Gator was adopted; Introducing Rowdy, Solara, and Raven

Somehow announcing the adoption of one and introducing three new ones doesn't seem quite right - the numbers don't quite add up. And since I can't find the cord for my camera, I can't post pictures yet, but I thought I'd better introduce some of my new fosters even without pictures before they are adopted! (Update on 7/2/09: found the camera cord, and added pictures below!)
Gator, my shepherd mix puppy, was adopted this past Saturday. He had moved to another foster home since I took in Raven, another puppy, and I was out of room and time to care for another puppy. One of our new volunteers offered to take Gator so we could save Raven, so he went to her house temporarily before being adopted this weekend.

Rowdy is a six-month old Boggle, aka Boglen Terrier. That's a mix of a Boston Terrier and a Beagle. He's about 10 months old and weighs 20 pounds. He is very sweet - he's learned that if he jumps on my lap I will pet him, so now I randomly find this little dog in my lap while I'm sitting at my computer. He loves to play with tennis balls, and gets along great with the other dogs. He hates going in his crate, but once he's there, he is very quiet. He is doing very well with house-training and will hopefully be ready for adoption by early next week.

Solara is the mother of Venus, Mercury and Sedna. Originally the family who called us to turn them in said they were keeping the mother, but they recently called and asked us to take her also. So since she was my kitten's mother, I couldn't say no. She is a beautiful cat - a dilute calico. She's a mixture of white, the same gray color as Mercury and the same buff color as Venus. Right now she's staying in a cat playpen in the same room as Mercury and Venus. At first they spent all their time hissing at each other, but now they're starting to adjust. I'm hoping to be able to let her have free run of the room with Mercury and Venus soon.

Raven is the puppy who was turned into one of our Heartland volunteers recently. She's a mixture of Labrador Retriever/Shepherd/Golden Retriever. I expect her to enjoy retrieving a ball once she's a little bigger. :-) She's only about 9 weeks old, and all black and very soft and so sweet. She follows me around and makes cute little puppy noises.

Aurora, my little tortoiseshell kitten from the Disney litter, is back and available for adoption. When she was adopted she came down with a cold, so we kept her and treated her, and then the adopter decided now wasn't the right time to bring her home after all. So she's back up at PetSmart living with her sister Anastasia and two other kittens from a different litter.

Sedna was adopted!; Update on my fosters

It was a busy weekend for Heartland volunteers. In addition to our regular adoptions at PetSmart, we had two other events going on. Some of our volunteers went to a special off-site adoption event, and they were nice enough to take a couple of my foster cats for me. One of the cats, Sedna, found a new home at the event. Thanks to Julie, Ashley, Sue and Lisa for volunteering at this event! Other volunteers held a bake sale fundraiser at Dierberg's. They did a great job raising money for Heartland! Thanks to Brenda, Erin, Becky, Teresa, Lisa, and Michael, and all the volunteers who donated baked goods for the event.

Here's an update on my fosters. I started this blog so I could write about my foster pets and go back later to read it and remember them and things about them, so I want to write a bit about everyone I have right now (no counting please).

Noelle - She turned one year old this week! Happy Birthday my girl. Noelle is the longest term foster I've had, and the favorite foster I've had. She gets so excited to see me every time, and just comes flying at me wagging her tail as fast as she can. She had a home visit with a family this week that sounded like a perfect fit, and I was scared I would lose her - but she attacked their dog and so she came back home with me. Last night I gave her a donated stuffed animal, and she got to engage in her favorite pastime - destuffing! Tonight after work I get to go home and pick up stuffing that is spread all over the bedroom. She's worth the extra work though. :-)

Kai - Kai is a temporary foster dog that I've had a hard time letting go. Her foster mom finally convinced me she should come back to her, so later this week she'll go back to her original foster home. She's such a good dog - rather timid and shy, but she's improved so much in the past few weeks. Her favorite thing to do is to sit by the baby gate that blocks the hallway to the back rooms where the kittens are. She LOVES the kittens - a little too much. She will sit at that gate for hours, waiting for a glimpse of the kittens. Even when I have the bedroom doors shut so no kittens could possibly come out, she still sits there staring down the hall, looking for them.

Gator - Gator has improved a lot in the past couple of weeks - he no longer bites my shoes or feet or legs every second that he can. Now he only does it once every 10 or 15 seconds! He has the cutest puppy gallop, and when I call the dogs and they all come running, he is so cute always lagging behind everyone else because he's too little to keep up. I was hoping that Gator would be adopted this weekend, since he's such an adorable puppy, but he was not. I recently received an e-mail from another Heartland volunteer who's neighbor brought her a puppy that she didn't want. So in order for me to take in that puppy, another Heartland volunteer offered to take Gator and foster him. So tonight Gator goes to a new home. He's already been there to be "dog-sat" for a few hours, so I'm sure he'll do fine - actually he'll be spoiled rotten - first time foster homes are usually awesome at that. :-)

Pip - Pip is a very small beagle mix who is living in my daughter's room with some kittens. He acts JUST like a kitten - I'm a little concerned that he doesn't know how to be a dog. It would be good for him to be around other puppies or dogs right now, but he's so little that he'll get hurt playing with any of my other dogs, so he just has me and the kittens to play with. He likes to climb up on my shoulder when I hold him, and he likes to play with feather toys, and he loves to wrestle with the kittens. He sleeps in a cat bed too.

Rowdy - Rowdy hasn't been properly introduced yet, but I'll introduce him and post his picture soon. Rowdy is, well, he's the opposite of rowdy. He's very laid back for the most part. He loves to go outside and roll in the grass. He doesn't appear to care for bones or most treats. He doesn't want to play with most toys. He mostly wants to sit in your lap and be petted. Then maybe go for a walk, then straight back into the air conditioning for some more petting.

