plastic grid on the bottom of the carrier and picking it up and dropping it, making a terribly loud sound to show his dismay.
11. Sweat begins dripping off my face as Girl Cat gets away.
12. I pursue Girl Cat only to find her rolling happily on the floor, obviously satisfied by her escape.
13. My patience is wearing thin.
14. Boy Cat is still banging and screaming.
15. One more attempt of getting Girl Cat into the box fails with all of Boy Cat's distractions. She strategically spreads all four paws around the outside of the carrier making it next to impossible for me to shove her in.
16. Decide to leave Girl Cat behind. I rush Boy Cat out of the house and as the door closes, Girl Cat can be heard crying inside the apartment. She seems upset that the two of us actually left her behind.
17. I am reminded why it is that I have never taken my cats to see the vet at the same time.