Tornado Damage

We recently had a tornado that damaged a lot of homes and businesses in a city near us.  Here is a photo (courtesy of KTVI) that shows a satellite picture of some of the damage.  Fortunately no people were killed in this tornado, but some animals were, including one mother cat.  Her four five month old kittens survived, but with their house totally destroyed, the family turned them over to us to find new homes for the kittens.

(click to enlarge)

This is how I came to foster these adorable kittens:

Stormy

Thunder 

Lightning

Raine

I took these pictures within 2 minutes of putting them into their new room, and as you can see, they made themselves right at home.  Thunder, the only boy, is the most active which is why I had such a hard time getting a picture of him.  But you can see him better in this video - he's the one actually playing with the toy while Lightning and Raine are watching.

Abby was Adopted! Introducing Toby

Abby received an application for adoption last week, and went to her new home on Saturday!  She's now living with a very nice couple who has a lot of dog experience.  She has a fenced in yard and I think she'll be very happy in her new home, in spite of the fact that she has to share her new home with cats!

On Saturday I met Toby, who came to adoptions from an area shelter.  He had been there awhile and was getting a bit difficult to handle since he'd been living in a kennel for so long.  He also wasn't getting much attention from potential adopters at the shelter, so another volunteer agreed to take him as a foster dog.  But since Abby was adopted, and the volunteer who planned to take Toby didn't have any other high energy dogs, I offered to take him so he would have Target and Forrester to play with at my house.  He's fit right in, and is doing great so far.

Toby is about ten months old, and he is a very high energy, playful dog!  He doesn't have many manners yet, but we're starting to work on that.  He loves other dogs and so far he just seems afraid of Merlin, my cat.  He shouldn't be too hard to adopt out, especially once he learns some manners, since he seems to love everything and everyone.

Sunday Scoop: Shelters

This week's Sunday Scoop is about shelters.  There are good and bad shelters, but how do you tell the difference?  It's not about who has the nicest building or the most funding.  Those things can help make it a better place for the animals, but the people who run the shelter are much more important than the facility. 

Let's say you've just won the lottery, and you decide to spend that money on building a new animal shelter for your town.  First, let me thank you for your generosity!  Now, since you've chosen to not only donate the funding, but to actually run the shelter yourself, you have some decisions to make.  The big decision - are you going to be a no-kill shelter?  If you live in the north-eastern United States, this will be much easier than if you live in one of the southern states.  There are so many more homeless dogs in the South that they are constantly being transported to shelters and rescues in the North where there is a lower supply and higher demand.  Let's say you live in a rural area of the Midwest.  Now you know that if you choose to be no-kill, you're going to have to be limited admission.  This means that you will only take in dogs and cats until you run out of room or resources.  Then you'll turn animals away until you get enough pets adopted and have room to take in more.  Before you say "yes, I want to be no-kill", consider this.  The county where you live has no animal control facility at all.  If you turn away a dog or cat, they're going to be dumped on the side of the road.  They'll probably be hit by a car or shot by a rancher or just slowly starve to death.  Before that happens, they'll spread disease and they'll procreate, creating more unwanted dogs and cats who will also suffer because they don't have homes. Then again, if you are open admission and take in every animal that someone wants to turn in, you'll quickly run out of space and money, and either you'll have to euthanize dogs and cats or you'll find the animals you are supposed to be saving are actually suffering in your care because there are too many animals and not enough resources. 

Okay, have you made your decision?  It doesn't even matter which one you've decided, because whether you're an open admission or a "no-kill" limited admission shelter, you can still be a very good or very bad shelter.  Now let's talk about resources.  You've purchased the land and building for a shelter, but that took all of your lottery winnings.  Dog food is expensive, and so is the basic vet care.  If you put your extra money toward special vet care like heartworm treatment and fixing broken bones, you will not have enough to pay any salaries for people to care for the dogs and cats.  You also have to worry about paying for insurance and all the expenses that go into running a shelter.  You'd like to stay open on weekends and evenings, in addition to your regular hours during the workday, because you know that will help increase adoptions.  But what do you give up in order to have the money to stay open the extra hours?  You also have a volunteer program but not many volunteers.  More volunteers will give the dogs more time out of their kennels, and more volunteers, if they're trained, will help the dogs with basic training and teaching them to be more adoptable.  So find some time to improve your volunteer program, okay?  Also while you're at it, there have been some people protesting lately because they don't understand much about animal sheltering and they'd rather complain than learn, or help. They're hurting your reputation which will cost you in donations, so make sure you deal with them.  And don't forget to work with all the rescue groups who are willing to pull dogs from your group.  But make sure they're reputable groups first, because otherwise you'll be sending the dogs and cats to an even worse situation.  Oh, and if you'll have a few fundraisers, you can increase your funds to help animals... but good luck finding someone to actually lead a fundraiser.  You'll probably have to do it yourself.  In your free time. 

