Pet Dental Month!!

Hey there everyone! Guess what time of the year it is again?
Its Pet Dental Month again! My favvvvorite month! Heres a screenshot from Petdental.com!

Halloween Safety!

Hey everyone!
One of my very favorite holidays is coming up soon, Halloween!
Im so excited because I get to dress up and run around the animal hospital looking cute all day!
Dressing up is so much fun but there is so much about this holiday that I have to be careful about and so should you!
It is very sad, but many black cats like me are in danger around this time of the year, so it's very important to make sure we all stay inside and safe, away from anyone who might try to hurt us.

Here are some tips on safety offered by the ASPCA for this halloween this year!

Have fun and stay safe!

~Chance



Canned Food vs. Dry Food!

Hey everyone!
This summer has been so much fun so far! Ive been sunbathing in the windows and working on my figure as always.
Its a good thing my family here at SAHDC portions out my food properly to make it easy on me.
As I was wondering around today I got to thinking about the food they feed me. I always only get wet food, while Theo gets both wet and dry food! No fair!
I was feelings pretty dissatisfied with this, so I went to go ask Dr. Brooke Schwabenton about it, to gain some of her knowledge on the subject!

Here is what she had to say!
"Hey Chance!
In order to formulate dry food into kibble form, the pet food companies have to add extra carbohydrates. Cats' digestive tracts are not formulated to handle carbohydrates in the way other species can. Cats are actually made o live off a diet high in protein with a moderate amount of fat- their "natural" diet is small rodents, remember!
Therefore, cats will often continue to gain weight even when fed a low fat dry food. I have even seen cats gain weight when fed only and 1/8 of a cup of a low fat dry food twice daily!
Canned food will cause more tartar build-up than dry food unless you routinely brush your pets teeth, but i still believe the benefits outweigh this downside. Canned food has the benefit of controlling weight, but is also much better for their urinary tract health. Cats often do not drink enough water especially when fed dry food. The canned food diet will increase water consumption, helping to flushout their urinary tract.
You, Chance, need to stay a healthy weight so that you can remain strong and agile, even with only three legs!"

Thanks Dr. Brooke!

Summer is awesome!

Hello again, everyone!

I hope this summer has been a blast so far and that everyone has had a great time playing with their humans!
I know I have! My humans here at SAHDC got me a bunch of new toys to play with and Ive been running around like crazy! Life is so good.

The other night, I got to thinking just how lucky I am to have a huge family who loves me so much. I always have someone to pet me or play with me. Then I thought, what about the other animals out there who dont have such a great life? They deserve it too!
I decided I'd bring this up to my SAHDC family and they told me about Red Dog Farm Animal Rescue Network!

Red Dog Farm is an awesome program that helps animals of every variety find new homes with the perfect people for that individual animal. Each animal, whether found, surrendered, or rescued, recieves medical work with the finest of care before being placed in a suitable foster home. If needed, animals in the program are also entered in training classes with Shiloh K-9 or Cooler Horsemanship! Once the animal is deemed "adopable" by the program, he or she is then put up on the RDF website (reddogfarm.com) to start recieving applicants!

Red Dog Farm - An Animal Rescue Network from Russell A. Ball, MD on Vimeo.

Get involved! Save a life!

Till next time!

~Chance

hey again!

Today I wanted to take a minute to discuss feline and canine obesity.
Seriously, just because the humans leave out a full bowl all day long doesnt mean you have to eat all of it all of the time!
However, if you cant contain your love for the food, ask your human to feed you a breakfast and dinner, just like they get(only with your cat food, not their food!)! Tell them you are working on your figure and that they should measure out your food for you.
We dont have thumbs....how are we supposed to do it?
Im super proud of my girlish figure and run and play every chance i get to stay fit!
It super important to stay healthy, so heres a bit more information on obesity in cats!

Feline Obesity: An Epidemic of Fat Cats



see ya soon!!!!



Its been too long!

Hey everyone! Chance here!
Its been way too long since my last post but I've been a busy bee!
So much has happened since then, so Im going to try and fill you in just a bit.

Pet Dental Care month was awesome! Its always so great to watch dogs and cats walk out of here feeling soo much better after a cleaning! Dont forget, though, dental care is just as important every part of the year!

Right now everyone at SAHDC is talking about Zoonosis. I wasnt quite sure about what that word meant, so I sat down with one of the Technicians and had them explain to me in kitty terms! They said that the word "Zoonosis"  refers to a disease that can be transmitted to humans from animals. All sorts of things can be Zoonotic! From parasites to Rabies to ringworm, Zoonotic diseases are super scary!

