Sigh

We are a fully functioning animal shelter. Contrary to popular belief, we are not an animal theme park who's sole purpose is to provide entertainment and community service hours to students and sorority girls. If you ask why a dog is leaving, and I reply "it's been claimed by an owner," you should not be surprised. Or disappointed because it was cute and you wanted to play with it. Some areas of the shelter are purely functional, and of no interest to visitors or volunteers. There are no cats needing attention in the laundry room closet, nor will it provide you with access to other areas of the shelter that you cannot see an immediate and obvious path to. We also share a parking lot with a public dog park. If there was a dog out there that is now gone, it's because it went home with it's owner. I promise you it is not behind the "quarantine" sign.

Lousy January

Can I just get drunk, pass out, and not open my eyes again until the month is over?

So my grandma went into the hospital end of last month, and has been very ill since. She passed away last Tuesday. Yesterday, a dog in very bad shape came into the shelter, and promptly went to the vet clinic and spent the night. He died today, a couple hours after I euthanized my own dog, Toad. 3 out of 4 kittens that we've had for a very long time tested positive again for FIV and had to be euthanized. Another dear friend and co-worker had her grandma hospitalized today, as well as had to euthanize her own dog, Noel.

Tiny bright spots for the day: law enforcement plans to follow up on the neglected-to-death dog, and our little pregnant rat terrier cross gave birth to 3 live puppies, 2 of which are expected to remain alive. (Puppy number two is half the size of the others, and somewhat resembles a hydrocephalic ferret. Newborns, regardless of species, aren't cute at first, and this one is a particularly weird example. And mom got a little carried away while cleaning her, and chewed a couple toes off.)

So who's joining me for whiskey shots tonight??

Edit:  The misshapen puppy died as expected.  Another puppy also died, seemingly of an internal congenital defect.  The remaining puppy survived and is healthy, happy, and totally spoiled in the home of our newest employee. 

Fox Trot Kittens

Just another of my many adorable bottle babies.  This picture was actually taken during an interview with the local news channel.  My babies got to be stars!

Top Cat

Young lady frantically enters the shelter.  She has two newborn kittens in her hands, both nearly dead.  She heard faint mewing, and found these kittens, along with another dead one, in a small garbage can.  On the curb.  In the summer sun.  Waiting for trash collection.  Three days later.  Someone's cat had kittens, and when they found the babies they tossed them in a garbage can and set them out as trash.  The kittens were just about cooked.  I've never seen a newborn pant.  It shouldn't be possible.  I warned her that heatstroke victims have a poor prognosis, and I've never seen newborns in this condition.  They were unlikely to survive, but I'd do my best.  One of them died within the hour.  The other one, amazingly, recovered!

Top Cat made it about two weeks before weakening and dying.  I can't be sure that it was a result of his near death by heatstroke or something else, as there was no obvious reason for his decline.  It was the dreaded "failure to thrive."  He was such a tiny thing, but had a huge purr.  Even before his eyes opened he was an affectionate, responsive, snuggly kitten.  Once again, people are irresponsible and heartless.  When I lost him I thought my heart was broken for good.

Everybody Wants to be a Cat

Scat Cat is one of my all-time favorite cats to come through the shelter.  He came in as a stray, and was initially able to be handled enough at least to get  him in a cage.  However, he proved to be quite feral the next day.  And as a big, solid, muscular tom cat, nobody wanted to mess with him.  He reminded me of Scatman Crothers' character in "The Aristocats."  So I named him Scat Cat, and began quietly singing to him.  It calmed him down enough that I could at least clean his cage without him flipping out, so that became our daily routine.  "Everybody wants to be a cat, because a cat's the only cat who knows where it's at..."  Before too long, I could even pet him while singing to him.  He still wasn't manageable by anyone other than me, so we had him neutered at the weekend feral cat clinic, where he also got his ear tipped so he'd be identifiable as fixed if he went to a barn home.  When he came back, I gave him a stuffed animal to cuddle with, and continued singing and loving on him every day.  Before long, he'd let any of the other staff pick him up too, and he went up for general adoption.  His namesake tune was always his favorite.  You could try singing something else to him, but he'd only roll over and flex his paws for that one.  He got adopted, and is one that I always wish his adopters would have given us updates.  I did love that Scat Cat!

Edit several years later!  Scat's adopters came in a year after his adoption looking to get him a kitten.  I had my doubts, but figured they knew him best and set them up with a frisky yet cuddly little boy.  They let me know later that he immediately took that kitten on as his baby, and would get distressed if he couldn't find him!  Last I heard, Scat and his kitten were still doing great.

Lady MacDuff

I had just about given up hope of last fall's bottle baby, Lady MacDuff (aka Cleavage Kitten) ever getting adopted when she was chosen by a young man who had been doing some volunteer work for us (I'll call him Carpet Dude.) He took Duffy and another kitten, Auburn. I made him stand there and promise me that if he EVER had to rehome her, he'd bring her back to me. All was well. Then one day our vet clinic called and said there was a stray kitten at the clinic for us to pick up, was found at Goodwill. Lo and behold, it was Auburn. Complete with the same blue carrier Carpet Dude took her home in. A little research reveals Carpet Dude is now working at Goodwill. Checking on CraigsList and whatnot that day we find him advertising her because she keeps trying to get out of his apartment.

Ok, fine. I understand that she was not compatible with his living preferences. I personally would just keep the damn door shut rather than get rid of her, but whatever. But he'd had the cat less than a month, why not simply call us and arrange a return? Are we really that scary? Of course, he did not return my phone call, and I've been left wondering for another month if Cleavage Kitten is still allright. We never really figure out why he did what he did, but in our talks with him he knows what vet clinic we use. So really, he did exactly what needed to be done to ensure Auburn ended up back in our care. But so backhanded.

Wednesday, the boss is doing the daily check of online ads (we like to see what will be likely abandoned on our doorstep in coming days) and there's Cleavage Kitten. Carpet Dude is being recalled by the military and has mere days to set his affairs in order and rehome the now 9 month old kitten.

So this time I call from my cell phone, and amazingly he answers. He claims he called the shelter, but I wasn't there, and he didn't know what else to do besides post her online. But the caller ID went all the way through my last two days off, and didn't show his number. Besides, if he'd said who he'd adopted, the others would have gotten it straightened out or called me. So I have serious doubts about his story. Regardless, he agreed to let me go to his apartment and retrieve my kitten. Got her and her stuff, wished him luck, and left with no unpleasantness from either party. (Pretty proud of that!)

 

I get her back to the shelter, and she's just not the same cat.  She huddles in the corner of her cage, shaking and growling, won't eat.  So I've got another cat now, wasn't planning on another cat, was pretty pleased to be down to a reasonable number for the first time in years. She's not at all like she used to be, hardly comes out from under the bed, growled when I tried to snuggle her last night. I hope as she gets more comfortable, her personality comes back.

Edit: Duffy finally came around.  Took her a couple weeks, but she's perfectly well adjusted now.

GusGus

Gus, (AKA Big Head Todd) our hydrocephalic shelter cat, began having seizures this morning, and continued throughout the day. His life ended this evening in the room where he was born 3 years ago. Goodbye, Gus.