So what does Ha Ha Tonka State Park have to do with cat rescue? Well, I stayed up until 2:30 in the morning working on a grant for low cost spay/neuter and then we drove it to Jefferson City to hand deliver it on our way to Ha Ha Tonka. It's important to find that balance between the rescue work and a real life, so we enjoyed hiking (most of the time - it is a very hilly place!) and the warm air. It was a nice change from our trip to Wisconsin for Christmas. While I loved having a ton of snow for the holidays, I don't mind taking advantage of unseasonably warm weather either! Cross your fingers for the grant - it's from the Missouri Pet Friendly license plates and we all know that there are plenty of pets that need to be spayed in this state!
The weather outside wasn't frightful and we had more adoptions today!
Dog: Rosemary
Cat: Brooke, Sasha, Smudge
Rosemary: one of the lab/aussie mix pups
Smudge: calico kitten
Brooke: my sick little girl is all better and found a home! A very nice family that has promised to give her canned food everyday - after all I did promise that she could have a can of food every day if she would just live and she kept her end of the bargain. They had a whole cart full of goodies for her!
Sasha: our gray mama kitty found a great home today! The couple is retired and the grandkids have their own cats, so she should be spoiled and have her space at the same time. They also bought lots of stuff for her. The woman was committed to teaching her to be an indoor only cat and understood about her having a bladder infection in the past and what to look for.
I'm so glad that 2 of my fosters found such great homes today!
What a weird day for weather, it kept the adopters away! I guess tornado warnings during the holidays will do that to people. No dogs were adopted and a small handful of kitties went home.
Sorein: gray classic tabby kitten (just gorgeous!)
Stripes: brown tabby kitten - he didn't make it to the website, in fact he only lasted at PetSmart for just over an hour! Not too shabby for a little kitten abandoned at the vet because the owner couldn't afford to pay the bill
Mittens: dilute calico mama kitty got a home, actually is going home tomorrow but all the paperwork is done, so we'll celebrate today!
Doobie: this poor guy was bounced around - had a family, ended up at animal control but one of our fosters couldn't resist him and since she had no room, convinced another foster to keep him for awhile. Then she got him back, then had another foster babysit while she was on vacation, then let a newer foster take him to foster and that new foster fell in love with him and ended up being his forever home! He was quite the charmer to have touched so many in such a short time.
from another funny email:
*K-9 Rescue Barbie*
This Christmas season; give the latest, hottest new Barbie -- K-9 Rescue Barbie. She comes with her own SUV, and various size dog crates inside. She has a cell phone that's barely working due to over use and underpayment.
Barbie herself is decked out in jeans, grungy athletic shoes, and a t-shirt that says "Dogs are Better Than Any Other Living Thing on Earth". She comes with a road atlas of every town and state in all of North America, and a GPS on the dashboard of the SUV. She also has a map of every McDonald's in the world.
Optional is the special Rescue Dog Barbie laptop computer with the names and addresses of every other dog rescue person on earth, in case she gets somewhere and a contact fails to show up.
Running buddy, "Lucky", the three-legged, blind Shih Tzu doll is available for an additional $49.95.
For $89.95, you can complete the set with "Pissed off husband at home, Ken," and the various foster dogs at $20 each.
Prices for accessories are:
Fake snow falling on Barbie's SUV: $12.95
Flat tire for Barbie's SUV: (see Barbie's Road Service")
Barbie's First Aid Kit: (human): $11.75, (canine): $69.50
Barbie's Speeding Ticket: $95 (Mississippi- -$195)
Barbie's coat-that-she- had-to-buy- in-Minnesota: $85
Barbie's Vet Bill for Lucky in Isla Mujeres, New Mexico: $63.45
Barbie's contact, Rhonda, who she had to give gas money to in Mesa Verde, Texas: $20.
Barbie's bill to get her contact, Luis, out of jail in Bakersfield, California: $500.
Barbie's bill to get Luis's dogs out of the pound in Bakersfield, California: $265.
Barbie's hotel/kennel bill in Laughlin, Nevada, while she waits for her contact:$532.
Barbie's overalls that she has to buy while in Minden, Nebraska, hunting down lost coonhounds: $49.95
Pizza for suspicious looking hitch-hiker with sick puppy: $15
Vet bill for hitch-hikers sick puppy in Des Moines, Iowa: $143.29
Barbie's doggie wheelchair for "Klause" the rescue dachshund in Leavenworth, Kansas: $143.
And Barbie's van detailing/fumigatio n from hauling parvo/kennel cough puppies: $187.
Barbie's resume to get new job when she gets home from run: $29.95
And let us not forget her sister doll - Cat Rescue Barbie, who comes with the same equipment, (substitute "cat" for "dog"), also:
Folding ladder in vehicle: $129.95
Have-a-heart trap: $29.95
Cans of tuna for baiting trap: $11.95
Long handled fishing net: $39.95
Case of Simple Clean: $259.95
Black light (to detect cat urine): $29.95
Tee shirt that says "The More I Know About Men, The More I Love My Cat" $19.95
Running buddy "Jeep" - 3-legged tailless cat named after vehicle that claimed her missing appendages: $89.95
Vet bill for Jeep $397.95
Friend Edith, 87-year-old feral colony feeder, who calls begging favors when her arthritis acts up and she can't get out. $59.95
Food for Edith's colony cats (after all, Edith is on Social Security) $139.95
Friend Margie, do-gooder with pristine home and one spoiled cat, whose idea of being a rescuer is to pick up strays and take them to Barbie for rehab, vetting, fostering, and placement. $89.95
Vet bills for Margie's rescues $892.95
Mother Sadie, who calls weekly to ask Barbie when she is going to get rid of all those smelly cats and give her some grandchildren already $ 89.95 (telephone extra)
Shrink who talks Barbie out of killing above-mentioned persons each week $500
Vet who makes house calls and doesn't blink at unannounced visits and odd-hour consultations: *priceless*
*Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let in the light*
One more pre-Christmas adoption, Biggles, one of our older kitties went home on Christmas Eve! Yeah for Biggles!
