Absolute Animal Care

01/03/2025

01/01/2025

After the events of this past year and now, last night’s events in New Orleans, I didn’t feel the usual “Happy New Year!” post was what I wanted to say. I’m just a pet groomer, but I have a lot of causes that are near and dear to me and seeing the news this morning shook me up, and made me worry a bit more about the direction of the world.

2024 was difficult for a lot of us. Many of you told me about your own struggles or the passing of a friend, or family member, human and pets, over this past year. I truly appreciate it, since it helped me give perspective to my own on-going situation.

With what may come in 2025, some events being foreshadowed, and some, as I’ve learned in 2024, will come out of left field, I will just wish that those of us that are here have the year we need.
A peaceful year.
A safe year.
A healthy-as-possible year.
A comfortable year.
A hopeful year.

I do hope for all of us to have courage to protect those who need protecting, to show kindness, and to weather the things we have no control over.

Peace and empathy to all this year.

12/30/2024

🩷

Don’t let these warmer days fool you. Winter is still here and we are happy to announce, we have 14 more shelters ready for pick up! Colder evenings and cold days are coming back. These shelters provide protection for outdoor feral/stray cats during the harsh winter months.

We are asking for a $10 donation per cooler. All proceeds benefit our rescue. If interested, please let us know below. Or, Stop by the rescue any day from 9:30am - 1:30pm and again between 6:30pm/8:00pm.

Thank you to those that dropped off coolers for us. Very much appreciated.

12/21/2024

Always always ask a professional who is licensed and qualified about an animal you’ve found. If it’s domestic, call a vet, if it’s wildlife, consult pawr.com for a list of licensed rehabbers.

If you’re not sure- call a rehabber and they’ll likely have you send in a picture.

Do things correctly and the animal and you can remain safe and the animal can get the help (and pain relief) they need. Do *not* try and administer care to an animal yourself.

If you had a broken leg, a brain injury, or internal bleeding would you want someone feeding you soup and keeping you hostage in a refrigerator box?

No! Get them qualified medical care and effective pain relief that is safe for their species that only a licensed vet or wildlife rehabber can provide.

12/20/2024

Indiana, PA shelter

🩷

JINGLES has been at the shelter for over two years, and it’s starting to take a toll on this beautiful, exotic boy. Shelter life is stressful, and JINGLES just isn’t thriving here. With his sensitive stomach, he needs special food, but what he really needs is a calm, loving home where he can finally relax and feel safe. Despite everything, he’s still a lovable, gentle soul who just wants someone to take a chance on him. If you’re looking for a stunning companion and have room in your heart for a cat who truly deserves a break, JINGLES is waiting for you—ready to trade shelter stress for snuggles and peace.

https://fourfootedfriends.org/index.html

12/18/2024

12/14/2024

Some photos from yesterday of Annabelle 🐱

12/13/2024

Annabelle’s an independent woman 💁‍♀️💅

12/12/2024

This! 👏👏👏 This has been a very frustrating aspect of grooming for me. If your pet seems reluctant, “uncooperative,” or “combative,” we MUST rule out any pain or discomfort causes. Even dogs who have been reluctant to get in and out of cars and the issue was thought to be a behavioral issue had their issue resolved by introducing a step stool or ramp that took away the jolt on their body of having to leap in or out unassisted.

Always put yourself in the pet’s shoes and think like the species you’re addressing. Be careful you’re not assigning, often inaccurate, human reasoning behind why a behavior may be showing up.

Shared from A Cat's Purrspective, LLC

At this point in time, most folks understand the link between pain and behavior. It’s logical: you don’t feel well, you have less patience and tolerance, you lash out or shut down or otherwise are not the best version of yourself. It makes sense that the same would be true for dogs.

But how do we know there is pain with animals who cannot verbalize that pain?

The short answer: we can’t know.

The longer answer: we also can’t know there ISN’T pain.

Meet Malus.

From puppyhood, he’s been a little spicy. But he’s a terrier, so that’s normal, right? He didn’t like having his feet handled. No biggie. And as he got older, he got a little reactive to other dogs - again, see “terrier” in the dictionary. And after he got neutered at 2.5 years old, his behavior spiraled - going after his housemates, aggression directed at his owners, even less tolerance for handling, increased fence fighting. But there’s some evidence of increased aggression after neutering, so maybe he just got unlucky.

