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!

Mercury, Venus, Sedna; Outtakes

I took some new pictures of Mercury, Venus and Sedna, my Solar System kittens, for the website. Mercury is so affectionate, he'll never leave me alone to let me take his picture, so here I took a picture by holding up the camera in one hand and pointing it at him, and trying to crop my face out of the picture. It was the best I could do! I can't help it that he loves me so much. :-)

Venus is so sweet. She has a bladder infection so she is on antibiotics right now, and she has to go back to the vet next week to get rechecked out. Even though she probably doesn't feel good, and doesn't like her medicine, she's always purring.


Sedna has the coolest tail. It's ringed, kind of like a raccoon. In this picture she's sitting on an awesome scratching post made by the Girl Scouts. All of the kittens love it - thanks Girl Scouts!



And now for some fun, silly pictures! Here Sedna is trying to grab a feather toy that I'm swinging in front of the camera - she's not really picking on her sister like it appears. At least not deliberately.


Remember Emma, my Newfoundland foster dog? She managed to put a nice big hole in her PetCot pet bed before she was adopted. The company said they can repair it, but since I haven't brought it in to be fixed yet, it's just sitting in the extra bedroom leaning against the wall. The kittens seem to be enjoying it the way it is...

In the other bedroom, Pip is living with Cilla, Capri, Chessie & Cabbie, and they all get along great. I swear he thinks he's a cat - he runs and plays just like they do, and they all wrestle together. He just can't figure out how to climb on top of the ex-pen or the bed like the kittens do.

Here's Pip playing with the feather toy while Capri chases the string. Puppies and kittens are so entertaining!

Introducing Capri, Cilla, Chessie & Caboose

I went to an area shelter a few weeks ago to rescue a litter of kittens. This shelter gets in so many animals every day, and doesn't do many adoptions. They actually euthanize the animals there three times a week because they get so many in. It's very hard to go to this shelter and walk out knowing how many of the puppies, adult dogs, cats and kittens will be killed. Some of the dogs look at me, and they just know. They sit there looking so depressed that it breaks my heart. But the ones that make me cry are the ones that look so happy. This last time there was one dog in particular - a black dog, around 50 pounds, that looked at me with this big smile, tongue hanging out, looking so hopeful that I would pet her or play with her. And I couldn't touch her for fear of spreading disease, and I couldn't take her away since I have no more room, and I couldn't do anything but turn my back and walk away, knowing that because she's a big black dog, a mutt, she has almost no chance of being saved. Someone, somewhere thought it was too expensive to get their dog spayed, or it would be fun to have a litter of puppies, or they just didn't want to bother with it. So another unwanted dog was born and ended up in a shelter, alone, waiting to die.

I didn't mean to make this post so depressing - maybe it just helps that other people know how hard it is to go there and see that. The reason I go back, time after time, is because I can make a difference. Whenever animals come into that shelter they are assigned a tag with a number on it. When rescuers go to pull animals, they write down the tag numbers of the animals they think they may be able to help, and then the shelter workers check to see if those animals are available. Unless an owner comes in to the shelter and turns over an animal, agreeing it can be immediately euthanized, all the rest of the dogs and cats must be held for at least 5 business days in case an owner claims them. So when I went in, I wrote down the tag numbers of several kittens, to find out which ones had been held the required time and would be available to go. As I inquired about their status, I learned that fourteen of the kittens I had inquired about were scheduled to be euthanized the next morning. I had no way I could take so many kittens, but I couldn't bear to leave them behind either. It's hard enough to walk out of there knowing that the ones I leave behind have such a slim chance for adoption - it's impossible to walk out knowing that they have NO chance. So I began making phone calls, and fortunately several Heartland volunteers stepped forward to help. I was on my lunch hour and had to go back to work, so Cindy, one of our volunteers, actually went to the shelter and pulled all fourteen kittens! She kept them at her house, got them all dewormed and started on medication, and held onto all fourteen of them for several weeks. That's quite a sacrifice to make on top of all her other fosters she is already caring for - and these kittens wouldn't be alive without her. After that, six of the kittens went to another volunteer (thanks Barb!) and just recently four of the kittens came to my house. The last four kittens are still at Cindy's house and I will get them in another week or two. So all of that, just to introduce my four newest kittens!

This cutie is named Caboose (Cabbie for short). He's got the funniest coloring, and he has this weird double stripe down his back, which you can see in the picture.


This is Cabbie's sister, named Cilla. She is such a little roly-poly kitten and she loves to eat!

The other two kittens in this "litter" are not related to Cabbie and Cilla, but they've become instant friends and are sharing living quarters. They were each "singles" - we don't know what happened to the rest of their litters. Here is Capri. She's my first Siamese mix, and she's the most affectionate of the bunch!

And here's Chessie - she's an adorable Torbie (tabby with brown patches).

All four kittens are doing great, and go to the vet next week to get checked out and spayed/neutered.

Ariel & Aladdin were Adopted; Frazier

Two of my kittens were adopted this week - Ariel and Aladdin from the Disney litter found homes. I've been busy taking care of my fosters, so another volunteer has agreed to write something to keep you all entertained. :-) Here is a post about one of my favorite Heartland foster dogs - Frazier!

