Here is a nod to my friends down in Rolla - doing what they can in a rural area that doesn't have much respect for the feelings of pets. Too many people in rural settings see pets as disposable, as property instead of companions. They are working hard to improve the life of the animals in their area and are even talking about a spay/neuter program. I wish them the best of luck. Here are some of the wonderful pets they drove all the way up here to an adoption event. Too bad it was such a gorgeous day that no one was spending it shopping indoors!
The only dog that made the trip was Bobble - a cute little beagle/italian greyhound mix. He got a bit chilly and needed his sweater!
This kitten was labeled as feral at a shelter earlier this week - she's so not feral, but if she stayed there she would've been euthanized, so now she's in foster care!
This beauty has a bobbed tail, so did her kittens
They brought along two gorgeous siamese cats, I was in heaven and so tempted - but I was good and let them go back to Rolla!
The buff and the gray are two kittens that have been aging in foster care - just like these two!
Here are my Taffy and Elizabeth. Low turnout at adoptions partnered with a runny eye have really hurt the chances for these two. No one has even been interested enough to ask if I would split them up.
It was a long, tiring day! Bobble loved having his "mom" sit still enough to snuggle for a nap. Being foster moms, we are usually too busy to sit still for very long!
I brought along my Jimmy because he actually came from the shelter that these guys work with! They were thrilled to see him and both remembered him well. I found out that I actually saved him on his last day. I had no idea that it was so close. Poor Jimmy with his puppy ways had been returned four times! He doesn't look so full of energy after a day at PetCo
But check out those ears! Just one of the many things I love about my Jimmy Baby. I was glad that I brought him along. Since it was so slow, we had a chance to practice our obedience training with new distractions and when that was done, I got to just sit on the floor and cuddle him. Even though we didn't get any adopted, it was a good day spent with new friends and silly dogs.
I've been trying to get a good picture of Koko for a long time, but he's one of the most camera-shy pets I've ever met! So I had to settle for in-crate pictures at our adoption event on Saturday. Koko is looking for a forever home or a new foster home.
Koko has been at my house for 1.5 years and he deserves a place of his own. I pulled this guy from a shelter when he was just 8-weeks-old thinking that early in kitten season he would be in a forever home very quicky. It turns out that he has irritable bowel - but he's better now and ready to handle a new home.
He had loose stool from the start and it took a long time to get him over it. We tried moving him to a new foster home when he was just under a year old and he was very nervous making the change and the loose stool came back. He was on many rounds of a nasty-tasting medicine, but he has stayed sweet through out it all. Finally we found a food that agrees with his system. And now he's learning that new environments aren't so bad! He'll still need a slow introduction to a new home (a couple of weeks in a bathroom) but he'll adjust!
Koko is an amazing boy - his good food keeps his coat so sleek and shiny. He looks just like a panther. You don't have to actively pet him, he's more than happy to jump up in your arms, give you a hug and rub against you, twirling in all over you! He's always sweet and gentle. He gets along with other cats just fine - he needs to be fed separately to keep him on his special diet.
As long as he gets his special food, his tummy is very happy! Koko eats Prowl, which is a dehydrated food - just add water and he eats it as a soup. He can also eat a raw diet or a combination of the two - just ask me for details!
This sweetie will have you wrapped around his paw in no time!
Clarence is looking for a guest room to crash in for a month or so.
Clarence has been living up at PetSmart for awhile now and he's getting stressed out and needs a break. The problem is that his foster mom found a mama cat and a litter of kittens and they are taking Clarence's space at home.
This would be a great way to give fostering a try! Clarence doesn't like other pets, but would be extremely happy if he had an extra bedroom to call his own for a while. He's an easy keeper - very friendly and declawed. Won't you consider giving the old man a break? (Clarence is a middle-aged guy at around 6-years-old, very calm) This would be a temporary placement as he can go up to PetSmart again in the future. Please help - Clarence is counting on you!
Dogs: Gucci: male chihuahua, Tubby: male shepherd mix, Timber: male husky, Leone: female shihtzu/chow mix, Lacy: shihtzu female
Cats: Lipton: buff manx kitten, California: older tabby female, Tony: orange tabby kitten, Asia: male lynx point siamese, Chynna: female lynx point siamese, Gypsi: calico, Bunni: female black tuxedo
I have many pictures from Saturday, but need the time to process them - will post them soon. I spent the day at PetCo with some rescue friends from Rolla. They pull from the shelter where I got my Jimmy! It was nice for them to get to see him as a happy ending.
Here are pictures I took on Saturday of the foster pets looking for homes. The name of the group is different, but the stories are very familiar. With the exception of one. His foster-name is Cash, because he was used like money. The police took him away during a drug raid. His owner was an addict who would trade Cash for heroine, then go back to the dealers' houses and steal Cash in the middle of the night! Pretty gutsy! Cash is at least 30 pounds underweight and is looking for a safe, secure future. He's a good boy but is choosy about which dogs he gets along with. You just gotta love that happy face and really big head!
Here are my foster cats Lizzie and Taffy at the adoption event. They're still looking for a forever home or a new foster home - such sweet girls! I still can't believe these gorgeous girls have been going to adoption events since they were 9-weeks-old and still don't have a home!
