Wednesday Tattle Time

Pup Astrid is willing to share some bordering on blurry photos of herself in order to tattle.

Can you all guess where Astrid went the other day? Can you? Well, can you?

The answer is the dreadful V-E-T. Astrid had to go to the V-E-T, and she even had to do so while wearing her Christmas sweater. Can you believe that? The horror!

Indeed, pup Astrid was taken to the vet's office the other day. Not too long ago, we found on Astrid's leg what we were pretty sure was just a plain and simple skin tag. On any other dog, I wouldn't have thought much of it and probably would have just shown it to the vet during her upcoming annual exam in a couple of months. I've seen skin tags, and this thing on her leg looks and feels just like a skin tag. However, Astrid had a cancerous growth removed from her foot just over a year ago, as many of you might remember, and this new little growth is on that exact same leg. So, we scheduled to have it looked at.

Can you guess what it is on her leg, friends? Well, can you? It's a skin tag! Indeed, we took Astrid in for a skin tag, and I'm totally fine with that. Whenever a new growth is found on this girl, we have it looked at by the vet, because we aren't risking anything with this pup of a cancer survivor.

Astrid and all of us here wish you a wonderful Wednesday that's free of the V-E-T!

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Our Doodle of the Day:

We hinted yesterday that we're going to do a sort of magical, whimsical series of winter doodles. To start, I've been scribbling up some doodles inspired by one of my favorite instrumental Christmas/winter songs, and that is "Wizards in Winter" by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

I'll be honest, as you'll see below, the first doodle I created with this song in mind is indeed rather Christmasy in nature. I couldn't help myself. The rest will be more general in their wintry subject matter, but this one just sort of got out of my control and ended up as a Christmas scene. Anyway, here it is:

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Our Tip of the Day:

Yet another tip related to outdoor cat shelters is to ensure that the shelter is heavy enough to stay put, such as in heavy winds. Shelters made out of wood or other heavy material will of course be more likely to stay put in high winds. If you have a makeshift or any form of lightweight shelter, such as one made from plastic or Sytrofoam, do consider placing something heavy, yet also safe and secure, on top of it. This could be a sheet of plywood, or anything similar that can safely and securely weigh down a lightweight shelter. In some instances, you also might be able to find ways to tether, bolt, or in some way secure a shelter in place. The weight of an outdoor cat shelter is yet another factor to keep in mind when caring for ferals, so take this into consideration and ensure that any shelter you put out is one that will not blow away in the event of a stormy or windy day.