I also got this silly email today and had to share
quoting the email:
"Does anyone know whose dogs these are and what the story is!??!?!??!
This is AMAZING!!!
dropping absolutely awesome. As far as I can see, all the dogs are intact males, and
somebody has done a flabbergasting job of clicker training them - they are happy and
obviously are loving the training and the interaction.
But get this: with all the running and bouncing and leaping and hopping and
training, in one small flat - are included a Dogo Argentino, an American Bulldog, a Cane
Corso, a Bernese Mountdog, one of those large wirehaired Eastern European hound whose
breeds I can't remember, a miniature (obviously show dog) Poodle, one of those
Eastern European Terriers (I am guessing - it might be a Standard Schnauzer -
nonethe less, Terrier spit-fire thing)"
There was a flurry of mid-week adoptions - here is the quick list of who went home for the holidays!
George: aussie/shepherd mix - I didn't hear his adoption story, but he was one I wish I could've taken home, so sweet, beautiful and just a little on the shy side (I love pathetic pets who need a little work!)
Casey: the black brother to Pacey, lasted about 3 hours as an only kitten at PetSmart before being snatched up!
Andrea, Twitch, Rucas & Will: kittens that made the foster mom make many trips to PetSmart during the week that she was getting ready for Christmas company!
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/12/23/rude.ranch.animal.house/index.html
Now I feel like I don't have so many cats! In fact, I even have one less - Pacey, one of my tabby kittens got adopted yesterday!
I'm very sad that my cute kittens didn't get adopted today, and surprised. I have an even bigger surprise - Svetlana got adopted! You never can tell who will be going home each week!
Dogs: Bree Ann, Tilly, Sadie, Lily Rose, Jingles, Mr. Diggory
Cats: Kammie, Que, Cornel, Scatter, Lucian, Taylor, Svetlana, Sarah
Bree Ann, Tilly, Sadie & Lily Rose: the last 4 of our aussie pups found homes today!
Jingles: The lab/border collie pup that was being fostered by Rhonda found a home!
Mr. Diggory: the shitzapoo went home - the woman who had applied for him decided that she wasn't ready for a dog yet and someone who was looking at a bigger puppy fell in love with him.
Kammie: medium haired dilute tortie kitten
Que: buff tabby kitten
Cornel: gray tabby medium-haired kitten
Scatter: dilute calico kitten
Lucian: gray classic tabby kitten
Taylor: a black adult that we pulled from a shelter this spring, she was adopted out briefly and returned and she finally found a home again!
Svetlana: one of Sasha's kittens found her home at 8-months-old! The woman was interested in Taylor, but when she was adopted she wanted to meet "Lana" because she knew that black cats have a hard time finding a home. Lana turned on the charm and got herself a home!
Sarah: see the next post for more details, but it was so nice seeing one of our FIV+ cats go home!
Some of these adoptions weren't too surprising, but some are truly Christmas miracles! They all warm the heart knowing that they have a home. I know that they don't know that it's Christmas but it still makes me happy to know that they're with their new family during a special time!
Sarah got adopted today! Time to do a big happy dance. My FIV+ sweetie is going to sleep in a real bed tonight with her new mommy. I'm so happy for her. Sarah will be an only cat to a college student who just lost her 15-year-old siamese baby last week. She misses her so much and needs a cat to fill the void. I'm always so happy when people don't grieve for long periods - it doesn't mean that her cat wasn't important and that she won't be grieving for a long time to come, but there are so many needing to be loved, why wait and let your heart be sad when you can feel love again right away?
Macie's babies are officially big now! They were spayed/neutered today and I'm hoping that tiny kittens will be a hot item this weekend at adoptions! I can't believe the growth spurt they've had in the last two weeks. I think mama kitty is ready for them to be gone. When I refill the new bigger bowl she puts her paw in the middle and growls; she has to get a few bites before she lets the babies eat. They're eating all of her food and then still being little leaches! Macie has gained just over 1/2 pound since she was so sick and hopefully she'll gain quickly once the babies are weaned. Cross your fingers that they all find homes for Christmas!
Otherwise life is fairly boring here on the kitty front. Been treating a bunch of my fosters for "icky poopies" but I'll spare you the glamorous details. No adoptions lately, the people who seem interested in my fosters pick someone else. We even had someone interested in Remmie my manx, but he ended up going to a breeder instead. Someone was interested in Svetlana at PetSmart, but didn't come in on Saturday. Someone was interested in Sasha, but they got a cat from another group that was at PetSmart that day instead. So I'm hoping that this weekend it's my turn for some adoptions, that my kitties get to have a happy holiday.
