You took me the vet

"You took me the vet, so now I'm just going to lie around a while."
The periodic check-up and vaccinations must be a mysterious ritual to cats, but they almost expect it of me by now. Last time I tried taking 3 at once, and that was just too difficult, so this year I took Shadow and Imp. Unfortunately I used an old cardboard carrier for Imp; age had loosened its integrity and the bottom opened up in the parking lot. She scampered under a parked car for safety (in her mind) but fortunately did not dodge away when I recovered her. I took the lesson and recycled the cardboard.
I was concerned about their weight since they have visible bellies (Shadow much more than Imp.) The vet offered the idea that the fat-cat charts I had seen were out of date. Cats are living longer now, due to better care, so average weights are going up. Shadow looks fat to meet but according to the doctor she is just entering into middle age. If so, that's a relief because putting one cat out of four on a diet would be impossible.
Another issue is Shadow's incisors, which appear to have gum disease. It would be a big deal to take them out but would increase her comfort. She does not need them to eat, only to catch prey, which is something she does not do and we would not encourage anyway. I will probably go ahead with this but I have to think it out.
Imp's teeth have a lot of tartar but can wait til next year.
Caring for cats is much more complicated than when I was a kid, but we're better at it.