The Lodge at Real Life, MT.

The College Dean

2011-03-01T23:50:00.000-07:00

I had to pick my oldest cat Jim as the college dean. He's been through generations of youngsters. But now Dean Jim is in the twilight of his life. He's not as tolerant of the youthful exuberance of the new students. He's achy, tired and impatient. He prefers to spend his days sitting at a sunny window, delicately plucking good memories and using them to snooze. Dean Jim hates being involved now in the conflicts of the younger cats. The fussing and gamesmanship seems so pointless to a man of his age. "Why can't they just leave each other alone", he grumbles. He sometimes misses Mary the Elder who was his mentor in this thankless job.

Dean Jim used to be young and full of himself. When confronted with conflict - his first instinct was to jump into the fray and bat some heads around.

Lately, his indifference is causing concern and speculation. As he retreats more into his memories and warm spots others are jockeying for position.

But, his saving grace, for now, is CC. More about her next.

Giving this another shot

2011-02-22T22:22:00.000-07:00

Is there much worse than an on again, off again blog? Happily this one has a total readership of 1 so it doesn't matter much. The professional advice givers always say to write what you know about so I've been thinking about what I know the most about. Deep sigh. Cats. Yessiree. My Dad was right. I've always been a cat lady at heart. Note that I left out crazy. That's a whole nother topic.

So I've been thinking of my happy herd and gradually a vision formed in my head. (It really has been a long winter here) They all fit stereotypes similar to those that could be found at a small, Midwest college. Fictional of course. Not not like any one I may have attended. So I'm going to use this as a bit of a writing exercise to see if there are any shreds of wit still left in me. I'll also be trying to take more pictures to distract from the shoddy writing. We'll see. It could last as long as next Thursday.

Finding my blog purpose

2009-07-28T00:36:00.003-07:00

Random blogs are not interesting. This one isn't even interesting to me. Ideally a blog should be a unique perspective on something, or about something. It should reflect the interests and passions of the blogger. The predecessor of this one - Shelter Stories - had that. This one hasn't so I need to find my voice.

It's pretty easy to see that animals are still my passion so maybe that's where I will be going. Cats are my expertise so I may try to develop that. But having opinions on almost everything and loving quirky stuff is still me so I don't think I will abandon that.

Be patient, this blog will get more interesting in the next month or so - I'm just not sure how.

Magpies

2009-07-21T22:45:00.002-07:00

Today I was home with my bad knee and working in my bedroom. Outside were my many resident magpies. I have about 15 now since this spring's hatching. They have nests in the big pine tree in the middle of my backyard and in the trees around the outskirts of the yard. Right now its easy to get annoyed with them as their fledglings sream "FEED ME!, FEED ME!". But I watched them for a while and saw how complicated their communicating really is. I watched one sitting on the fence seeming to talk to itself. It was a fascinating mix of croaking, clicks, soft sqawks, chattering and squeaking. I wish I knew what it was saying. I did some googling and was surprised to see how so many people consider then pests to get rid of.

I miss my blue jays of Minnesota - they are gorgeous birds and fairly easy to tame. Not the maggies. Very wary but also beautiful in a more formal, tuxedo way. No one can deny that when the light hits those blue, iradescent wings feathers. Here's what another web site says about magpies:

"The magpie's speech is symbolic of communication and creative expression. When we hear the magpie speak it is a message to us that we might need to listen to what is being spoken to us - listen with more attention. The chatter of the magpie is also a symbolic message that we may need to speak our minds more clearly....speak up, express our opinions, be creative with our spoken words. The magpie's obsession with shiny things is symbolic of our tendency to chase after false ideas or perceptions. When the magpie comes into our lives it is often a reminder that we may have to re-evaluate our priorities. Are we chasing after unsuitable desires? Are we serving a false ideal? Are we putting materialism ahead of matters of the soul?"

A Drink for Stupid People

2009-07-06T22:59:00.003-07:00

I'll start calling this category Ad Watch. One of the things I have the most adamant opinions on is marketing and advertising, probably because I love it when its good and loathe it when its bad.

Tonight - cocktail making for stupid people

I watch television late at night and about every hour or so the folks at Disaronno try to sell their flavored liquor by teaching us a new cocktail. The problem is that they must be marketing to an audience of either 3rd graders or idiots. "Tonight, Disaronno on the Rocks" their spokesperson announces. Then with a flourish he tell us to put ice in a glass, and pour an ounce or so of Disaronno over it. And then, as if we couldn't get it the magic of it the first time, he says again, "Disaronno - on the Rocks!" with emphasis.

There are variations of mind boggling complexity such as "Disaronno on the Rocks - with Lemon!" and "Disaronno with Cranberry!" I honestly waste time thinking who is their target market? What is the message? Can this stupid ad really make a person pick up a bottle of almond flavor liquor and take it home? It doesn't make it look tasty enough to order at a bar.

I think they were better off with the oddly 80's woman sucking her ice cubes.

Talking to Yourself

2009-06-30T01:36:00.002-07:00

I guess that's what most blogs are. By just putting it out there you exist. There will be a record that you were there and you did think and type. Stored for eternity on some server somewhere - just 1111000 and 0010010010010's and more. Forever or until the power goes off.

More crow and other stuff

2009-06-30T01:26:00.003-07:00

Tonight a co -worker came to me to ask me about a "raven" in the parking lot with a broken wing. I suspected it was a crow and probably my crow from this weekend. (Although any one who can tell one crow from another is a crow) It seemed likely. It was a crow with injured wing feathers hopping about under a stand of pine trees. Another crow from the likely family was above. I had a cardboard box and piece of fabric in case I needed to catch her, plus the plastic bag I put in my car on the weekend in the case I needed to euthanize her with carbon monoxide from my car's exhaust.

Turns out that she could get up into the tree, broken feathers and all. I went back about an hour later and she was gone. So she is mobile. I left some dog chow for her. Darn crows.

Crow Update

2009-06-28T23:50:00.002-07:00

I got up much earlier for me than usual on Saturday to go check on the crow. She wasn't in the tree and she wasn't on the ground so I am going to tell myself that she is fine. I also went back at about 7, my usual feeding time during the week, and the crows spotted my car and showed up for chow. I'm telling myself that the one with the missing wing feathers is my girl. I could be all wrong but it makes me feel better.

So why did I call it a she? Unless you are another crow or an up close and personal vet you can't tell the he crows from the she crows. I just got the feeling it was a she. After looking at this crow close up I did notice that they do have very sharp beaks, very sharp claws on their feet, and strange dark grey eyes. Her eyes were very different from my cockatiel's. More about what I have observed about crows another day.

Last Thoughts About Michael Jackson

2009-06-27T01:56:00.002-07:00

Tonight MTV ran all of his videos, thankfully without maudlin comment. I hadn't seen some of them before and I saw some of them with a new perspective. A few things struck me. The genuieness of his smile and it's power, his intensity, the sexuality of his work, how repetitive his dancing got, the celebrities he accumulated and his charisma. I tried something suggested somewhere else and turned off the sound and watched him dance. The comparisons between him and Fred Astaire are fair. You can see the music move through them. Rest in the peace you deserved Mr. Jackson.

Oh Crow!

2009-06-26T23:39:00.003-07:00

Today was a typical Friday until a bad thing happened.

For the last three years or so I have been feeding crows bread and cheap dry dog kibble after work in our parking lot. I used to do it back at my home in MN too. I think if I had a spirit animal it would be the crow.

