As some of you know, I recently started working at a doggy day care. It’s not that I just can’t get enough of other people’s dogs (I can and I have), but mama’s got to keep the lights on. Continue reading
pets
45 posts
One week ago, I went to get freeze-dried liver and ended up with a bee in my bonnet. I was in Petco and what I saw – an employee doing in the guise of training – was a problem. What has happened since; namely, NOTHING, is the bigger problem.
Before I get into my beef with Petco, here’s my thing about customer service: It can be challenging. It’s often totally annoying. People are cray-cray. In one fashion or another, I’ve worked in customer service my whole life. I worked in restaurants from age 14 to…well, too long. But I had to kiss ass and solve problems that ranged from the trivial to the mundane to the crazy to the serious. Much to my dismay, I took that experience into animal shelter work. I totally wondered at my first animal shelter interview why my future boss quizzed me on how I’d handle “difficult people.” Continue reading
The pages on the calendar fly past so quickly, and the viewing audience are once again confronted with the terror of Heidi “Crazy Eyes” Klum, the formidable prowess of Meana Garzilla Fashion Editor For Marie Claire Magazine, the razor-sharp bon mots of the bitchiest orange in New York City, Michael Kors. As always, there are spoilers inside, so click at your own peril. Continue reading
Last week, I commented in the open thread about a cheeky little Green-cheeked Parakeet for sale at my work. I’ve nick named him George because of his incessant curiosity (if you don’t who Curious George is that means you are really young and must get off my lawn immediately). Before jumping in to his latest progress, I’ll provide a bit of background:Green-cheeked Parakeets (or Conures) are commonly known as companion birds. They live just as long as a larger parrot (up to 25 years), but are smaller in size and much, MUCH less noisy. As a result of their quiet nature and soft voices, they cannot learn many words, but it is possible. Often described as the “little bird with big personality,” Green-Cheeked Parakeets are playful, intelligent, curious, and incredibly affectionate. Continue reading
The apartment felt like a box, an old shoebox shoved under a bed and forgotten.
It was in a house that back in the day must have been a showpiece, long ago when the Merrimack River powered the mills that employed thousands, and when the mill owners lived on the hills, like this one, looking down on their anthills. Lawrence, Massachusetts, was never an easy town. It was always a city of blue collars and dive bars and shady, desperate characters. But now the mills were closed, the river was choked with pollution, and Lawrence was known as the arson capitol of the nation. Continue reading
Your pets. They have names. If yours do not, name them immediately, because it’s really demoralizing not to have one. There’s a lot of armchair analysis of what your pets’ names say about you out there; in fact, Jezebel had an article on this topic just a couple days ago.
It made me think: Who are you to speculate on what pets’ names mean? Being “an unmarried lady who is heading full steam ahead toward age 30” as our intrepid Jez author is, doesn’t convince me of your bona fides. More to the point, the article itself really cemented my snap judgement of said qualifications.
We’ve all been to doctors that misdiagnose that Ebola as strep throat. No? Well, maybe just me. But the point is this: your pets can’t verbalize their symptoms. Continue reading
Yesterday, it was announced that the Humane Pet Acquisition Proposal would be making its way back to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Last year, the city attempted to pass legislation making the sale of dogs and cats illegal within city limits.
The proposed legislation takes it one step further this time: San Fran wants to ban fish, reptiles, amphibians, and birds from being available for sale except as food. Continue reading
I’m not sure if it’s hormones (yes, boys, they’re not a myth!) or stress or maybe a divine enlightenment of sorts, but lately I’ve been more in tune with just how obnoxious citizens of this Earth are. In fact, the other night (while sipping on a big glass of red wine, natch) I was having a conversation with a friend when this topic came up. I was tired, a wee bit drunk and I needed to vent. I was getting very riled up and I remember my friend telling me to slow down because I was talking a mile a minute. I took a deep breath and that’s when the words slipped out of my mouth: “I swear, I like my pets so much more than people!”
I was dead serious …. and here’s why: Continue reading
The Reading Eagle reports that former nurse Claire Nelson was not feeling well one day last week when her normally quiet kitty, Rusty, became agitated and verbal. Nelson thought little of her discomfort and moved to lie down, but Rusty persisted and got his message through to her that all was not well. Nelson says she figured Rusty must know something she didn’t and so she called her doctor. While waiting for the bus, her pain worsened and she was forced to dial 9-1-1.
Now, a week later, the doctors tell her she suffered a heart attack while at home and has since undergone surgery to install two coronary stents. Nelson rescued Rusty in 2009 from The Humane Society, and this year Rusty returned the favor. Continue reading