Introducing Kermit & Doobie; Nacho was adopted!

Nacho, my little orange guy, was adopted tonight! So all of my orange kittens have now found homes. Also, Linguini, my very affectionate black cat that I borrowed from another foster mom, was adopted yesterday. So it's been a great week for cat adoptions for me - I only have one cat foster left! His name is Doobie, and here is his picture:


I also temporarily brought home another foster dog named Kermit recently. You may have heard me talk about Kermit before - he's become my latest project. :-) Kermit is a great dog who's been waiting a really long time for his own home. He has a neurological disorder which causes him to have poor balance. That, plus the fact that he's a big black dog, means he is often overlooked. He's been at his foster home for a very long time now, so his foster mom asked me if I wanted to see how he'd do in a new environment. I am happy to report he did great. He got along well with the other dogs and cats, and he even learned to handle stairs! He had zero accidents in the house, and was an all-around great foster for me. He only stayed at my house for about a week, since I have several other foster dogs right now. But now we can update his bio online, and hopefully that information will help him to find a new home. Here are a couple of pictures of Kermit from when he was at my house this past week:



While I was downloading pictures, I once again was surprised to find that my husband took a few photos while I wasn't home. It's always interesting to see what he takes pictures of. Here are a couple of his latest pictures...



Aren't they cute? I think this is more proof that he drugs them when I'm not there. :-) That's Ginger at the top, then Pepsi, and Noelle at the bottom. They're sleeping on the mattress that we have in our bedroom to use as Remi's bed. Remi is my Great Dane - he's 150 lbs and even though he usually sleeps in our bed whenever he can get away with it, sometimes my husband makes him go over to his own mattress. :-)

Lot of cat adoptions!

Many of my cat fosters were adopted this week! Blaze and Astro were adopted on Friday night, and Jester and Cheeto were adopted on Saturday. That just leaves me with Nacho (last orange kitten), Linguini (black cat hopefully being adopted by someone tomorrow!) and Doobie - a cat that I haven't even introduced yet. :-) I talked about Doobie before - he was taken by another volunteer when he was out of time at an area shelter, and now that I have room for him, he came to live with me until he can be adopted. I just got him a few days ago so I will get his picture and tell you more about him soon.

All of my foster dogs went to PetSmart on Saturday, but none of them were chosen to be adopted. We did have a couple other very exciting adoptions - Poppy, an older dog, was adopted! It's always good when one of our older dogs finds a home. Also Taz, another long-timer, was adopted. Taz has been waiting for his own home for a very long time - although he was spoiled to death in his foster home while he waited. :-) He had some problems with his ears so it took him a little longer to find a home. So our recent pattern of special needs and harder-to-place pets being adopted continues! I hope this happens for Kermit as well. Kermie, as I call him, is a special needs dog that has been in foster care for a very long time. He has a neurological disorder that makes it hard for him to keep his balance. I took him to my house late last week to see how he'd do in a new environment, with new dogs and cats, and to see if he could handle the stairs in our house. I'm happy to report he is doing wonderful. He gets along great with all the other dogs and cats, and he can even go up and down the stairs without a problem! He's had no accidents in the house at all - have I mentioned how nice it is to bring home a dog that's already house-trained? And he is so happy and friendly and easygoing. He hasn't fallen down and even though he walks a little bit funny, he is basically just a normal dog. So that's very exciting to know how well he can do when going into a new home - even one that has stairs - and I hope that he can find his own forever home soon. I will post a new picture of Kermit soon too.

Introducing Molly

Now that Lacy is adopted and Murphy and Lexi are back at their own home, I don't have any big dogs that can play with Remi. I only have the three puppies - Pepsi and Ginger (3 months) and Noelle (4 months) - none of them weigh over 25 pounds, and while they get along well with Remi, they prefer to play with each other. So, I decided it was time to get an adult dog to foster. And guess who came along just at the right time? An adorable St. Bernard mix that was adopted out by Heartland as a puppy and returned this past weekend. Molly is one year old, and you may remember her from last December when her and her siblings were up at PetSmart trying to find homes. I think they were only there a couple of weeks, but they were so cute, they were hard to forget! I still have a picture I took with my camera phone from when they were puppies - I believe the one on the left is Molly.


And here is Molly now, almost one year later. As you can see she's grown a bit, but she's still as sweet as she was then. I brought her home tonight and she immediately fit right in with all the other animals. She is sleeping at my feet as I type this, and she is such a good dog. She weighs around 60 pounds right now, and she still needs to put on a little weight, so she'll probably be 75 pounds by the time she's done growing.


