Pet of the Month - January 2020

Ellie

New Year is a time for celebration and our January Pet of the Month definitely deserves celebrating! It is our honor to name Ellie our first Pet of the Month in 2020.

Ellie has been coming to City Pets since January 2013. Her owners, Bill and Cindy, found her under a car in the parking lot of a restaurant 16 years ago. She “wolfed down the spaghetti” they were taking home and then fell asleep in Cindy’s arms. When no one responded to signs they posted, they decided to keep her and name her after the restaurant where they found her, Cascarelli.

Ellie has been a firecracker here at the clinic since Day One. Even Bill and Cindy report she’s retained much of her feral attitude from her earlier years. Her “dissent” over what constitutes necessary veterinary care has always posed a unique challenge for Dr. Weinrick, Dr. Hui, and the staff. For Ellie, a hands-off approach was best until she came in during the summer of 2014 because of urinary accidents and losing weight despite eating very well. Dr. Weinrick recommended blood work and it was determined Ellie had hyperthyroidism. The good news is it can be managed with medication; the bad news is while Ellie has always loved her owners, she would not tolerate a pill. Thankfully there was another option: a trans-dermal cream.
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Cindy and Bill would need to rub a small amount of the medicated cream inside her ear every 12 hours and this would hopefully level out her thyroid and control her symptoms. Ellie has been on the medication for 5 years. She comes in to City Pets at least once a year for a check-up and blood work to ensure her dose is appropriate and her other organs are functioning well. So far, her symptoms are being managed and Ellie is living her best life. And in spite of others wondering why Bill and Cindy tolerate her feral ways and the staff at City Pets needing to don protective gear for her exam, they like her. So do we…from a safe distance.