Kittens at TLA!

Last Monday at TLA, I attended a session given by the staff of Pflugerville Public Library – Director Jennifer Coffey, Melissa Grzybowski, and Margaret Miller – and Rhonda McLendon, Director of Pflugerville Animal Welfare Services (PAWS). This session was appropriately called Becoming a Pet-Friendly Library: Tips from a Public Library and Animal Shelter Partnership.

To everyone’s delight, Rhonda brought two Chihuahuas and five bottle baby kittens to the session! Of course I had to love on the babies and take lots of photos…

Here is a photo of all five! (Photo courtesy of Pflugerville Library)

These tabby babies were quite popular and remarkably chill.

This darling baby only protested when her person stopped petting her.

You can be sure that I squeed (professionally, of course).

FYI, the kittens will be available for adoption at the Pflugerville Animal Shelter when they are old enough!

Therapy Dogs at TLA!

NB: I apologize for the belated post! It’s crunch time at the end of the semester.

Last week at the Texas Library Association Conference, three lovely therapy dogs visited us and offered much-needed fluffy downtime. There were many discussions about how to create pet-friendly libraries and therapy dog programming for public, school, and academic libraries.

This handsome fella is Tango, an Australian Shepherd.

It’s belly time! Tango was also ticklish, making his back leg go.

These Border Collies, Riley and Maggie, were from Pet Partners.

Special thanks to Cynthia and Ramona for sharing their beautiful dogs with us at TLA!

Yammering on a Gloppy Day

Mau just woke up from his afternoon nap and came yammering into my office. Apparently he had overslept and was late for his normally scheduled yammering hour (usually starting around 4 pm) and discombobulated about it. He also wanted to inform me that, according to him, it was now food o’clock.

Charlie, on the other hand, thought it was time to visit and snuggle on the window seat.

I expect I will have three cat-shaped dinnersharks circling my desk soon.

Cute Schnauzer Alert

I thought I mentioned this handsome little fellow along with my Pet Pfest posts but it appears I did not! Therefore I had to remedy this posthaste. I met Myah and Michi during my usual evening volunteer shift at the Pflugerville Public Library. This happened to fall two hours after Pet Pfest ended.

Meeche is the only shoulder Schnauzer I’ve met. He was quite adamant about staying on his owner’s shoulder like this. Look at that adorable face!

Meeche was a wiggly, talkative ball of joy. I was so delighted to meet Myah and have the opportunity to love on her sweet pup.

Help Emancipet!

In case you have not heard of or used this organization, Emancipet is a nonprofit that provides accessible and affordable veterinary care to all pet owners, including spay/neuter and vaccination services. These are truly important services that benefit communities far and wide.

State Representative and House Agriculture Committee Chair, Drew Springer, introduced Texas House Bill 3806. If passed, this bill would restrict the services that Emancipet and similar veterinary care nonprofits would be able to provide to communities. Non-emergency services such as dentals and heartworm testing and prevention would only be available who could document that they are indigent, as opposed to anyone. What do you think about these restrictions? For more information, check out HB 3806 and Emanicpet’s plea.

Do you think that veterinary care should be affordable and accessible to all pet owners?

If you don’t like these restrictions and want Emancipet’s services to be accessible to everyone, here’s what you can do about it!

MONDAY APRIL 1: Attend the committee hearing at the Texas Capitol and sign up to testify in opposition to the bill.
Contact the Committee Chair’s office to oppose HB 3806. Their phone number is 512-463-0526.
Contact members of the House Agriculture and Livestock Committee and express your opposition to HB 3806
Contact your local Representative. Let of the Committee and your local Representative know you oppose this bill.
Share your story and your support. Your experiences, photos and videos will help us tell the critical story of why this work matters in the fight ahead. Please share on social media why Texas needs non-profit organizations like Emancipet. Please include #Emancipet in your posts so that the organization can find and share them.
Make a donation to support Emancipet. They rely on donations to fulfill their mission of making veterinary care affordable and accessible to all pet owners. Shelters also use Emancipet services.
Share this post and ask everyone you know to do the same. So much is at stake.

What will you do to support Emancipet and other veterinary care nonprofits?

Caturday

I hope everyone has a lovely Caturday! Ours is low-key, as usual, with me doing schoolwork and Aaron working on machinery projects. The cats are currently snoozing.

Garrus assumed his usual morning sleeping spot on the couch. I bet when he wakes up he’ll ask for a desk visit.

Mau didn’t even flicker his eyes open. He seemed perfectly content to show me his glorious tail as he snoozed.

“Mrrow?” Charlie sleepily chirped at me when I snapped this photo.

Red-Eyed Monday

Over the weekend Aaron and I noticed that there was a little discharge out of Mau’s left eye and that he looked like he kept winking at us. We hadn’t noticed him rubbing at it but we suspected that it was an eye infection of some sort. On Sunday Mau’s eye was looking red, and we noticed that Mau was more yammery than usual that afternoon. This morning we started to see him pawing at his face. We didn’t want it to get worse so I called the vet and scheduled an appointment for him.

Mau was decidedly not happy by this turn of events and protested when we put him in the carrier. While he was at the vet’s office, Charlie and Garrus were seemingly confused and wandered around the house, mewing as they searched for their buddy. They trotted into my office and looked at me expectantly. All I could give them were pets and scritches.

When Aaron returned with Mau and prescribed eye drops, Mau scampered off to hide under the bed, apparently upset about his experience. Garrus and Charlie immediately went to greet and check on him. Eventually, though, Mau forgave us for subjecting him to the indignity of the carrier and taking him to the vet. Such is life with cats. Let’s see if Mau will assume his scheduled yammering hours and snuggle session.

Pet Pfest 2019 – Part 3

Guess what? There are MORE photos of all the festivities! I hope you enjoy them. Perhaps you’ll recognize a few familiar faces too!

We usually have at least one rabbit at Pet Pfest. It is unfortunate that I did not have the opportunity to meet this cutie in person.

Did you notice that Holden has two different colored eyes?

I don’t think this happy-go-lucky smile ever left Sunshine’s face during the whole event.

Happy National Puppy Day

Happy happy National Puppy Day! Of course in my book, all dogs are puppies, regardless of age. As with any pet-centered holiday, take this as an excuse to celebrate your pet (safely!) and have fun!

This royal pupper needs a boop. I can tell.

Here are a few ways you can do this with your canine companion:

ADOPT! You don’t necessarily have to adopt a puppy – they do require work, training, and socialization. It’s important to find the right home for the right pet.
Volunteer at your local shelter. Exercise puppies, socialize them, and/or teach them basic obedience commands. Fostering is also a great way to volunteer and help a shelter animal.
Training your puppy! Ensuring your dog can walk correctly on a leash so that you are walking your dog rather than the dog walking you is super important.
Ensure that your puppy is well-socialized around other people and dogs and exposed to new experiences.
Assist an elderly neighbor or friend by walking their pooch for them or helping them take their dog to the vet.
Have a puppy party! Invite all your friends and their puppies.

Want more ideas? Check out these 50 ways to celebrate and National Puppy Day’s site or Facebook page.

All photos courtesy of Pexels

Pet Pfest 2019 – Part 2

Since there were so many activities at Pet Pfest, there was no way I could participate in them all. The event was mentioned in the Austin-American Statesman too! Here are additional photos that the Pflugerville Public Library released after the event. Enjoy!