But there is so much we can do to prevent these things from spreading back and forth among species!



I like to help my humans look under the microscope for parasites!

For more info about Zoonotic Diseases, Check out these websites!

Zoonotic Disease: What Can I Catch From My Cat?

Zoonotic Diseases - General Overview

Zoonotic Diseases are Icky!

Hey everyone!

Its been way too long since I last posted, but I'm back!
I know you've missed me! Who wouldn't?

Theres been so much going on around here lately.

I'd have to say the most exciting thing going on right now is this "Pet Dental Month" thingy everyone here keeps talking about.
Its so cool!

Growing up at SAHDC, my people have always taught me about how important dental hygene is to my health, so I figured I'd share a bit!

Did you know,  according to the American Veterinary Dental Society (AVDS), 80 percent of dogs and 70 percent of cats show signs of oral disease by age 3? Thats alot!

I always feel so much better after I get my teeth cleaned!

In the mean time, I get to eat these delicious dental treats and have my teeth brushed with yummy toothpaste!

I love living at SAHDC!

Check out http://www.petdental.com/ for more info



What is a Cat Carrier?

If you have ever stepped foot inside my house (Sedgefield Animal Hospital) or any Animal Hospital for that matter you probably have seen some strange things. Today I ventured upfront to the waiting room to see why I heard this strange sound. It was this cat crying and to my horror I saw that he was in this big plastic box thing. He kept telling his people friends to please let him out but they acted embarrassed that he was crying and just stood there telling him it would be okay. Thankfully one of my people friends told his friend to bring him into the exam room and it was okay to let him out of the box. They called it a "cat carrier". Here I thought people were the cat carriers? When I want to go somewhere I let my people carry me with their arms or I ride on their shoulders. When I gave them a funny look because I didn't understand they explained to me that unfortunately this is the only safe way to transport cats from inside to outside. I started paying attention to this and noticed several more "cat carriers" in the lobby. Some were soft, some hard, some made out of fun cardboard, some had toys, beds and even food in them! Most of the other cats seemed just fine with this and weren't complaining at all. This was still a strange idea to me so I began doing some more detective work and notice that while cats get to ride in these "cat carriers" dogs travel inside with these wierd choking things around their necks. That doesn't look fun, I guess this is just another plus about being a cat - we don't have to walk on a leash! I looked around the hospital to see if I had a "cat carrier" but I couldn't find one so I made one myself out of the Doctor's suitcase!

My name is Chance and I am a cat!

My top 10 sleeping places that everyone should love!

10 - The top of the refrigerator - Who doesn't love the cool/warm affect and as an added bonus you can watch everything that is going on below you!

 9 - In a pile of warm laundry - It smells good and is soft, need I say more?

 8 - In a cardboard box - Get ultimate privacy while you nap. Note to all my cat friends:  Remember if you can't see them, they can't see you!

 7 - Stretched out on top of the exam table - It's cool and long, you can stretch out for miles and miles!

 6 - In my bed - Duh! I mean who couldn't sleep on nothing but the pure fluffiness of a pillow.

 5 - Under the doctor's desk - Shhhhhhh, it's a special cave just for you, and if you lay there long enough your people friends forget you're there and you get to pounce and bite at their feet when they are least expecting it!

 4 - On a comfy chair - It's soft and warm, and you can sharpen your claws without even having to get up.

 3 - Draped around my people friend's shoulders - you may not get any sleep, but nothing beats relaxing and getting a fun ride at the same time.

 2 - In my favorite tube (on my cat tree) - It's just the right size. Nobody else can fit into it, and it smells like catnip.

 and my ultimate FAVORITE sleeping place is...


1 - Smack in the middle of the treatment room floor - This might not sound like the coolest or most comfy place but if you are a cat and you get tired you just lay down wherever you feel like it. It is as simple as Tired = Time To Take A Nap, so just do it! You also get the pleasure of annoying others that have to step around or over you and make them envious that you can take a nap and they don't. So go on and lay down and relax...

My name is Chance and I am a cat.

What cat has their very own elevator? ME, that's who!

The animal hospital where I live decided to purchase a new mobile lift table for my people friends to use to pick up and lower large dogs for exams. I guess because those goofy dogs can’t jump up on the table top like us cats. Dogs are just plain useless, why do people like them? Anyway so they purchased this table without my knowing it and low and behold I walk into the treatment room and I see a table that I think is just for me. It is only 12 inches off the ground when lowered which is purrrfect.

I used to love to jump up and walk across the exam tables and check out everything that was going on, but since my recent knee surgeries I haven’t been able to do this. So here I am today sitting on “my table” watching all my people friends wrestle with some crazy dogs and the next thing I know one of my people friends walks over and pushes this button thing and up I am going. WOW! It’s magic, or so I am told. I don’t really know what magic is but this could definitely be it.

