Bugsy was adopted!

Back in December of 2008, I fostered a cat that I named Bugsy.  He was a friendly, outgoing cat.  He originally came into foster care after a lady contacted us, saying that when she opened up her door to let her dogs in from the back yard, a strange cat had followed the dogs inside.  No one claimed the cat, so we took him in and got his vet work done and then made him available for adoption.  I only had Bugsy for about a month before he was adopted. 

Sadly, Bugsy was returned in July of 2010.  Since I couldn't take him back right then, another volunteer took him to her house for a couple of months, and then he went and stayed at PetSmart for a very long time.  While he was there, he had an eye infection and one of the volunteers asked to take him to her vet to get him checked out.  Her vet was able to treat the eye infection successfully, and found that the blood vessels in one eye were irregular.  At that point, the volunteer took Bugsy to another vet who is able to use a blood serum treatment that would grow new blood vessels in his eye.  And this vet found that Bugsy had high blood pressure!  I was a bit surprised - after all, Bugsy had been to at least four different vets over the past three years, and none of them had ever suggested checking his blood pressure.  But sure enough, Bugsy was started on blood pressure medication, and within two weeks his blood pressure went from 247/100 to 100/70 which is normal.  The vet said that he poor cat probably had headaches his whole life, and he was so good-natured that we never had any idea anything was wrong. 

So after all that, Bugsy is now on blood pressure medication (via a gel that is rubbed into his ear) and this past Saturday he just went to his forever home.  His new adopter has had a special needs cat in the past and he is going to have another cat, a dog and some children to play with every day now - I think it will be a perfect fit for this wonderful, outgoing cat.  Special thanks to Carol, the volunteer who spent so much time getting Bugsy healthy, and to his new adoptive family for taking in a special needs cat!

Bugsy was adopted!

We had a very good day at PetSmart this past weekend. I've been so busy taking care of puppies, I hadn't had time to write about it until now. But Bugsy, my foster cat, was adopted on Saturday! Also we had several dogs adopted, including eight puppies! Four of the puppies were from the Lab/Aussie litter that are so adorable - Polly, Ozzie, Cobbler and Cheerio were all adopted. And then the remaining three yellow lab/border collie puppies were all adopted (Joker, Jersey and Jinx), and most exciting for me, the last of Kiya's puppies - Cody was adopted!!! Also Susie, a coonhound was adopted, and I think several cats may have been adopted as well, but since I spend most of my time at PetSmart helping with dog adoptions, I'm not sure how cat adoptions were this week. It is so exciting that so many dogs were adopted - many of the puppies had been waiting for several months for their own home, and now their wait is over.

Saturday was very busy, and it was wonderful to have some new volunteers step up and help - it is greatly appreciated! And for me, yesterday was just as busy, and again two other Heartland volunteers were a huge help, as we spent most of the day cleaning up puppy papers, deworming the eight new puppies and giving them their first vaccinations. That is not an easy job with so many puppies! But we got it done, and it was much easier with so much help. This morning I rushed through caring for the puppies before work - it still took about 45 minutes - and as they continue to grow it will continue to take longer each time! Either I have to get faster at cleaning up puppy paper, or I need to find another foster home to help with some of these puppies! Any takers? :-)

Update on my fosters

Nicoh (poodle mix) - Nicoh is doing great - after just a few hours with him, I am totally in love. He is very sweet, and just wants to be held and petted. He appears to be house-trained - at least, no accidents so far! He also did well with all my dogs! He gets along best with Tulsa - they love to run and play together. He's a bit intimidated by Remi and Noelle right now. He is going in tomorrow to be groomed, and then to the vet on Friday to be neutered.

Tulsa (deaf Blue Heeler) - She's SUCH a good dog - I grow to like her more every day. She is very responsive - probably because she is deaf, she relies more on her other senses to stay attuned to what is going on, so she's always watching, and responds immediately when I call her with a hand signal. She does whatever I ask of her, and has perfect house manners. If only she would display her great personality at PetSmart - but since she is so noisy there, she's going to get to take a week off from adoptions and relax at home this Saturday. Hmmm... maybe that's been her plan all along!

Noelle (deaf pit bull mix) - Poor Noelle has demodex mange. Fortunately this is not contagious, so she doesn't have to be quarantined. But she does need daily medication, and twice weekly medicated baths. She also will not be eligible for adoption until the mange is cleared up, so my husband is happy to know she'll be around for at least another month. It will also give me time to keep working with her, and perhaps even get her started on her intermediate obedience training class during that time.

Whisper (cat) - Whisper is settling in nicely, and is even starting to come out to the rest of the house around the dogs. She's stopped bossing Tommy around, and comes out to greet me and be petted whenever she sees me.

Tommy (cat) - Tommy is moving up to PetSmart! He is so friendly and cute, and so hopefully he will be adopted quickly. By moving up to one of the cages at PetSmart, he'll have a lot better chance of being seen and adopted. So tonight is moving night for him.

Bugsy (cat) - I almost forgot Bugsy! He's been living up at PetSmart, and you know- out of sight, out of mind. :-) Seriously, I am happy to report he is doing good. He gets all sorts of attention up there - I stop by when I can, other foster volunteers stop by, the volunteers who clean the cages there twice a day all give him lots of attention, and even my mom stopped by with my niece and nephew to visit him earlier this week! No one has really forgotten him, but he is still waiting to find a perfect home. Hopefully his new family will find him soon!