There are a few different crow families around our office that break up into individual familes during the summer and come together into a huge (30 +) flock in the fall. A number of them recognize either me or my car and will come in and perch in the trees above me when they spot me. Its fun in the fall because the whole flock will be waiting for me at the same time every night - perched everywhere like a scene from "The Birds" and swirl all around me as I get the chow out. I leave after most people but a few folks have seen it and have been duly impressed.

But today wasn't good. I put the food out for the family representatives that came to gather it. They usually hop along with that funny crow gallop, filling their beaks, and then fly off and hide the food by pushing it into the ground. After doing this today, one of the crows was on her return back and she collided with a car.

I can still see it. It was a white car and she hit it and tumbled on to the road. I almost felt the blow myself as the car hit her. The stupid driver never even slowed down even though he had to know he hit the bird. I saw her rolling in the road, wings askew so I could tell she wasn't dead.

I got into my car and drove down to the road. Her family was already there in the powerlines and trees croaking and caawing. I went into my trunk and got a handful of paper towels to wrap her with before I picked her up. They do have very sharp beaks and I didn't want her thrashing about. I was panicked because I didn't have anything like a box to put her into. I couldn't tell if her wings were broken. We have bird rehabbers here I just didn't know how I could get her to them. I was crying and she was blinking at me with panicked grayish crow eyes.

I went to put her on the top of my car to see if I could unwrap her enough to check her wings. She started to struggle with enough force that I decided to put her on the grass. To my astonishment she flapped up into the branches of a nearby tree. My heart soared and I yelled "oh yeah!" thinking she would be fine.

I decided to stick around and watch and as I did it was clear she wasn't okay. She couldn't get from branch to branch and her wings weren't working right. Now that she was up in the tree I couldn't get to her. So reluctantly I left.

I plan to get up early and drive into town and check on her.

Celebrity Deaths

2009-06-25T23:59:00.003-07:00

Some celebrity deaths are on the "when will it happen" list. Poor Farrah was on that one today. After a career started on sex appeal and beauty she fought to be a legitimate actress but no one around my age was ever able to burn the Charlie's Angel out of our heads. When I was in college the guy's dorm rooms had Farrah, girls had Christopher Reeves. (Mine had Laurel & Hardy, Mae West, Jimmy Carter and WC Fields) Now both the poster icons are gone. But poor Farrah didn't get to go of a pretty cancer - like breast cancer - where everything is pink and people wear rhinestone pins and run marathons. She died of anal cancer. All cancers hurt. I admire her bravery in going public about her cancer and hope that it helps people understand that there are cancers that need funding in organs that aren't as PR perfect - like the pancreas cancer my Dad died of at 50.

And speaking of dying at 50...poor Michael Jackson. Tonight everyone is all about the talent and not about the wink, wink fun they have had at his expense. He was a musical and dancing genius. He clearly suffered from mental and emotional problems as he got older and his celebrity status and money only made those harder to deal with. The lower he got, the more pleasure the media seemed to get out of ridiculing him.

Was he a child molester? I don't know, I hope not. The fact that large sums of money silenced his accusers makes me wonder. Was he strange and conflicted? Oh yes. Did I feel that his masked children needed some help soon in order to be normal? Yes. But now the man they knew as their father is dead and he did protect them from being tabloid fodder as best he could.

Michael Jackson was an extraordinarily gifted singer, song writer, musician, choreographer, dancer, and artist. In watching him all these years since my younger days I do believe he had a genuine sensitive soul in a world of money grubbers.

Two stars went out tonight and I'm sorry they are gone.

Ritz Crackerfuls - The worst of two worlds

2009-06-25T00:11:00.003-07:00

It was after work. As usual I was in Albertson's picking up some cat treats amd scrounging for dinner. Behold! A new product. Ritz Crackerfuls, promising real cheese (cheddar or four cheese) and 5 grams of whole wheat. It looked tasty, a big toasted cracker filled with creamy cheese. Wrong!

Most snackers have eaten the neon orange cheese filled crackers w/cheese from either Lancer or Keebler. The cheese filling is always the least of the combination - sort of a mildly flavored library paste. The real snack satisfaction comes from those flakey, salty crackers. The cheese filling in the "Four Cheese" flavor filling of the Ritz Crackerfuls is the same tasteless paste. Now, looking at the label, I see it is made of 3 cheese powders (cheddar, mozzarella and parmesan) and a scary combination of things resulting in cream cheese. The cracker itself has nothing we all love about a normal Ritz cracker. No buttery flavor, no flakeyness, no tasty dusting of salt. Instead its more like a baby's teething biscuit. At $2.99 for 6 individually wrapped cracker/cheese disasters I recommend a pass on these. For all the Nabisco hype you could go to www.nabiscoworld.com.

Bad News at the Lodge

2009-06-22T21:14:00.004-07:00

Not to trivialize all the really awful things happening around the globe but as a confirmed winter hater this was not good news. According to the weather today:

Tomorrow will be 0m 10 seconds shorter.

Darn!

My Jim

2009-06-22T17:33:00.011-07:00

One of favorite cats, the only one of the 13 that currently reside with me that I actually paid for, is starting to die.

I got Jim in 1996 as a kitten from the Humane Society in Golden Valley, MN. I got him as a companion for my then only cat, Mary, not knowing that she really didn’t care if she had a companion or not.

I had gone to the shelter looking forward to picking out an orange cat, something I had always wanted. And I was going to get an adult since I knew they had a harder time getting homes. I came home with a white and black kitten with a big nose.

Jim was in a cage with two bigger kittens and fighting with them both. I took him out to break up the battle and he immediately fell asleep in my arms. After a while I put him back to go find my orange cat only to look back and see him fighting again. I took him out for a bit, put him back, walked a few feet away and decided he had to go home with me. Just at that same time a grandmother type and her young boy took him out and into a visiting room. I watched them through the big glass windows and could see it wasn’t going very well. The boy wanted to play and the kitten wanted to stay as far away as possible. Grandma wasn’t pleased. As soon as they put Jim back in the cage I went to the counter and started to fill out the adoption papers. Twenty minutes and $60 later he was squalling in a box next to me in the car.

I don’t know why he’s always been special to me. I’ve had cats with more personality. Mary’s full of it. I have funnier cats, better looking cats and more playful cats. But the bond between Jim and I has always been strong. We just seem to run on the same circuit. And now, after we’ve been through a move to Montana, a year in a shack up in the mountains, and dozens of foster kittens and cats, I’m seeing him fade gradually like a once vivid photograph left in the sun. Where once he jumped on the counter to be the first to eat, now he tries and falls to the floor. His silky fur looks ragged and unkempt. The swagger has become slow and unsteady.

It’s so heart wounding to see and bitterly frustrating because I don’t have the money to spend to take him to the vet to start the expensive diagnosis and treatments he needs. At his last visit last year my vet told me he might have cancer but without a battery of tests we couldn’t tell. In my real world, I don’t have the luxury of prolonging Jim’s life. I can only watch, weep, and wait until the aging inevitably turns to suffering and then give him the last gift of a good ending.

I know Jim doesn’t fear death because he can’t anticipate it. Animals live in the here and now. Right now he only knows he’s sleeping in a sunny spot on the floor. I wish I were so lucky.

Olive These

2009-06-18T00:03:00.002-07:00

I already loved olives. As a kid the big highlight of holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas meals for me was those jumbo, canned black olives. Forget the turkey, canned veggies - I did like stuffing too - but I couldn't get enough of those salty olives. What other food could you wear on your fingers?

