Wordless Wednesday ~ Playful Pup

Pound puppy, playing at my feet.

Cat Trap Fever

It has been cat crazy around here lately. Last week, our local pound had a seizure of 28 cats and kittens, which were apparently being bred in a backyard breeding scenario. It was the feline equivalent to a puppy mill. I can't say much about this case, as it is still pending, but this is one reason I don't like breeding. Too many people look at animals as an easy way to make money, rather than think about the animals life, and what they are doing to it. Breeding to keep breed lines I think is not that bad, if they are responsible breeders, I mean we wouldn't want certain breeds to just die out. It is still difficult for me to get behind though, when I see so many homeless animals in pounds everyday.

I have spent the past five days cat trapping. This is my first time participating in this aspect of animal rescue, and it was pretty rewarding. My aunt and uncle have had feral cats visit their backyard for two years now, and we are finally working on stopping the cycle. Animal rescue is never glamorous- often you are wearing your grubbiest clothes because you know you are going to get dirty, whether by actual dirt or grease from the animals fur (they get dirty out there on their own!), or by other unspeakable acts. We are also spit at, scratched, bitten, thrown up on, all kinds of fun stuff. I can almost deal with all that. But trapping cats involves getting up early, something that I detest. Plus, you never really know what you are going to catch- it could be a cat, or it could be a raccoon, or a possum, or a skunk, not animals I really want to mess with, especially when they are angry about being trapped in a cage.

Yesterday morning though I caught a big old orange tom, with a giant head and an attitude. He wanted out of the trap so badly, I felt bad for him - he kept ramming his noggin into the trap bars trying to force his way out. He reminded me of Thomas O'Malley from Aristocats, and I just know he is the father of all the cats in the neighborhood, the dominant male of this pride. Yesterday though, ended his days of being a deadbeat dad, our rescue group took him straight to the vet where he was neutered. I also caught a small gray female tabby with him; she was smaller and younger, of course, probably a trophy girlfriend, who was also fixed at the same time. Those two will not be populating the neighborhoods of Riverview anymore.

Today my uncle called to tell me I caught another one. I was praying it was really a cat, and not a skunk, since my aunt told me only that it was a black and white animal. Thank goodness, it was a cute little "teenager." This one was less than a year old, and black and white and so cute. It was less feral than the cats from yesterday, and is currently at the vets right now, waiting its turn to be spayed or neutered. I have dubbed her ( I think she is a girl, although I am not sure) Mamie.

To me, all the evenings I have spent baiting these traps, checking the traps, getting up early, figuring out how they are getting to the vets and getting home, is worth it. In seven years one female cat can have 420,000 kittens. In a country where 6-8 million cats and dogs are euthanized every year because there are not enough homes for all the animals out there, we don't need this kind of population explosion. If the cat today is a female, potentially 840,000 kitten lives were prevented, which sounds kind of cruel until you think that most of them would never be a pet, they would live on the streets, where they could get diseased, hit by a car, attacked by other animals, even tortured by terrible people. And even if they ended up in a shelter, there is no guarantee they would be adopted, and would more than likely be euthanized. What kind of life is that to be born into? For every animal to have a home in the U.S. right now, every person would have to have 7 dogs and 21 cats. Just some things to think about before you adopt an animal.

Rescue an animal from a rescue group or a pound. If you want a purebred dog or cat, there are actually many rescue groups that just rescue purebreds, because believe it or not, they end up being unwanted too. And spay and neuter your pets- it is good for their health, and helps prevent overpopulation.

A Thank You

In animal rescue, you realize, as much as you hate to think about it, admit it, deal with it, you can't save all the animals. Sometimes, you get an animal that just does not seem like it is adoptable as it currently is, but with a little work you know that it could be turned around and rehabilitated. Unfortunately there is not enough space at shelters, or even in foster homes alot of times, to allow the time for this to happen. There are not enough Cesar Milan's, and certainly not one in our area who will come to the pound and change a dog for us, and there are not enough sanctuaries out there like Best Friends in Utah to be able to take all the animals who are unable to live a normal life as a companion animal.

At the beginning of June, an overfluffed, matted, senior cocker spaniel mix was dropped off at the pound. She was a give up, her original owner had passed away, and the son of this person could not care for Buffy, which is her name. She looked to be very neglected, and had a very serious ear infection, that leaked black goo, caused her pain, and she understandably did not like anyone to touch her ears. She had a bit of an attitude problem as well - I took her to an adoption event, and after an hour, she was snapping and snarling at people who thought she was cute and wanted to pet her. I had to take her back to the shelter for the rest of the night, Buffy was not happy and I couldn't take the chance she would hurt someone.

The pound 501(c)3, Pound Pals, paid for Buffy to get her ears checked out and for medicine to clear them up. This was not an inexpensive procedure, as she needed to be knocked out for anyone to do anything to her ears. When she came back to the pound, she seemed a little better, since the hurt was gone. But Buffy's temperment was still not all that great, she didn't seem to like men or children too much, and didn't show well, meaning that when people crouched to see her in her kennel, she would bark and growl and look as fierce as a cocker mix can. When she was with the female volunteers who knew her, she was a sweet little thing, but for anyone else, she was a terror. It was like that line in the children's rhyme When she was good/she was very, very good/but when she was bad/she was horrid.

