Giving a vaccination isn’t that difficult. With Claw, I held her and N did the injection. With the dogs it is really easy. But if you’re needle-squeamish or tentative about it, that’s probably worth having the vet do it.

As for Claw’s food — here’s the recipe. The only kitchen appliance I use for it is the rice cooker because otherwise it’s mostly canned stuff (and tofu). Note that it is one that is specifically tailored to her struvite-crystal-prone condition. I wouldn’t put my cat on it if my cat didn’t have that problem (and she’s off it now due to the question about whether she is thiamin[e] deficient or not). The dogs do get raw organ meat but the most I do with that is cut it into slightly smaller pieces.

I did some checking, and Anne Arundel County law doesn’t require Inari to be vaccinated against rabies every year. The applicable county code refers to the table of currently marketed vaccines listed by the CDC here. For the most popular vaccines, this means she needs to be vaccinated this year and then again every three subsequent years.

I have seen many people complaining online about vets administering three-year vaccines every year. Our particular county law is clear enough on the subject that I don’t think anyone would do it here, but it might be worth making sure we get a 3-year certificate from the vet if she gives Inari a 3-year vaccine.

What is the recipe for the food you make claw, and do you use your food processor or some other fancy kitchen appliance? Most of the recipes I’ve seen entail organ meats and while I understand they’re full of vitamins, I’m not so comfortable handling them, or most meat in general. I guess I have to stop being such a pansy about it.

Part of the reason I really like my vet is that they are OK with my “holistic” (my version of holistic is NOT new-agey-crap) treatment of the dogs/cat and my questioning of vaccinations. When I wanted a recipe for homemade pet food for Claw to help her with her struvite crystals (instead of feeding her prescription cat food), they gave me one. They don’t look at me funny when I say I feed my dogs a grain-free-plus-raw diet (which works for them but I admit that it might not for all pets).

Good luck just getting those three vaccinations — sometimes the vet clinics don’t have them separate. If they don’t and you+M are comfortable with giving Inari vaccinations yourself, you can order them online without a prescription from either Dr.Foster&Smith or Lambriar Vet Supply. It’s pretty easy to do (we usually do vaccinations ourselves, except for rabies).