Another painfully slow day
Dogs: Harley: Lhasa Apso, Reggae: male poodle mix, Kibbles: chihuahua/pom mix female
Cats: Bella: medium haired tortie kitten, Edward: male gray kitten, Fawn: female tuxedo kitten, Mustang Sally: medium haired classic tabby, Mario: gray short hair male.
Too bad Bella & Edward didn't go home together (for those of you who read those books, this is sad news!)
Mario was kinda one of mine. Big thanks to Julie for helping me out - I didn't have room to take him back when he got returned and the kitties here were passing around a nasty cold, so Julie took him in for me and got him adopted right away. He was an awesome cat, returned for allergies. About a year old and as sweet as he was when I had him as a kitten, and so soft!
Mustang Sally was the first one of my cats to get adopted in what feels like a very long time! She has an awesome new dad who was very concerned about how to introduce her to his kitten at home - they're going to do great!
I had a fun time with another rescue friend today. She came over to pick up supplies and have me take pictures of her foster cats that are PetSmart bound. Then after PetSmart we went shopping! We lost track of time in the dog toy aisle of Gordman's, pretty pathetic! But the good news is that I found a great toy for Jimmy - it's a treat dispenser that is a puzzle. I'll try to take a picture of it soon, but it gave us over an hour of peace and quiet tonight while he learned how to get the food out. Not sure what future nights will be like once he gets faster at it, but it was fun watching him try!
This is Nova, one of my friend's foster cats, but she's been hanging out at my house for awhile now, probably longer than she lived at her real foster mom's house! I was practicing this shot before my friend came over so that I could get the lights and camera settings adjusted and then I got this adorable shot! She's already spayed, so she was doing a good acting job of being a scaredy cat! Actually she was just grooming herself, but it looks like she's covering her eyes.
This was the shot that I had in mind - I thought a black kitten would look really cute next to the pumpkin. Vampire (yes, that's her real name) was a feral born in her foster mom's barn. She's still trying to trap mama cat, she has mama's 3rd litter of the year in the house now. Nova is actually one of Vampire's older sisters! Vampire was the shy one in the litter and had to be on antibiotics for their spay date, so she got held back and her siblings (Pumpkin & Turtle) got adopted, which meant that she was lonely and got all the attention and now she's sweet too! By the way, the kittens were named by a 5-year-old.
Clarence has been around for almost a year now. He was the mystery in a duct-taped cardboard box left at a rural town hall. They don't have animal control in that town, so there aren't many options for unwanted pets. The town tries to find rescue when they can, but they didn't know what was in the box and so they sent it off to the vet to be put down. I wouldn't want to be the one who had to open the box and be prepared for anything - something rabid, a wild animal, a feral cat. They were pleasantly surprised to find a sweet, purring cat who demanded attention and food. He was really skinny, but his bloodwork was fine and it seemed that he just needed "groceries". When time passed and he still wasn't gaining weight, we did more tests and found out that he had hemobart - an anemia caused by fleas. It's usually treatable in 3-6 weeks of an inexpensive, but nasty tasting antibiotic. Poor Clarence had trouble kicking it and had several rounds of the nasty stuff twice a day. We're guessing he's around 6-years-old, but with what his body has been through, it's hard to tell. We do know that he enjoys warm laps and bright windows and that he wants to be an only pet. He's been called a grumpy old man, but if you didn't like other animals and were in foster care and getting nasty medicine all the time, you'd be a bit grumpy too! He is front declawed and likes to follow you around. If you or a friend don't have other pets and are looking for a quiet, distinguished gentleman, then consider sharing your life with Clarence!
Here's Clarence watching the birds out of my window. He didn't want to pose on studio-table, which is understandable; he had just been to the vet and had blood drawn - he wasn't about to voluntarily stay up on a table - smart guy!
Dogs: Finn: male lab mix, Trooper: male German Shepherd
Cats: Tridessa: gray tabby on white kitten, Emmy: buff kitten
Very slow day, especially since none of mine got adopted!
I can't believe how many people have asked me about Scary! That's awesome to know that people actually read this.
