Editors Note

I recently purchased my first loft and have noticed some big changes this has brought into my life. The first is that my cats have taken it upon themselves to transform my living quarters into a jungle gym.
    For example, the walls dividing my bedroom from the living area don’t extend all the way to the ceiling, which makes for an excellent place for them to perch. As natural predators they just love this. They’ll spend countless hours stalking back and forth across the tops of these walls like hunters in the night. Imagine me tucked inside my bed hiding from the watchful eyes that gaze upon me as I try and drift off to the land of nod. It can be a little unnerving (I might have to purchase a nightlight).
    Meanwhile, my kitchen has an island for cooking and while my animals are not permitted on any surface where food belongs, it’s hard to stop them. I know they’re up there because I can hear them leaping from countertop to countertop during one of their infamous chase scenes (I swear these cats see more action than James Bond).
    Something else I’ve noticed about my new living situation that I hadn’t before is that I have neighbors. Well, I’ve always had neighbors, but when you live in a building where everybody owns, there’s less transience and the people surrounding you are more likely to introduce themselves. As it happens, there are people with pets all over my building.
    There is a Great Dane on my floor who can’t resist doing the tango with me whenever we cross paths at the elevator, a pair of shy Greyhounds who are as lean and cut as any Olympic track and field star, and so many mutts that when I see their people I have to quickly ask myself, “Is this Betsy the Shepherd/Beagle mix or is it Edie the Dachshund/Poodle/Schnauzer?”
    I haven’t gotten to know my neighbors well enough yet to have seen inside their homes so I can’t say for sure how many felines are lurking around in the other units, but as a cat person, I know they’re there. I can sense them. Logic also tells me that in a building as big as mine, I’m bound to meet some birds, rabbits, and fish.
    What these pet people all have in common is that they love to talk about their animals. Just as people bond and form communities based on their allegiance to a sports team, political affiliations, professions, and so forth, pets definitely join people together. From the couple bonding over their animal “children” to the single neighbors in my building meeting and greeting at the local dog park, there is no doubt about it that it has become a social norm to speak effusively about Fido’s training achievements or utter that sigh of surrender when explaining why the sofa is a scratching post.
    For all this joy that pets bring us, I say let’s keep them healthy and happy. This is, after all, our annual health and wellness issue. It’s the one issue of Tails that we hope you’ll hold onto all year because the information inside is so important to us, and more importantly, to our pets. Perhaps this letter is reminding you to take your companion animal in her for her routine checkup at the vet.
    In the meantime, here’s to new friends and neighbors (both human and animal) and a much-deserved winter vacation to a tropical island with plenty of warm sunshine and refreshing ocean breezes.