It's ADOPT A SHELTER DOG MONTH

While many of you probably can't go adopt a dog right now there are a few easy things you can do to help.  First find somewhere.  Petfinder is a wonderful resource and you can search for shelters and groups in your area by zip. I highly suggest first supporting your local Animal Control. These are usually government funded and the first to get budge cuts.  Secondly you could pick your favorite breed and seek out a rescue group for that breed in your area.  Yes humane societies and no kill shelters are in need as well, but they are usually the first people donate to and the first to get grants and subsidies.

While cash is always needed, it is better to give things.  Animal Controls for example have to turn that money in, it then goes through the city and stuck wherever, not necessarily right back to the animals.   Give things. Have a box in your office for people to bring things in and take a big pile at once. Here is a small list of things most shelters or groups can use:

Linens: towels, blankets, beds etc, used is fine
Food bowls
non destructable, washable toys: Kongs, hard plastic for cats
FOOD, espcially canned
New or gently used collars & leashes
Cleaning stuff: Bleach, brooms, dust pans, mops, hoses, spray bottles, dish soap, laundry soap
Dog & cat shampoo, brushes
cat litter
newspaper
litterboxes & scoops
garbage bags
hamster/gerbil/rabbit food & bedding
Office supplies: envelopes, pens, paper, pencils, markers, page protectors,

Think outside the box too. "Retiring" a used but workable item, some shelters could use them: digital camera, laptop or desktop, lawnmower, washer, dryer etc.


If you do however think now is a good time to adopt a dog, let me know and I can point you in the right direction.

I just don't get people

So we are having an incredibly busy day at work. It does not help that I was an hour late.  (that extra sleep was great however)  I look up when I hear this really pitiful meow. There is a guy holding this cat by it's armpits. It sounds really sad.  Here he says, I work at xx industrial park (its about a block away), someone just threw this out of a car and I don't want it.  I'm about to blurt out my speel on how we can't take things blah blah blah.  Besides having a room full of people staring at me, I realize this cat will just end up dead if dumped at the shelter.  So I take her.  Four foot declawed, spayed Manx.  Despite being tossed out of a car, put in another and in a room full of noise she just sat.  She needs a temporary name because "fat ass extra cat" really doesn't look good when you try to adopt her out.

What I don't get is why whoever tossed her out couldn't have just taken her to the shelter?  Yes she might have been put to sleep but that would have been tons better than having to fend for yourself in a business park.  She has no claws, she is too fat to run, what the hell did they expect her to eat??

Sometimes people just suck.

Now I'm going enjoy my fire and make smores w/ my 85% dark Ugandan chocolate :)

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated”  Mahatma Gandhi

Wordless Wednesday

Dear Moses,

I am very happy that you have learned to use the dog door. However I would really like it if you would follow Pilgrim's example and remember a few things.

DOG door: This means it is YOUR door. You can go in or out of it 24/7.  This means you no longer need to open any of the other doors, ever.  I do not enjoy coming home to flies and a 500 degree house.  While I'm sure you feel sorry for Jelly Legs not being able to get through the dog door, he is safer inside.

INSIDE things:  these are things that should either stay inside or be brought back in.  Things on the counters are mine.  Just because I left the skillet soaking in the sink does not entitle you to get it out and take it outside.  It is however clean now.  Bones & Toys: they do not do well in the FL humidity.  Even when you bury them I find them, when they mold I throw them away.  I also do not enjoy picking 45 dirty soggy dog toys out of the yard on a daily basis.

GARBAGE:  Just because you can open the door then the can & hold it open while you dig around does not mean you should.  I do not enjoy picking up above toys, wrappers, empty cat food cans and other various things out of the yard.  Add the beer bottle you somehow got out there today and I'm sure the new neighbors will be impressed.  It also does not look good just in case the city actually listens to the email I sent.

HOLES:  Just because you have all day on occasion to dig, please don't.  You are not often home alone.  You go on daily adventures to work.  You have an air conditioned house, your own van & several dog beds.  You do not need to live in a cave like a wolf.  While I appreciate your ability to dig a hole a family of sumo wrestles can live in in a matter of hours, I do not enjoy falling in them.  You may have the one on the back side of the porch. Please no more. Our yard is small. Plus your new one has some plastic bag sticking out of the bottom & I don't want to know what is in it.

NOISE:  We have great neighbors.  They do not say a word about the symphony of dog barks that would outdo a highschool band.  They think you only bark to warn them of strangers. Please lets leave it at that.  Just because there is a dog door does not mean you can go outside and bark at the new neighbors at 2am.  If you continue to wake me up in the middle of the night I will have to either kill you or the new neighbors.  I like you and the new neighbor is hot so lets see if we can just go back to sleeping through the boogy man.

Maybe once you get this down we can work on the amount of drool you fling on the walls....

Love,
Mom

Happy Birthday Jerry Regs

(That’s his Asian name).  I'm a bit obsessed with my animals, but if I blogged for each of their birthdays you would have at least one post a month.

I'm just very happy Jelly has made it to 2years old when at 6 months I asked how long he would live and was told, 'Well, we are really surprised he has lived this long."  Jelly has Ehlers Danlos which is rather rare in dogs.  He came into the shelter as a 4 week old puppy late on a Friday evening.  The only option was to put him to sleep as he was too young to adopt out and there was no where 'safe" for him to be housed. (Picture big old nasty shelter, tons of dogs in every cage and rampant disease).  He obviously had something wrong with his legs so I took him home for the weekend.

I was off that Monday so I made an appointment and took him to the veterinary specialist (AVS, who by the way rocks).  They did a lot of test but still were not sure what the problem was.  When I returned to work on Tuesday I was called into the director’s office and written up because the vet had complained that I took the puppy to another vet without her telling me to.  Now I paid for this out of my own pocket and as a foster parent had every right.  However the vet is one of those people with really low self esteem and even lower skills as a vet or a human.  I had apparently hurt her feelings by taking moral and financial responsibility for an animal instead of putting it to sleep.  But I digress; I'll save my soapbox for another blog.

Long story short I paid for the medical cost incurred by the shelter and for $11 I took home my little terrorist.  We made weekly then bi monthly trips to the specialist for quite a while.  A biopsy was performed and he was finally diagnosed with ED.  They really did an amazing job with him and for only a few boxes of Panera bagels.

Jelly has no idea he is disabled.  He hops on his back legs while scooting his front ones along.  He can run nearly as fast as a normal dog on the right surface. Because of his fragile skin I often have to staple him back together, he never complains and usually goes right back to playing when I'm done.  He has no problems bossing around the bigger dogs and routinely puts the cats in their place.  He hasn't met a human he doesn't like and greets everyone like a long lost friend.  He hasn't an ounce of manners because it never occurred to me to discipline him because I thought he was going to die. 

I love this little monster and I treasure each day I have with him.