And as always, we have a parade of cats, here are some of theirs who are ready for adoption.
It was interesting spending the day with a different rescue group. They had a lot of the same policies that we do, did a few things differently but the bottom line is that we're all in this together trying to find good homes for as many of them as we can before it's too late. I'm looking forward to hanging out with my own rescue friends this weekend. We'll be split between the O'Fallon PetSmart and Dardenne Prairie PetCo on Saturday, come join us and take home a new best friend!
I spent my adoption Saturday in a different way - I was hanging out with a rescue group that I met at the Pet Expo. http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/MO355.html One of my old rescue friends has started working with this group and I was talking about how I want to use my photography to help more rescue animals, so we put two and two together and I was added to their event! I got to bring my foster cats along, but sadly they didn't get new homes in the new location either.
But what I did get to do was a lot of fun - I got to take pictures of dogs in costumes as part of their fundraiser! Here are a few of my favorites!
It was neat talking to these great owners, a lot of the dogs had been rescued and are enjoying their happily-ever-afters!
A lot of these happened during the week. It's a rough time adopting out new pets on a holiday. Here's hoping that pets everywhere were treated well last night and didn't fall into the hands of moronic tricksters.
Dogs: Prada: female chihuahua
Cats: Masala: female manx kitten, Snapdragon: male snowshoe siamese mix, Duey: adult male tuxedo, Lilly: female tortie kitten, Ali: medium hair angora mix, Jerry: white adult male
Ali & Jerry went home together and their new family has reported that they are very glad they decided to take both in the end because both cats have settled in wonderfully! I love seeing two cats going to a great home!
Sunshine & Shadow, still happy in their new home. This is my answer to the question I kept getting, "Will you split them up?" - this is why I said no.
I love my dog, I love my dog, I love my dog.... I gotta keep repeating that. I wanted an active dog that I could train. So today, even though I shouldn't be taking the time to write this because I'm so busy, I squeezed in a training session because our trainer had time and wanted to use my dogs as a distraction for another client. A free session - I wasn't turning that down!
So my tired self hauled the dogs up to the kennel, about 20 minutes away. The session went really well actually. I'm learning how training Jimmy is much different than training Lexi. I got a lot of insight on how to make things better for our training. I was feeling pretty good, but dreading the ride home. Jimmy gets car sick, especially if he's got food in his tummy. I do positive reinforcement training, so he had lots of treats. He threw up about 5 minutes from the kennel and about 2 minutes from home. I had to stand in the rain and clean puke out of the car. And of course he can't just hit where I've put towels. Even though I had my hands on his head trying to aim his mouth I was still cleaning out little crevices in my car!
I told myself that I knew that would happen, it's not the dog's fault. That I as an owner need to learn how to deal with this. We're going to try dramamine next time. I was calm, checking my email quickly before my next appointment and I heard the sound of water running. He was peeing on my carpet! He's only had 2 accidents in the house ever, this would be the 2nd. What the heck?
I'm sick of the rain and wet, smelly dogs. It's a good thing he's so darn cute. I love my dog, I love my dog, I love my dog - I really like cats!
I'll post the adoption report tomorrow - none of mine got adopted, but it was still a great weekend. Maybe it was the break in the rain that lifted my spirits so much, but I got a much needed positive flow of energy.
The Pet Expo was so much fun. I saw so many people that I knew from the animal community - I didn't realize just how many people I know! And so many past adopters stopped by our booth. We remembered a few of them, but a lot of them had adopted pets from before I was part of the group. That made me happy to hear that we'd found real forever homes for them! One of the most memorable visitors was a woman who wasn't sure if I'd remember her dog. As soon as she said "Ian" I knew exactly the collie of which she spoke! He'd been left for dead in a rural area, had pulled through an amazing recovery and suffered bladder infections on top of all of that! But he has a wonderful owner who loves him and can't imagine life without him!
Sunday I managed to sneak off to the dog park before the rain started and Jimmy & I had a blast! We spent almost 2 hours out there and met some really fun dogs.
Here is Jimmy after taking a rather cool dip in the pond.
Here we have Jimmy meeting his new friend Baxter! Our dogs got along so well that we actually exchanged phone numbers to meet up again some time!
Baxter comes to the park because he NEEDS to run. His mom and I talked a lot about rescue - both of her dogs were rescues and Baxter's foster mom still thanks her for giving him a home. Not many people would have the patience to deal with a basenji mix that is very hard to tire out. It's not easy having a dog with such high energy needs, but it sure is fun. It was amazing watching them run non-stop. I thought that Jimmy was tired, but when we met up with Baxter he discovered another 1/2 hour of fuel.
Her other dog is Maggie, an 8-year-old rescued mix. Maggie was happy to let the boys tear around the fields, she went off and did her own thing. If you look closely in this picture, you'll see the rain drops. That meant that our day of fun was over, but what a great time we had!
I'm going to miss the flowers once we get a hard freeze. I hope that we get a couple of nice, sunny days before all the leaves are gone - I'd love to get a chance to take some scenic pictures!