When I grew up and could buy my own food I bought canned olives until I realized they really don't taste like much. Then I graduated (after run of the mill midwestern grocery stores made them available) to really tasty olives. Kalmata, oil cured, nicoise, and all the others. But I had money to burn then.

Now, I found a tasty, cheap canned olive that is really good. It's Lindsay's Naturals Green Ripe Olives - http://www.lindsayolives.com/our-products/naturals/green-ripe-california.html - They aren't the super salty, bitter green olives that usually come with the tasteless pimento filling. They are mild, buttery, rich and I dare you not to eat the whole can. And they do still look good as nail art.

Gordon F***ing Ramsay

2009-06-17T22:25:00.003-07:00

Gordon Ramsay. I was hooked the first time I saw him on BBC. Profane and homely as a mud fence but its fun to watch him yell at stupid and stubborn people who think they are all that and more. I also love hearing the British spoken language. Who here in the US calls somebody an "ignorant prat"? I've wanted to. I've never been able to tell if Ramsay can really cook. He doesn't do much of it on his shows but if there were a Michelin award for profanity he would hold 4 stars. According to Wikipedia he must be a good chef: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Ramsay since he does have a number of the real Michelin stars in his personal galaxy. I did get a new view of him tonight during my first view of one of his programmes (BBC spelling) called "The F Word". He had one of the marginally talented, former pop stars from the Spice Girls on and he was giggling like a girl. Made me wonder if he was awkward as a youth.

First of the new Blog

2009-06-17T00:51:00.003-07:00

I've been on Facebook for a while now - well only a month or so - and its been fun. Imagine people who never used the one primitive computer in the math department at the Milaca High School now connecting and communicating via the internet. It's been like a reunion of sorts. So great to hear from people that you haven't heard from in 20+ years and surprisingly they often aren't the ones you really "hung" with. If someone had told us on Graduation Day that we would be taking pictures with phones that weren't connected by wires and that we would be exchanging instant mail, pictures, movies and such over invisible networks we would have said "yeah sure". That explains why none of us are internet millionaires. We never anticipated more than 5 TV channels.

Now a Product Test! Montana doesn't have nearly the mosquito problem that Minnesota does but this spring we have have had lots. They are small and fierce. So I tried the OFF Powerpad Lantern so that I could sit outside in the evening for a while. Good news! It works quite well. Last summer I tried a citronella candle in a bucket and it really worked only so-so. The OFF Lantern was easy to assemble and worked within seconds to change skeeters buzzing and biting all around to none at all. It would be terrific on a patio or deck. The downside is that it is pricey and a candle and pad lasts only 4 hours. Your first purchase of the lantern has some coupons in it. But it does work better than expected and much better than cirtonella. Worth the price.

http://www.offprotects.com/mosquito-repeller/

I'm Back

2006-02-19T00:07:00.000-07:00

I've resigned from the Board of Directors of this animal shelter, not in total agreement with their current operations or plans for the future, but that is the nature of things. Despite change, they still have hard, important jobs to do. I wish them the best. My only goal with this blog was to open a window into the real world of a typical animal shelter so that readers would understand how important the work of an animal shelter was, how hard the the employees work, how emotionally draining the work was, and why animal shelters weren't the real solution to pet over population. I had hoped to put a face and name on the animals that came through the doors and to not candy coat the realities of their fate. I hoped to educate readers about how they could help their local shelters and maybe even get a few adoptions or donations for the shelter. At the request of the shelter Board I have stopped this blog. Local animal shelter politics can be very divisive and troublesome. People of good hearts and strong opinions often disagree on the best way to communicate the realities of pet overpopulation. But I'm not giving up on the cause. Why? Because of a turning point in my life. I had been volunteering at this shelter for over a year with the cats. I knew the realities. One Saturday I opened our medical room door by accident because the "in use " sign wasn't in place. The vison, which took two seconds, is burned on my mind. On the metal table were 3 six to seven week old kittens, lined up, side by side, dead on on towel. Standing in the room was our wonderful staff person holding another kitten wrapped in a towel to her chest - listening to a stethascope waiting for the tiny heart to stop - and in a carrier the last kitten, with wide eyes, pressed frightened against the back awaiting it's turn with death. There simply wasn't room for them. So I will still dedicate myself to the betterment of animals in the Helena area community - especially the unwanted.

The Joys of Fostering - Part 3

2005-10-21T02:45:00.000-07:00

This picture says a lot about the joys. The black and white one on the left is naughty Katie. She is younger than the other two and does have a bit of a temper. But I'm reacting to her little little tantrums with love rather than punishment and she's getting much, much better. It's easy to forget that she's been on this planet for just a matter of weeks and hasn't has the benefit of a mother cat to give her the security she needs from this big scary world. I had the good fortune to spend many, many happy hours in the company of mother cats and their kittens growing up on our farm. I learned that mother cats are very patient and indulgent with their kittens - more so than mother dogs. My theory is that mother dogs have to teach their puppies the value of obedience early on. Not so with mother cats. Sure, there are basic things like not leaving the nest but after that kittens are indulged until they get older. Only when they really push Mom beyond her limits do they they get pinned down with a maternal paw. Even that act of displeasure usually ends in a grooming session and purrs all around. When kittens start to annoy Mother cat she simply gets up and leaves. Mother cats really don't start showing anything like true physical aggression towards their kittens until they are well over 4 months old and ready to strike off on their own. My point? Physical punishment of kittens is wrong and ineffective. Thumping on the head, shaking, or scruffing only confuses them and associates the person punishing them with fear. Gentle, annoying but non-painful techniques like blowing in their faces or using a squirt bottle can help distract and refocus their attention without causing fear. Note: I'll be away from my computer for the next week. Back soon with more pictures and news from the shelter.

A Happy Hot Dog

2005-10-11T21:46:00.001-07:00

I'll add more to my Joy of Fostering series on Thursday. Tonight I have a good story. The dog above is Danny. Danny and a couple other dogs were abandoned. That fate doesn't seem to happen as much to dogs as cats but this guy and his pals were moved out on and left without food and water. They came in looking as rough and tough as dogs can look. Danny looked downright scary. He seemed big and growly. He was dirty and beat up. He even took a lunge at our heart of gold dog walker and truly, I didn't think he was going to make it into the adoption category. But the staff and volunteers saw something in old Danny, homely as he was. So after a month or two of love, care and the all important neuter, there he was at the local kids Fall Festival last weekend with a volunteer, all filled out and soft. He was wagging his way around the crowd, unselfconsciously wearing a ridiculous hot dog costume, as only dog that loves people can do. He did pee on a stroller but after his past, any minor indiscretions can be forgiven - the baby wasn't even in it at the time. I took the time to tell anyone who would listen the story of his origin, including the local media. Unfortunately, I got upstaged by some guy who was down there giving away darling pit bull/husky mix puppies. Sure they're cute now but a year from now I'll just bet 1 or 2 are with us. Can't think of much worse combination. Anyway, later that day a family with a 13 year old son came in and took Danny to a new home. What a lucky hot dog!

SAD UPDATE: After a few weeks in the new home Danny severely attacked their small dog. He was returned to the shelter and killed. Danny was a victim of a bad owner that never gave him a chance to be the good dog he tried and wanted to be. He wasn't wanted and should never have been born. The dogs he had come in with were killed as well but they hadn't passed the initial evaluation. I still think about Danny.

