Life among the animals

This month has been a frustrating one, for me and the animals both. Owning four animals is not always easy. Most of the time it is- sometimes things happen though, that you need to take care of.

Earlier this month, I was really sick for a week- I joked with everyone that I had malaria, but I did have a high fever for four days, and all I did was sleep. My poor husband was a little overwhelmed with all the duties he now had to take over. He did a good job, but one thing was neglected. A very important thing. The cats' litter boxes. The week I was sick, was the week I should have done The Big Clean. You all who own cats know what I mean - the week you completely scour the boxes top to bottom, new litter, etc. When you do this really depends on your cat's level of picky. Mine are picky, but I usually do The Big Clean every two weeks, with scooping every two days. I had also changed the litter box situation, from three boxes to two bigger boxes.

Well, Billy didn't do The Big Clean. I am not sure he even scooped. I was unconscious, and it wasn't in my thoughts when I was awake. So, what started to happen? One or more of my cats started to urinate on my brand new couch. At first I worried bladder infection immediately, and tried to figure out which of my cats was doing it. How would I figure that out? I know now I could isolate them one at a time in the bathroom with a box, but then, I was just freaking out. I caught one of my cats, who wishes to remain nameless, wet footed. After talking to my friends who are also experts on cats, Billy and I decided we had to change our setup first, and then also clean the cushion with an industrial strength enzyme cleaner. So, we added another box, which we really should never have gotten rid of, and cleaned the cushion twice with enzyme cleaner. Now, knock on wood, we haven't had any problems. If that hadn't worked, the next step would have been the vets.

Which brings me to Miss Penny. Doesn't she look cute in her 70s style picture? A week after we figured the cat problem out, Billy went on vacation. Penny urinated in the house three times that weekend. Now, Penny is a sensitive dog, and changes in routine or schedule throw her off big time, and for her to do this in reaction is not too unusual. The week following this started my summer break, and I didn't notice her acting unusually, and she didn't have any more problems. Until last Saturday, when she did it again, twice in one day, both times when Billy and I were both gone more than five hours. This prompted a trip to the vet on Sunday. The vet ordered a urinalysis, which I am waiting for the results on currently, nervously and anxiously. He said we will start there, and then make our way through other possibilities. The only other thing we have noticed is more frequent bathroom stops on walks.

Does this stretch our budget thin? Of course, especially since Billy is unemployed. Should Penny suffer because of this? No, it is not her fault. Should I have surrendered all my animals to the pound, and said that one of them is urinating in my house? Of course not, although so many people do. They don't bother to find out why - and the answer could be as simple as cleaning a litter box and adding one, or a trip to the vet. And if we have to cut back to pay for the vet visits, so be it. I just want my animals healthy and happy.

Wordless Wednesday- Benji takes a peek

Our neighbor's dog Benji likes to peek under the fence at Penny.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Not Amused

My English Setter Penny is not amused by all this snow we have.

Love Me Because..

Today was a good day in animal rescue ~ it was one of those heart-warming, tear jerking days, the ones that get us through the sad times and the hard times.

This was one of those days that you volunteer in animal rescue for.

The Love Me Because event is an adoption event to help those animals with special needs find their homes. We implore people not to love them despite their problems, but rather because of their problems. We want them to be loved because they are overweight, have medical issues, are older, are not cuddly, have behavior issues because no one taught them better ~ and sometimes, simply because they are overlooked, for no apparent reason.

Today so many of these animals were adopted out, including many long time residents from the shelter I volunteer for.

Tibby is an adorable calico ~ she is very sweet, despite her constant frowny grumpy face. She has been in our shelter for at least 10 months. Today she found her permanent home, one with kids to love her. They looked beyond her grumpy face to the sweet cat within.

Willa Nelson is a gorgeous orange tabby~ she came into the shelter so full of worms they had infiltrated her bloodstream. We treated the worms, yet the neglect she had suffered prior to us had taken its toll, causing poor Willa to slightly drag her back legs. Today, she found a family that loved her, walking impairments and all.

