A couple of days

Monday was my last day at the Humane Society, and what a day it was. Ugh. I started the day off by doing what I think was the worst adoption I have ever done. This man came in to adopt a cat. Not because he wanted a companion. Not because his kid wanted one. Not even to kill the mice in his basement. He "had" to get one because of doctor's orders. Apparently the adoption of a cat is an acceptable treatment for depression. What did this cat do to deserve this fate? Nothing. I guess most doctors are pro animal testing, so maybe this isn't a big deal to them, but I (along with all the cattery staff who knew this cat) was really upset by the whole thing. Now, I'm not saying that people suffering depression shouldn't have pets; I don't mean that at all. What I'm against is people being prescribed pets when, in fact, they don't want them at all. Why? Because part of not wanting a cat is not wanting to take care of a cat. Hopefully he will feed it and change its litter from time to time. I know he will never take it to the vet (he said as much) even though the cat was sick when he adopted it. The whole thing is terrible - I have seen the animals that come in through "humane investigations" so I know how things turn out when people have completely unwanted animals (awful, and those are the ones that get rescued). I am very disappointed that this is considered an acceptable medical practice - though I can hold out hope that it isn't and this guy just had a kook doctor...
Also on Monday, I found out that Natural Balance has recalled some of its foods, which caused me to freak out and feel really guilty that I had stopped feeding the cats homemade food. They had been eating Natural Balance, not the recalled foods exactly, but way too close for comfort (the only venison and greed pea food the company DIDN'T recall). This whole thing has reminded me why I was making their food in the first place - not just because it is much healthier, but also because dry food is a crazy amalgamation of who knows what and canned isn't a whole lot better. Suspiciously, the Natural Balance food was affected by the same chemical that was poisoning animals in the Menu Foods recall, but it was a totally different ingredient that was contaminated. Why should I take such a big gamble with the kitties health? Now, of course I know that any food, even human-grade, can and regularly does get contaminated, but I have to do the best that I can and dry kibble is certainly not my best. The cats were served raw duck this morning. Special thanks go out to Slav who took time out of his very busy day to go pick up food from the raw pet food store, which prevented me from suffering a complete meltdown.

Yesterday was a big turn-around from Monday! That is, I had a good day. Amanda, a friend from work, and her fiance, Jimmy, took me to Hood River to pick asparagus. We saw gigantic sturgeon from the Columbia River at the fish hatchery, played with the dog they are fostering, picked lots of asparagus, ate dinner out and then had ice cream (sorbet for me)! Now, I have a ton of asparagus in my fridge that I am excited to cook and eat as well as a bag of apples that are destined to become a yummy pie!