For many folks, that explanation would’ve been enough. They would’ve worked on behavior modification, or just accepted a crate and rotate household, or managed the heck out of all of his triggers… or, honestly, would’ve ended up euthanizing him for his dangerous behavior.

Luckily, Malus’s mom is Katrina, who is essentially a terrier in a human body. She dug in.

Training, a veterinary behaviorist, consulting with other behavior experts, expensive testing - and then we got our first physical explanation: low zinc.

But even with a zinc supplement, his aggressive episodes remained unpredictable. Katrina had noticed some very, very intermittent lameness, foot chewing, butt/tail biting, so off they went to the first orthopedic specialist - one who cleared him orthopedically for all activities.

So they did physical therapy, and pain meds, and kept working on training.

But the weird, mild lameness continued, and so did visits to specialists. A neurologist who recommended an MRI, then more physical therapy for a possible psoas strain, different meds, another orthopedic/rehab specialist consultation, adjustments to physical therapy, a PEMF bed for home use, adjustments to behavior meds, consults with nationally respected trainers and behavior specialists, and finally - FINALLY - a recommendation to see a pain management specialist.

“I think he may have Tethered Cord Syndrome. I’m going to try different pain meds, but there’s a specialist in Massachusetts you should get in touch with.”

With the new meds on board, his behavior improved. He was brighter, happier, had fewer episodes of lameness, self mutilation, and aggression.

Yesterday, Malus had a dynamic MRI at Tufts, where Tethered Cord Syndrome was confirmed.

Today, he had surgery to relieve the adhesions to his spinal cord that have been causing him pain.

He was never “just being a terrier.” He was not acting out for no good reason. He didn’t need harsher training methods. He wasn’t aggressing for no reason.

He was in pain.

There are no words to adequately describe how thrilled I am for Katrina and Malus to have this diagnosis and surgery in their rear view mirror - it has been a long time coming. The strain on Katrina and Kevin’s emotions, time, resources, finances, and household over the last 5 years cannot be overstated. Most folks wouldn’t - and couldn’t - go to the lengths they did.

We can’t rule out pain. We can only rule out specific issues and diagnoses. For Malus, it took finding the right vet who had heard about this rarely diagnosed issue to connect them with the vet who could help.

To my clients I encourage to work with their veterinarian to try to find any physical explanations: Katrina and Malus are the reason why I will push you more if your primary care vet shrugs you off. It’s why I will push and push and push, especially if your commitment to training and management is excellent but we still are struggling to make progress. Malus is on my shoulder (sometimes literally), poking me with his nose, screeching in my ear to look harder.

If you’ve ever heard him, you know how hard that ✨ delightful ✨ noise is to ignore.

(PS - Here’s your sign to sign up for pet insurance.)

To learn more about Tethered Cord Syndrome:
https://vet.tufts.edu/news-events/news/breakthrough-surgical-procedure-relieves-dogs-chronic-pain

12/12/2024

🩷🩷

12/09/2024

Hey! This goes with Vinn’s post today! 😆 The algorithm is on top of things today!

The Yule Cat (Jólakötturinn) is a giant cat in Icelandic folklore, that roams around the countryside at Yuletide. The Yule Cat looks for people who are not nicely dressed in new clothes for the festivities and swallows them whole.
🐈‍⬛
🎨Natasha Tereshkina

12/08/2024

Vinn was here for her holiday glow up!! I forgot an after photo 😭

She said “Ég gleðst yfir því að þessi deiggi bændur sé étinn af Jólaköttinum þessa jóla." 🥲 Which I THINK translates to “May good health and warm tidings be on all of you this season!” 💕💕☺️🤗💕💕

12/07/2024

Beau is clean and coiffed for the holidays!

12/06/2024

🥺

Mary needs a patient home 🩷

Mary came to us a few weeks ago and is absolutely petrified of the shelter. She is very easy to handle and is a very sweet girl, but she is completely shut down here. She is estimated to be 4 years old and is a Siamese mix, she’s a chunky girl. She ADORES other cats and does not seem to mind cat friendly dogs. We would love nothing more than to see her find a forever home soon. She will need a family that understands how fearful she is and will work with her to build confidence and trust. She deserves a home that will love her forever 🩷

Apply: www.bcfanimalrefuge.org

11/30/2024

Cubby the other day, wearing his babushka so the dryer didn’t bother his ears 😆

11/27/2024

Hercules! 🤗

11/23/2024

It’s cheaper for the breeder to send them out earlier, but it isn’t best for the litter.