It's not easy to be in charge of a shelter.  Good shelters are made up of people who really care - especially when those people are at the top of the organization and have the influence to really make a difference.  Good shelters are open to the public during evenings and weekends in order to increase adoptions.  They have a strong volunteer program where the dogs and cats are provided enrichment (walks, petting, grooming, toys, play time, basic training, etc), in addition to the volunteers or employees who spend their days just cleaning kennels, scooping litter boxes, and feeding and watering the animals. They have separate quarantine areas and are clean and sanitary.  All pets are provided with at least the basic needed veterinary care.  Good shelters are willing to work with reputable rescues to get animals into foster care, and/or they have a foster care program of their own.  They aren't overcrowded, but they don't euthanize animals just for the sake of getting rid of them (yes, this happens).  They do their best for every animal that comes in the door, all for low wages (or for no wages at all).  They are friendly and easily accessible to the public, in order to reach potential adopters or supporters.  They have an online presence and take advantage of the largest online adoption websites like Petfinder.com and Adoptapet.com to help share the word of their available pets.  No shelter is perfect, but the good shelters are the ones who are constantly trying to improve.  And the best thing we can do as members of our community is to support those shelters. 

Belle is Positive... and that's a negative.

Any cat that is taken into the rescue I volunteer with gets vetted prior to adoption.  This means they are spayed or neutered, vaccinated, dewormed, tested for Feline Leukemia and FIV, and microchipped.  And if they have special needs we take care of those too.  In Belle's case, she had already been spayed prior to the time I got her, so I had hoped one vet visit would take care of all her needs and she could move to PetSmart to be seen by a lot of people and hopefully be adopted quickly.  She's front declawed and very friendly, so I hoped she'd be another quick adoption.  Unfortunately, things didn't happen as planned.  

Belle tested positive for FIV.  This means at some point she has been exposed to Feline Immunodeficiency Virus.  Or she could have antibodies from receiving an FIV vaccination in the past.  Since her previous owners abandoned her without sharing that information, we don't know, so we have to treat her like she is actually carrying the virus.  

FIV isn't all that scary.  It can't be transmitted to dogs or people, and it can only be transmitted from cat to cat via a deep bite wound or blood transfusion.  Most cats with FIV never even show symptoms - they live long, happy, healthy lives.  But when there are thousands of other cats to choose from (literally - there are over 1,500 cats available for adoption within 100 miles of me right now), people tend to overlook the cats with special needs or the cats who test positive for FIV.  Some rescue groups euthanize cats who test positive because their odds of getting adopted are so much lower.  But the rescue group I volunteer with doesn't do that, so Belle is going to live a long happy life.  Of course she's stuck with me until she gets adopted, so it may not be as happy as she wants. 

In the worst case scenario, FIV can cause Belle's immune system to stop working as well, and she could become seriously ill from an infection or illness.  But I've decided that she is going to be one of those cats who never shows symptoms.  (yes, it's just that easy).  She can't stay at PetSmart because the cats are allowed to interact with each other, and there would be a risk of her getting in a fight and spreading FIV to another cat.  So I take her to adoption events on the weekend, but the rest of the week she is here with me. 

I tend to have a bias against calico and tortoiseshell cats after fostering Scribbles and Whisper.  Calicos and Torties in general are known to have more "cattitude" than other cats.  There's no scientific basis for it, but in my experience, it's true, so I actually almost didn't take Belle from the shelter just because she was a calico.  But I'm so glad I did take her - she's one of the sweetest cats I've met.  She's started sleeping with me every night and she is so affectionate.  I hope that some adopter out there will see what a wonderful cat she is, and give her the forever home that she so deserves.  

