SUSAN LOESCH

As the summer turns to July it is time for another field trip, and our intrepid adventurer of the week is Shadow.

We waited until evening to head to PetSmart. Objective: food and a new collar. Everyone loved Shadow’s manly zebra print collar, but it kept coming off until he finally lost it to some feline hidey-hole beyond my reach.

This was Shadow’s first time to venture out into the real world rather than his familiar library. As we entered the store, we heard dogs barking, and he looked at me like he wondered if I’d lost my mind bringing him to such a place. As he wiggled around, I was wondering the same thing!
It took a little while, but he settled down. We were looking at the guinea pigs when we met a pretty little girl named Brennan.

“Would you like to pet Shadow?” I asked her, looking at her parents to get their approval. I told them about Shadow’s library job and Brennan’s dad took pictures while I held Mr. Wiggly for her to pet.

Her mom asked if she thought Shadow would like her dog, Max.

“No,” she told us. “He would slap Max.”

Brennan also has a kitty named Quigley; it sounds like Quigley might have taken a paw to Max at least once.

As I put Shadow back in the basket, I said, “Bye, Brennan. It was nice to meet you.”

She replied, “It was nice to meet the cat.”

Even at such a young age she has her priorities straight!

Heading to the collar aisle, Shadow was still trying to decide whether to hide in his carrier or make a break for it. We looked at lots of collars and decided on the first we tried on – a silver sparkly one that looked quite handsome against his black fur.

I tried not to, but I couldn’t help comparing today’s trip to past PetSmart outings with Alex and Big Footsie; Alex sitting still for what seemed like hours as we tried on Halloween costume after costume, and Footsie happily romping from one cat tree to another as he tried them all out.

Shadow did finally seem more comfortable as we headed to the Fancy Feast aisle. Trial and error – lots of error – has turned up his favorite food: Fancy Feast Elegant Medleys, particularly anything Florentine.

We stocked up on Wild Salmon Florentine in a Delicate Sauce With Garden Greens. We added a feather toy to our basket and then looked at new carriers.

Shadow sat in one that I liked but that was just a little too small and a whole lot too hot pink. We both know that our kids at the School For the Blind Library would have a lot to say about a pink carrier for the library cat guys, none of it positive.

On we moved to the cat furniture, and at last Shadow found things that caught his interest. He tried out a Climb and Scratch cat tree, but the Nesting Circle turned out to be his favorite. Maybe that is because it made such a good hiding place. We are going to tell Santa about that one.

Our last stop was the … shhhhhh … doggie fashion department. We were looking for a Fourth of July bandana but found, instead, great Harley gear.

The fleece hoodie with the Harley logo was a bust but a t-shirt with “Harley-Davidson” on the back, decorated with all kinds of sparklies, was a perfect fit.

We might just have to have that when school starts.

Shadow gamely tried on a fleece sun visor but it just wasn’t him.

We both passed on the Martha Stewart terrycloth robes, and I hunted and hunted for the right size in a great t-shirt, which said “Girl Bait”.

Did I just imagine it or did I see Shadow breathe a sigh of relief?

Somehow I don’t think he was feeling a bit of the disappointment I was when all we could find was huge-dog size.

That’s OK; there is always our next shopping trip.