Some of our long timers were not so lucky ~ poor Quicksilver is still looking for his home. I can't believe this handsome devil is still without a permanent, loving family to call his own. He is a fighter and a survivor, having come to our shelter on death's door, starving and flea ridden. He is a well fed, healthy boy now, and continues to wait for the right family. He is a cool guy who even has his own Facebook page, Quickster McChubbs!

Even though Quicksilver still waits, so many others found their homes - a pair of senior sister tortoiseshells were adopted by two senior sisters, a shy black cat named Ranger was adopted to a quiet home where he will flourish, a beagle recovering from ear surgery went to a great home as well. For all of us volunteers, today was a great day, to see those we worried about and loved find their happily ever afters.

You can view more pictures of the event at the Wyandotte Patch.

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.

Blueberry Summer

I both love and hate August. I love it because it means I still have one month before I go back to work, and hate it for the same reason.

My days recently have been a mess of frantically busy days and lazy slow days. I am either running around, to the gym, to the pound, to recycling, to different events - either socially or for our rescue group, or I am ensconced on our couch, windows open to the breeze if there is one, reading the day away. On days like that, I usually fall asleep as well. I have been eating alot of blueberries, yogurt and granola, usually for breakfast and lunch. My friend Jennifer, her son James, and I went blueberry picking the other day, where I picked two pints of blueberries (I think they were pints - they were big baskets). They have been sustaining me since then. Chrissy told me they are good frozen too, I am going to try that today. By the end of the summer I may look like Violet Beauregarde.

I think I have been taking lessons from Penny and Maggie - either they are sound asleep, flopped wherever they are comfortable, or they are racing around at top speed. Maggie will be sleeping on the table in a ray of sunshine, and an hour later be doing laps around our house that would put Speed Racer to shame. Penny loves to sleep on the couch when she is not outside; once outside she is a different dog, running so fast her back legs almost stumble her by overtaking her front legs! I read that English Setters and other breeds with strong hunting drives conserve energy when not outside on the hunt. Instictively, they save their energy for when they are hunting, when it is necessary for them to have reserves of energy. I like to think that is what my afternoons of reading and napping are about- just me saving energy, for when I need it the most.

A Day of Divine Intervention and Bedlam

Yesterday was one of those days, where your heart sinks, the day that you dread as a volunteer for a shelter. Early in the morning, my phone rang, with my friend on the other end calling to tell me that the day had that we had all been anticipating with great sadness and anxiety, knowing it was out there on the horizon. We had finally been at more than capacity for too long, and three dogs were going to be put down. We only have 6 dog runs at our shelter, and we have been at 12-13 dogs for a long time now. We just double up on the runs, and put one dog in the makeshift run behind the shelter. And we had been doing this for a month and half now, scrambling like mad to get our dogs adopted before this day came.

Fourth of July weekend is a bad weekend for dogs. We get so many lost and stray dogs due to people having backyard parties and leaving gates and doors open, or the actual neighborhood fireworks scares dogs so badly they leap their fences to try to get away from the noises. Dog that were never fence jumpers or runners find themselves now on the run, lost, and disoriented by all the explosions going on around them, like all of a sudden being thrust into a war zone. This is a very traumatic day for a lot of animals, and even the local shelters who don't often have dogs fill up this weekend every year. Which brings us to our overcrowded pound, on a holiday weekend known for large numbers of intakes.

One dog scheduled for the short list has always been a volunteer favorite. He is a dalmation/great dane mix, whose owners gave him up to us three months ago because he got too big for them. Why they didn't think about this in the first place before they adopted him, I don't know. This is something that happens alot, as well as people giving up their animals because they are moving, or because after five years they develop allergies and don't want to take medication. But, I digress. The other two dogs have just as tragic back stories, including a 7 month old boxer-pitt mix who had lived her entire life in a crate in a basement, before being given up to us because the people were tired of her. She has absolutely no training, and is basically like a giant, friendly, wild dog. Her owners have ruined her, and it will take a great deal of love, patience and rehab to make her a pet, and unfortunately, those homes are hard to find.

