Just last week this very amazing cat named Kismet came in for a dentistry.  She had a thorough deep cleaning.  We now call this procedure COHATs (Comprehensive Oral  Health Assessment and Treatment) because a “dental “ does not come close to  describing  the extensiveness of the procedure.  More on that later.  Anyway, Kismet has quite a story.  Her owners found her near  a dumpster in Turkey.  She was found blind and believed to have been attacked by crows as a kitten.  The Serdar family was captiviated by her great spirit and her will to live with such adversity.  Kismet lives in a house with two huge chocolate labs named Pollux and Castor .  Guess who runs the house?  Go ahead guess?  That’s right….the very cool little cat Kismet.  No doubt she learned a few tricks when she was on the streets of Turkey all alone.  The dogs seem to accept the fact that we cats are superior and must rule them.  Otherwise, they would not know what to do.

Kismet had a COHAT while she was here.  Dr. Lamoree said she had some gingivitis which is an early stage of periodontal disease.  Her xrays looked great and she is doing great.  Now I just have to convince her owners to brush her teeth daily.  I love to have my teeth brushed daily.  Oh that just brushed freshness!!MMMMM…  Unfortunately I don’t have  picture of Kismet to show you how cute she is however I will share a cute picture of me.  

I would love to hear stories from some of you describing what your pets have meant to you, how they help you, share space with you or just fun stories. To get us started, here is the story of one of my amazing beasts…

Tikaani, Tikaani. Where do I start?  A client found him in a canyon and brought him in to The Drake Center. They were not really looking for another dog but thought he was beautiful and wanted to keep him. I came in on my day off, for who knows what, and saw him sitting in a cage. He was looking at me with the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen. It was absolute, head-over-heels, love at first sight. Yes, that does exist.

Well, he wound up with me. Within 30 seconds of being in the car, he was in my lap. Thank goodness I live close. This was a harbinger of trouble to come. He was a perfect gentleman for several weeks but as he started to get comfortable and push and test, we did not push back and in relatively short order we had a monster. He is sweet and loving but very protective of his home and of me. I have never had a dog with so much self imposed purpose. It’s his job to keep people out; at least until we insist he lets them stay. Then he turns in to an obnoxious love bug.

For me, Tikaani is love pushed into my face. It is my hope and prayer to lead my life from my heart. It takes lots of discipline to live this way. It is very easy for me to get scared or mad and shut down, to go into demanding control mode. Tikaani pushes at my heart. He is a pushy, obnoxious, relentless bully when it comes to loving me. He won’t let it rest. When I am in “outta my way, I gotta get this done, blinders on to life” mode, he pushes and shoves his way into my heart, pries it open and says STOP! Don’t forget to live while you’re here girlie. Don’t forget that while you rush around doing such valuable and important things, you also have a life to be lived. You can still have fun along the way. I cannot resist him. Eventually I relinquish and look into his big beautiful eyes, stoke his beautiful golden fur and thank God for that serendipitous encounter. Thank God for the crow bar named Tikaani that helps me to remember to keep my heart open and to live.

What Is Holism?

Traditional Chinese medicine is based on the idea of holism, so what does that mean? It compares the body to nature. Rather than animals or humans being separate with in the natural environment, they are in fact, a microcosm of the greater macrocosm of nature. It does not believe that the whole organism is just a sum of its separate parts. This way of looking at the body and health reflect both the seen (structures) as well as the unseen (mind, emotions). Each animal is unique, including their resiliency, their sensitivity and their internal and external ecology. Illnesses may be identical but the animals suffering from them are not. A mechanical view of the body simply did not develop in Chinese thought.