Feb 28

Feb 28 The Pet Whisperer

So, my sister and brother-in-law are avid dog lovers. They have no kids just a plethora of pit bulls and bull terriers over the years. They adopted a bull terrier that was giving them a little trouble. Wouldn’t obey, wouldn’t eat, and generally made life in the household crappy for all involved. My sister-in-law heard about a local pet whisperer and made an appointment for her to come over. The woman wanted to first meet with the dog alone and then my sister-in-law. After her meeting with the pooch she said the dog had some questions and concerns. Firstly, he didn’t like the food they were giving him. Secondly, he had a string of questions- What happened to the old dog? (she had recently died) Why was the old dog allowed on the furniture and he was not? (because she was sick and old) Why did you move the furniture around? (They actually had moved the furniture around recently) Where is the black dog who drank out of the blue bowl? My sister-in-law was baffled by the last question. They never had a black dog that drank out of a blue bowl. My sister-in-law decided to call the previous owners and ask them if they had a black dog that drank out of a blue bowl. They explained that there was a stray black dog that they used to leave a blue bowl full of water on their porch for.

Weirder than weird.

Any who, I was having trouble with my cat not accepting the new rescue Labrador-mix (Cassie) a crazy dog we brought home. The kitty had grown up with our previous full bred sweet gentle Labrador and the kitty liked her. We likened our previous dog to a kindly old English woman and our new girl to a teenager from the Bronx who never knew any discipline. As crazy as the idea was to me, I called the pet whisperer and asked her for a recommendation for a pet whisperer in my local area. She responded that she could do it. She said she didn’t need to be in the cat’s presence just have the cat near the phone when we spoke. Said she communicated telepathically.

Oh…OK.

I made an appointment for a phone consultation and asked the kitty to kindly lay on the table as I spoke to this lady. The whisperer told me the cat was beautiful and she knows it. (Rainbow was a gorgeous Calico). She went on and said that the cat takes great pleasure in everyone being afraid of her. All visitors in my house knew not to go near her because when they had in the past, even though I warned them, she was Mrs. Mc Nasty (a favorite phrase of my father’s). The whisperer said you have 3 children – 2 girls and a boy? I purposely didn’t tell her anything about my family make up. I said I only have 1 boy and 1 girl. She said does your daughter have a close girlfriend that is always at your house. I said no. She said – Hmm- she misses that female. Then it occurred to me that the cat was missing our deceased female Labrador. This made sense as strange as it was. I said perhaps she’s in pain. The whisperer told me to take my thumb and forefinger and run them along the cat’s spine from her shoulders down and tell her what I felt. I said one shoulder was higher than the other. She asked me if I had any back problems. I’ve been going to a chiropractor for 12 years because of back issues. She said that animals will take on the ailments of their owners. She said that when she broke her leg, she limped. Her cat started to limp. When the leg healed and she no longer limped, the cat didn’t either. Who knew? She asked me if my chiropractor adjusted animals. I said I’d find out. Turns out he did and his receptionist was formerly a vet tech so they adjusted kitty. It may have helped with her back pain but in the end, she still terrorized everyone including the dog. Mrs. Mc Nasty was relegated to live in the upstairs courtesy of a baby gate we still had in the attic and Cassie got to be downstairs with us.