So here we are at just before 3pm and I’m already needing to vent some of the crisis of the day. I didn’t blog at all yesterday, in-part because I was having a technical problem connecting to my server, but also, because I was taking advantage of the decent weather and winterized my house, along with rounding up bits and pieces for our upcoming tag sale…
This morning started with a call from our vet, telling us that one of our adopters from ten years ago who had adopted three kittens from us, had finally reached the breaking point with inappropriate toilet habits and needed us to take the cats back today. Evidently her husband has threatened to take all three of our cats, plus another they adopted a few years ago, to be euthanized if the cats don’t go today. Our vet told me he has been working with them over the past couple of years on ideas to stop the problem, but it sounds like bad chemistry between one or more of the cats has upset the apple cart, and because nothing has worked, hubby dearest is at the end of his rope. Hubby prefers to euthanize the cats because he doesn’t feel it is humane to bring the cats to a no-kill shelter because they may languish there. To be fair, the wife is devastated, but they are facing divorce at this point. Back to our reality. We don’t have a magic island! Where in the heck are we supposed to put three/four senior cats with one day’s notice? I am (almost) speechless. I can’t imagine what would make someone believe they could – with one day’s notice, call a rescue group made up entirely of foster homes and have them say, “Sure, we’ll drive right over and pick them up and take them to a beautiful cat island, where all the cats live peacefully together, and successfully use litter boxes.” So we’ll just try to figure out someone to take the cats, one at a time.
We also had a Mini Aussie show up at our ranch late yesterday. If you know the area, it’s a small possibility he wandered away from one of a dozen homes within a few mile radius, but more likely that he was dumped near our property because out in the country they believe our property is a rescue. I met “Timber” as Shannon named him, today, and he is very cute, and well behaved (aside from marking everything in sight), about 1.5 yrs old, and intact (and what a surprise, he’s marking everywhere!). His toe nails and pads don’t look like a dog who has been on the road very long. He was not wearing a collar and did not scan with a microchip. We posted him as a found dog at Columbia County Animal Shelter and we’ll just hope someone is looking for him…
A couple of hours ago I got a call from someone who “found” a six week old Mini Aussie/Queensland Terrier puppy. When I asked where she found him, it turned out her 19 year old brother bought him from someone at the coast and five days later, he realized he doesn’t have time…the funniest part (as if there’s anything really funny about this nightmare) is that the puppy doesn’t look like either a Mini Aussie, or a Queensland Terrier! As you know, normally we don’t take dogs from this type of dumb move, but I worry about a six week old puppy at the county shelter because of the potential for upper respiratory virus, etc., and when they’re this young they don’t have much immune system. So, we’re looking for a home for a really cute, smart little guy. Here are his pics. I don’t think we need to say much more about that!
Just a few minutes ago, the shelter called about a 3-4 month old Min Pin who came in with both front legs broken. They don’t have any history and don’t know what happened to him. I don’t have pics yet, but he needs to be rehabilitated and will be wearing splints for at least a few weeks. I will have pics tomorrow morning and will include those and blog about him as soon as I know more.
As an update, we’ve raised enough money for Elijah Blu to have his myelogram on Tuesday, October 12th. We haven’t raised enough money to do any surgery for him, but at least we will hopefully find out what’s wrong. Here’s a pic of Elijah from today. He just got a haircut!
Some of you may remember Jada, the young Boxer/Lab we intervened and took in to prevent her euthanasia by her former owner for having some obnoxious, defiant behaviors. Jada is actually a very sweet girl, with a very independent personality, and a very active brain. We placed Jada with a young, athletic couple about a month ago and it seemed like such a great match…that is until the woman of the couple found out her mom has cancer and was going to be staying with them during her cancer treatment. The couple was worried her activity level would be too much for their mom during her treatment and they vacillated for several weeks whether giving her up was the right thing to do because they really love Jada. Their mom didn’t want to be the reason they gave her up, but today they finally decided they do need to give Jada back. I’m sad for them and I’m sad for Jada, because it was an otherwise perfect match. So, back into the adoptable dog pool she goes…