I have to admit, I kind of gave up on her-I didn't trust her, and didn't see how we could adopt her out to anyone. Even if the person adopting her was female, more than likely they had men or children in their lives for Buffy to menace. As much as I liked her, and as much as I understood that Buffy's demeanor was not her fault, she was obviously mistreated terribly, and therefore she didn't trust anyone, I didn't think we could feasibly adopt her out.

But thankfully, my friends at the shelter never gave up on her - they always believed the right people or person would come along, that we were there to take care of her until that happened. Even when hard decisions had to be made, Buffy made it through, because they believed in her that much. And maybe because of their belief in her, because they cared for her so much and kept the faith that her day would come, it did. Last week on a night I wasn't there, two girls, sisters, came to the pound looking for a dog. And they found Buffy waiting for them. Buffy loved them from the first, and they were familiar with quirks of cocker spaniels, so knew to expect some diva behavior from her on occasion. They filled out the application for her, the only ones who ever did in three months, and passed the vet check with a phenomenal check. Buffy had found a home.

I was there when they came to pick Buffy up to take home. I walked into the pound, saw this happy, perky, bouncy, cute cocker spaniel on a leash, bright eyed and wanting to play. I figured they had either found this dog, or were giving her up. I asked if I could help them, and they said they were there to finish the adoption paperwork. I peeked back over the counter on tiptoe, took a second look at this dog, and did a double take. This cute little happy pup was Buffy. Two volunteers from the pound had paid for her to get groomed, and she looked fabulous. I think the haircut, combined with an instinctual sense that now things were going to be better, transformed Buffy into a different dog. We have heard from them, and Buffy is doing great, without any agression to anyone, and just plays and plays all day.

So I learned from my friends and this dog, not to give up. Maybe I was becoming to desensitized; to volunteer at the pound, you do need to protect your emotions somewhat, and a scab forms over that part of your heart, and you protect to make sure that it is not torn off too often. But my friends and Buffy renewed my faith, opening my eyes again, showing me that good does happen sometimes for animals like Buffy. And I thank them all for that, and wish Buffy the best of love in her new home.

Kitten Season..

Spring and summer are always busy for those involved with animal rescue, and this summer has not been any diffferent. First it is kitten season, everywhere you turn there is someone there with a litter of kittens they found in a yard, a garage, or under their deck. This year is even more difficult, with the economy in Michigan being what it is. People are losing their jobs, their homes, and giving up their pets to rescues and shelters, and in some cases, just letting them loose or leaving them behind. So we volunteers are busy giving shots and medicating sick animals, taking pictures for petfinder, taking animals to events, hoping that an animal will not just find a home, but a good home that will love them, and take care of them. We also clean cages, socialize feral cats, and walk dogs. But all this work is worth it for that feeling you get when you leave the pound and all the animals are fed, their kennels are clean, and they are snuggled in content and happy, or when you leave an event knowing that a cat or a dog has found their perfect match.

Sometimes you lose your heart, and alot of times your heart breaks. Sometimes you take them home. I found my dog in the pound, an underweight English Setter, who was starved for love as well as food, a stinky faced girl who would look out at me from the bars every day with her big brown eyes, and get mad at me when I would put her back in the kennel after her walk. One day as I sat in the field across from the pound where I was walking her, she crawled into my lap, all 30 pounds and long legs of her, and I knew she was mine, and I had to keep her. Luckily for me, my husband is an animal lover, and fellow animal rescuer, and fell in love with her as well.

Penny has been a challenge, but one we are happy to undertake. We got her out of the pound a week after our much loved 15 year old American Eskimo Chevis passed away from lung cancer, and named her Penny. I believe that Chevis sent her to us to care for and love, she is our "Penny from heaven," as corny as that is. In the 5 weeks we have had her, she has escaped from our yard, gotten terrible diarrhea as we learned that she has a sensitive stomach, and then eaten christmas garland and had to have emergency surgery to remove the wires. This makes us sound like terrible owners, but really, truly we are not. She is a silly, sweet girl, who just has a nose for mischief. We are quickly learning her personality, as she begins to trust us. (she is also gaining her healthy weight)

The day Penny ran out of our yard, we had had her about a week. My mom and stepdad came over and opened the gate to our backyard, where Billy and I and Penny were gardening. Well, Billy and I were gardening, and Penny was patrolling for rabbits and squirrels. As soon as they opened the gate and came in, Penny ran up to them to say hi, and then noticed, hey she could get out of the yard and really investigate! She took off at the fastest run I have ever seen, and Billy and I lost sight of her within 40 seconds. I was panicking, scared to death the worst was going to happen to her, and I ran off behind her, Billy and my stepdad not far behind me. My mom was the smart one of the group, and ran for her car. She saved the day, and the dog, by spotting Penny in a parking lot. Not thinking about anything other than, I have to get her! my mother jumped from her moving car. Good thing mom was only going like 3 mph. As soon as mom called to Penny, Penny jumped in the car like nothing ever happened.

We are now taking Penny to dog training, where we hope she will learn some better habits. We also need to learn how to communicate with her too, so we have high hopes for this class. So far so good!