The Joys of Fostering - Part Two

2005-10-09T00:42:00.000-07:00

The pictures above are my two latest - well, almost latest - foster kittens. The fluffy one is Opal. She's about 6 weeks old and was found all alone near a busy intersection. Calendars and photo shoots could be made with this kitten because she has the "Awwww" factor . But, picture perfect as she is I suspect she might be part feral. There is no cuddling this baby. She's aloof and feisty. Not hostile, just not keyed into humans. The other one is Oscar. For a 7 week or so old kitten he looks like a street wise alley cat. He is dealing with some eye crud, had an ear injury and just looks kinda rough and tumbled by life. Unlike Opal, he is very much into people. He is a darling, sweet tempered little cat. He loves to cuddle and has a purr that fills the room. I fear however that his health is fragile. He doesn't have the robustness that a boy kitten his age should have. And today I got Kate. She's about 5-6 weeks old and mean as sin. More about her another time. That's a good introduction to Fostering Part Two. This is a focus on kittens, which especially this time of year we need lots of. Fall you say? Yep. Cats can have more than one litter in a season and these are the kittens people don't expect. The shelter gets just buried in kittens this time of year. They also tend to be weaker and sicklier because Mom is tapped out from her first litter. Worse yet, they are hard to place. The community is saturated and shelters compete with $25 pet store kittens and free kittens in the newspaper. So - anyway. What equipment do you need to be a great kitten foster home? There are no absolute requirements but here's what I've found works well.

A cat carrier - the plastic kind most pet owners have. You are probably going to carry them at least twice - at least once to the vet. Most shelters will loan you one.
A collapsible dog crate - you can use a extra big dog carry crate for this but I've found that the open wires sides and airier nature, plus the collapsability make these ideal. Mine is about 28 inches long and 18 inches high.
Old towels - these are beds and crate floor liners.
Fleece - I buy remnants or fleece on sale and cut it into pieces as needed to line beds.
Shoe or other boxes - these make great beds for babies to snuggle in.
Very small litter boxes - these have to fit in the crates. Sometimes aluminum cooking liners will work.
Small bowls - you are going to need to put food bowls in the crate. I personally hate the one piece/two side bowls because they tip and get messy so easily. If you plan to be a foster parent I think it's worth getting the heavy stoneware bowls they sell for rodent type pets for water. They tip less easily. Dry food doesn't matter much.
Paper Plates - I feed canned food on paper plates. Small plates if it needs to go in the crate big plates if not.
Sheets - I put the kittens to bed every night at about 10 pm in their crates. Putting a sheet over the crate helps them go to sleep.

More next time about what to do with all this stuff and a great story about an abandoned dog.

The Joys of Fostering - Part One

2005-10-04T23:37:00.000-07:00

An update on a friend from 6/23/05 - Peaches the Pit Bull, pictured above, was adopted by a young woman who just adores her. The first thing you need to do to foster animals for your local animal shelter is to go in and talk to the Shelter Manager. Shelter rules and procedures will vary. Some shelters will ask you to fill out an application, provide references, do a home check and perhaps complete an interview. Others will do some or none of these things. Sometimes the requirements will vary depending on the type of animal you want to foster. Fostering a litter of two-day old kittens takes a different set of skills than fostering a large active dog that needs socialization training. It's possible that your shelter has rules or requirements in place that make it impossible for you to foster animals. Try to remember that the shelter's first obligation is to the best care of the animal. Secondly, you need to think long and hard about how bringing one or more new animals into your life will affect your own pets. Are you current on your pet's vaccinations? Do you have enough time now to spend with your pets? How will they react to sharing you? Here's an example: One year a co-worker gave me a day-old kitten. The shelter had a mother cat and 5 day-old kittens so I offered to take the whole family home and add mine. Merging the orphan with the Mom went just fine. One day while cleaning their cage the otherwise sweet Mom cat got out and ran hell bent to kill my cats. Fur flew as she attacked them one by one. They didn't even know what hit them. The effect on my oldest cat, Mary, almost killed her. After the attack, the stress of having the Mom cat in the house caused her to quit eating. I was so busy dealing with the Mom and kittens that I didn't notice that she had started to hide. It wasn't until she started throwing up bile that I realized she had lost a great deal of weight. I rushed her to the vet and found out she had hepatic lipidosis, or fatty,caused by not eating. Hundreds of dollars and 6 weeks of feeding her via a tube in her neck later she was fine. It was a close call. And thirdly, before you bring any animals home to foster you have to ask yourself if you and your family are emotionally ready for it. The reality is that the animals have to go back no matter how attached you get to them and it's hard. I cried today as I left my kittens. My house is so quiet without the thunder of them running back and forth. You have to give them back and you don't have any control over where they go. The shelter staff has to be allowed to find them homes. Fostering baby animals brings different emotional risk. Sometimes they die. Of the litter I mentioned above only one kitten and the Mom survived. The rest I had to have euthanized by the shelter staff one by one due to serious and incurable upper respiratory disease. I've had another kitten die in my arms, probably due to FIP. You do everything you can but babies are fragile. But is it worth it? Yes! Do animals shelters need people to do it? Very much so! Will I do it again? Well, if the two little kittens sleeping in the living room right now are any indication I would say yes. Next entry will have pictures and Part Two of what you need to know to be a pet foster home.

Bye Bye Babies

2005-10-03T22:03:00.000-07:00

I'm finally back again. Thanks for being patient. I'm not sure why I just couldn't bring myself to post anything but one reason was that September was frightfully busy with events - both shelter and Hurricane Katrina related. Tonight is my last night with my three foster kittens- Bentley, Bonnie and Tomah. The bad thing about fostering animals is that you are so excited to take them that you forget how hard it is to give them back. My tear ducts will get a good work out tonight and tomorrow. Bentley and Bonnie were found in a local cemetery at about 6 weeks old. I had first seen them in our stray/intake room a week prior to taking them home. They were climbing their cage door, meowing for attention. No one will ever know how they got to be where they were or where Mom was. I'm amazed they weren't feral. Tomah was dropped off at my office by a young woman who had been told he was an 8 month old "miniature cat". Her landlord said no anyway. Turns out he was a 7 week old kitten. As you can see by the pictures above, they are black and whites and black. Despite the heartbreak of returning them for adoption, fostering kittens, puppies or dogs is an experience I would recommend to almost anyone. Kittens, and more rarely puppies, often come in to a shelter very young and may need to be bottle fed. Fostering the babies gets them out of the shelter and away from disease. Being fostered also gives the babies the human socialization that makes them much better pets. I feel sorry for the kittens shelters have that never get the chance to be handled, cuddled and played with every day like mine were. Tomorrow night I'll talk about what you need to be a foster parent. Here's a hint. If you're a female and you foster kittens, stock up on pantyhose because they wreck them as fast as you can get 'em out of the package. So in a few minutes I'll head off to bed. My own three cats will find their usual sleeping spots and for one last night my three not-so-little anymore kittens will all snuggle near me, purring in my ear. I'll be sad but satisfied to know that they will have a chance to bring as much happiness into someone else's life as they have into mine.

I'll be back next week

2005-09-14T23:54:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted folks. It's for many reasons but mostly my heart hasn't been in the right place. I have good news until next week. The goat found a good home as the pitbull pictured earlier in this blog is testing a new home as well. Thanks for your patience.