So here I am on a table top high off the ground and I didn’t even have to jump up onto it. The best part is that it works both ways. This morning I had foolishly jumped up onto a counter-top and was trying to jump down (even though my people friends tell me not to and were trying to stop me) and then I see one of my people friends raise the lift table up to match the counter-top's height. So I walk onto my lift table and then down we go. How cool is this? I have my own personal elevator. My people friends are the best. My name is Chance, and I am a cat.

"Dust Bunnies" and "Hair Bunnies"

If you own a pet surely you have pet hair in your house. People always FREAK out about this but I don't understand why. Pets have hair, people have hair, it falls out sometimes and we deal with it. Personally if you ask any cat we enjoy shedding it. Grooming ourselves and loosing our hair is our way of making our new hair shiny, silky and clean. Plus as an added bonus Dust Bunnies and Hair Bunnies are GREAT toys! You can bat them around on the floor and chase them under the couch. Who wouldn't want this free toy for their pet? It gets even better I have never seen a person who hasn't laughed when watching a cat groom themselves and come up with a mouth full of hair and then try repeatedly and unsuccessfully to shake their heads to get the hair of their tongue. What better entertainment could you ask for? So let me recap, pet hair is okay to be on the floor (or furniture, car seats, and your clothes) it is not the end of the world as some of you say. Best of all it is easy to clean up, since it doesn't even leave a stain. So my people friends wear you pet hair proud. It lets other people know that you are a wonderful pet parent to some great furry critters. My name is Chance and I am a cat.

Be Kind to Animals

Last week was National Be Kind to Animals Week. I wanted to say thank you to all of my people friends that help to support their furry community. It doesn't matter if you have skin, fur, feathers, hair, no-hair, scales or wool. We all deserve to be treated with care and love. I for one may not have had the easiest start to life, but now I am well cared for and loved deeply and that is what counts. Thankfully at the Animal Hospital were I live we don't see neglect cases very often and there are great groups and organizations out there right now trying to make a difference. My name is Chance because I got a second chance at a GREAT life. So I am asking all of my followers to make a difference in your community by adopting a deserving critter, volunteering your time, donating, and spaying and neutering pets. Thanks again for being kind to animals! My name is Chance, and I am a cat!

Happy 1st Birthday to me!

Saturday May 1st was my birthday I don't exactly know what this means but I got presents!! My favorite gift was a gift of good health. Friday I visited my people friends at Carolina Veterinary Specialist and they re-evaluated my knee (2 weeks post surgery). So far so good it looks like my knee cap is stable. So my absolute favorite gift was that I don't have to wear my stinky e-collar anymore! Oh happy day! My vet people friends that I work with all celebrated with me and gave me special attention. I got some extra can food and a new toy and they even let me play with Q-tips. Q-tips are the BEST things ever. They are small enough that you can carry them anywhere. They have this cool stuff on the end that is fun to chew on an pull apart. Q-tips roll around and are easy to hide in small places to save for later play dates. I haven't played with a Q-Tip in several months my people friends played a game and hid them in a cabinet so I couldn't find them anymore. My people friends told me that I couldn't steal all of their Q-tips because they needed them for work. Why work with them, Q-tips are fun and meant to be played with, duh! Anyway well Happy Birthday to me! I like birthdays now and can't wait for my next one. Maybe we can have a party when I am allowed out of my cage, they told me 4 more weeks to go and then I am free to roam again. Thanks for celebrating with me. My name is Chance and I am a cat.

Long time no meow!

Unfortunately I have had quite a busy month or two. Around the time of my last blog I had an accident when falling off a sink counter and injured by back left leg. Now considering since this is my only left leg, since I am three legged this has been a difficult time for me. Upon x-raying my back legs my people friends were surprised to find out that both my back knees were not working properly. Now almost two months later and three surgeries on my left rear leg the doctors are 'holding' their breath hoping that the last surgery will hold so I can be more comfortable. Down the road I may need a surgery on my right rear leg too. So as it stands I have now been kept confined, or in other words limited to my cage only for the past seven weeks and have many more ahead. When I am fully recovered my people friends tell me that I can no longer jump up onto counters or my favorite place the top of the fridge for fear of re-injuring myself. So I apologize for not blogging lately I will try to do more from now on. My people friends are keeping me company spending all their lunch breaks and down time playing with me. However I am expecting multiple toys and gifts when I am fully recovered. Don't let them forget it! My name is Chance, and I am a cat.

