Month: September 2024

More little animal stories, from the perspective of this girl who helps at her uncle’s veterinary hospital. This volume has three stories- the first is longer and comprises two chapters. It’s also rather unsettling. Yuzu and a friend meet an older woman who keeps cats. They’re admiring some brand-new kittens in her yard, and Yuzu’s friend is excited that her own cat is expecting kittens, even though the vet had advised her to get it spayed. Things happen, the old lady has a fall and can’t live at home anymore. The girls are shocked to learn that the inside of her house is full of cats, and in filthy condition. Animal hoarding. It started out innocently enough- the old lady and her husband (now deceased) had found comfort in their two cats, so didn’t mind when they had kittens- more cats made them feel even more wanted and loved. But the cats kept breeding, and when the woman was older and alone, she couldn’t take care of them properly. This story goes all the way with the subject material- animal control coming to collect the cats, the old lady in despair at loosing them, Yuzu’s friend realizing she shouldn’t have let her own cat have kittens, agreeing to get her spayed after the little ones are born, the girls spreading the word via fliers and online to help the rescued cats find new homes, and the old lady in the end feeling remorseful and begging to keep her two oldest cats again. Whew, the drama! But a good ending.

In the second story, Yuzu meets a high-schooler who owns a parakeet. She’s never seen a bird up close before, so her animal fears come to the front again- she’s alarmed when it lands on her head, and finds it’s “bowing” gesture threatening- is the bird going to attack? She’s surprised to see how intelligent the bird is, and how close the bond with its owner. One day on an errand to return an item to the bird’s owner, she bursts into the apartment because she heard yelling. (I found this very odd because in an earlier story, Yuzu was shocked and appalled when her friend walked onto someone else’s lawn to see a cat. And now she’s just marching into someone’s apartment!). She finds out that the girl is a writer, and the bird is her audience while she’s working. But some of her long hours are disrupting the bird’s natural daily rhythms, to its demise (I didn’t know how essential sunbathing is for birds). After seeing the vet and learning why her parakeet is doing poorly, the writer struggles to adjust her schedule and do things differently to support both of them. Yuzu helps as much as she can.

Final story is about a dog going blind from a disease, and an over-protective mother. The mother is super protective of both her child and the dog. So the girl in the family, although older than Yuzu, seems much younger and is very timid, because she’s hardly ever allowed to do anything. Likewise the dog is going around bumping into things and stumbling over curbs, but the mother refuses to allow it to have training to overcome its growing disability. Instead she wants to keep it shut up in a cage at home, bring it puppy pads to use instead of taking it out on walks, etc. Yuzu’s uncle finally intervenes, showing them how well the dog can learn to navigate its surroundings, still enjoys chasing a ball, etc. That its natural abilities- far better hearing and sense of smell than humans- make this easy for it. When the mother recognizes how her overbearing attitude has held the dog back, she also comes to a sudden realization that she’s overprotected her child all these years, too.

This seems to be a repetitive theme with these stories- girl and pet have a problem, Yuzu and the vet get involved, the family realizes the animal’s issue reflects something the parent is doing wrong, or an ongoing conflict their children have with each other, and suddenly they resolve to change things and do better. I’m sure these parallels are appealing to kids (the series is written for 10-14-year-olds) and make the lessons easier to see, they’re nicely done. But it just feels a bit over the top sometimes, and slightly too obvious for me.

Borrowed from the public library.

More stories about this girl who helps her uncle in the animal hospital (it seems she’s his only assistant). It remains an odd mix of overly cute pictures, gushing emotions on the part of female characters, and serious depictions of the kinds of illnesses and accidents that can befall pets. Which I find intriguing and kind of baffling at the same time. In the first story, Yuzu meets a girl her age who brings her cocker spaniel into the clinic. The dog, Pudding, is spoiled by her permissive owner: it attacks other dogs, bites people, and runs around loose. The owner refuses to let her dog get a vaccination, alarmed at the pain the shot will cause. Things go on like this until the dog runs into the street and gets hit by a car. When her dog is in the operating room, the owner finally realizes the seriousness of the situation, agrees to learn how to be a better “leader” for her dog. In the final scene, Yuzu meets them out on a walk again, admires the dog’s improved behavior, and that it’s lost weight too, from not getting so spoiled with treats all the time.

Second story, about a cat with cancer. The girl who brings her in shares how close their relationship is, that they always “boop” noses and play a hide-and-seek game. She’s heartbroken at the diagnosis and determined to get her cat treatment which will extend its life as long as possible- even though that means it has to stay at the hospital for extended periods. Yuzu sees how the cat misses her owner (not to mention the suffering it feels due to the treatments). After going through this for some time, the owner finally recognizes that her cat’s current quality of life is not that great, and decides it would be better to just keep her comfortable at home and enjoy their last few weeks together. There’s also a repetition of that “rainbow bridge” concept in here, which comforts the owner when she finally has to let her cat go.

Third story is about a family with two girls, and two pomeranian dogs. The family is struggling with behavior problems and apparent illness of the older dog, caused by stress when they introduced the new, younger dog. It takes a while to figure out what’s going on, but when the vet gently points out that they need to give their older dog more attention, give both dogs separate space to sleep in, and make other adjustments to having a new dog in the family, things start to improve. The story also draws a parallel between how the older sister felt about being expected to always take care of her younger sister and give things up for her. When she recognizes how her jealousy and resentment is similar to the dogs’ interactions, things get better with her sibling and parents as well. Everyone reaches a better understanding.

Last story has Yuzu visiting her mother in the hospital again, but this isn’t about her mother’s condition, or their relationship. It quickly shifts to something Yuzu witnesses in the courtyard- therapy dogs are visiting some of the hospital patients. One old man in particular is quite cross and belligerent, and doesn’t want the dog’s attention, even though the dog is well-trained and keen to offer comfort, patient with getting yelled at or pushed away. Yuzu can’t understand why a person would not want to pet a cute, fluffy dog, but then she learns more about this man, that he has no family (his wife recently died) and is lonely and suffering. She is just starting to feel sympathy for him when an accident happens and the therapy dog gets hurt, and it looks like it was the grumpy old man’s fault. Everyone is shocked when later on, the dog (who is fine) readily approaches the man again. Then they find out he didn’t do it on purpose, and he is touched by the dog’s apparent forgiveness, and his manner softens towards the dog. A very touching story, if a bit melodramatic in parts.