A Different Kind of Stray

2005-08-21T23:50:00.000-07:00

Stray comes in all kinds of sizes and shapes - and species. This goat was found wandering about in the hills recently and the shelter was called to come deal with it. Luckily our Shelter Director has a truck so she was able to go out and load up Mary Kate, as we now call her, and bring her in. She was suffering from badly abscessed and infected udders. We had a vet fix her up and have our fingers crossed that we have a good home for her. Post Script: Mary Kate did find a good home.

Over 600 a Year

2005-08-11T22:34:00.000-07:00

There is a question that nags at me for which I have no good answer. Why is it that there is no outrage, no shocked disbelief, not even a tear drop when I tell people that the shelter has to kill over 600 cats and kittens each year. Last year it was over 700. If I were to tell them that many dogs and puppies they would be horrified. They would say something had to be done about this terrible problem! Letters would be written to politicians, money would be donated, laws would be passed. But with cats, most shake their heads as if to say "how sad" and move on. The thought of that many lost, individual feline lives doesn't touch the nerve that dogs do. Even cat owners, people who share their lives with cats often seem to place less value on the lives of this species. The question is a difficult one but important for shelters. It affects us in so many ways. For instance, people don't put identification on cats nor do they come looking for their lost cats. Less than 1% of cats are returned to their owners. They are much more willing to abandon or relinquish cats. Boxes of puppies are rarely left anymore but boxes of abandoned kittens are a common sight. People are less willing to spend money to get their cats spayed, neutered or vaccinated. And, even though it costs shelters money to care for cats, people balk at having to pay much to adopt a cat. Local communities are much more willing to tolerate thousands of homeless or feral cats despite the short and miserable lives these animals live. Can you imagine a city with even a few hundred feral dogs? And what makes the problem even more frustrating is that the solution seems so elusive. Sure we can do spay/neuter clinics and educate people about overpopulation. We can trap and kill colonies of feral cats. But how do we - or can we - make people feel compassion for cats? How do we make every feline life worth caring about too? I wish I knew.

Quick Updates

2005-08-07T23:25:00.000-07:00

Jackson, the Shepard I wrote about the other day, went out on a "Pawsability". That's shelter speak for trial adoption. He went with a family that has no other pets and three kids. We are all hoping very hard that this family is going to work out for him. Jackson certainly had a friend in our volunteer Tom Kandt. The dog who needed parts (June 7, 2005) has had some problems but there are brighter days ahead. Healing has been slow and he's had to be on sedatives to keep him from rubbing his cast off despite a huge plastic head collar. The metal plate in his foot cracked leaving his patient owners to do some hard thinking about the future of his leg. After consulting with the surgeon, he had surgery again on Wednesday and things look much better. He no longer needs a splint and the bone is healing. I hope to have pictures soon. It's been very hot of late and of course we always worry about dogs being left in cars. The local television station showed up at the shelter on Saturday morning to do a piece and, even though she didn't have much time to prepare, one of our younger staff did the interview. She did a fantastic job getting the information across and looked like a pro doing it. Working with the media is a critical part of any shelter's job and we're fortunate to have a supportive local media to work with.

Happy Babies

2005-08-03T22:46:00.000-07:00

Time for a happy success story. The three babies pictured came in with their mother, Aerwin, who was no more than a kitten herself. They arrived when the shelter had plenty of room. It's always best when the babies come in with Mom if we have room because she makes the purrfect food source, baby sitter and entertainment center. At first we thought she might be feral but she was just doing her motherly job protecting them from harm. As soon as they were about 6 or 7 weeks old we took them from her so that her milk could dry up and we could get her spayed and up for adoption. We need to get our kittens up to about 8 weeks old or 2 pounds before we can get them spayed or neutered. Early spay and neuter has worked very well for us - especially for kittens. We've learned from experience that a) kittens are most adoptable while they are small and cute and b) we can't leave it up to adopters to get spay and neuter operations done, even if they pay for the operation in advance. So the best solution is to do the operations while the kittens are still small and cute. More on the health advantages of that another day. So this little troop played and ate and played and ate. They were all three lively and affectionate. Sometimes they acted more like little white and black monkeys than baby cats. Like almost all our kittens they ended up with some minor eye crud and were soon medicated back to health. It's always good to see kittens go off to good homes knowing that they won't grow up to produce more. Aerwin is still waiting for her home but at least now she can live the rest of her life "litter free" too.

How Long is Humane?

2005-07-30T22:23:00.000-07:00

Recently a very dedicated volunteer placed this Letter to the Editor in the paper in an effort to find a home for the dog in the picture. "I am writing for a friend. He is 5 years old, weighs 112 pounds and lives in a small kennel at the Lewis and Clark Humane Society. He is a neutered male German Shepherd cross who has been in the shelter since January. His name is Jackson and he may not have long to go. He is very big, not friendly with cats, and can be aggressive around other dogs. Those things can be managed. What's more important is his gentle demeanor around people. As a volunteer, I have been walking him and training him for several months. I know his heart: it is big and noble and loving. He would make an excellent pal for a single person, or a family with older children but no dogs or cats. Jackson is too good to die. His only sin was to be raised without socialization to cats or other dogs. It is a sad truth that the Humane Society cannot keep every animal indefinitely. Nobody knows this better or agonizes over it more than the shelter staff. If you can help save this beautiful creature, please take him. It would be more than a kind act; it would be a solid investment in a good friend." How long is it humane to keep a dog in a kennel? Despite the dedication of people like the letter writer is it humane to keep a dog in a small, indoor kennel for 7 months with walks only twice a week? Sadly, the number of hours of direct human contact Jackson - or any of the other animals for that matter - has in a week is probably less than 2. The dogs, especially the big ones, just lay in their kennels for hours and hours, day after day, week after week, month after month. The staff is just too busy to care for the animals on a one on one basis. An animal shelter, no matter how hard it tries, will never be the kind of environment an animal really deserves and the longer the poor things have to stay the more that becomes true. If this makes you sad, you really can make a difference by volunteering your time. I hope to have a good story about Jackson soon.

It Helps To Be Small

2005-07-29T21:48:00.000-07:00

The dog above came in a while ago as a stray. Needless to say, he was old. He had no teeth to speak of and his fur was matted. No one ever came looking for him. Perhaps they thought he was so old he just wandered off to die. Or I hope it wasn't a confused old person who didn't know how or where to look for him. He's getting a good home despite his age and condition. Little dogs get breaks that big dogs may not because they are so highly adoptable. In the game of odds that determines who lives and who doesn't, it helps to be small.

From the "Can You Believe It" File.

