Our family vet visit – Uptown Animal Hospital

dog with e-collar
Odie last wk, a few days after his cherry eye surgery

Today we had The Family Vet Visit: vet check ups for all of our animals – 3 cats and our new dog Odie.  Uptown Animal Hospital & Dr. Dickes really came through for us.  We got an extra big exam room, we got a vet assistant who was great with holding and comforting our animals during the exam procedures, and thorough and efficient desk staff.  Our vet Dr. Dickes is very knowledgeable and we trust his expertise completely.  He has a great bedside manner with our pets and us, and definitely allows time for our questions.  He even took the time to recommend this website The Ohio State Indoor Cat Initiative as a resource for cat info.

3 cat carriers and 2 cats
We had all the cat carriers out for a few days to acclimate the cats to them

I have always heard great things about the various other vets at the Uptown Animal Hospital and the overall pricing there, which is very important since if there’s ever an emergency and we need to see another vet in the office, I know I’ll be in good hands.  You would think that with four pets we would have had to pay an arm and a leg to get them all check ups.  We didn’t.  For vaccinations and nail trims for all three cats (1yr rabies for 3, 3yr distemper for 2), an eye exam for one cat, an eye exam for our new dog Odie (who got cherry eye surgery last week) & a fecal test, we got out of there for under $400.  (Odie already had his vaccinations.)  I think Uptown Animal Hospital, relatively speaking, is great for affordable high quality vet care & I’ll definitely be “yelping” them today!  🙂

The Life & Times of YoYo the Cat – Part 1

YoYo is our youngest “son.”  Yes, we are one of those people that think of our pets as our children, sort of.  He is very vocal, and loves to eat.  He’s a pretty good cuddler, and he is also a peace maker.  When Zen and Bambi, our two female cats, start a noisy fight he comes running and puts himself in between them. Here he is as I am about to give him a treat.

YoYo runs on top of the fridge when we have guests.  After a while he comes down to investigate.  I have to feed him the most wet food, so the other two cats have time to eat theirs.  Otherwise he will eat his and try to steal theirs.

He used to try to play with our old dog Barney, though Barney never seemed to get the joke.  Every time I would bring Barney in from a walk, YoYo would lie in a special hiding place.  Then I would take off Barney’s leash and harness, and Barney would do his victory run through the house.  YoYo would jump out and ambush him.  Barney ignored him so really YoYo would only swipe at Barney’s backside as he ran by.  YoYo was always so pleased with himself every time, and it was so adorable how he never tired of this game.

Here’s to our chubby, playful peace maker.  One of the wonderful spirits that makes our home home.

Why I love Charlie Parker, Jazz, Pandora.com, and my iPhone 4

Our cat YoYo relaxing by the heating vent

This is an “11th hour” blog post, just squeaking in as a “Wednesday” blog post.  Today was a series of unexpected bursts of creativity, leading me to half start about half a dozen projects.  Hopefully tomorrow I will have the kind of creativity that helps me to finish those projects!  Let’s just say I will have really big and good news for Friday’s blog post, God willing…..

I am now listening to a custom Jazz station I made on Pandora.com.  If you haven’t tried the Pandora.com website, I definitely recommend it.  It’s free.  There are occasional ads, but they are very rare.  You could upgrade to a paid version with no ads that is inexpensive.  But free is good.  You can make and save a virtual station based on music similar to any artist at all.  After such a creatively divergent day, the Charlie Parker station I have on Pandora is so perfect.  It is cheerful, as if to say, “Good for you Janet for starting six things today!  Why not!!!!”

Our cat YoYo relaxing by the heating vent
The heating vents are the best spots in the house!

I am listening to Pandora with my iPhone 4 right now.  I showed my lounging cats to my friend the other day with the “Face Time” feature, since she also has an iPhone 4.  That means you basically see live video during the call.  She got to see how cute and relaxed my cats are when no “strangers” are around.  This photo of our male cat YoYo is a good illustration of such a look.

OK so time to post.  Big news Friday!