Jeremiah and I had a busy weekend. Our 11 month old cat, Hazel was spayed Saturday morning. After a very long and tiring week, we begrudgingly woke up at 5:30 in the morning, placed her in a small kennel and shuffled off to the spay and neuter clinic at Centre County Paws. We we're the first ones to arrive and stood in the cold with Hazel surprisingly quiet the whole ride there. Jeremiah and I were both very nervous about how the operation would go. Although we were worried, we knew that Hazel had to be spayed. Spaying her would decrease her chance of breast cancer, and give her a longer and happier life. I strongly encourage everyone to spay or neuter their pets. The spay and neuter clinic at Centre County Paws is offered sporadically every year. It is very cost effective. Our vet quoted us $247 to have our cat spayed. We were able to have Hazel spayed for $35 at the clinic and paid an additional $10 for a year long rabies shot and a FVCP shot.
One after another, cars began pulling up at the animal shelter. The clinic opened soon after. We went in and filled out all the necessary paperwork, said goodbye to Hazel and got a cab back home. We tried to sleep a few hours before heading off to our jobs.
Honestly, this was one of the worst weekends for a spay and neuter clinic. This past weekend was the infamous "State Patty's Day" in State College, PA. Other college students came up with the idea to turn the weekend before Spring break (and 2 weeks before Saint Patrick's Day) into an all out drinking binge that results in an exponential increase in crime with each passing year. With all of the drinking this weekend, it was extremely hard to get around using cabs.
I left work early on Saturday to go pick up Hazel. I got there no problem using the CATA bus. Hazel appeared a bit discombobulated when I first saw her. She was the first of 16 cats to be operated on. Staff said she was very friendly with them and didn't scratch any of them. Some cats left the clinic sounding quiet angry. The vet operating on Hazel should have been using dissolvable sutures (stitches) on her but instead, he made a mistake and used non-dissolvable sutures. Aside from that, everything went fine during her surgery and I was told she appeared very alert post surgery.
The cab I had reserved to take Hazel home in never showed. Thankfully, 2 of my friends drove us home instead! When Hazel realized she was back home, her entire mood changed. She quickly started pushing her head against the kennel gate as if to say "Let me out of here already!". Once I let her out, she started to purr loudly and rub against my leg. She was back to her old self. I washed her food and water bowls and refilled them, and laid them out underneath a small pink towel. Hazel began to gobble up the food with a big appetite. Although the vet staff told us she might vomit or be a little sluggish the next few days, we saw none of that in Hazel. We are keeping her and our dog, Aussie seperate for the time being so that her stitches don't get ripped out when they rough house. Hazel has been running, jumping and playing around in our bedroom. Her belly is a little swollen but she does not appear to be in any discomfort.
We have arranged for her stitches to be removed March 14th by a vet technician at our vet. Hazel is on her way to a speedy recovery!
On Sunday, we caught up on some much needed sleep. We also took Aussie out for a run and to play with his new red frisbie. We decided to do some cooking together as well. My grandmother makes an amazing ziti with Italian sausage. Since Jeremiah had never had ziti before, we decided to make it and see if it could top my grandmother's ziti. We looked up some ziti recipes online and then went to Walmart to get some ingredients.
We first boiled a box of rigatoni pasta and lightly cooked a pack of Italian mild sausage. Then we drained the pasta, spread it out on a baking pan and mixed in sliced chunks of sausage, an entire pound of mozzarella cheese, a jar of sauce and some additional grated cheese on top. We cooked the ziti and sausage in the oven at 400 degrees for 40 minutes.
The ziti tasted amazing! Maybe just as good as the ziti my grandmother makes. We have been eating the ziti through out this past week, and I have yet to grow tired of it. In addition to making great food, I really enjoyed cooking with Jeremiah. We were both still to tired to go out on a date on Sunday (although our date on friday was a lot of fun), it was really nice to just stay in and do something fun together.
One after another, cars began pulling up at the animal shelter. The clinic opened soon after. We went in and filled out all the necessary paperwork, said goodbye to Hazel and got a cab back home. We tried to sleep a few hours before heading off to our jobs.
Honestly, this was one of the worst weekends for a spay and neuter clinic. This past weekend was the infamous "State Patty's Day" in State College, PA. Other college students came up with the idea to turn the weekend before Spring break (and 2 weeks before Saint Patrick's Day) into an all out drinking binge that results in an exponential increase in crime with each passing year. With all of the drinking this weekend, it was extremely hard to get around using cabs.
I left work early on Saturday to go pick up Hazel. I got there no problem using the CATA bus. Hazel appeared a bit discombobulated when I first saw her. She was the first of 16 cats to be operated on. Staff said she was very friendly with them and didn't scratch any of them. Some cats left the clinic sounding quiet angry. The vet operating on Hazel should have been using dissolvable sutures (stitches) on her but instead, he made a mistake and used non-dissolvable sutures. Aside from that, everything went fine during her surgery and I was told she appeared very alert post surgery.
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| Our cat, Hazel |
The cab I had reserved to take Hazel home in never showed. Thankfully, 2 of my friends drove us home instead! When Hazel realized she was back home, her entire mood changed. She quickly started pushing her head against the kennel gate as if to say "Let me out of here already!". Once I let her out, she started to purr loudly and rub against my leg. She was back to her old self. I washed her food and water bowls and refilled them, and laid them out underneath a small pink towel. Hazel began to gobble up the food with a big appetite. Although the vet staff told us she might vomit or be a little sluggish the next few days, we saw none of that in Hazel. We are keeping her and our dog, Aussie seperate for the time being so that her stitches don't get ripped out when they rough house. Hazel has been running, jumping and playing around in our bedroom. Her belly is a little swollen but she does not appear to be in any discomfort.
We have arranged for her stitches to be removed March 14th by a vet technician at our vet. Hazel is on her way to a speedy recovery!
On Sunday, we caught up on some much needed sleep. We also took Aussie out for a run and to play with his new red frisbie. We decided to do some cooking together as well. My grandmother makes an amazing ziti with Italian sausage. Since Jeremiah had never had ziti before, we decided to make it and see if it could top my grandmother's ziti. We looked up some ziti recipes online and then went to Walmart to get some ingredients.
We first boiled a box of rigatoni pasta and lightly cooked a pack of Italian mild sausage. Then we drained the pasta, spread it out on a baking pan and mixed in sliced chunks of sausage, an entire pound of mozzarella cheese, a jar of sauce and some additional grated cheese on top. We cooked the ziti and sausage in the oven at 400 degrees for 40 minutes.
The ziti tasted amazing! Maybe just as good as the ziti my grandmother makes. We have been eating the ziti through out this past week, and I have yet to grow tired of it. In addition to making great food, I really enjoyed cooking with Jeremiah. We were both still to tired to go out on a date on Sunday (although our date on friday was a lot of fun), it was really nice to just stay in and do something fun together.