The Best Things In Life Are Free

One thing I love about dogs is they don't care about brand names or what's in style.  They don't care if their toys come from a specialty pet store or a discount store.  I bet you can't guess where this wonderful toy came from:

Actually, this was Target's find.  Before it was a dog toy, it was a discarded broken plastic cup left under the deck.

But now, it's become a highly sought after, favorite dog toy.  Best find ever!

Three Out and Three In

Cleo, Brie and Sorbet were all adopted!!  I expected Brie and Sorbet to be adopted quickly, but I wasn't sure that they'd be able to be adopted together.  Fortunately a very nice guy came along who had previously had two littermates with completely opposite personalities, just like Brie and Sorbet, and he adopted them both!  And Cleo I also expected to be a quick adoption.  She was such a perfect dog at my house - well, except for wanting to eat the cats.  But when we got to the adoption event on Saturday, she quickly became a non-stop barker, a bully to other dogs, and a strong leash puller.  Basically she was very bratty and I feared she'd never be adopted.  So I was surprised when a nice older couple came along and asked about her.  I stood there with her pulling on the leash and barking away, and told them how she was a great dog - usually.  They have no cats, and a perfect home for her, so Cleo went out on a trial adoption this weekend.  I really hope she's behaving better at their house now than she did at the adoption event. 

Our group had a very good weekend at adoptions - in addition to my fosters, there were several cats and dogs placed into new homes, including Tucker - a foster who's been waiting almost as long as Ziggy for a new home!   


Somehow before Saturday's event had ended, I had already filled Cleo's spot with a new foster dog.  A lady showed up at PetSmart with this adorable dog in tow:

She explained that her daughter had rescued the dog as a puppy, along with 12 other puppies left in the freezing cold.  She found homes for all of them, but this puppy had mange and was returned by the person who originally took the dog.  So her daughter took the puppy back, and the lady was helping her daughter by keeping the dog at her house.  They treated the dog and had her spayed, and she'd been spoiled rotten at this lady's house.  But the lady lived in an apartment and due to a disability couldn't walk her, so the dog, who had been named Abby, needed a home with more space and a yard where she could run.  Sometimes people rescue dogs and do everything right by them, including giving them up when it's what is best for them.  I know it was very hard for the lady to give up Abby, but it won't take long until Abby is adopted.  She'll have a loving, wonderful home with a fenced in yard where she can run to her heart's content.  And in the meantime, she's having a blast running around my back yard and playing chase with my other foster dogs.  Then she cuddles up to me on the couch and falls asleep.  I love this dog. 

You may have noticed I said "other foster dogs".  That's because I have more than just Ziggy and Abby now.  Last week I took in two other foster dogs.  They're the same age as Abby - 5 months old - and just about the same size as her, so they love playing together.  Target and Forrester were also turned in by someone who couldn't care for them properly.  Another rescue volunteer contacted me about some dogs owned by a lady who had cancer and was losing her home.  She had been trying to save up to get her dogs spayed and neutered, but being on a tight income, she hadn't been able to come up with the money in time.  Unfortunately her vet, who knew she was saving up, never bothered to tell her about the low-cost spay/neuter options available, and she never knew she had any other options except to come up with hundreds of dollars for the surgeries.  So her dogs had litters.  And while some of the litter was taken in by another rescue, she still has four dogs waiting to get into rescue.  So I took two of the dogs now, and if no one steps forward to take the other two by the time these two are adopted, I'll try to take them then.   

Target and Forrester are having a hard time with the change in environment, in spite of their young age.  They've never had a collar and leash before, so they're not sure what to make of that.  I have to carry them if I want to take them anywhere. Everything new is scary, and it seems almost everything is new to them, but they're quickly adjusting.  Forrester, the brown one, is already becoming my shadow.  He's always right by my side.  He's also the braver of the two.  Target, the white dog, is still a little bit nervous around me, but he'll finally let me pet him.  Forrester never makes a sound, but Target is more vocal, and will bark at anything scary - like a school bus, or a stranger, or a cat.  They've had a few days to settle in, so today they're going to start dragging around their leashes to begin their leash training.  This will get them used to the feel and presence of a leash without anyone pulling on the other end.  We're also starting to work on some basic manners training like "don't jump up", and of course house training.  But it's not all work around here - most of the time, all I see of Abby, Forrester and Target is a blur that looks like this:

May Featured Blogs

The following blogs have been selected as featured blogs for May!