2005-07-26T22:58:00.000-07:00

"Hello handsome Kitty. What brings you here?" "My people adopted me from here a few months ago but brought me back today." "Why? Were you a bad cat? Did you scratch the furniture? Did you bite? Did you not use your litter box? Were they moving?" "No, none of those things. I was a very good, loving cat with lots of purrsonality." "Then why on earth are you back here?" "They said my poop stunk." (A true story - except for the cat talking)

Passionate Feelings

2005-07-20T22:06:00.000-07:00

The world of animal sheltering and animal issues is fraught with controversy and politics of the non-partisan kind. It's probably because people are so passionate about animals. On the national scale the same people who love animals love/hate and argue over groups like PETA. In the sheltering world, the no-kill shelters, the low-kill shelters and the kill-on-a-regular-basis shelters have been at each other's throats for years. There are also different philosophies about what people should know about an animal shelter. Some believe that you will never stop problem of unwanted pets until you hit the public in the face with graphic images of starving strays or piles of dead cats and dogs. Others believe that if the public knows that animals are routinely killed at shelters they will no longer turn them in. Me? I think there is a balance. When people ask me about our shelter I try to be honest without being frightening. We do kill animals. We aren't a no-kill shelter. Last year we killed 104 dogs and 746 cats and 4 other animals. I tell people that every adoptable animal gets a chance with us if we have the space. I tell them that we don't impose time limits on animals like some shelters. We keep some animals - usually cats - for as much as a year if they are adoptable. I let them know that almost all of the animals we kill are unadoptable for some reason. Most of them are feral cats. Some are sick or very old. Some have unchangeable behavior problems. Not one single animal is killed if there is some other alternative available to us. Most of the people I talk to understand this. They know we aren't some kind of magic kingdom where the thousands of animals that come in our doors are all going to find homes. But it is a fine balance. If people don't know that we fill up and have to destroy animals they don't have to think twice about surrendering them. They always think there is a safe place to take them. If we tell them too much, we scare them and they don't bring animals to us where they can be spayed or neutered and adopted into good homes. If my critics on the Board of Directors would let me actually write this thing that's the balance I hope to achieve. A book that I had hoped to model this blog on is called "One Day At a Time - A Week in an American Animal Shelter" http://novoiceunheard.org/Overview. It's a wonderful book that walks the line gracefully. (The authors were fortunate in that they didn't have a bunch of critics bitching about their work or the book would never have been written) It's worth buying and reading. Today's picture is a good example of how we do give animals a chance. This cat (no name of course) seems much older than her years would indicate. A few weeks ago it was easy to notice that she was really skinny and sickly despite the staff hand feeding her canned cat food. The week before last she was not in the cat room and I feared she had been put out of her misery. But last week there she was, still skinny but up and about looking for attention. The staff had kept her on IV fluids and gotten her back on her feet. It was a job well done.

The New "Leashed" Blog

2005-07-19T21:55:00.000-07:00

I have made some dramatic changes in this blog tonight. I'm not entirely happy about having to make them but they come in deference to some small minded people in an organization that I care about with all my heart. First - the disclaimer. I volunteer many hours a year in a variety of roles at an animal shelter in south central Montana. This blog reflects my own opinions and not any official opinion, feeling, thought, information, news, or anything else of this unnamed shelter. Nothing on this blog has been approved of by said shelter. I have removed any references to the shelter or its location from previous posts. And if you read this blog before tonight - forget you ever knew which shelter this was.

Second - I had really hoped this blog would serve as a way to feature some dogs, cats or other critters needing homes or as a way to touch the hearts of some people willing to help us financially (which we always need). But in the interest of "protecting" the shelter from my writings I will no longer use the real names of animals needing homes because people might be able to trace the names back and identify our shelter. Sorry animals. I will also no longer provide our name, address, phone number or a link to our website where readers could donate on-line or find out more information. Sorry folks. I may have caved in to the demands of these very short sighted individuals but it is only because of my concern for the animals. In my service as President to the animal shelter I work with I have only 3 missions: 1) To leave an organization that is financially strong - prepared for unforeseen financial disaster and well equipped to meet the demands of the future. 2) To ensure that each and every animal that enters the shelter is given not just the basics of food, water, shelter and medical care but that they have adequate human contact, the individual time each day to be talked to, groomed, played with or just touched. That's the difference between being an animal storage facility and an animal shelter and we haven't gotten there yet. 3) To educate people about realities of animal overpopulation and how it affects animal shelters. More Thursday - but the picture today is just a happy dog. As they - and we all - should be.

Yours honestly - Lisa

A Dog Well Traveled

2005-07-17T22:21:00.000-07:00

I recently ran across a happy story about one of our former residents. Boy does he get around. Here's his story according to his owner (who I hope won't mind since it's on another web page) Sadly, my dog Butch was killed at an interstate rest area near Craig,MT as we were coming home from Alaska in Oct 2000. I was so depressed about what had happened and couldn`t face the long drive home alone, so I adopted him (details deleted- a humane society in MT). Dear Butch was cremated at this shelter." Now it appears that this dog lives a wonderful life of hiking and camping all over the United States. This is one lucky pup and clearly has a devoted owner. It doesn't take a continent to make the rest of our dogs happy though - just a home, a yard and a heart big enough for two.

Hounds Away!

2005-07-16T20:38:00.000-07:00

I promised some happy stories. Last week we had the very, very rare three-fer. That's when three animals get adopted at once. And this one was special because it included three hard to place critters - two hounds and a cat. Hounds are a problem for many shelters. We get them a lot and the're often purebreds. Some are retired hunters but too many are just once cute puppies that grew up. Hound puppies are close to irresistable with those long ears and sad eyes. What people forget is that they grow up to be large dogs that need room to run. And they bark - if you can call it that. They have that distinctive, instinctive bay that makes them very unpopular in city neighborhoods. Hounds aren't golden retrievers either. The're working dogs with a somewhat independent nature. And so when little baby Blue grows up he comes to us. Our small, indoor kennels are not good for long term storage of hounds. They don't get the excercise they need and sadly, some go kennel crazy and have to be killed. But this is a happy story! Two that had been with us long enough to worry about got adopted together this week, Penny and Cooper. They went to a nice young family that has land for them to run in the country. The owner has had big noisy dogs before and knows exactly what he's getting. Even better they'll have each other to play with. And the cat was Big Mac, an orange cat that didn't hold much appeal to most folks because he was very aloof, didn't care much for handling and just preferred to be left alone. So hooray for the lucky threesome and their family!

The Politics of Caring

2005-07-15T20:11:00.000-07:00

Today I got a valuable reminder of the nonpolitical nature of animal sheltering from a reader. First, a clarification. I actually started this blog 7 months ago like so many other blogs - as a semi personal place to write about whatever topic tickled my fancy. I soon realized how pointless and uninteresting that was and months later changed the blog, including its title and address, to become this one. But the old posts remained along with some political content that was totally irrelevant to the subject of the animal sheltering. That has now been removed. The animal shelter formerly mentioned on this blog is absolutely non-partisan and non-political. Second, in the world of kindness and compassion towards animals there are no political lines. While the world and the news seems obsessed with politicians and their squabbles we animal lovers concentrate on healing the wounded, feeding the starving, sheltering the lost and finding homes for the homeless. We are so fortunate at our shelter to have generous donors of all political persuasions, parties and beliefs that make the work we do possible. When they look into the eyes of a frightened dog or a motherless kitten, conservatives and liberals - Republicans and Democrats - share the desire to comfort and help. And we need their financial help more than ever. Our dog kennels have fallen into disrepair due to age and the toll that frequent cleaning and an inadequate ventilation system have taken on them. The walls are simply falling apart and the ceilings and walls are dotted with mold. A generous donation of windows from a major corporation helped but we need to spend at least $5,000 to patch up the damage until we can build a new facility. Unfortunately I'm not at liberty to tell you where to send donations if you were interested in helping. (see 7/19/05 entry) This weekend: happy stories.

Ebb and Flow

2005-07-10T22:58:00.000-07:00

Sometimes there doesn't seem to be any logic or reason to the ebbs and flows of populations in and out of the shelter. It's been an astonishing couple of weeks for cats. Kitten business has finally picked up and the open cat room is as sparsely populated as I have ever seen it. It seems like I just got the new cats up on our web site and they were out the door. This is really good news. This time of year we usually see the older cats wait until the kitten season has passed. Even a long timer like Ophelia found a home. Of course there are always blacks cats left. On the other hand, we are full up with dogs. For the first half of the year we were doing so well with dogs. Now almost all our kennels are full. Almost 40 dogs are there waiting for homes. But we always have to leave some kennels empty for the strays that animal control and the public bring in. For some dogs that inevitably means their time is up. Now the staff has to decide who's too old, who's more aggressive, who we don't have the time to work with. It's a hard decision, balancing the lives of animals that didn't ask to be here. This is when you really begin to hate the people who drop off dogs for stupid reasons. "It barks", they say. "We just don't have time anymore." "It got too big." What they don't understand is that at times like this, with our limited space, more dogs in means more dogs dead.

A Question of Adoptability

2005-07-07T20:45:00.000-07:00

We get a lot of cats. We get a lot of black cats. They outnumber any other color and they are hard to place. People just seem to pick every other color first. We get many really nice, friendly socialized cats and kittens that are easier to find homes for than timid or less friendly ones. And we don't have enough foster homes that can take a mother cat and kittens so that they can be protected from the all too contagious upper respiratory disease that we fight every day. This unlucky family had all the chips stacked against them and were killed.

Updates

2005-07-05T20:35:00.000-07:00

Time for a few updates. The dog that needed parts due to a major foot surgery, is doing great. When I saw him on Saturday he was laying in the grass in the backyard of his new owner's home. He was sprawled out, half on a blanket - half off - just snoozing the afternoon away. He's still wearing the big Elizabethan collar so he looks like the drunk at a party who wears the lampshade but he is so very happy. His new owners even tried to call him in to visit but he just opened one eye as if to say "Nope - busy right now" and ignored them. And why wouldn't he? For the past months he's been in a damp kennel, only allowed to see the sun and grass for an hour or so at a time and always at the end of a leash. Now he can lounge about in the sunshine, sniff the fresh air, watch a bug crawl up a blade of grass, listen to all the neighborhood sounds and do all the things that make a dog's life great. That's the ending we hope for for all of our dogs. Peaches the pit bull was also laying in sun today when I visited the shelter but unfortunately she hasn't been adopted yet. She was just out with one of our wonderful Tuesday volunteers. We had two families interested in her but they failed the home check. With dogs like Peaches we have to be so very careful. Even though she is sweet there is a risk with her. It is also an annoying fact that the people most likely to be interested in a dog like her are too often the types we really can't feel confident about adopting her to. That's the same with most of our aggressive breed or aggressive looking dogs. Peaches still has a hard time looking at people but she is getting much better. And we even had a pretty good week for cats. Some of our long time cats that had been at the shelter for 6 to 8 months finally found homes. We like that because it frees up room for more of the never ending stream of homeless felines to make their way into our adoption room.

House Cat #1

2005-06-26T23:26:00.000-07:00

Nothing tonight but a picture of one of the Shelter's house cats snoozing in a basket. We have a bunch of cats that live at the shelter full time, all there supposedly for displaying unadoptable behavior. I personally suspect that some cats are just there because someone fell in love with them. Some have been there longer than any of the staff. This one is snoozing in a basket of bracelets we are selling.

The Power of Words

2005-06-24T18:44:00.000-07:00

Just a short one today about the power of words. An euphemism is an expression intended by the writer to be less offensive, disturbing, or troubling to the reader than the word or phrase it replaces. Euphemisms are often used to hide unpleasant or disturbing ideas. Another source defines it as "The substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant." Words are important in the animal shelter business. We aren't the "dog pound" any more. We are the animal shelter. The "dogcatcher" is an animal control officer. We don't "sell" animals and people don't "buy" them from us, they adopt. These changes have been good. They have brought a much more humane feeling to the work we do. However in this blog there are two euphemisms' I won't use anymore. Those are "put to sleep" or "euthanize." Why? My goal here is to portray reality and I believe those words shield people from the reality of the consequences of pet overpopulation. The result of reckless breeding, irresponsible ownership and failure to spay and neuter in my community is that we kill dogs and cats. They aren't asleep. They're dead. And that's the truth. Back on Sunday.

A Pit Bull

2005-06-23T18:05:00.000-07:00

When you first see her Peaches isn't the first name that comes to mind. Killer, Brutess, Cruella – those might be names that come to mind but they couldn't be further from the truth. Peaches is a Pit Bull. She's the classic brown brindle and white with a big block head, split half white and half brown. Her bowed legs hold her stocky body firmly in place. She's all chest and muscle with tiny brown eyes. She isn't pretty from any angle. And making this poor girl look even tougher is what some idiot did to her. Her white muzzle is raw - torn and chewed. Her ears are ripped and ragged. She has evidence of scars both old and new all over her. Some of her wounds are new enough to reopen if you aren't careful when you handle her. We think, although we can't prove, that she was used as a "bait" dog to provoke fighting dogs to fight or to practice on. She clearly isn't a fighter herself. When you approach her cage she won't look at you. Her head is down, her tail tucked under. It's as if she's waiting patiently for whatever awful thing you're going to do to her. I took her out yesterday for some socializing. Thanks to the staff and volunteers that walk her she did pep up when she caught on that she was going outside and she nearly dragged me through the building to get out. After the necessary pit stop (pun INtended!) we went over to the grass and I sat down. It took her about 20 minutes to sit down and relax. I petted her short rough coat and talked to her about things. I scratched her ears, careful not to open up the many scabs. Every so often she would look at me - and ugly or not – it was a nice look. We had some thunder and it was instantly clear that this tough, terrible looking dog was scared. She startled and howled – a pathetic "woo, woo" sound. I pulled her big, homely head close to me and petted her until she wasn't afraid anymore. We sat there together for an hour. She even licked my nose. Me and Peaches the Pit Bull. She's going to be hard to place but I hope we can find her a really kind owner that will look beyond the not so peachy exterior to the sweet and loyal dog inside.

"I Wish I Worked at a Shelter"

2005-06-22T20:23:00.000-07:00

After I read back over a few entries I think I need to make something clear. I don't work at our wonderful shelter - although I spend lots of time there. So often I hear from people, especially young volunteers, "Oooh, I would love to work at an animal shelter." I never try to discourage them but if they only knew....... Of course there is the petting and being around animals and cute puppies and kittens, but 365 days a year there are hours and hours of hard cleaning and a never ending supply of feces and urine that needs to be scooped, scrubbed and sprayed. Animals throw up, get sick, get filthy, and often stink. They bite and scratch even when the staff is trying their best to help them. There are far too many crabby, hostile, stupid and dishonest people to deal with. There are volunteers who know everything and customers who know absolutely nothing. The phone rings, everyone needs attention right now and there is still stacks of paperwork that needs to get done. And then there is the death. In recent years researchers have put a name on that burnout that affects caregivers of all sorts, such a nursing home workers, police, rescue workers, nurses and others including animal shelter workers. It's called compassion fatigue. It's when they just can't seem to care anymore about anything, including themselves and their families. And the literature often singles out animal shelter workers as unique even among this group since they are the only ones whose day-to-day job often involves killing the very creatures they love. Just today one of our shelter workers, a dedicated and compassionate animal lover, had to kill 16 cats and kittens. This time of year that's not so unusual. Working at an animal shelter takes very special people and I wish more people understood that.

