Max the therapy cat

/ f.lynn.whyte / Leave a comment

Dear Max,

You were an affectionate kitten, but you were shy with strangers and loud noises.

I know now that this is because you weren’t socialized enough when you were very young (about 7-14 weeks of age), but back then this kind of knowledge wasn’t readily available. We figured part of the problem was that we lived in an old wooden house and when anyone came to visit there was a lot of noise from the doors and the stairs as they came up to the living area. We knew you were sensitive to noise because you hid even when we got loud.

Because I was trying to get into veterinary school, volunteering was an important thing for me to do. They like to see volunteer time spent working with different types of animals as well as with people. What better way to spend time with people and with my beloved pet than to visit a nursing home to share my wonderful kitten?

Once a week I packed you up into your carrier and off we went to spend an hour touring a local nursing home. The staff was welcoming and they would pat you as I carried you from room to room. Some of the seniors were thrilled to see a cat; their faces would light up when I arrived at their door and asked, “Would you like to visit with my cat?”

I remember one lady in particular in the activity room. She was in a wheelchair with a tray across the front, slouched down with her chin almost on the tray. When we came up to her, she patted the tray, and I set you down on it. You sat quietly as her arthritic hand stroked your fur and she told me a story about the kittens she remembered from the farm when she was a child.

As we left the room, a staff member touched my arm, tears in her eyes. “I heard that story she told you.”

I smiled and nodded.

“Sweetie, that lady is non-verbal.”

Max, just sitting with you for a few seconds, just the feel of your soft fur under her hand was enough to bring that lady back for a few seconds; to compel her to connect with someone. You gave her something the staff thought was lost, even if only for a few moments.

When I look back now, with the knowledge we have about stress in cats and how they respond when they are afraid, I think of how much trust you put in me. You were probably terrified every time we went out to tour a building full of strangers, but you stuck with me. Instead of taking off down a hallway or hiding in a closet or clawing to escape, you just let me carry you around.

Even so, it didn’t take me long to realize that these visits were too hard on you, so we stopped them. But I think about that lady who had lost the ability to speak until she spent a little time with you. I hope that nursing home has a cat living there now, for people like her.

From our nursing home visits, Max, you taught me things I’m still learning about:

  • Pets can reach people and touch our hearts and minds in ways we can’t predict and still don’t understand.
  • Sometimes you have to be really observant to see the stress in your pet’s (especially cats) body language.
  • Young kittens and puppies have a time in their lives (around 7-14 weeks of age) when you can expose them to new experiences and they will learn to accept them quickly.
  • New experiences later in life are harder to accept, but now we know more about how to help our pets through them. If you have a nervous pet, your veterinarian can help.

Cats have claws; deal with it

/ f.lynn.whyte / 2 Comments

Declawing is an amputation of the end of the toes, like removing your fingers at the last joint. We have to be very careful about pain relief and bleeding after this surgery. Cats would have to stay in the hospital for two days, and some days, frankly, we’d arrive in the morning to find a kennel painted in blood.

Let me repeat: Declawing is an AMPUTATION.

None of my cats have been declawed (except two nails removed from Max because of health issues). My furniture has a few blemishes, and I’ve used some tools to help minimize unwanted damage. And I have a five foot tall cat tree in my living room.

When we decided to stop doing cosmetic declaws at Richmond Veterinary Clinic, it felt a bit dangerous — we were telling folks they couldn’t have something they wanted, and the conversation about the alternative is long and sometimes does not end well. (To be clear, if there is a health reason, we are still going to look after your cat.)

However, if you want your cat declawed, if there is no other acceptable alternative, if educational materials and some really great tools just won’t do it for you, then we’re not your clinic.

And that’s part of why I’m here, online. To make sure I don’t waste your time finding the perfect veterinary clinic for your pets.

Dear Max: How We Met

/ f.lynn.whyte / 1 Comment

Dear Max,

I’ll never forget how we met.

My husband and I were students, working part-time, living in a cozy one bedroom upstairs apartment. I had applied to veterinary school, and spent time volunteering with local organizations like riding for the handicapped and shadowing Dr. House (not that Dr. House) at a local veterinary clinic.We decided it was time to get a kitten.

We did what we thought people should do. We went to the local humane society, visited their cat ward and picked out the cutest orange tabby kitten on the planet. His name was Archie and he was sweet and cuddly and how he purred! After a nice conversation with the lady at the shelter, we filled out the adoption paperwork and went home to wait for ‘the call’.

When we received our call a few days later, the news was not good. The name we wrote down as our landlord, our neighbor who looked after the building and to whom we wrote our cheques, didn’t own the building. It was implied that we’d lied.

Also, and this only came out after my husband went to the shelter to give the correct contact information, one of the administrators at the shelter had a firm belief that all students were irresponsible and not suitable as pet owners. We would not be approved to adopt Archie.

I was heartbroken because I had fallen in love with that little orange and white bundle of fur, but I was also offended.I thought we could give a great home to a kitten. We were married. We were finished undergrad degrees and getting further education. One of us was home almost all the time. Archie would never be alone long enough to be lonely.