So, I was not looking forward to stopping by the pound yesterday afternoon. I had to stop in to drop off a key to my friend, and I was fully expecting sadness and grim expressions. Instead, I walked into a pound with an uplifted, joyous mood, the kind of feeling that you get when you escape something big and frightening by the seat of your pants. It was borderline euphoric, and everyone had giant smiles beaming from their faces. Three dogs had been adopted, including one of our death row dogs, the dalmation/great dane mix! This freed up cage space and left breathing room for our other dogs, at least for a little while. So, while the day had begun as the kind of day that you hate when you are a volunteer at a shelter, it ended as the type of day you love, the kind where the most needy dog finds a loving home.

My own home right now is chaos! We currently have Penny, our dog; Maggie, our cat; and Sassy, my brother and sister-in-law's dog. They all get along quite well, that is not the problem. The problems arise at feeding time, and at bedtime, believe it or not. Penny and Sassy both have special dietary needs, prissy little girls that they are, and have specific food to address these needs. Maggie is eating kitten chow, which is not that great for adult dogs, who usually get sick if they eat it due to the higher levels of fat and protein that is in food for young animals. And of course, they all want to eat each others food, and not their own. I have to chase Penny away from Maggie's bowl, and Sassy away from Penny's bowl, and Maggie away from Sassy's bowl! It is like a circus meets feeding time at the zoo around here at mealtimes. Added to this, Sassy does not want to eat really at all, because she is still getting used to our house, and is feeling a little bewildered. This morning I had to put Maggie and her food bowl on the ironing board, and close the door to that room; next I put Penny in the hallway with her bowl, and gated that off; and finally Sassy ate in the kitchen, after I added a tiny bit of Penny's bland wet food to her bowl to temp her into eating. But once they were all chomping away in unison throughout the house, I had to smile at the situation, and the fact that I absolutely love having a houseful of happy, loved animals.

Sleeping is another story- the past two nights Billy and I have gone to bed and woken up with two dogs and a cat in bed with us. Good thing we have a large bed, is all I have to say. Of course, Maggie has to sleep right on top of me, knowing somehow in her little cat way that I am allergic to her. She is too cute to push away though, so I just suffer slightly for her.

All in all, yesterday was a good day - dogs were adopted, my animals are doing well, and for one dog, who had been downtrodden and was at the end of his rope, he finally found freedom on Independence Day.

Wow, I can't wait for Monday?

I must be getting old. I am only 33, but I think I have left the better part of my late night dancing days behind me. I went out Saturday night with the girls for a bachelorette party, and I danced all night! I had such a fantastic time, I love dancing. But today, my abs are killing me! I apparently need to work on my core a little more at the gym.

Which is why I can't wait for tomorrow- yoga. It will stretch all my muscles back out, it always feels so good. I love yoga, I love the way I feel during yoga, and after. I have Chrissy to thank for dragging me to my first class, I never thought I could do it. But I loved it from that very first class. I actually love it so much, I want to master it so that I can eventually be a yoga instructor. I think my dream career life would be a yoga instructor/photographer/writer, all jobs I can do and still have time for animal rescue. While living on my farm, in a big old rickety house with a huge front porch I could relax on . With my goats, dogs, rabbits and cats. And apple orchard in the backyard.

We leave for California next week, and I am a little nervous about leaving Penny in a kennel. I wish I didn't have to do it. I was very picky though, about where she went, since we have only had her 6 weeks and she has already put us through the emotional wringer, running away the first week, and then eating Christmas garland, complete with wire, two weeks ago. I really wanted a place that would have 24 hour monitoring, late pick up times, close to my home so my mom could visit, and I also did not want her to go outside. I guess I just don't trust anyone to watch her the way I do. I couldn't find anything that fit all of these qualifications however. I did find a place I can live with, the vets office where Penny had her surgery. They are familiar with her, and the kennel is on the second floor, so I am not afraid of her escaping as much. It is close to my mom's house, so she can visit, and they do have late pick up hours, but not 24 hour monitoring. So they came pretty close! They are open until 10 at night, and the staff I talked to said more often than not, there are people there working until the wee hours of the morning, performing emergency surgeries, like Penny had. The vet stayed with Penny until 3 a.m. that night/morning, and that happens often I guess. So, she may only be in the building a few hours alone. It is the best I can do. I only hope she doesn't hate us when we get back for putting her in a kennel!

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!