“She’s also not eating or drinking water, so there may be another underlying problem.”
“Or she’s in pain from the infection. I don’t want to traumatize her by putting her through a bunch of unnecessary tests.”
Caleb gazed at Lauren over the top of his glasses. That was clearly a “Which one of us is the veterinarian again?” look. “Nothing invasive, just a urinalysis to confirm the UTI and a few blood tests to make sure nothing else is up.” He leaned down toward the table and started examining Sunday more closely.
“I don’t want to tell you how to do your job—”
“Then don’t.” Caleb glanced up at Lauren, then went back to examining Sunday.
“But I’ve worked with probably a hundred cats in my time at the Cat Café. This is a garden-variety UTI.”
“You’re probably right, but just to be safe, indulge me.”
Did Caleb not get how this was supposed to work? If Olivia had been working, she would have written the scrip without all this drama. Urinary tract issues were common in cats, and Lauren had seen a dozen of them. She knew what this was.
“I know you’re new here, but I don’t think I can justify the expense of unnecessary tests.”
“They aren’t unnecessary. I’m trying to make sure there isn’t a worse underlying problem. If it’s not a UTI and Sunday gets sicker, then where will we be?”
Lauren let out a frustrated grunt.
Sunday let out another little mewl as Caleb ran his hand over her belly. He frowned. “This could be a blockage. Maybe I should do an ultrasound.”
“Geez.” It was like he was deliberately challenging her now. Lauren crossed her arms, wondering if she should prepare to do battle.
Caleb stood up straight again. “I mean, I only spent five years in veterinary school, and five in practice, but you run a café, so you must know better.”
Lauren took a step back. She hadn’t expected the sarcasm, even though she knew she was poking him. Maybe he was right, but she hated to put Sunday through unnecessary tests, or to subject her bottom line at the café to a huge veterinary bill. She was willing to eat the cost for a real problem, but she could see the dollar bills floating in front of her, a lot of them, for what should have been a pretty standard course of treatment.
“I’m sorry,” she said, “but—”
“Could you maybe trust me? Wouldn’t you rather rule out any potential issues that could be causing this little cat worse problems that antibiotics won’t cure? Cats have short memories. Drawing a little blood will be forgotten in an hour. And an ultrasound is not invasive but will tell me if she has a blockage or anything else unusual going on. Did she use the litter box at all today?”
“Not that I could tell.”
“Well, then.”
***
Caleb felt a little bad for snapping at Lauren, but not that much, because she was getting on his last nerve. On the other hand, she looked kind of adorable when she was all angry and befuddled.
Besides which, this cat probably had kidney or bladder stones and not just a “garden-variety UTI.” UTIs were usually associated with frequent urination, not no urine at all. The fact that this little cat had stopped eating was a red flag to Caleb, an indication of a more serious problem.
Lauren furrowed her brow. “I’m not an idiot, you know. I’ve worked with a lot of cats over the years.”
“I know. But I’m not an idiot either. Here, hold her on the table. Let me go get the portable ultrasound.”
He could tell she was going to fight him. He was in the right here, though, and he didn’t need some café manager telling him how to do his job. Because if the cat did have some kind of stones, she was likely in pain, and Caleb needed to know exactly what was wrong so he could provide the right treatment to stop that pain.
Maybe Lauren was right. But she could let him run a couple of damn tests.
He walked out of the exam room and stuck his head into the waiting room. “Hey, Rachel? Can you assist me? Exam 1.”
“No prob! Be right there!”
He went back into the exam room and said to Lauren, “Why don’t you wait in the waiting room?”
“Olivia usually lets me assist.”
