I saw the power of this first hand last year in a most unexpected way, but I'll never forget it. The evil one My cranky old cat, Ramona, went into heart failure in the middle of our kitchen floor in the wee hours of the morning. We rushed her to the local emergency vet, but they closed at 8am and we would have to take her to a regular vet for further treatment. The prognosis was not good.

And here was my dilemma...I had recently lost her sister, and I had such a traumatic experience with the vet who euthanized Martha that I could not bear to go back to them. The emergency vet gave me a list of vets near our home, and I called the first one on the list. They could take Ramona that morning, and would see what they could do for her.

The new vet, Dr. Littlehale, was very straight with me...she was in bad shape and there was less than a 50% chance she would make it through this. I was consumed with guilt and self-blame over the situation, and the thought of losing Ramona so close to Martha's death nearly sent me over the edge. Sam and I agreed that the pricey treatment required to even give this a try would be my birthday and Christmas presents for the rest of my life. And so we moved forward.

I brought my little patient home later that day. That evening, I got a call from the vet. He wanted to know how she was doing. He called again the next day to see how she had been overnight. Thanks to her demonic possession the excellent care she got, she shocked everyone by bouncing back with great speed. Even the vet was incredulous at the rate with which she recovered.

The vet's phone calls to follow up were what made me a devotee. He really, really cared. And he didn't just follow up after her emergency. Being an older cat, she has some chronic medical problems that require monitoring. I brought her in each month to weigh her to make sure she wasn't wasting from her CRF. If I was even a few days past a month bringing her over there, Dr. Littlehale would call me himself to remind me. And this wasn't to squeeze more money out of us...the weigh-ins cost nothing. There were also the occasional "just checking up on Ramona" calls.

Did he have to do that? No. Had I ever seen this before with any other vet? Absolutely not. Did it make a difference? You bet. I was heartbroken to have to leave them when we moved to Washington last month. And although I just got a call from our new vet this morning to discuss the dog's blood work, it wasn't quite the same.

It's a lesson to be learned for all of us...give a damn about your clients. Not because you want more business from them, but because you are a human being.

And Ramona? She still rules our house with an iron paw. And in spite of her disdain for the rest of us, I'm kind of glad she's around.

Former California girl Ramona sees her first snow ever this week