That's one of her jobs! I'll get cards to sign for the people she's the closest to, but never for our bosses and not yet for me. She is ridic.

Party Planning Commitee Fail! Ask if if orange is whorish.

The receptionist is passing around a sympathy card for our co-workers cat.

That would elicit a breach of office etiquette from me.

A dog would be one thing, but a cat?

Also, now feels really guilty about how I take care of my animals! But...they've lived a pretty long time and seem happy! and sheesh.

Aaaagggh. Not the point at all! (Though I started bleeding moments ago and must confess to being pretty sensitive right now too.)

My question was in ZERO way intended to suggest that animals should be kept with human care standards. Could we please not jump on that?

I'm gathering information about normal practices to look at the connection between bowl media and bacteria. And the impact of bacteria growth on dental health. It has been suggested to me that a lot of dogs have an intolerance to plastic and that aluminum erodes more quickly with interaction wtih saliva. It has further been suggested that the vast majority of canine illnesses begin in the mouth.

Seriously. I am just curious and in NO WAY intended to make a negative statement.

Speaking of animals ad dental health, pardon me while I fret. I'm still worrying about getting my cats' cleaned. I've never had any of my cats' teeth cleaned, and they've all lived long healthy lives with all their teeth. I also have heard scary stories about anesthesia. But every time I see their vet, he tells me their teeth need cleaning, and implies that I'm a bad kitty caretaker if I don't do it. I've looked at their teeth - Leo has some redness at the gumline, and it's hard to tell with Percy because his skin is black but he's the same age and eats the same food, so it's a fair bet that his teeth are about the same. Neither has shown any indication of having sore teeth, but certainly I don't want them to. So what do I do? I'm frankly terrified that one of them won't wake up, or will wake up and be not quite the same anymore. I know it's rare and unlikely, but rare things happen.

I'm also massively peeved because I was roped into helping to organize an event for this Thursday, where in I was charged to pursue and manage a panel of pretty high end speakers. I did my bit. The organization now tells me that they have procured 4 registrations.

I was so clear about what I could and could not do for this event THREE MONTHS ago, and TODAY they tell me they never really pulled their act together.

Aaagh. The desire to upbraid people is disproportionate to the benefit I would gain by doing so. And it burns.

Zen, I've never gotten teeth cleaned and I'm pretty sure that a lot of our Buffista pet owners - who are among the very best of pet owners, mind you - will come in and say that they never did it either and their pets lived long awesome lives.

I'm sure, being in the way of How Buffistas Work, that there are just as many who do get their pets' teeth cleaned and those pets also live long and awesome lives.

Either way, you are not a bad kitty owner as the fretting over it alone makes you and awesome kitty mama.

My dog was able to get some kind of teeth cleaning that didn't involve putting him under. If you're worried about anesthesia you might ask about other options. He also got his teeth cleaned when he was under anyway to have a fatty tumor removed.

My diabetic cat has lost all his fangs at this point. It doesn't hinder his ability to eat (including kibble) at all.

Zen, I know a lot more about dogs than cats, but I will say that this product, called Plaque Off is like a miracle.

Bartleby had really bad teeth issues, but once I began giving him this stuff, he simply stopped accumulating plaque. Now the redness part is a different problem, and we solve it with chewies and teeth brushing, but I assume you could get a piece of damp gauze around your finger and massage the kittie's gums at least a little bit. This would help stimulate blood flow and, maybe, break up the infection.