Scribbles - My foster cat who is living at PetSmart. She's kind of taken Whisper's place as the "cat with an attitude" at PetSmart now that Whisper is adopted. I hope Scribbles gets a home soon too - she is such a sweet cat when she's not at PetSmart or around other animals, but no one has been able to see that since she's kind of mean while she's there.

Marco & Polo - These guys are also living at PetSmart temporarily, and they get a lot of attention up there. They're my most laid-back cats I've had in a long time. Although that could just be because I'm used to hyper kittens all the time now. :-)

Anastasia - The last of the Disney litter, Stasi is living up at PetSmart temporarily and hopefully will be adopted quickly. She's my little complainer - she is very vocal and quick to complain if she's unhappy, but she's also quick to purr if she's happy.

Mercury & Venus - The last two of the Solar System litter - they're doing great. Both of them constantly try to sneak out of the bedroom they're in and join the rest of the house, even though Kai is stalking them on the other side of the gate. They are super affectionate and friendly and purr everytime I pick them up. These kittens are going to be big - they're about double the size of the Disney litter at the same age.

Chessie - She's the most playful of all the kittens I have. She's constantly running or climbing or jumping.

Capri - I never particularly wanted a Siamese cat - I've never been drawn to their looks, and was surprised they are always in such high demand. But I think if I adopted a cat of my own, it might be Capri. She's a Siamese mix - cream with chocolate points, and blue eyes, and she's so affectionate. I can't figure out what it is about her that makes me want to keep her so much, but I am considering the idea of adopting her.

Cabbie & Cilla - These two kittens are so funny - they're roly-poly kittens who are probably a week or two younger than Capri and Chessie. Cabbie has a cold right now, and Cilla has some missing hair so they're both quarantined from the rest of the kittens while they undergo treatment. They don't seem to mind so much though - they are playful but not as much as Chessie - and they're affectionate but not as much as Capri. They're mostly happy with each other, a few toys, someplace comfortable to sleep, and lots of canned kitten food.

Corvette Show; Aurora was adopted!

You may wonder what a Corvette show has to do with rescue. The answer is the Route 66 Corvette Club chose Heartland Humane Society as their charity to support during their annual Corvette Show this year. So several volunteers went to the Corvette show this past Sunday, and we brought some adoptable dogs and cats, and gave out information about Heartland. Everyone had a great time, and we received several donations and inquiries on adoptable animals. Since we were outside and the cars can be kind of loud, we debated on whether or not we should bring cats, or only dogs. It can be very scary for cats especially. We didn't want the cats to not be represented though - people need to know that Heartland rescues dogs and cats! So I brought Marco, my deaf cat, to the event. What a great fit - no loud noises to bother him, and he's such an easy-going cat anyway that it worked out great. Who knew that deaf cats could come in so handy? We also brought several dogs - my foster puppy Gator got to go, thanks to Angie C., one of our volunteers who brought him. She ended up taking care of him all day - even carrying him around when he was too tired to walk (it was all just an act, I think!) But he's a cute puppy who's fun to spoil, and he got a lot of attention. Also Frazier, the hound dog who is recovering from surgery, was there. And to round out the group, we brought Dash the Cattle Dog mix who loves everyone, and Luke, a gorgeous Australian Shepherd mix who wants nothing more than to sit in your lap and be petted. We met a lot of nice people, and one family dropped off some donations of dog toys that had been made by some day campers - the dogs love them! Here are a few photos from the event:

The little white blob on the table is Marco, my foster cat. In the back is Lori and Sue, trying to keep control of Dash, who had plenty of energy in spite of the warm day, and on the right is Donna with Frazier, Sue's foster dog.


Here's a close-up of Frazier, the wonderdog. He does swim therapy and walks on a treadmill while he recovers from his surgery to repair a broken leg.


Here is Gator pretending to be tired. :-)


Also Aurora was adopted this week, which just leaves Anastasia (Stasi) from my Disney litter. I thought she'd be the first of the litter to go since she has rather unique coloring, and instead she will be the last!

Introducing Gator and Pip

Since I'm limited on the number of adult dogs I'm allowed to care for, I'm going to be fostering puppies for awhile. There are no limits on puppies until they reach 12 weeks of age, so I hope to have any future puppy fosters adopted by then, but if not they can go and stay at the Heartland shelter until they're adopted. I'm excited to be able to save dogs who need help again, so I now have two new puppies to introduce!

First is Gator. Gator was rescued from a municipal shelter when he was out of time. They were going to euthanize him instead of making him available for adoption because he was a little bit growly with his food. But he went to another foster home for his quarantine period and his foster mom worked with him and hand-fed him and taught him that he doesn't have to fight to keep his food, and that its a good thing to have people around while he eats. Now he's doing great with that. After his quarantine period, I took Gator home, and introduced him to my other fosters. He loves to play tug of war and wrestle with the other dogs. He sits and waits whenever he thinks he might get a treat, and he LOVES canned food. He follows me from room to room and never sits still. He went over to another foster home yesterday for a play date with Patch and Rags, and they all had a great time wearing each other out.

Next is Pip. Pip is the puppy I talked about in my last post, that was being given away free to anyone who would take him. He is a beagle mix, possibly mixed with min-pin or some other really small dog. He fits into the palm of my hand, and he wants nothing more than to be held and petted. He sleeps pretty often, but then will wake up and run around with the uncoordinated gait of a 6-7 week old puppy. He loves to carry around stuffed animals, even those larger than himself. This does not help his coordination.

Thanks to Rhonda for the great pictures of Gator and Pip!