A visit to the vet

Bitty loves animals in general and our cat in particular, so when he saw me getting Orion ready to take to the vet, he started putting his shoes on. I can take a hint, lol. So along he came. Orion hates riding in the car. I tried to reassure him, and thought it was cute the way Bitty imitated me, trying to comfort the cat with "iss ok, kitty, you be ok!" and "We going to da animoo dot-ter!" (ok, that part was probably less than comforting if Orion remembered the 'animal doctor,' lol). Bitty did a great job staying in the little exam room while we waited for the vet. He enjoyed petting Orion with me, and checking out the "books" (little pamphlets about various pet medications and such). The vet was really nice, she let him listen to Orion's heart :).  The vet kept talking with Bitty while she was doing Orion's exam, and I love that she wasn't dissuaded when he didn't always respond. I thought about telling her he had autism to help explain, but then decided not to and instead just gently prompted him when needed... I guess part of me was worried she might stop trying to engage him if I said something. Probably an unfounded worry, but there wasn't a lot of time to ponder about it. When we finished up, her assistant brought Bitty a little feather as a gift to take home, which was sweet. Bitty wasn't too sure about the feather though, so he shook his head and said, "you don' wan' da fedder?" I softly reminded him to say "No, thank you" so he did. I felt bad that he had turned down the gift, but the man was very gracious about it. I'm glad he came with me, it was fun for both of us and I think actually helpful for Orion to have him there :).