The next time I visited the veterinary clinic to shadow the vet, I told them my sad story. I’d been rejected as a kitten owner. The technician smiled and said, “We’ve got a couple of kittens living under the grooming tub that need homes.”

And there you were: eyes shining from under the tub. Now there were two kittens there, but only one for me. You were jet black, with yellow eyes and a tiny white patch on your chest. Best of all, you had extra toes! Polydactyly is a genetic condition in cats where they have extra toes on at least one foot. And, my Max, you had two giant front mittens.

I took you home that day. We called you Max after Mad Max (the original). We shared adventures, you and my husband and I, through veterinary school, two kids, two more cats and a puppy named Charlie, until your death at the ripe old age of seventeen.

I still think of Archie sometimes, and I hope he found a wonderful home. Max, you enriched my life and taught me so much and I can never thank you enough for the time we shared.

Lessons learned before I even met you:

  • Sometimes the person who looks like a poor candidate to get a pet will make a wonderful pet owner
  • When you open your heart to a new pet, one will come along, but sometimes you have to be patient
  • Be generous: it was through my volunteer experience that I found this wonderful cat who enriched seventeen years of my life

Ziggy needs to eat less

/ f.lynn.whyte / 1 Comment

Ziggy is my social, lap-sitting, kneading, licking-and-nip cat. Isn’t she pretty?

Despite her lovely green eyes and immaculate white bib, Ziggy is a pig when it comes to food. She cruises the kitchen and will fight for crumbs with a dog who outweighs her by 80 lb. She also tends to be a little on the round side.

This is a common concern with indoor cats. They don’t have to work for their food any more, and some of them live their lives retired. Some of them have also trained their human companions to feed them on command.

Unfortunately, an overweight cat is more prone to problems like diabetes, heart disease and arthritis as she gets older.

What’s a rushed cat owner to do? It’s difficult to train them to use the treadmill, and in families where multiple people help with feeding, portions can vary widely.

I recommend setting up kitty feeding so that it’s less work for you, and more work for them.

1. Figure out how many calories kitty needs. Your veterinary clinic should be able to offer metabolic measurements or guidelines for ideal weight.

2. Figure out how many grams of food on your kitchen scale kitty gets every day.

3. Pre-measure a weeks worth of food at a time, so each day is simpler.

4. Set up a feeding toy or puzzle. There are do-it-yourself solutions, and pre-made (and actually quite attractive) cat feeders. This makes kitty work harder, and allows for some natural hunting behaviours.

If all else fails, maybe they can learn kitty yoga.

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Happy New Year!

/ f.lynn.whyte / 1 Comment

Can you believe 2019 is here already? I hope your New Year is filled with fun, fur, smiles and cuddles!

We’ve got big things planned for our little corner of the internet and our little clinic on the corner in Napanee, Ontario.

First of all, I’m going to be sharing stories of my own pets each week here on the blog in the form of  ‘Letters to my Pets’. It’s only fair we start with the first pet I had as an adult, my black cat Max.

I’ll add some other posts as well, as I finish up moving things from the CatSide blog over here, and connect this blog to our ‘official’ web site.

I had a coaching call in December with a generous colleague, Dr. Andy Roark, and he gave me some tasks to do. My plan is to listen to his wisdom, so I’ll be rolling all the CatSide social media into the Richmond Vet Clinic accounts and downsizing so that our efforts can reach people like you.

Dr. Roark’s amazing help meant that some other projects got pushed back. I spent some time in 2018 learning about podcasting and how to do it. I’m working on a veterinary roundtable podcast that is aimed at talking to pet owners. It’s going to be called Beyond the Exam Room (just like the blog), and I’ll keep you updated on progress.

gray and white cat on tire

Photo by Anas Jawed on Pexels.com

We are planning to improve the clinic building as well. It’s a long, drawn out process and some days I feel like a cat in a bottomless basket and other days like a Labrador rolling in the snow, but every day is a gift. The idea of offering better service to you, lower stress visits for your pets and an amazing place for my team to work is the goal.

I’d be honoured if you’d consider subscribing to this blog. You can add your email in a box on the right hand side (computer) or lower down (tablet/phone).

Why Cats?

/ f.lynn.whyte / Leave a comment

I think this is an important question for the cat lovers we’ll meet here, so I’d better answer.

Cats are inscrutable, delightful, and frustratingly independent. Their playfulness and acrobatic skill is entrancing.

Do they improve our health? Maybe. There have been studies since the 1980’s showing what we would consider positive health effects, such as lower blood pressure, when we are near cats. More recent research questions the long-term benefits, so a clear answer is probably not available.

But that doesn’t matter to me.

I love cats. Their duality — soft and sharp, cuddly and aloof, sleepy and devilish — appeals to my curiosity.

They are lovely pets, and I feel they help me to raise children with a sense of responsibility and compassion.

There’s nothing like the purr of a cat to make a cool day a little warmer.

I couldn’t imagine my life without these furry little creatures darting about and giving orders when the bottom of the food bowl is visible.

And that’s me and cats.

How about you and cats?