Essie and Tessa were adopted!

I had a good weekend at adoptions - not only did we have beautiful weather, but two of my foster pets found homes!  Essie, the sweet kitten who I just took back as a return immediately found another home with a great family.  I'm happy for her that she was adopted so quickly, to make the transition from her last home to her new home as easily as possible.  Also, the surprise adoption for the day was Tessa.  My beautiful sweet foster dog who I thought would take awhile to be adopted received a lot of attention at PetSmart and ended up going home with a new family at the end of the day.   They've sent me pictures and she's doing great in her new home.  I'm very happy for her, but I sure do miss her!

The one on the left is mine...

I wouldn't be able to post these pictures if I was still trying to find Noelle a home.  Just look at her - tormenting poor Tessa - Tessa looks afraid for her life!

She's going for Tessa's throat - she shows no mercy. 

But wait, Tessa isn't going to take that lying down!  (Ignore the Great Dane in the background calmly munching on grass - he sort of ruins the effect).   

And now Tessa takes down Noelle (in a nice, calm, not scary way, since after all Tessa IS still looking for a home)

I call this Tessa's pirate look - she's so cute, especially compared to the scary dog next to her!

It's a good thing that we adopted Noelle, the scary dog on the left.  Because otherwise I'd never be able to show you these pictures, for fear that no one would ever want her.  But we love her, and we know she's really not scary at all.  Noelle and Tessa are best friends and just love playing together.  So what you just saw in these pictures is what I see every day - inside, outside, doesn't matter - as long as they can wrestle together, they're happy. 

It only takes a minute...

I know it was exactly one minute, because I was playing Bejeweled Blitz on Facebook, and the game only lasts 60 seconds.  Before I started the game, the living room was relatively clean, the floor had been just vaccuumed, and the dogs were laying quietly in the room.  I had my back to the living room and concentrated on my game as I heard the dogs begin to play together.  The game ended, and I turned around, to find Noelle, Remi and Tessa each had a corner of a pillow.  Anyone ever see a pillow fight do this much damage in only 60 seconds? 

It looked like a freak snowstorm came through my living room.  I am mostly amazed that the stuffing was scattered so uniformly across the floor.  How did they do that?!  I got the pillow away from them (what was left of it) and then decided to take a few pictures before cleaning it up. 

Noelle and Tessa just love to play together. They're evenly matched in size and weight and energy level, so they make great wrestling partners. Here they are wrestling in the living room immediately following the freak snowstorm.  

If they don't have a pillow to play with, they'll just pretend to kill each other.  It's lots of fun. 

In spite of the fact that Tessa generally defers to Noelle in the rest of their lives, when it comes to play time, Tessa almost always wins. 

Foster Pet Updates

I thought it was time for another update on my foster pets.  Today I'm taking a vacation day from work so I can go with my nephew to the Zoo, and in addition I managed to fit in three vet appointments on the same day.  This may sound like no big deal, until you realize that these three vet appointments are with three different vets!  Impressive, isn't it? :-)  I have to take advantage of my days off work when I can get them! 

Tessa - She's turned out to be such a wonderful dog.  She does whatever I ask of her, even when its difficult.  Like when she's trying to eat Noelle's food, and I call her to come, she listens even though she doesn't want to.  She's better behaved than my own two dogs.  She's started sleeping next to my bed, and no matter where I go, she always follows me. She's awesome. 

Artemis - Artie is back at my house after a short stay at PetSmart and he's doing well.  He's getting braver around the dogs every day, but he still prefers to spend most of his time in his own area where the dogs can't bother him.  He always comes out to give me a hug when I ask though.   

Scribbles - She purrs!  It's been so long since I've heard her purr.  She didn't purr much (if ever) while she was at PetSmart.  Now she's back and as soon as I pet her she starts up with this low growly purr sound that when I first heard it I mistook for a far-away motorcycle.  I like it.
Neo - I finally saw Neo looking excited.  And happy.  I didn't know he had it in him.  The excited look came first, when I introduced him to one of the cats.  He acted like a puppy, running all over and trying to play with the cat.  At least I think he wanted to play.  I didn't want to let him get too close in case he wanted to turn the cat into a snack.  Suffiice it to say he really likes cats.  And then later, when I took him outside and just spent some time petting him, I saw him act happy for the first time.  He is starting to adjust to life without his family, and starting to settle into his foster home.  He still does the loud mournful howl from time to time that makes me sad, but he's doing it less and less. 

