General News

Two of Kitty Haven's "Bucket Brigade" kittens were adopted Tuesday. We also received an adoption request from Missouri. They were willing to fly to Tacoma to meet Coriander. I turned them down because Coriander is popular and we can't hold up a potential adoption while awaiting the Missouri people to arrive. We all know how the airlines are with their delays. Other adoptions Tuesday were Reese and Miriam. It was a good day for the kittens.

Today in Grooming we had a "sedate to groom" dog. Pepper was his name, a medium sized dog, grumpy on most days and today a total beast. I couldn't even take his leash and collar off until was he muzzled and sedated. It took four of us just to muzzle this 30 pound dog. Performing my job as a Groomer or as a Vet. Asst., I really dread when we receive the beastly pets.

My arm has a "scratch" that will leave a scar from a dog's hind foot who was in for a simple nail trim. The bruise surrounding the scratch is four inches in diameter. This maiming occurred with three people holding the dog who the owner said, "He's fine with nail trims, but sometimes jerks around". Yeah, sometimes jerks around. That dog is now marked in the computer records as a "CAUTION".

As a note to all you pet owners, please let your Veterinary staff exactly how difficult your dog or cat is. Don't downplay their bad behavior or bad demeanor. If your dog snaps occassionally, let us know. If your cat doesn't like her feet touched, let us know. We need that information.

Christmas....I went to the mall today for shopping. Arrived at 1PM and my gosh, it was like last minute Christmas Eve rush already. All I have to say is I feel much pity and sorrow for those who must venture to the mall in the ensuing days before Christmas. And I may be one of those unfortunate people because my Christmas shopping is nowhere near done.

I assembled our Christmas tree today. Yeah, it's a fake tree. No live pine here in our household because of the danger of the cats ingesting the needles. Pisanti did that two years ago. The needle caused surgery when it punctured her intestine. She had about six inches of her intestine removed. We then decided no more live pine in the house. The scent of fresh pine during this season is just a memory now. I miss it greatly.

Our "tree" will sit for a day or two before decoration until the cats get bored with it. After decoration, we will still have cats in the tree lounging about but the initial frenzie will have been satisfied..

Maynard 2004 Paxton 2004

Maynard and Paxton are in the fake tree. Can you imagine the mess if this was a real tree?