Open Hearts: Dog Fostering Blog - I recently discovered this blog written by another dog foster mom, and it has become one of my favorites.  Kim writes about the joys and heartaches of fostering, and makes me fall in love with each dog she fosters.

Donna and the Dogs - Donna writes about her life with her dogs, including adventures with rally obedience and K-9 nose work.  She's done an amazing job with her rescue dogs, and has helped to show just how much a rescue dog can accomplish!

Chronicle of Woos - I enjoy reading this blog, but I have to admit I would visit this blog even if they never wrote a word, just because of the pictures.  Thunder, Dakota and Phantom are Siberian Huskies, and they are just gorgeous.  If you haven't visited, stop by and check them out!

Bad Blair - This blog is written by Blair, a tortie cat who lives with Erika, a university student in Ontario, Canada.  Blair is currently teaching cats everywhere how to be naughty - very useful information!

We Three Doxies - This blog is usually written by Puddles, the most difficult challenging entertaining Doxie I have ever met.  She always makes me laugh, and often reminds me of a much smaller Ziggy.

I hope you'll take a few minutes to check out these blogs and maybe make some new friends!

Sunday Scoop: Foster Homes

One thing I've learned is that the animal rescue world has a lot of people with very strong opinions. Sometimes sharing those opinions causes divisions that do more harm to animals than good. This is one reason I try to keep my blog a bit more light-hearted. Well, that plus I want you to like me. But once in awhile, I like to be more serious. So I'm bringing back the Sunday Scoop feature, in which I share my opinions on various aspects of animal rescue. Over the next several Sundays, I'm going to share the scoop on rescues, shelters, and foster homes. Let's start with the scoop on foster homes.


Let's say you're part of a rescue group - the only one in your area that takes in dogs from your local animal control facility. You do your best to recruit foster homes, but it's a small area and right now you only have four foster homes in your group. The animal control facility calls you about this dog:

Ginger

They tell you that she was picked up as a stray, and is out of time. They say she's very young, and a bit shy. They ask if you want her, or if they should euthanize her. You go see her in order to get more information, and you spend a little time with her. You find out she's good with other dogs and seems fine with cats. She doesn't show any aggression and you know that she wouldn't take very long to get adopted if you could just fit her into a foster home. So you reach out to your four foster home volunteers, and find out their status.


Darby fosters for you and usually takes in small dogs. She takes in just one at a time, and does a fabulous job getting them ready for adoption. They get a lot of one-on-one attention, play time with other pets, they go places with her to get them socialized, and she brings them to adoption events regularly to find them new homes. She's your ideal foster home, but she already has a foster dog, and one more that is waiting to go to her as soon as she has room. So there's no way she's going to be able to help with this stray dog.


Next you contact Reagan and Jack. They would be a perfect foster home for this dog, because they have children, cats and dogs of their own, and foster pets. Reagan is very experienced with dogs and you know the stray dog would quickly come out of her shell in a home like this. However Reagan and Jack already have two foster dogs that are special needs, and don't have the room for another foster right now. So you move on to your next foster home.

Kirsten has taken in several foster pets lately.  You decide to stop by and visit her to see how it's going, before asking if she can take in one more.  When you arrive at her house, she shows you into her back room which is lined with cages.  There are several dogs who begin barking as soon as they see you.  You can see the dogs are physically healthy and the cages are clean.  Kirsten tells you that she's been letting the dogs go out in play groups in the backyard, so they can get some exercise.  But there are so many dogs there already, that you know they aren't getting much attention. You can see that Kirsten is very devoted to these dogs, but you also know that the dogs are basically living their entire lives in crates.  They aren't being house-trained or learning about life in a home.  And although Kirsten offers to take the dog, you are concerned that another dog will be more than she can handle.  You decide to contact your last foster home before making any decisions.