Princess - She needs a home with kids who will play with her, or at least with adults who will give her a lot of attention.  She just loves people.  She does well with other cats too, so hopefully it won't take her long to find her very own family.  This will be my last update on Princess since next week she's going on to another foster home.  I will miss this sweet affectionate cat.  

Merlin - I am in love with this cat.  He's so cute and friendly and funny to watch.  He's not very brave though.  In fact, he runs away from scary things on a regular basis.  He also finds himself getting stuck a lot, since he'll climb up somewhere high (like the top of a dog crate) and then not be able to climb back down.  Every other kitten or cat I've ever had would've just jumped down, but not Merlin.  Did I mention he's not very brave?  But that's okay, he doesn't need to jump, because all he has to do is give his quiet pathetic little "meow" and I come running and carefully lift him into my arms and cuddle him, then set him back on the floor.  I never get tired of rescuing him. 

My foster pets are lucky.  And your pets, they're even luckier.  There are nine white pit bull puppies at a local shelter right now.  I desparately want to save them, but I can't.  They look a lot like the picture on the right.  That's a picture of Boo, a previous foster dog I had.  These nine puppies are even smaller than Boo was, and are only 5 or 6 weeks old.  They're going to be put down in a few days unless a rescue steps up and takes them. But many rescue groups are scared to rescue pit bull puppies, because of their breed.  They have to worry about liability and breed specific legislation and finding good adoptive homes.  So chances are very good that these puppies will die, less than two months after being born, for no fault of their own.  That's why the very few we're able to rescue, and those pets who are loved and cared for by their owners, are the lucky ones.  And that's why when you hear people preaching about spaying and neutering, it's easy to understand why.  They've seen the litters of puppies and kittens and adult pets being put down simply because there is no one to step forward and rescue them.  It happens every day and its heartbreaking to walk away from those animals, knowing their fate.  So give your pets an extra treat today and remind them how lucky they are.

Introducing Tessa

This is Tessa. She's another last minute rescue, taken in after being scheduled for euthanization at an area animal control facility. I went to the facility with the intention of taking one of three dogs the facility director had told me about - either a chihuahua, a papillon, or a Great Dane mix. The chihuahua is adorable - a very sweet, very tiny dog who would be difficult to foster in my house because he might get stepped on. The papillon is a papillon. The director said he's very sweet, and I'm sure he is, but the breed is just not my favorite. The Great Dane mix had absolutely no Dane in him whatsover - he is a Shepherd/Lab mix, and he is very large and very sweet. He was my favorite of the three by far, but while I was there another dog caught my eye. Tessa.

The Shepherd/Lab, named Yeager, was very adoptable - a big yellow mutt who was already house-trained and very affectionate, turned in by his owners when they had to move. He'd be an easy one to foster and adopt out. But something about Tessa wouldn't let me walk away from her. She scrunched up against the front of her kennel with pleading eyes, just begging me to pet her. I reached in a hand and scratched behind her ear. Oh the joy and bliss on her face - she was in heaven just from a simple touch. I asked the director about her and found that she was scheduled to be euthanized by the vet in the morning.

She's a pit bull, and their facility is not allowed to adopt out pit bulls. But the director also thought she was very sweet, and was glad to hear that I was interested in saving her. She helped me test both Tessa and Yeager to see how they did with other dogs. Both passed with flying colors. Tessa also passed the rest of her evaluation, so I decided to try her out at my house. Yeager has a good shot at getting adopted before he runs out of time. Tessa appears to be an equally wonderful dog, and she did not have another option. I love to foster dogs that I would pick as my own dog if it were up to me. Out of all the dogs at that shelter, Tessa was the dog I would most want as my own, so I will especially enjoy fostering her. In spite of being a pit bull mix, I think she's very adoptable - she does great with other dogs, and is very submissive to them. I'll get her house-trained if she is not already, and work on some basic training with her, and in the end someone out there will be very lucky to adopt such a sweet girl.