Scary is doing well, she's growing by leaps and bounds. She had her first bath and her second! Tonight when I came home I could smell her right away and she had poop stuck to her tail. Well, the poop had a worm in it, so her bottom half got a bath. Yesterday her whole body got clean and she's so soft and fluffy now. I'm hoping to have time to take more pictures soon. She also enjoys playtime and runs around on the floor at amazing speeds. She was even playing with my toes as I checked email!
She still hasn't figured out that food in a bowl is for eating. Since she is so much stronger I decided this would be a good time to introduce her brother. Then I realized that he didn't have a name yet. Well, what can you do to partner up with a name like Scary? So he's Silly. They look like little twins except that Scary actually had a growth spurt this week and is a little bit bigger than him! They both got dewormed for the first time tonight, so that might help them grow next week.
The kittens don't quite know what to do with each other yet, but I expect to find them curled up togetehr in the morning. Scary thought that Silly looked like a good kicking toy and Silly was very baffled by the whole thing! The good news is that Silly thinks canned food in a bowl is a wonderful things, so my greatest hope is that Scary will copy him and start eating on her own. Not that I mind our bonding time, but I honestly have other things to do too!
I've been promising to tell you about Scary, so here she is. Remember, there's a reason why her name is Scary!
In this picture she doesn't look half bad - a bit scraggly and scruffy, but not too bad! She's doing so much better and tonight she was even playing for the first time!
In this picture you can catch a hint of an eye that isn't quite right. Her fur is a bit on the icky side. She's been too weak to give a real bath to and she's just starting to figure out grooming herself. So far her baths have been partial ones given by my dog Lexi. She's such a good kitten-mama, she just loves taking care of orphans after I feed them. In a day or two I'll be able to get her much cleaner. I think her long hair makes her look much worse than she really is.
Scary was chasing a toy! It's so amazing seeing this little kitten that almost didn't make it actually happy and playing! She purrs everytime I get near her. She still hasn't figured out that food can come in a bowl. In the times that I've attempted to teach her about eating from a bowl or a spoon, she's gotten just a little of the food from licking it off her paw after she plunders through it. But I'm not worried, I haven't had to adopt out a bottle baby yet that still needed to be spoon fed. Eventually they get it. Just like you tell mothers of toddlers that they won't walk down the aisle wearing a diaper - it'll happen when it's time! She has "baby cat" food in her crate with her at all times, but so far she just scatters it around!
My little Scary Smurf! I know her eyes must look shockingly bad to you, but there was a week when you couldn't even see her eyes! I had to pry them open enough to put antibiotic ointment in several times a day. And I'd have to peel the boogers off her face so that she could breathe. I was mixing formula and canned food and trying to get a few drops in at a time, now she's demanding more and more until I can feel her tummy getting big and I won't give her more! No formula for her either. Luckily Animal Crackers in Winghaven is having an awesome sale and I was able to buy out their stock of canned Evo. It is blended so smoothly that it's a joy to syringe feed. Other foods have chunks that plug up the works. Scary is still really small (but finally growing again) and I feel bad that she's all alone. She had 2 siblings - one is healthy and only had a couple of sniffles. I've kept them apart because he is a big, obnoxious boy and she would've been overpowered and I don't want to risk him getting sick again. The other boy didn't look nearly as bad off as Scary, in fact his name was Booger, because he just seemed to be snotty. Overnight last Friday he just crashed. I got him to the vet first thing Saturday morning and we had him set up to do round the clock fluids every 1/2 hour and antibiotics and nebulizer but he just didn't make it. By the afternoon he was gone.
I know we ask for money all the time, but the truth is that everything we do adds up fast! Poor Booger (I wish I'd given him a better name, it was just supposed to be a temporary nick-name) racked up quite a bill. Consider donating so that we'll be able to try to save the next one needing some extra help. You can donate online through our website www.hhsrescue.org.
Time to go take care of the rest of the kitties and then feed Scary again. I promise to take more pictures and tell you the stories on more of my fosters soon.
PS - Scary is the younger sister of Mustang Sally and CC Rider - see Saturday's post for pictures. She looks like an ugly duckling now, but I bet she's going to be gorgeous when she's grown!