 

Sue has been fostering for several years.  She is very experienced with dogs, and is your main "go-to" foster home.  Sue usually has four or five foster dogs, but right now she has a litter of six puppies in addition to the three adult foster dogs that she has.  You're not sure if she's going to be able to take in another one, but you know that if she thinks she can handle it, the stray dog will be happy there.  You have been to her house many times, and the dogs are given enough freedom to learn what it's like to live in a house, while still having enough rules and structure to be well adjusted.  The dogs go to adoption events almost every weekend, and every attempt is made to place them into good homes.  You tell Sue about the stray dog and ask if she can help.  However Sue tells you that as much as she would like to help, she needs to get at least one of her other foster dogs adopted first. 

What do you do?  The dog is not a purebred or even close to a purebred so you can't get her into a breed-specific rescue.  You've contacted some other all-breed rescue groups but they're all full.  Do you send the dog to Kirsten and hope for the best?  Do you tell animal control to go ahead and kill the dog because you don't have any openings? 

 

Once you make your decision, you call Animal Control to let them know.... and they tell you about these two dogs who are in the exact same situation - out of time.  They're just puppies, and they're really sweet.  What should you do about them?

 

Salt & Pepper

This is what rescue groups face every day.  We can only save a few, and there is always a trade-off for each foster home as to how many they save versus what level of care they provide the dogs in their home.  I try to work with each foster dog I have - to give them a bit of one-on-one time, and some basic training - to teach them and to make them more adoptable.  This means I take in less foster dogs than some other foster homes who are able to save more dogs.  It means some dogs die because I don't fit them in.  And yet I have enough foster dogs that I can't always give my fosters as much attention as they want. They spend more time in crates than I'd like. But my goal is to save my fosters from somewhere worse, whether that's the shelter or the streets, and as quickly as possible prepare them to go on to something better - a loving adoptive home.  I believe this is what fostering should be.  

I based the example above on real life people and dogs (names have been changed!)  I aspire to be like "Sue", who is based on the president of the rescue where I volunteer.  She is my hero.  Of course there are a lot of areas where I can improve (just ask Ziggy!)  Some things I've learned from others in rescue are that the best foster homes are good at saying "no", even when they know they're a dog's only hope, for the sake of their other fosters.  The best foster homes do whatever they can to find good homes for their dogs.  They take them to adoption events every chance they get, and they follow up on every phone call or e-mail they receive.  They have good people skills in addition to good dog skills.  And in the end, they not only save lives, but they improve lives of both dogs and people.  

For those of you wondering what happened to Ginger and Salt & Pepper - Ginger was a dog I took in several years ago when she was out of time at an Animal Control facility.  She was adopted into a great home.  And Salt & Pepper were dogs at the same animal control facility whom I had to say "no" to due to lack of room.  They were later euthanized. 

Flashback Friday: Pip

In June of 2009 I fostered this dog:

When I got him, he was a six or seven week old puppy that fit into the palm of my hand.  He was quickly adopted and recently his new dad found me at PetSmart and told me that Pip, now named Mario, is doing great.  He showed me this picture of him.  He's still small and still adorable!  His dad said that Mario is doing great and pretty much rules the house.  I love hearing updates on my previous fosters - it's great to know that they are getting to live their "happily ever after".

Ziggy Goes To The River

When I told Ziggy we were going to go exploring, he was very excited.  He even insisted on driving.

That's how we ended up in the middle of this lake. 

Oops - maybe you'd better do the driving next time. 

Okay, not really.  Actually I drove and we went to Lock & Dam 25 on the Mississippi River.  

The area is very flooded right now!

We had a great time on the trail.  

Ziggy was constantly looking up at me with a look in his eyes that seemed to say "Isn't this GREAT?!"  The place is only about 10 minutes from our house so I think we'll be coming back to this trail often.

Beagle-mix Puppies

These two puppies spent the weekend at my house since their foster mom had company over for Easter.  I learned a lot about these two pups in the short time I had them.  This picture pretty much sums up their personalities.  The one on the right is sweet and a little bit shy, and always does whatever is asked of her. The one on the left is a different story.  It's not that she doesn't want to do what is asked of her... but there's usually something more exciting going on.  

 This puppy will gladly sit and pose for the camera.

But this one - well, she was much too busy pruning the rose bush to stop for a picture.