Frazier is a one year old Plott Hound / Beagle mix. He was found as a stray and had a broken leg. It turns out it was not a simple break – but a break at the head of his femur, requiring surgery to allow Frazier to keep his leg.

He has recovered from the surgery well, but he had lost a lot of muscle in the leg before he was rescued. Now he must go through a period of rehab to re-build the muscle and gain strength in his leg. A very kind friend of his foster mom told her about Healing Paws Rehab. She had taken her own dogs there and was very impressed with their program. She donated the first three visits to help get Frazier’s treatment underway.

As you can see he walks on the underwater treadmill to exercise the muscle as he walks against the resistance of the water. They also taught walk on the treadmill and he does it in his foster home every day as well.

Frazier will need about 6 weeks of rehab therapy. If possible, please consider donating to his care.

Frazier is a very friendly, happy little guy. He loves everyone and gives the best kisses ever. He is so cute when he picks up the morning paper to carry it into the house. He is cratetrained and housetrained. He will be available for adoption as soon as he builds a little more muscle in the leg.

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!

On my way to get a dog...

A Heartland volunteer was driving down the road today and saw a box out front of a house with a sign for free puppies. She stopped and talked to the owners, and they just had one puppy left. I don't know how many there were originally... the owners were giving them away to anyone who'd take them. The scary part about this is that they don't ask any questions or do anything to make sure the puppies are going to a safe home. In fact, they had one lady come by with three kids and take a puppy. She then returned the next day, saying something had happened to the first puppy and she needed another one. And they gave a second one to her. These dogs are unwanted, disposable, and many people don't much care what happens to them. Fortunately our volunteer rescued the last one, and I'm on my way to get the puppy now.

"Before" vs. "After" UPDATE

Remember Kevin? Here's his "before" and "after" picture:

Quite a difference! You can read more about him here.


And here is Rags, the little guy I fostered for a short time. These are pictures from during his first medicated bath. He's had a rough start, but he's in great hands with his foster mom, and he's already well on his way to getting better.

Also, my good news of the week - my Disney kittens are finally over their coccidia and can be adopted!!! Mercury, Venus and Sedna still have coccidia, but hey, at least we're making progress. I have to get the Disney kittens adopted soon because I have eight more lined up that are coming from another foster home. Cindy, one of Heartland's cat foster volunteers, has kindly been keeping all eight kittens for me and taking care of them until I have a little more room. It's great to volunteer with such a nice group of people!

Introducing Kai

Rags the puppy has gone on to his permanent foster home, and now I have a new short-term foster dog. Her name is Kai, and she is the sweetest puppy. She's the kind I always fall for - the ones that are so sweet but so scared of the world. She's afraid to go through doorways, and afraid of being on a leash, and afraid of loud noises. But she loves to cuddle and I'm hoping she gets over her fears soon and realizes that she is safe now. I'm only supposed to have her for a few days - dog-sitting for her permanent foster mom - but I might try to hold onto her a little longer. She's one of the special ones that I'd adopt for myself if there was any way that I could.
Here's a short video of Kai, and a 2-second clip of Noelle on the end. Noelle likes to jump up onto the hot tub cover, and I just happened to catch her on video trying to jump up and not quite making it. :-)

Petropolis

On Saturday we took several dogs to adoption events. Some went to our regular PetSmart location, and others went to the Petropolis Pet Carnival. Unfortunately most of the dogs didn't have much luck either place. We had three puppies adopted - Daniel, Brook and Buddy, but no adults.

We did have a good time at Petropolis though. They broke the record for the Guiness Book of World Record's Largest Mass Dog Wedding, with 184 doggie couples being married. It was fun, and we even married off three of our rescue dogs. Noelle and a few of the other dogs we brought decided they wanted to stay single, but Drake, Dash and Degan were all willing to be a part of the big event. On the left is Drake and Degan being married, and on the right is Dash being married to Bailey. The original plan was to have Degan and Dash marry each other, because they're play buddies who love to wrestle and play together. But then we didn't make it to the Speed Dating area for Drake, so we were trying to find someone for him to marry, and found Bailey, another guest's dog who was looking for her soulmate. Bailey is a female version of Dash. It's hard to tell in this picture, but she looks a lot like him - another red merle Cattle Dog mix. They looked so cute together that we did arranged marriages for Bailey and Dash, and ended up marrying off Drake and Degan to each other. They didn't seem to mind the last-minute change of plans - they were too excited about walking down the aisle and being on TV! And I have to admit, this is probably my one and only chance to play a part in breaking a record for Guiness, so I had fun too walking Dash down the aisle next to Bailey. Hopefully some of our photographers who were there will post some pictures on their blogs soon (hint, hint) so you can see more of the event. :-)

Pictures from http://www.reviewstl.com/

In addition to the dog wedding, we also sold t-shirts as a fundraiser for Heartland. The shirts were quite popular, and we only have a few left. If you're interested in one, please stop up at PetSmart on Saturday between 11am and 4pm and ask one of the Heartland volunteers to purchase one. Here is the design on the front: