HALLS, Tenn. — When she opened the Gentle Doctor of East Tennessee veterinary clinic last May, Amanda Dykstra thought the Facebook page would focus on the clinic.
Instead, it became a sort of diary for the two clinic cats who live there.
The shelter veterinarian mostly treats and cares for rescue animals and was very careful about selecting the two cats.
"It took us a while to find two, and two that we knew would connect with each other, but I wanted to have two because despite what most people think cats are very social so I didn't want a single cat,"she said. "These cats have such crazy personalities and they're so incredibly different but yet they're best friends. It's an interesting dynamic."
Tiny Cat came first. She indeed has tiny origins.
"We got Tiny Cat as an orphaned one pound kitten, and my 65-pound dog has been afraid of her since since then. So that just speaks to how much Tiny Cat runs the show," she said.
Simba complements her diva attitude (catitude?) with his own laid-back persona. Plus, he's a little goofy.
"He eats watermelon which is the weirdest thing I've ever seen in my whole life. But if you're eating watermelon he will literally climb in your lap and try to steal your watermelon. And he sprawls out on any heated surface like you can find all day and he's just a big goofball," she said.
The two cats get along and it shows in some of their cuddled-up pictures.
"They will chase each other around the clinic, like they hate each other and even occasionally hissing at each other and then I'll find them literally five minutes later, cuddled up so they're besties, polar opposites and best friends at the same time,"she said.
The Facebook posts show off their paw-sonalities and some humor from Amanda, who as a shelter veterinarian focuses on big picture science and research.
"I needed some sort of an outlet to be funny and to make jokes."
It took Amanda 6-months to find the two cats that were a perfect fit.
"It's kind of like buying a house. You don't buy the first house you look at, and you're going to have a pet for 15 years maybe 20 years. So you need to look around and find the perfect pet that matches your personality and that's how we managed to come up with these two silly cats. It took a long time but we found the perfect cats," she said.
Amanda Dykstra named her clinic after a statue called the Gentle Doctor at Iowa State University.
The doctor is looking down at a puppy he's caring for while the mama dog looks at the doctor, trusting him to care for her puppy.