I returned both pups to their foster mom today.  She mentioned she needed to have some yard work done, and I knew just the right puppy to handle the job!

Cleo's Ears

When I first saw Cleo, she looked something like this:

Then, as she became more comfortable, her ears began to rise...

more and more.

 And now, her ears look something like this:

Unless she's really happy.  Then they look something like this:

I love when she's really happy.

Great Adoption Weekend!

My foster cat Simon was adopted on Thursday evening.  He went home with a young couple who are very excited to have a new member of the family.  Then today Tiggr went to his new home!  He was adopted by a single lady who recently lost her sixteen year old cat.  Each one will be an only cat and I think they'll do great in their new homes.  As if the two cat adoptions were not exciting enough, today we had a great adoption day at PetSmart as three dogs found homes, and one more is pending adoption (after a home visit).  First is Hunter, a large black lab that was most likely going to be euthanized if his foster mom had not pulled him from animal control.  The foster family adopted him and he is doing great in his new home.  The other two adoptions were both unexpected but people who were shopping just fell in love with them when they saw them, so they were in the right place at the right time.  Bailey the Chocolate Lab puppy was adopted, and Polly my foster Chihuahua was also adopted!   Arnold the pit bull/manatee also received an application for adoption and will hopefully be adopted pending a home visit. It is wonderful to see so many pets getting into homes.  

Now that we have some more openings for cats at PetSmart, I'm going to be sending Brie, Sorbet and Belle up to PetSmart so they will have more opportunities to be seen.  That will only leave me with Cleo, Ziggy and Kira and her kittens left here at home.  For now.  

I did manage to bring home two extra puppies, just for the weekend.  I was kind of surprised that neither of these cute puppies was adopted at the event today, but I'm sure it won't take long until they too are adopted!

More Introductions

I'd like to introduce you to a few more dogs and cats, if you don't mind.  I'll try to make this quick, because there are several of them.

First is Simon.  He's a gray tabby cat that came from a city shelter where he'd been living for seven months.  He's three years old, and he really wants a home of his own. 

Next, there's Polly.  She is one of the puppy mill dogs that All Paws took in about a month ago.  She's been in another foster home, where she had taken to climbing fences and bullying the other puppy mill chihuahuas, so she was sent to rehab at my house.  Ziggy volunteered to be the drill sergeant.

As if I didn't have enough cats running around, I went to a different city shelter and pulled this girl.  I named her Belle, and even though she's a Calico, she seems very sweet.  She is six years old and was in danger of being euthanized because of her "old age", so I had to take her.  This was the glare she gave me when I called her old.

And finally, I brought home this dog and named her Pebbles.  Then I remembered that I already had a foster dog named Pebbles previously so I changed it to Freckles.  Then I checked my blog while typing this post and realized I also had a foster dog named Freckles already.  So I think I'm naming her Cleo.  For now.  

She doesn't really have laser blue eyes.  She does however love to chase cats.  Which makes it not an easy foster situation for someone with three foster cats running around (plus two staying at PetSmart and Kira and her kittens in another room).  Wow - when I put it like that, it doesn't really sound all that crowded around here. 

So for those of you keeping track, here's the latest:


Remi (my Great Dane) is visiting Noelle (my deaf pit bull) and Dave (my husband) at the old house this week.
Ziggy (deaf foster pit bull) is starting his own boot camp to keep the other dogs in line.
Polly (foster Chihuahua) is learning how to be a real dog instead of a puppy-making machine.
Cleo (foster Beagle mix) is learning the new rules of the house and enjoying life out of a shelter.
Simon (foster tabby cat) is living at PetSmart and hoping to be adopted.
Tiggr (foster tabby cat) moved to PetSmart today and is hoping to be adopted again.
Belle (foster calico cat) is living in a quarantined area (aka my bathroom) until she can be tested/vetted.
Brie (foster tabby cat) is hiding in the home office.
Sorbet (foster Siamese mix) is exploring the entire house and still bouncing off walls.
Kira (foster torbie cat) and Kona (kitten) and Kimba (kitten) are living in the "cat room".
Merlin (my cat) is enjoying the new house and all the new friends.  I'm sure of it.


Now I'm planning on no more new fosters until I get some adoptions!  

Missy was Adopted!

