I have spent the past two days in and out of the veterinarian hospital visiting with my beloved cat, Doodle, who is getting the equivalent of kitty dialysis. Her life is very precarious at the moment and this is the first time I have ever written the Buffet without her sitting with a purr on my lap as I type.

As I am thinking of nothing else right now, this gives me the occasion to comment on one area of Las Vegas few think about: Las Vegas residents are truly nutty about our pets. I am not alone. We have not one but two publications for dog owners in Vegas. There is also local freelance journalist Steve Friess' podcast dedicated to Vegas pets.

Some of you will remember that earlier this year Friess gave the Buffet an account of Steve Wynn taking his pooches to Macau with him.

When Rita Rudner (now at Harrah's) was headlining at an MGM-Mirage property, the resort had a no-pets-allowed policy. The comedian went to the trouble to work a bit into her act where her dog more or less just came out for a few moments onstage to act like a dog, thereby securing her pet a performer's exemption. Good doggy.

Then there's Roy Horn. True or not, the story goes that after Horn was mauled, his first words were an order that nothing happen to the giant cat who attacked him.

We have more than our share of private shelters for animals, including many exotic ones retired from Strip shows. Then there are people; there are many, many unheralded pet fanatics, too, in the Las Vegas valley.

There is a marketing director I know who works with a variety of Strip production shows and spends her free time (and more money than she can afford) arranging to adopt and care for abandoned giant dogs with medical issues. An adult star I've known for years offers as her primary reason for not dating that her cat has to sleep on her belly every night.

Off the top of my head, I don't think I know a single person in Las Vegas who does not have at least one pet. Drive around town and you will see more pet-oriented businesses (vet hospitals, very elite gourmet pet supply stores, pet grooming shops and pet supply chain stores) than there are churches or even casinos. Maybe it is because so many of us in Las Vegas are transplants with few family members in town, or maybe the straightforward relationship you can have with your pets lacks the pretension, flash and agendas of so much of the Las Vegas experience. But one way I feel very in sync with Las Vegas is that in a town that can be cynical to vicious about any show of sentimentality most of the time about most every single thing, when it comes to pets, no one smirks at dedication.

photo by Sarah Gerke