This is a post from one of the email loops that I'm on and I was so impressed with the woman's dedication that I asked her if I could post it here. I hope that you are inspired by her indignation and that it helps you have the guts to stand up to people and do what's right! I'm also posting this so that you know this is happening every day all over the country and that there are plenty of people like us working with too few resources just trying to make a difference. It's frustrating feeling like you're bailing the boat with a thimble and the morons are filling it back up with a hose.
It was so difficult to even come up with the words to put in the subject line of this post. I am so angry right now I could bend 16 penny nails with my teeth. If this posts offends anyone, I apologize beforehand and if you are someone who is offended easily, I suggest you stop reading right now. I will try very hard not to use swear words...I promise!
I was in Wal-Mart today purchasing 6 cases of wet cat food for my rescue kittys and walk out the front to to see some fat broad sitting in a motorized wheelchair with 2 darling 6 week old torti kittens that she is giving away for free. When I ask their age she freely admitted their age and when I explained that it was against the law to give away or sell under the age of 8 weeks (California law and I'm in Sacramento area) she quickly said that they were 8 weeks old. I tried to explain nicely to her that the kittens needed to stay with their Mom for a reason. She quickly became belligerent (sp) so I got right in her face with laws and reasons.When I asked if the Mom cat was going to be spayed, she said the Mom was her cat and that she was not going to get her spayed because she wanted her to keep having kittens. When I told her the ramifications of overbreeding she didn't seem to care. I offered to have the mom cat spayed for her and she said no. It was her cat and she was going to do what she wanted to do.
I then asked if the kittens had been to a vet - No. Had they been tested for FeLV/FIV - No. Had they been vaccinated - No. Had they been spayed - No. Had they been tested for Panlukopenia - No. (Rampant here in Sacramento this year. One shelter had to euthanize their entire cat population about 2 months ago).
She said they didn't have any diseases because they had never been outside....told her she could bring in the diseases on her shoes or anyone else coming into her house could. She insisted they were healthy and Mom cat never went outside. When I asked how Mom cat got pregnant she didn't have an answer.
I explained that by giving away kittens, for free, in front of a Wal-Mart the kittens had have very good chance of having their own babies within the next 6 months. She said she only gives them to good homes who will get them vetted. When I told her they were a good size for the numerous snakes in the area, she was appalled that I would even think anyone would do that. I could not get it through her thick head that what she was doing was so wrong!!
I called my rescue partner and vented with her but since she knows my history she made sure that I didn't do anything physical to the "poor cripple" fat lady (Although she did suggest I push her wheelchair over a cliff - None in sight darn it)
I stood next to the lady for about 1 hour and whenever anyone came up I told them that the kittens had a very good chance of being sick, they had never been to a vet and neither had the mom cat. Told everyone about the severe over population of kittens in our area and how our A/C had euthanized over 1,000 cats and kittens in the month of Aug. because of people like that woman. Not one kitten was taken while I was there. I also stayed with her and called my "in" at A/C and I called the local police and make reports. I only hope they caught up with her and made her leave or cited her.
I had to leave to pick up my son but we drove back by about 15 minutes later and the lady was gone from in front of the store. I went in and tried to get a manager but on a Sunday afternoon at Wal-Mart, you know they are all hiding in the back.
I'm still very P.O about this and if I ever see something like this happening again I'm afraid I'll end up in jail.
Now for those who ask why I didn't just take the kittens, god knows I would have but for the fact that I had a litter of 6 - 7 day old orphans on the bottle and just took a little of 5 - 5 week olds from the shelter. This is in addition to my 20+ adult cats and 4 - 3 month olds that are up for adoption right now. We all know how bad adoptions are right now too.
Anyway, again, if I have offended anyone with this post, I apologize but thank you all for allowing me to vent.
We were out in full force today covering adoptions at 3 locations!