Introducing Bugsy, New Pictures

Here is my newest foster cat! He has a very interesting story. We got a call from someone who used to foster for Heartland - a cat had come out of nowhere and went running into her house when she opened the door one night! He is a brilliant cat - he picked the house of someone who would take excellent care of him! Once I was able to make room for him, I brought him home and immediately decided I would call him Bugsy (have you noticed his very large eyes - he's kind of bug-eyed). :-) Bugsy is a wonderful cat - he is friendly and affectionate and does well with other cats and is not scared of the dogs! Tomorrow will be his first day at PetSmart trying to find a permanent home.

I will admit to being a lousy photographer, so I had a friend come over and take pictures of Bugsy and my other fosters for me. You can read about it here: Almost Home

Here are some of the other pictures she took of my pets:

This is Remi, my own dog. We adopted him when he was 1 1/2 years old, and he's the one who got me into fostering in the first place!

Here is Noelle - This is a great picture of her, but I must admit she's not exactly the cutest dog in the world. :-) Of course she makes up for it with her wonderful temperament, but I can understand why the applications aren't just pouring in based on her picture alone. :-)

Next is Tulsa, the cattle dog. I love the picture of her smiling!

And last is Duncan, the chocolate lab puppy (and that's me with him in the 2nd picture). Isn't he adorable?!

About me and my fosters

For anyone new to the blog, here's a quick review:

My name is Laurie, I'm married to Dave, I have a step-daughter named Rachael who lives with her mom in Alabama and visits during holidays and summers, and we have a dog named Remi. Remi is 3 years old, and he's a Harlequin (black and white) Great Dane, 150 lbs, and a big baby. I also have a lot of extended family who get to listen to me talk about my foster animals every time they see me. At least so far they've avoided adopting any of my fosters from me - but someday I'm going to change that!

I foster dogs and cats for Heartland Humane Society in O'Fallon, Missouri. I started fostering a year ago (October 2007) when I decided that Remi needed a friend, and found that it was fun and rewarding to provide a revolving door of various friends for him to play with until they found their own homes.

Here are my current foster dogs:

Noelle - terrier mix (maybe bull terrier or Staffordshire terrier mix), 6 months old, very sweet. Noelle is wonderful - we have seriously considered adopting her ourselves several times, but have decided not to, since it would take up the space of another foster dog, and there are so many dogs who need foster homes to help prepare them for adoption. Noelle is one of the most loving, affectionate dogs I've ever had. She has been going to obedience classes and is learning many different sign language commands, because she is deaf. She is a very laid back, low energy dog, and loves to cuddle.

Duncan - Chocolate Lab mix - 3 months old, very smart. Duncan is a happy energetic puppy. He hasn't grasped the concept of house training or crate training yet, so that's a constant work in progress. He loves to play with Noelle, and he loves to be around people.

Tulsa - Australian Cattle Dog (aka Blue Heeler). Tulsa is 1 year old. She is already house-trained (HUGE bonus for foster parents) and loves to be petted. She is a high energy dog - her breed was originally created to herd cattle, which required a high energy dog that could run for hours. Tulsa loves to run and play, and will nip at the other dogs and play tag with them for as long as they can keep up with her. Tulsa is deaf, and some people think that deaf dogs don't bark, but Tulsa would be happy to prove you wrong. Many times when she plays with the other dogs, she begins to bark, and when I ask her to be quiet, she just looks at me like "why would you ask me that?" As a friend of mine said recently - "She can’t help it mom, she just doesn’t know how loud she really is… :-) "

And my current foster cats:

Doobie - Good news - Doobie has a new foster home! He is such a loving affectionate cat, and he was scared of Tulsa so he spent most of his time lately hiding. Another foster home offered to take him, and since they don't have any scary dogs, he was very happy to go.

Bugsy - I haven't introduced Bugsy yet, because I'm waiting to get a picture. I will tell you more about him in a future post.

It's quite interesting to live in a house with two deaf dogs. I know several people do it, and I didn't really expect it to change anything when Tulsa came to my house, since I was already used to having one deaf dog. So I was surprised to find it did make a small difference to have two deaf dogs. The difference is when two of my dogs are playing, I can usually just say something to the hearing dog and thereby get both of their attention. If Remi and Noelle are playing and they're getting a bit too enthusiastic, I'll just say "Hey, easy" and Remi will stop and look at me, then Noelle will stop and look at me (at which point she sees me looking at her and she usually comes running to me) and then they'll settle down. But if Tulsa and Noelle are playing, there's no way to get their attention short of moving into their line of vision or touching them to get them to notice me. Other than that though, there's not a lot of difference. It's so cool to hold a treat, and give the sign for sit (without saying a word) and watch all four dogs (even Duncan!) sit for a treat. I guess if nothing else, I've taught them to beg rather well. :-)

I'm hoping for a good adoption day at PetSmart this week. Duncan still needs another vaccination, so he won't be able to go, but Noelle and Tulsa will be there. I'll also help bring some dogs from another foster home to PetSmart for the day. Kermit will be there!! Please pray he gets a home for Christmas - he's been waiting such a long time. If you don't know about Kermit, visit Kermit's Page. We'll have several puppies there also, and hopefully many will find homes again this week.