I luv being me!

I was told today that I am such an original cat. I agree.

 My name is Chance and I am a cat.
                             ^..^
                             (><)

Mondays!

I was told this morning that I am a little obnoxious on Mondays. WHAT? ME? WHY?

Then I found out that some people (i.e. my vet people friends) don't particularly care for Monday mornings even though they do love their jobs they would rather crawl back into bed. I find this to be rather humorous and would love to actually see one of my people friends crawl into bed.... Can you jump into bed while crawling on all fours (or my case threes)?  Well, for whatever reason people don't love mornings, I sure do. I thought that maybe if I shared why I love mornings, you to will learn to appreciate Mondays like I do.

My top 10 reasons why I LOVE  Monday mornings:

10) People do very cool things in the morning like make dark hot water in a weird pot that smells up the entire room. That should make people happy my water doesn't look or smell that interesting, and I have even seen some people add  milk to their hot dark water. Milk and cool dark water how devine!

 9) People have these meeting things Monday mornings and everyone gets here early. Which is awesome because more people = more petting.

 8) In the mornings it is colder outside so my people friends keep it nice and warm indoors. We cats love to be warm so please keep the temperature turned up.

 7) People like to talk more on Monday mornings. I hear them talking about their weekends and what they did. I am still trying to figure out what a weekend is, but when people talk more they also stand around a lot more and this allows me to trick them into standing still long enough to stop and pet me!

 6) More people bring food to work on Mondays than any other day! I for one have never met a leftover that I didn't enjoy.

 5) It is so bright outside and inside! Why don't people appreciate this. I love lights they make it easier for you to see, and they are fun to stare at for hours and hours.

 4) Dogs are more sleepy in the mornings too, which allows me to have more fun sneaking up on them.

 3) Morning time is a purrfect time to play games. My favorite one is to jump into the empty trashcan wait until one of my people friends walks by and then I jump out and yell SURPRISE! Although come to think of it they don't really find this too funny.

 2) Morning time is Kitty Yoga time! Find a comfortable spot, preferably on top of some important papers or across a keyboard and just stretch out and hold that position for as long as possible.

 AND MY NUMBER ONE REASON I LOVE MONDAY MORNINGS OR  JUST MORNINGS IN GENERAL IS...

1)  YOU GET BREAKFAST!!!!!!! If it wasn't morning than you couldn't eat breakfast and that would stink. Plus since my people friends are a little more sleepy on Mondays I usually can trick one or two of them into thinking I haven't been fed yet. Hehe! People are so silly.

My name is Chance and I am a cat.

The "Tail" Begins!

Hello. Thanks for reading my blog. This blog is all about me, Chance. 

First the obvious, I am a cat and I only have 3 legs. After one of my new people friends meets me the first thing out of their mouth is what happened to your/her leg? I am getting tired of this question... If I could talk I would say who cares about my  4th leg... I didn't need it anyway and I LOVE my other three legs so why is it a big deal to you human people? I see no disadvantage to me only having three legs, and in reality it is an advantage. I get by with things that other cats in my position might get scolded for and it was because of my bum leg in the first place that I came to live the best place in the world and be with all of my people friends. We cats are very rational. I had a bum leg that didn't work right, now it is gone and I get around just fine!

Okay, enough of me blabing here is the story about my 4th leg ...

 

I was found by a very nice, young, guy on a golf range when I was just a wee little kitten (about 4 weeks old) with a severe leg injury. The nice, young man took me in and took me to the most awesome place ever. He took me to see the doctors at Sedgefield Animal Hospital and Dental Center. The staff at the SAHDC checked me out and they think by the look of my leg that someone might have abused me by picking me up  by my leg and throwing me. My shoulder was completely dislocated, and I had some pretty bad nerve damage that had been like that for a quite a while. The staff at the Sedgefield Animal Hospital decided to take me in and nursed me to back to health with love and TLC. They knew from the beginning that they couldn't save my leg. However, they wanted me to get big and strong before having surgery.  When I turned 5 months old this past September the doctors knew I was ready for surgery to amputate my front leg. The day after my surgery I was ready to go, and haven't slowed down since. The staff thought they would be able to place me in a new home once I recovered from surgery, but by that point they had already fallen in love with my great and funny personality (hehe.. little do they know). 

So, that's the story. Do I miss my 4th leg? NO! I am a purrfectly normal cat and I can do great cat things without my other leg. I can ride on my people friends' shoulders. I can climb to the top of the refrigerator or on top of the 7 ft. tall bookcases. I can trashcan dive and I can chase down the other hospital cat. Nothing is an obstacle for me. My name is Chance and I am a cat.