I entered my beautiful baby into a cover photo contest with Modern Cat magazine. You can vote every 12 hours and all you have to do is click the link and then click “vote for me”. Pretty simple. She’s got a lot of catching up to do so let’s help her catch up!
Click here to vote!
http://www.moderncat.com/cover-contest-entry/maya
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My family says it’s not what it looks like…
I have been working so much lately, making people triple soy caramel macchiatos with whipped cream, sugar-free vanilla, extra caramel drizzle, and cinnamon sprinkles on top. I’ve been doing that in mornings and cleaning up monstrous runny dog dumps at night.
I quit Starbucks though and got a job in a vet clinic, which I thought would never happen. I can walk to work at this clinic too. Things are looking up. This is the first Sunday in a really long time that I’ve had off. I’m spending it with a black cat cuddling with me.
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Photographing a black cat isn’t easy. Maya usually just ends up looking like a one dimensional black spot on the photograph. She absorbs all light and energy. I am starting to understand why black cats don’t get adopted as often. Don’t get me wrong, Maya is a big sweetie. She is just hard to see sometimes.
One time I walked around the house looking for her and couldn’t seem to find her. So I decided to just sit down in our black lounge chair to eat my breakfast only to discover that I was about to sit on Maya. It is a little frightening to suddenly realize there is an animal in your seat.
Anyway, I was excited to get my new camera because I figured I could finally take a picture of Maya where she actually shows up.
These photos were going so well I figured I might as well get a quick one of Harris, who is a great cat model. Needless to say, he is adorable.
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I’ve been having the urge to get a dog lately. I have never had a dog before, but I feel like if I am going to go to vet school it would be in my best interest to be familiar with handling dogs beforehand. So I was thinking that I could adopt an older dog so that it could find a home and I could learn how to handle, and love, a dog.
Growing up I hated dogs. My only experience with them involved going over to other peoples houses and getting either jumped on or barked. On top of that my nose (the “super smeller”) was always offended by dogs. People would always say that if you bathe them they don’t smell so bad-but I disagree. Everything about a dog smells bad to me (even still). But that is something I am willing to work on.
Anyway, I have reevaluated my opinion on dogs but I still have never had a dog friend. I like a lot of different dog breeds but lately I have been partial to pugs. Don’t ask me why. Maybe because they are so ugly that they are cute. So I have been searching petfinder.com for pugs that are up for adoption at local shelters. I should have sites like petfinder and siameserescue.org blocked on my computer because I always find an animal on there that I really want and can’t have. I know I will need to wait to get a dog, and maybe a long time, but I still want one.
I posted a link on facebook to Mylo the Super Sweet Pug that I found on petfinder. These are the comments on it:
Anyway, I don’t think Maya would like a pug friend.
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You ever notice how much your cat’s personality varies? My sister calls Maya “dud” because she thinks she doesn’t do anything. She is the quietest cat I’ve ever seen, except for when she is grumpy and wants to be left alone. She’ll be a big jerk for a while and then later on this happens:
She likes to spoon.
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My parents got a new kitten, Oliver, and it was decided that we would not be able to have a Christmas tree this year because of him. When our cat Tiger was a kitten she almost killed herself in a Christmas tree by getting her neck caught in the lights.
I didn’t want to not have a tree at all because it just wouldn’t feel like Christmas without one. So I set out to make one that was kitten proof. After about $30 and a few hours work, with the help of my grandma and aunt, we had a tree.
I just made cones out of cardboard sheets and covered it with felt. We then wrapped ribbon around it and made ornaments out of old fabric and glued them on.
Something like this would probably work as a puppy-proof tree as well. So just because you have a new member of the family it doesn’t mean you have to go without a tree!
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Growing up my two cats Boo and Tiger were declawed. While it was nice not to have to worry about getting scratched with their front claws, I have decided not to declaw any of my future cats. I have also decided, as a future veterinarian, that I will not declaw cats (except in instances where someone has an immunodeficiency disease and can’t afford to get scratched and declawing the cat is the only alternative for it going to a shelter). It took me a long time to come to this conclusion because I grew up thinking having a declawed cat was way better than having one with claws. There weren’t any complications with Boo and Tiger’s little procedure but that doesn’t mean other cats don’t have problems with it.
I know that the new laser method seems more humane, and it is, but if you watch the procedure and see the cat waking up afterwards with bloody paws it just gets hard to watch. Also too many people are irresponsible with their pets. How is a declawed cat supposed to defend itself outside? When I’m a veterinarian, I’m not willing to take the risk of an owners situation changing and a declawed cat ending up outside.
The declawing procedure is equivalent to chopping off the end of your finger, below the nail. If you wouldn’t have that done to a person you probably shouldn’t do it to your cat.
I understand that getting scratched hurts and is annoying, and furniture getting destroyed isn’t fun, but there are alternatives. I’m a big fan of Soft Paws/Soft Claws. You can see them in action on Maya’s paws here. If your cat has catitude, you will need a veterinarian or groomer to apply them for you. They run about $15-20 for a pack of 40 plastic nail caps and they come in assorted colors. They last about a month before the first ones start falling off (longer if they are a really good fit). I got Maya’s put on in July and she still has a couple left on.
Soft Paws work really great though; if kitty tries to scratch you it does no good. If you are thinking about declawing, try out the nail caps first. If you bring in your own caps to the vet/groomer it usually only costs about $15 each application. (If you are brave or have a good kitty you can do it yourself at home for free)
You can buy them at:
http://www.softclaws.com/index.php?pet=cat
Give them a try!
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I ordered Maya a fall scarf on Etsy a couple of weeks ago. It is so cute! My sister thought I was insane for ordering my cat a scarf, but I actually did it so I would have a photograph I could use for my photography class. Since there aren’t many restrictions on what we shoot this year…you’ve guessed it. I’m turning in pictures of cats every week.
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This is a picture of my cat Maya and me. This picture makes me happy. She’s so sweet.
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My little girl Maya is getting her microchip “installed” tomorrow, making her an official member of the family.
All pet owners should consider microchipping your animal, especially cats. If you lose your cat and it is not microchipped, then your chances of getting it back is only 1.8%. Your chances increase to 38.5% if the cat has a microchip. That number may still seem low but it is significantly higher than without a microchip.
Most people don’t think to get their cats microchipped but if it gets put in a shelter or seen by a veterinarian, the animal will get scanned. If your information is up to date then you will be contacted and your animal will be returned to you.
In the study done on microchips, dogs without a microchip were returned to their owners 21.9% of the time compared to 52.2% with microchips.
For frequently asked questions about microchips (and references to the study) click here
Also, the animal doesn’t even feel the chip going in. It’s just like a shot and I’ve had four cats get chipped and none of them even flinched.
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