While I was taking pictures, I took a few of my other current fosters, just so you can keep up with which ones I have right now. :-) Here is Linguini - he's my lap cat. I'm borrowing him from PetSmart until Halloween is over, and he makes a great Halloween decoration! :-)



Next is Noelle. As much as I want to keep her, I decided it would be better for her to find a home where she can have her own family. While she is with me she has to share with so many other dogs and cats. By keeping her I also have less ability to take in the next homeless dog that needs me, and since there are a lot more adoptive homes than foster homes out there, I think it'll be better for her and for future homeless animals if she finds a permanent home with someone else. But, I'm holding out for a perfect home, and since she's a pit bull mix and deaf, that might take a very long time - I'm okay with that! :-)



And here is Noelle trying to play in the cat tree...


Next is Ginger. The puppies have been moved upstairs and are now being given the run of the house when I can watch them. They love playing with one of the fleece balls we got at Trivia Night - its one of their favorite toys!


Here is Pepsi, my little pit bull puppy. She loves to cuddle, and watched a movie with my husband and me last night, just laying on the couch between us.


And last are my two orange kittens - Cheeto and Nacho. I have a few other foster kittens (Blaze, Astro and Jester) but they're all staying up at PetSmart at least until Halloween is over trying to get homes. I'm also getting another cat named Dooby - I'll introduce him when I get him later this week. Oh, and Kermit is coming to visit! I'll introduce him later too. :-) For now, here's the last picture of my current foster. This is Cheeto, but he looks very similar to Nacho so I didn't need to take both of their pictures. :-)


Okay, now do you have all my fosters straight? If not, I don't either... I just know how many I'm supposed to have in total, and count now and then to make sure I have the right number of dogs and cats running around. Its much easier that way. :-)

Introducing Hershe, and more kittens!

First, I'd like to introduce you to my newest foster dog. Her name is Hershe, and she's a beautiful chocolate labrador retriever. She has been in foster care for a long time, and hasn't had very many people interested in her. She reminds me of Elvis because she's a bit timid in new situations. I am "borrowing" her from her previous foster home, so we can see how she would react to a new home, and if she has any problems that we need to work on. So far, she is doing great. She will take some time to settle in, so it'll be interesting to see what she's like in another week or so, but right now she seems very happy. She is the most camera shy dog I've ever met, so getting a good picture of her will be tricky, but here is the best I could do on short notice for you to see her. I might have to get out the telescopic lens for the camera so I can get her picture when she's not aware of it. Otherwise, well, I've taken many many pictures of the side of her head, or the top of her head (when she ducks down) since she runs as soon as she sees me holding the camera. :-)


And now, to introduce my new kittens - Frito, Cheeto and Nacho. We got a call from someone who's cat had kittens again (the third litter she's had) and wasn't able to give them all away through ads in the paper or at the flea market, so she wanted to know if we could take the last three kittens she had left. They're 8 weeks old, and all adorable male orange tabbies. I talked to the person who called, and was glad to hear she was getting her cat spayed after this! All our other foster homes are full, so I'm taking them. I'm going to put them on the foster website, so if you know of anyone who might be interested in fostering kittens, please direct them to http://www.hhsrescue.com/. These little guys are so cute - I forgot how completely insane kittens can be. They chase each other and are constantly moving - it's very hard to get pictures of them all together. It's also hard to tell them apart, but here's one way. Nacho, the kitten in front in the first picture below, is what is called a classic tabby. He has a kind of bulls eye swirl on his side. Frito, the kitten in the middle, is a mackeral tabby - he has the more common vertical stripes. He could maybe be called a spotted tabby since the stripes are broken up. And then Cheeto has some tabby stripes on his front legs, but no obvious tabby pattern on his body - at least not that I can tell. SO, that's how I tell them apart! Here are some pictures of them...

I'm also excited to report that Hunter, Murphy and Lexi are coming to visit! Hunter is one of my previous foster dogs, a Great Dane/Pointer/Lab mix, or something like that. :-) He's a great dog and I'm getting the chance to dogsit for his family while they're gone - I can't wait to see him again. He is a friendly easy-going dog and I have missed him! Also, later this month I get to see another one of my old fosters. Murphy, who used to be named Coal, was one of my first foster dogs that I fell in love with - he was shy and afraid of almost everything. These days he is a much more confident happy dog, and I am lucky to get to see him at PetSmart sometimes. His family knows how much I still miss him and everytime I run into them at PetSmart I beg to dogsit him again, so I was happy to find out they were going on a trip and letting Murphy stay with me. Murphy also has a new puppy sister named Lexi - she's adorable, and I can't wait to play with her! So I am really looking forward to having two of my old fosters back for a visit later this month, and a new puppy in addition!

Don't forget Trivia Night is coming up quickly - October 17th! This is Heartland's biggest fundraiser, and we could really use your support. You can click here: http://heartlandhumanemo.homestead.com/TriviaNight.html to find out all the details. If you can't attend, there are other ways you can help - click the link above for details. You don't have to be good at trivia - its just a fun way to spend the evening with friends, helping out the animals. And the silent auction and raffles are also a lot of fun! I hope to see you there!