It started with the rain.
It has been raining all day.
Not just showers, but down pours.
We are expected to get 2-3 inches of rain in a 24 hour period.
Every dog that came in today was wet enough to put shampoo straight on them.
All of my dogs were special needs dogs or matted, except for one.
I ran behind all day.
You know, one of those days when you felt like every dog was taking forever, and you would never finish.
Well, I did finally finish.
My last dog was a rescued miniature poodle.
He was rescued from a puppy mill with a lot of other dogs, all skin and bones.
His new owner had been having trouble finding a groomer that didn't chop up her dog.
Her words, not mine.
The dog was so sweet, and so good to groom.
When the owner of the poodle came in to pick up her dog, I spent about 20 minutes talking to her about the dogs ears.
He had ear mites.
When we finished talking, she wrapped her dog in a rain coat, (it was still pouring) and opened the door to leave.
She suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, turned around and said, "there is a cat out here in a carrier!"
"What?!" I said, hurrying around the counter and calling to my husband at the same time.
"There is a cat sitting on your bench," the owner of the poodle repeated.
I reached the door and looked out at the bench we have in front of our shop window.
There, sitting on the bench, in the pouring rain, was a small cat carrier with a soaking wet cat, crying it's heart out.
I looked around, to see if anyone was there with the cat, but I already knew there wasn't.
The rain was coming down in buckets.
We took the carrier inside and put it up on our counter.
I opened the door to the kennel and the cat immediately came to me crying.
He was soaking wet, but it wasn't all water.
He had also been laying in a puddle of pee.
All of the sudden I hear the poodle's owner asking me; "Do you think someone just left him out there?"
I answered her with a question of my own; "You didn't notice this carrier when you walked in?"
"No, I wasn't really looking at the bench," she said. "I ran through the rain from my car to the door and hurried inside," she continued.
"I think you would have heard him crying," I said to her.
"I can't believe someone just left that cat out in the rain!" the poodle owner said, as she started to leave again.
The first thing that I did was put the cat in the tub.
There was also poop in the back of the kennel.
Cat pee and poop at 5pm...oh joy.
The poor guy just didn't know what was going on, but he did great in the tub.
We stayed at work and ordered dinner so the cat could dry.
He dried pretty quickly.
He let me use the hand dryer on him.
I could not help but notice that whoever dumped him, also removed his collar.
He is a very sweet cat.
You can't pet him enough.
He just eats up the affection.
He is a lover.
He must have lived with a dog, because he was not bothered by mine.
This is good news if we decided to keep him.
He appears to be around 2 years old.
Oh...he's an un-neutered male. :(
I don't understand it.
This is the 5th animal that someone has abandoned on me in 26 years.
Look at that face.
Who knows, it may be time for a shop cat. :)
Happy Grooming, MFF
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