Here are a few thoughts I have on how to choose a veterinarian, or aspects to consider. To me, this is an important relationship. If you and your vet aren’t on the same page, it could lead to stress, misunderstanding, or missteps regarding the health care of your pet.

Understand your vet’s philosophy — do you have similar views about end of life care for your pet? Do you have a simliar approach to the frequency of certain vaccinations, for example? Some vets believe that older cats should get less frequent vaccinations. Others stick to the “all vaccinations annually” mindset. Do your research and decide which philosophy you prefer. Then find a vet who feels the same way.

Make sure your vet understands your philosophy. If you’re a person that will pay for tests and procedures that other customers might bypass, let your vet know that. They may not be able to read your mind, but if they know you want more in-depth testing, etc., they’ll be more able to lay out the options for you, as you make decisions about your animal’s health care.

Check out their bedside manner. None of us are created equally in this matter, and neither are veterinarians. One vet may be quite compassionate — another may have a cool bedside manner. A cool bedside manner may not be a problem for you until you’re in a stressful situation involving pet care and health decisions. During such times, an off-putting bedside manner can turn into a terrible memory. A sensitive vet, in my opinion, handles animals and their people with compassion, intuition, and knowledge. I am fortunate to have such a vet!

Know that all vets are not the same. Some know things that others do not. Some will diagnose an animal’s condition and come up with completely different strategies. Sometimes, second opinions are a good thing. Knowledge is a great thing. The more you know, the more prepared you can be to understand possible health situations for your pet, and to ask good questions that will hopefully yield more information for you.

Prepare yourself, mentally, before your trip to the vet. List out anything and everything you want to address. Vets are busy, so are you – the stress of time or health issues in the vet’s office can cause you to accidentally forget to bring up details, or to ask about additional courses of action. Go in prepared.  

Finally, don’t assume that all the vets who work in the same office have the same philosophy. This is something to be aware of if you have a favorite vet, since there may be circumstances when you need to see another vet at the office.

When you think about it, it’s a huge responsibility — the health care of your cat or dog. If you do your best to stay educated on your end, it will make the decisions you need to make about pet health care that much more informed. You may even teach your vet something, now and again.

Today I worked myself into a pretty wired-up state. There are a lot of really good things happening right now, and some big decisions that need to be made. I was so wired that yoga didn’t even calm me down. Finally, a hard ski at sunset calmed me down alittle, but I think it was also the time of day. Maybe I was finally slowing down after living with my racing mind all day.

I’ve often wondered why my cats will suddenly race across the room for no reason at all. Are THEY all wired up? Do they sense stress building, and is this some instinctive way to settle down? It seems like a good mechanism, if so. They seem to have a great capacity to entertain themselves. Of course, they love to be entertained by us, with their multitude of toys.

I remind myself of my cats, when I take a hard ski to work off some stress. I love it that they’re inventive enough to play and exercise by themselves, or with others (cats or humans).  

This is what I’ve been telling myself in the last few days. I’ve been pulled a lot of directions lately, and so busy that I realize some days have passed where I might not touch one of my cats during a 24 hour period. That’s not good! The cats miss it, I miss it. Sure, they have each other, and they’re doing a fine job of entertaining themselves.

[True life example — if Chester can’t get anyone to throw his “baba” for him (this is a picture of a toy like Chester’s “baba“) — he’s learned to play with it himself. He’ll not only bat it around, but he’ll push it under a door, and reach under the door to grab it; or he’ll leave it on on side of a door, get on the other side of the door, crouch, build great drama, tense, and pounce. And he’d having a good time doing it.]

But still.

That’s all fine and good, but I miss my babies when I don’t pet them at least once a day. Even that seems pitiful. I know this is a good balance check for me. Life’s getting out of balance if I don’t have time to relax and enjoy sitting with my cats, stroking them without a care in the world about time or perceived lack of it.

And so I thank my cats again — for reminding me when I’m starting to get out of balance, and for pulling me back into line.

Do cats inspire poetry? Yes, they do. Author Margy Ohring has created 100 sonnets about cats in an attractive book, available for sale at thruacatseyes.com — right here.

Have you ever longed to get inside the mind of your cat? Now you can! Laugh, cry, love your cats as you enjoy these poems. Order Cat-House Sonnets right here!

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a cat who needed a home.

This story has a happy ending. My friend rescued the kitten, had her spayed and gave her shots, and gave her a home in their heated shop area. (They have a fairly small house and several animals already in the house.) It became obvious that the kitten would thrive in a home with a family. My friend took the kitten (named Lexie) to a shelter in a nearby town, where a foster person had offered to take Lexie until she was adoptable. But the foster person ended up falling in love with Lexie, and adopted her herself.

Lexie lost her ears and part of her tail to frostbite, as a result of exposure to bitter cold, before my friend rescued her. If my friend had not rescued her, this kitten likely would have died. Thanks to the effort of my friend and the foster-person, another cat was saved!

Here are some sweet pictures of this very happy rescued kitty.  

We have four boy cats in the house now, and two girls. Jamie is the oldest at 18 or 19 years, and really not that interested in interacting with the other guys. (Jamie has always been a loner cat — the one that we suspect would dearly love to be the only cat.)

It’s been really fun to watch the dynamics between the boys as Keiran has adjusted to his recent move from the office to the house. Keiran and Rama (aka Dyson) are really well matched. They’re both young enough to wrestle, and neither one is too intimidated by the other. Generally, I would call what’s going on playfighting. They’ll smack at each other through the fabric of the ever popular cat-tent — one cat inside and one outside. There’s been no scratching, and no bleeding.

Mostly, Chester isn’t that interested in rough-housing. But sometimes, Keiran wants to push it. Keiran will then start posturing a little more aggressively, crouching, and start to howl. It doesn’t turn into much, but I’m not sure it’s the kind of dynamic I want to encourage. I did a little research on this. What I found suggested that people should break up the beginning of what looks like it could be a more aggressive cat fight, or it will just continue to surface. Unlike dogs, cats don’t automatically work things out with aggressive fighting.

To break up a cat fight, or what seems that it could evolve into an aggressive progression, distract the cats by shouting, clapping, distracting with a favorite toy (I grab the cat-tent…it works), or spraying them with water. Don’t put your hands in the middle of an all-out cat fight. It hasn’t come to that here, but I’m glad that my intuitions were proved correct regarding not wanting to encourage the seedling of aggressive behavior.