​Christmas is here! December is whizzing by in a hurry! Forget healthy eating, next year I’m going to HAVE to get an advent calendar to keep track of the days. I might NEED two actually, so I can track the day and the nights! ;)

On a more serious note, Diesel has asked me to share the file below about toxicity and dogs.  At this time of year vets see an influx of patients being poisoned. I’ve seen dogs that ate entire boxes of chocolate roses, lovely chocolate coated macadamia nuts, toxicity from roasted onions, dogs that swallow dropped human medications, burns from sausages stolen before they cooled down and pancreatitis from those trimmings that are too unhealthy for us to eat but seem to commonly be thrown to the dog! 
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The most common at this time of year, is dogs stealing chocolates from under the Christmas tree. Diesel has been talking to dogs at the park and it seems this year is no different. They’re eyeing them up and waiting for everyone to go to bed before they help themselves to a midnight snack.  Let’s make sure the present goes to the person it’s supposed to and keep the chocolates out of reach then we can all enjoy summer and not end up in hospital with our pooches.    

So you met all the team members working in front and behind the scenes at Red Dog Rehab and then we went quiet for a while.  I thought it was time we gave another update!

We’ve been quiet because we’ve been flat out painting (and yes, Diesel did ‘help' with his tail and nose!), organising and launching Red Dog Rehab services on site at K9 Aqua.  We’re so excited to be providing rehabilitation to dogs and cats in our new premises every Friday! 

Diesel modelling the fold out ramp and stair combo, while Poppy watched from the massage mat.

​We’ve also featured in an article written in VetScript this month raising awareness of canine rehabilitation available in New Zealand.  VetScript is a magazine sent out to all New Zealand Veterinary Association members.  It was really fun to be involved with and all the dog’s did great on their modelling debut! 

​Town is a pretty scary place and it took me three months before I could actually walk around an entire block in town without being terrified and freezing.  I don’t know if you’ve been to town, but there are fireworks, cars, lawn mowers, trucks, people … so many things to be scared of.  I was lucky and got to go to my Mum’s work and hang out in the garden a lot of the time. All the nurses were really nice too and I got lots of cuddles.  They even taught me what toys were.  I’d never seen a ball. It took me about 6 months to learn to catch. I kept trying though because I’d seen other dogs doing it at the park and it looked really cool.  Now I’m pretty darn good at it, well I catch maybe 6 out of 10 throws. I should probably practice more …
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Settling into my new family went pretty smooth except for Sammy.  Sammy is the cat.  I’m pretty embarrassed about it now, but I thought he was food. I just got mistaken. It took me a while to change my behaviour. Instinct would just take over and he was so plump and fluffy.  I’ve said sorry about a million times, but now he is always angry at me.  I think he holds a grudge.  I’ve heard people say elephants have a long memory. Maybe he is part elephant and that is why he is fat too.  I know I’m bigger than him, but I’m a bit scared of him now.  Sometimes when he gets hangry, he takes it out on me.  Mum tells him off, but he still does it occasionally.  I can’t walk past him anymore so mum has to stand between us so I can get out the door.  He doesn’t actually do anything to me, but he looks at me in a really scary cat way.  I think Sammy sits in the doorways and by the car door on purpose just so I can’t go past.  Mum says it’s a pity as we could have been good friends.

Hi, I’m Diesel and I’m the youngest in the family. The best, but the youngest! They say good things come in small packages but I’m pretty big.  I’m so excited to get to write something!   Mum said to tell you about myself first and then later we can talk about more fun stuff. So here goes:

I can’t really remember when I was little, but I was found lying in a rest stop on the side of the road at night in the rain. I was crying because I was so hungry I couldn’t move. The pound said I was so skinny they couldn’t help me.  Luckily the nice people that found me said they would help. It probably helped I licked them and did ‘puppy dog sad eyes’ like they do in the movies.  I went to a few new houses and tried to be on my best behaviour but I was so scared. I was too scared to walk so I just army crawled around and sometimes I wet myself a bit because it was scary.  The sound of a lead clicking on terrified me and I’d just freeze. And cars, well they were scary too. So were people. Actually everything was scary and I mean everything. 

When I met my new mum she seemed nice, but I’d seen lots of people so I didn’t really know if she was going to be my mum. I was pretty shy. I remember when she picked me up, she let me sit in the seat and put my head under her arm because cars are scary.  I decided then this person seemed pretty nice. They called me Diesel and I don’t mind that name. 

...  It took me a while to find my feet moving to New Zealand.  I like grey cats. I don’t like black and white cats.   I’m not fat, I’m just really really fluffy! Mum keeps feeding me diet food.  She says I’m fat. Well she never actually says it to my face, but my nickname at the cattery is Sammy Sausage and I’ve overheard them talking when they thought I was asleep.  I just like food.  I think I should be fed constantly.  I don’t hunt. I tried that once but I didn’t have the killer in me, so I just hid the fledgling birds behind the curtains to save face.  I think Mum found them and put them back outside.  I tried getting a mouse once too.  I even hit it, but I forgot to put my claws out and it squealed as it rolled away. Well I got such a fright, I just stood there watching it rolling.  I’ve never touched them again.  I think mum is a little disappointed I won’t catch them, but I’m more of a cuddling machine.  I love to cuddle and purr! 

We got a dog a few years ago.  I was pretty excited because I thought he would be my friend, but it turned out he wanted to eat me. I mean, actually eat me!! I’ve never forgotten and I don’t trust him now.  Mum talked to him and put me in charge.  Sometimes, I rub my face against him, you know, to make him smell better, but he is pretty scared of me.  I still don’t trust him 100%. Ugghh, it’s hard to make new friends when you’re an adult.  Maybe it’s my Australian accent …