Missy went out on a trial adoption on Saturday.   When I first met the couple, I knew they looked familiar, but couldn't place them.  Then they reminded me that a couple of years ago they had been interested in adopting Noelle.  At the time she was my long-time foster dog (kind of like Ziggy) and I was very hopeful that this would be a good fit for her.  I did a home visit, but Noelle was a bit too much for their cats, so it was decided that it wasn't a good fit.  I think Missy will be a much better fit, and am hopeful that this will be her happily ever after!

Mouse Race Results

A while back we had a contest to name a mouse at an All Paws Rescue mouse-racing fundraiser.  Frankie Furter was the winner of the contest, and he named his mouse "WINNER".  I thought this was a great name, so when the time came, I quickly bet all of my chips on WINNER. 

Perhaps I should have checked out the mouse before making this decision.  The mice each spent time right before their race in a small cage with a wheel so they could "warm up" for the race. 

Winner spent his time sleeping.

Still, he turned out to be quite a fast runner.  If only he hadn't had so much trouble with the hurdles.  I recorded the race on video so you could see the results yourself.  That's Winner in lane four. 

View on YouTube

Even if Winner wasn't the big winner, the important thing was that everyone had a great time and we raised money for three rescue groups at the same time! 

Introducing Brie and Sorbet; Tiggr was Returned

I didn't name these two kittens. I just kept the names they were given at the shelter. Kittens are often given weird names, especially when there are so many coming into a shelter on a regular basis.  It's a sign of a good shelter that they were given names instead of just numbers!  The shelter where I found them is trying very hard to be both open-admission and no-kill.  They're doing a great job caring for the cats, but unfortunately they don't do as many adoptions in their location as they need.  These kittens were turned in by their "owners" when they were only ten weeks old.  There were originally three kittens in the litter, and when they were turned in they were thin, dirty, had fleas, worms and coccidia.  One of the kittens later died from coccidia, and only Brie and Sorbet survived.  They've been living in cages in the shelter since October!  They're now almost nine months old, and since they were ten weeks old, other than possibly some time in the shelter's play room, they've only known life in a cage. When I saw them there last week, among the many dozens of other cats, I immediately picked them out.  It was so hard to leave behind the rest of the cats, many of whom had been waiting even longer than these two. 

I was a bit worried about them since they've never really known life in a home.  Would they be scared in my house with all the normal household noises and the dogs barking?  Would they feel scared of all the open space since they've been confined for so long?  I put them together in the office and shut the door to let them get accustomed to the room without any distractions.  Next time I went in, this is what I found:

Brie

Brie was hiding behind the chair, looking very afraid.  I talked to her, and she let me pet her, but it was obvious that she was very nervous.  I had left a crate in the room which she ignored, but she later hid under the dog bed in the room and anytime the door opened or closed, I would find her either under the bed or running for the bed to hide.  When I'm there, she gets brave enough to come out and she purrs while I pet her, but even after a week she's still very frightened. 
Then there's her sister Sorbet. 


Sorbet

She's a bit different than Brie in both looks and personality.  Her beautiful blue eyes and unique markings are what first caught my attention, but if I had known what her personality was before pulling her from the shelter, I would have been a bit more prepared.  Shortly after I put Brie and Sorbet in the office, I heard a lot of thumping.  It sounded like the cats were bouncing off the walls.  And knocking down things on shelves and destroying the room.  I'm pretty sure that's exactly what Sorbet was doing.  When I went in and found Brie huddled behind the chair, Sorbet was right there looking out the door trying to see into the rest of the house.  I sat and talked to the cats, and while Brie just looked at me with fear in her eyes, Sorbet ran up to me and climbed in my lap and began purring.  Within 2 hours of being in the office, Sorbet had finished investigating everything in the room and playing with all the toys, and was back to bouncing off the walls.  I finally gave in and let her out into the main room of the house.  She came right out, met Missy and Remi, checked out the bedroom and the living room and the kitchen, and made herself right at home. I debated  letting her stay out all night, but I was afraid the entire house would be destroyed, so I put her back in the office. This cat is going to be so much trouble for some lucky family.  Because although she has unending energy, no fear, and way too much curiosity, she's also sweet and loving and affectionate.  I adore her.

