When Robin Sipes went in to see her pulmonologist, he gave her some instructions:
That's my kind of doctor! In case you're wondering what set this off, Sipes recently lost her cat and was feeling sad. She's known her pulmonologist, Earl King, for 15 years, and he felt that getting a new cat was the best thing for her:
King was serious when he advised Sipe to get a new cat, he said. But he was surprised when Sipe, who has one adult daughter, took him up on it immediately. After leaving King’s office, Sipe stopped at a farm produce stand for some fresh corn and cantaloupe on her way to her home in Grottoes, Va. While she was browsing, she noticed a black and white kitten romping around.
“She was from a litter of five, and she was missing her front left paw,” Sipe said. The workers at the stand told her the kitten lost her paw shortly after she was born when something fell off a wall in a shed and severed it. The kitten’s missing paw didn’t seem to affect her ability to play and get around, Sipe said. She was instantly smitten, and the words “get a cat” were echoing in her mind.
A cat is sometimes the best medicine. Frequently, in fact. Pictures of the adorable little furball are at the link.
"Pictures of the adorable little furball are at the link."
What link, Kevin?
It’s in the first sentence “he gave her some instructions”
I knew it!!
I recently had an adoption go awry, but usually I would be into adoption on low notice ^-^
How awry did it go?
The only thing better would be having someone-the same doctor? - making a guaranteed arrangement for a successor human to adopt the pet cat (or dog) in the event of the original senior adopter's disability or demise.
But I would be grateful for such an understanding & compassionate doctor.
Cats with ocd,
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1m0drWjdjMA
Aw, that's just normal feline curiosity & playfulness & maybe common sense, walking in footprints, rather directly in untrodden snow.
Robust prescription from "Three Men in a Boat" (1889) :
1 lb. beefsteak with 1 pint bitter beer every six hours
1 ten mile walk every morning
1 bed at 11 sharp every night
AND DON'T STUFF UP YOUR HEAD WITH THINGS YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND.
"Three Men in a Boat... To Say Nothing of the Dog"!
If you might care for a rolicking science fiction/time travel take on this book, check out Connie Willis's "To Say Nothing of the Dog." Cats are a critical plot point, by the way.
A word of caution: some of us don't like animals so don't try to use them to cheer me up in the hospital unless you want me to die there. Not surprising if people do since people who don't like animals are often hated.
Notably I live with a cat because the spouse needs one. It loves me more than her despite or maybe because of the fact that I ignore it.