Friday, January 21, 2011

Tootsie, the first resident vet clinic cat

    This is a painting of a little yellow kitten, Tootsie, our resident veterinary clinic cat.  One  busy surgery day, a client came in holding a tiny yellow kitten.  It seems that her barn cat had had a litter of kittens and this one was the runt.  The kitten was half the size of her litter mates had only one toe on both back feet (hence the name Tootsie).  She was not getting much milk since the other, larger kittens didn't give her much nursing time.
     The technician on staff took Tootsie and put her in her lab coat pocket for the rest of the day.  She nursed her from a bottle periodically when time permitted.   This is where Tootsie spent most of the following days until she grew stronger and started to eat on her own.
     Well, this little yellow cat thrived from that time on.  She grew strong and brave and proceeded to rule the office.  She loved to be where the action was, would cuddle next to the warm dogs recovering from anesthesia, she would sit on the front counter when clients came in the front door (our greeter).  She sat on the printer at bill printing time (jamming up the reels of paper).  She kept me company on many late nights and early mornings while treating sick dogs and cats, paying bills, doing payroll, balancing accounts....
    She lived in the vet clinic happily for many years and stayed to show the new owners how to run the place when I sold the practice.
     Tootsie was a great example of how to overcome a handicap to become Queen of the jammed printers and scattered files....

11 comments:

  1. Oh, she's adorable! I love the way she is peeking out at us. Her personality reminds me of our cat "Velvet" who loves to sit on my computer and press the keys!

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  2. Thank you both, Tootsie was a great cat, a lot of personality, this was a bit of a different painting for me and it was fun to paint.

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  3. Beautiful painting and so lovely to hear the story behind it. Tootsie is a diamond xx

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  4. Love your commentary on this Maria and the painting of the adorable kitten is equally good.

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  5. Your animal paintings are beautiful Maria...I particularly love "Snow Day" below!!

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  6. thanks for that wonderful story, Maria.
    The painting is precious!

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  7. Pat, Yasha, and Mary, I am so glad you enjoyed Tootsie's story, but beware, once I find someone to listen to my stories, I have been known to tell another....thanks for coming to look today!

    Dana, I am glad you liked Snow Day, it is one of my favorites too. Maria.

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  8. I hope you do tell another! They are so fun to read and It sounds like you were very attached to that sweet little Tootsie.. Love the painting and the story.. Well done!

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  9. Now Jennifer, I'm not sure about sweet....ornery comes more to mind....but she made us laugh! Thanks for visiting and I can't wait to see what you have lined up next to paint.

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  10. Maria, thank you for your comment. I agree; DARK darks are the most difficult to achieve.

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