I also received a call from Tiggr's adopters last night.  Although they love him and said he is everything they hoped for, they babysit for their 18 month old granddaughter and she has allergies to cats.  They haven't had cats in many years so they didn't know it until Tiggr came to live with them.  They were very sad to give him up, and I was sad for Tiggr's sake.  But he's back home with me again and will keep waiting for just the right home to come along!

Introducing Kira, Kona and Kimba

But first, my neighbor would like to have a word:

Moo!

I believe what she's trying to say is "Please, for the love of cows, stop taking my picture!"  I'm sorry, I can't help myself. 

What do you call a grumpy cow? 
Moo-dy. 

Okay, on to the introductions.  First is Kira.   Kira was found as a pregnant stray by a family who couldn't keep her, but they let her stay until she had her two kittens and we could make space for them in a foster home. The kittens are around six weeks old now. 

Kira is a beautiful cat who couldn't decide if she wanted to be a tabby or a tortoiseshell, so she picked both.  Her coloring is called "torbie" - a mix of the tabby pattern and the tortoiseshell markings.  She is small and quite young, although I'll have to wait until she goes to the vet to get a good estimate of her age. 

Kira is very friendly with people, but after one unfortunate encounter where Ziggy decided to break into her room, I quickly learned that Kira does NOT like dogs. 

The kittens are another story.  They aren't really afraid of anything, and see themselves as mighty hunters.  I'm pretty sure they would have gladly taken down Ziggy if Kira had not done such an excellent job of telling Ziggy to get out of their room in no uncertain terms.  Instead they had to settle for taking down my tennis shoes.  And each other.  And the collapsible cat cube.  And anything else they could get their paws on. 

The kittens and Kira are sharing an empty room in my house that I have specifically designated as a "cat room".  Since it'll still be another few weeks before the kittens are old enough to get vetted for adoption, I wanted to give them as much room as possible to run and play.

These kittens were very lucky - they've never known life in a cage.  Even so, I feel sorry for them being relegated to only one room of the house, with very little interaction with me and no interaction with any other pets or people.  It causes me to buy them lots and lots of cat toys to keep them entertained.  And to say, if you haven't considered it, think about fostering!  One momma cat and two kittens isn't very much work, and the entertainment they provide is well worth it!

This is Kona.

 And this is Kimba.

They're both girls, and they'll hopefully be ready for adoption in about three weeks! 

Not So Wordless Wednesday

This is Bailey.  She is a Chocolate Lab puppy that was at the adoption event on Saturday, also looking for a home.  

Peek-A-Boo!

For some reason, I look at this cute puppy and I am reminded of a puppy that I fostered many years ago.



I See You!

There's a certain similarity in their facial expressions, don't you think?  And okay fine, it hasn't been many years since I fostered this oh-so-goofy puppy.  It's only been a year since this picture was taken. But somehow, with Ziggy, hours can seem like days, and days can seem like weeks, and it's hard to remember when he was this little! 

All About Arnold

This is Arnold:

 He's an American Pit Bull Terrier.  Possibly mixed with manatee. 

Can you see the resemblance?

 Here are some other reasons that I believe Arnold may be part manatee.


1. Manatees are quite gentle. So is Arnold.

2. Manatees are agile. Arnold has taken some Agility classes.

3. Manatees often have scars due to boat collisions. Arnold has scars too.

4. Manatees like to eat plants. Arnold does too.

5. Manatees spend most of their time feeding, resting or traveling. So does Arnold.



All in all, I think it's safe to say that Arnold is definitely part manatee. He's being fostered by the trainer who is working with Ziggy and me. She claims he is 100% pure American Pit Bull Terrier. Her dog, Jack, is Arnold's littermate, which is how she ended up fostering Arnold when his family had to move to Ohio -to a city that doesn't allow pit bulls.  I haven't seen Jack yet, so I'm not sure if he looks like Arnold. But if he does, I might have to give her the bad news that her dog is also part manatee.


In spite of his dubious heritage, Arnold has done quite well for himself so far. He has been Temperament tested and certified through the American Temperament Test Society. He knows basic obedience (both on and off leash) and is currently enrolled in class and working towards his AKC Canine Good Citizenship. Now if he can just find a home with a family who doesn't mind his mixed-species heritage, he'll be all set!