Dogs: Calvin: male wirehaired doxie, Chewie: male chihuahua, Heidi: female irish setter
Cats: Snickers: male gray tabby, Archie: male black kitten, Rosetta: female tuxedo kitten, Turtle: female calico kitten
I had the honor of babysitting for Turtle for a few days for her foster mom and she was awesome! Her foster mom was so tempted to keep her. I have pictures, but they are in my other computer waiting for me to have time to edit them. She's a gorgeous calico with a very symetrical face - you'll have to wait for the pictures. But not a drop of tortie-tude in this kitty. She loves to cuddle and snuggle and just be with people. She's related to this litter:
Turtle was found out in her foster mom's barn, just like these guys were. I have Nova at my house still, she'd the one in the middle and the last one left. She's been sick on and off - we think she has allergies or might just have a chronic runny nose. Antibiotics didn't help her and she doesn't seem sick, just has a wet sneeze a couple times a day. It's a bit gross, but she makes up for it in sweetness! Here's her individual picture from a couple months ago.
Nova spent most of the day on me at PetCo. It was our first time at that store and it was unusually slow. The crews at PetSmart reported the same thing - where were all the people? Nova was on a harness and went shopping with me and rode in the cart, she slept on top of Titan's cage for awhile, she was hanging out on the table greeting people. Unfortunately, the only person who wanted to adopt a cat was denied. I felt awful! She was a sweet young girl, but she was only 19 and living with her aunt. The aunt was willing to let the cat live at her house, but wasn't going to be responsible for it in any way. I just didn't feel that this girl was ready for the long-term committment that getting a kitten would entail, especially not one that had been at my house and I formed a bond with. It's hard enough letting these guys go to homes that you have a good feeling about. We just can't afford to ignore our gut even though our hearts would really like to say yes. I felt awful that I made her cry! Denying people is one of the hardest parts of being a foster mom. My daughter was happy to hear that she didn't get adopted. Nova is cuddled up in bed with her right now!
The people watching wasn't quite as good at PetCo as we're used to at PetSmart - I'm not sure if that's because the location draws different people or because there were less people total, so there were fewer to stand out. After spending five years watching the public interact with rescue animals, I have some really fun people-watching stories!
Two of my foster cats made their debut today - Mustang Sally and CC Rider. They got a lot of good comments because they're so beautiful, but no one was really interested in adopting today. At the end of the day I took them up to PetSmart and swapped them out for Taffy and Elizabeth.
These girls caught one doozie of a cold while they were at PetSmart in August, and putting them back up there this week stressed them out. So they're back home for some rest and some lysine supplements and we'll see if that helps. They may need to be on it for life, but luckily it's really cheap and cats eat it well in canned food, so the lysine doesn't usually stop too many people from adopting. I just feel bad that Taffy's beautiful eyes get to feeling red and itchy now.
And here is the picture of the other girls I left up there just to refresh your memory:
C.C. Rider was supposed to be a boy, but after I named the kitty we found out he was a she. I considered changing the name to Lola and it would still fit the theme of the litter, but C.C. kinda stuck. She also caught the terrible cold that was going around but is finally on the mend. I actually had to give her fluids a couple of times. That bug made the cats so snotty that food didn't smell to them, so they didn't want to eat. But I pulled her through and now she's healthy and gorgeous again (she didn't look so pretty when I had to peel the boogers off her nose every day - being a foster mom isn't all about the glamour!)
Titan also got to come to adoptions. He liked the quieter location. He's not a fan of dogs! We had his crate up fairly high which met his approval. He was very vocal in the car, but behaved in the store. He got a good furminating and then got to come back home. There was one person interested in him, but they have dogs and Titan will actually chase and attack dogs, so that was a no-go.
Time to go feed Scary-kitty. I know I promised to tell you the story of Scary, but it will have to wait for later, the little girl is hungry and letting me know it!
Sorry that I've been away for so long again, time has just flown by this month with the kids back in school and getting used to our busy routine again. I forgot that summer made the weeks feel longer. I have several posts brewing in my head, but no time to sit and write them out! I have to tell you about Peter who was returned - I'm sure you'll be shocked to hear that he has a bladder infection. And I have to tell you about Scary, a sweet little kitten who has taken up most of my time lately, but the good news is that she lived and has a story to tell.
So as I'm about to run off to another kid activity, I'll leave you with this fun link about Michael Vick and you can decide if you think this is a good idea or not. Actually I'd love to hear what you think about this!