Another Black Cat

2005-06-21T16:23:00.000-07:00

Blackie is such a common sort of name for a black cat and her story started off far too common. A few months ago a college student got a kitten. She got her spayed, which was a good thing, but also had her declawed. Sure enough, when school ended the parents said no and Blackie was homeless. When she got to us she had an eye injury and something had gone wrong with her declawing operation. Her feet were clearly very sore as was her right eye. Understandably she was a very crabby little cat. We did the best we could with her eye and her feet and put her in the cat room. For the first week or so she stayed crabby – almost untouchable. She wouldn't come near people. I honestly feared that she wasn't going to make it. The next week she played with toys and then the next week she tentatively approached a volunteer for some affection. After a couple weeks more she was a sweet as sugar giving hugs, purring and snuggling. Now Blackie had only two obstacles to overcome. One, her eye was scarred for life - marring an otherwise adorable face and two, she was black. Black cats are without question the hardest for us to place – and we get lots of them. On the 18th a lady and her husband came in looking for a younger cat to replace another that had been very affectionate and playful. They were attracted to a grey and white kitten but I took a chance and introduced them to Blackie. She did the rest. She put on all the cat charm she had. In fact, I think her bad eye gave her a pathos that was irresistible. They were hooked. I met the lady today at the shelter as she was coming to finalize the papers. Her friends are teasing her because she sent out adoption announcements with a stork on them. She said they were threatening to throw a kitty shower. We both thought that would be a fine idea.

Two Dog Day

2005-06-20T21:38:00.000-07:00

Today two lost dogs found their way into my life. The first was brought into my office by a co-worker. I recognized it right away as a dog who has just gone out on a test adoption a couple of weeks ago. He had been surrendered to the shelter by his original owners after escaping numerous times and earning himself numerous tickets. He's a great dog - a young rottie/something mix that's as good natured and friendly as can be. He's just an escape artist. I fashioned a leash for him out of my scarf and tried to call his adopters - no luck. So I called Animal Control to have him hauled out to the shelter. I had to go sit outside with him since he was whining. There are worse ways to spend time at work than sitting outside on a nice day with a dog. He rolled around on the grass and fooled around until Animal Control came and took him to dog jail (Critics please note: the term "dog jail" is used tongue in cheek only since technically this dog was committing the crime of running at large - don't be so serious). I only hope his new owners will give him a second chance and a good sturdy kennel. Dog number two was wandering around the grocery store parking lot. Just by looking at him you knew he was lost. I fumbled arms full of groceries and called him, trying not to time it so he would dash out in front of moving cars. People looked at me like I was crazy. The dog looked old and confused. I lured him closer with some dry dog food that somehow I always seem to have in my trunk even though I don't own a dog. What I really ought to have is a leash. Having given away my scarf earlier in the day I had to use his collar to get him into my car. It was about 90 degrees out so I cracked the windows and went in to call the police for the second time that day. They said it would be a bit so I went back out to wait with the dog. He was an old guy. His teeth were yellow and worn and his very bad dog breath filled the car. He was sort of homely, overweight and beige with gold spots. He had those kind of bulging old dog eyes that had grown a bit cloudy but looked at me with a mixture of trust and hope. Luckily he did have recent rabies tags. While we waited in the hot car it began to rain, hard enough that I had to shut the windows. Now it was just me and him. Me sweating and him panting gust after gust of that awful breath. I scratched him and he shed hair in my car by the fistful. By the time the police car arrived the windows were fogged up. Even though I was glad to open the door and finally get some fresh air, I had enjoyed our short time together. He was a nice dog - a wise, elderly little gentleman. He rode off to the safety of the shelter sitting proud in the back of the squad car. On days like this I'm glad we have a shelter to bring these lost and wandering souls to.

Four Black Kittens

2005-06-19T10:42:00.000-07:00

It had been a tiring day. We had a labor intensive but fun fundraiser that morning. Some Board members and I were now at the shelter helping the staff to close an hour early since they had put in a long day too. We were cleaning litter boxes in our cat intake room, where the stray cats spend their required 72 hours waiting for an owner to show up. In a bottom cage were four fuzzy, black kittens. No Mom cat. They looked to be about 6 weeks old. They were all clumped together in the back corner of the cage, all four pairs of eyes wide open and watching us fearfully, moving in unison as we worked. I sat down down for a closer look and the bravest of the four hissed at me and backed tighter against his littermates. At the sound of that little hiss, our hearts sunk like rocks. These weren't going to make it to adoption. Today we already have at least 25 kittens at the shelter and 30-40 more out in foster care. I opened the cage and they scattered to get as far away from me as they could - these little, tiny babies. I caught one and held it close to me - hoping so hard that it would purr or even relax a little bit. I desperately hoped it would give me some small sign that it was salvagable. All it could do was struggle to get back to the others, still in the cage watching with those round, frightened eyes. We all knew, looking back at those soft, adorable, unwanted kittens, that when we left the room we would never see them again.

Updates

2005-06-14T21:36:00.000-07:00

The dog with the injured foot is doing great! His part finally did come in and he had surgery last Wednesday. All went just fine. Besides the metal plate to support his foot, they took some bone from his middle toe to give it more structure. I visited him in our isolation room on Saturday and he was grinning his goofy grin - big plastic cone and all. His new owners moved into their new home this weekend and are eager to take him home for a full recovery into a new life. And some more good news. We have had a cat at the shelter for 14 months. Sweetie came in as a young mom with kittens. The kittens were fostered and went on to find new homes but for some unknown reason neither she or her sister Biscuit seemed to appeal to anyone. Her sister is a long haired orange and black tortie, Sweetie is a muted peach and grey short haired tortie. Both are young, nice, great cats. They had been featured on TV, in the newspaper and on the Internet but never picked. Finally, after a year passed a nice family took Biscuit home to Missoula. Last week I decided to send Sweetie's picture and bio in to a local independent paper for their weekly pet feature (the first time a homeless shelter animal would have been featured) . It must have been a positive jinx because a really nice lady came in on Saturday and actually picked Sweetie to be her feline companion. So Sweetie will be in the paper tomorrow - but already adopted. Although I'll miss seeing her every week I know she will be so much happier with a human of her very own to share her days - and nights - with. They may act independent but they really do enjoy being around us. (In fact, one of my own is sitting above the keyboard right now teasing me with his tail over the qwased keys)

Collecting or Cruelty?

2005-06-12T11:50:00.000-07:00

We had a a pretty bad day on Friday. A total of 33 animals were brought in. 24 of them were cats from just one elderly lady's home in a neighboring area. It was a mix of full grown cats and a number of kittens, all sick, malnourished, and dirty. Many had defects - a sure sign of inbreeding. Our staff spent much of that afternoon euthanizing all of them. This was the classic "little old lady with cats" that people laugh about. But it's no laughing matter. This unfortunate woman was a collector. In many ways she is just as much to be pitied as the cats. Experts now see this behavior as a mental illness, perhaps related to obsessive compulsive disorders. 24 animals is relatively few. In same cases these individuals can have hundreds. While cats are common, collectors can have birds, dogs, reptiles and "pocket pets". They almost always live in unimaginable filth and squalor but seem oblivious to it. There are collectors in almost every community. The sad thing is that, in their minds, they think they are helping the animals and protecting them from being euthanized. They strongly resist giving up the animals and will very often start collecting animals again. While their treatment of the animals is indeed cruel, simply punishing them doesn't solve them problem. To really solve it takes a combination of law enforcement and social services including mental health assistance. Here's how to recognize a potential collector: They may have a large number of animals, either contained or roaming outside. There will be a strong smell of urine and feces noticeable even outside the house or just around the person. You may see malnourished animals and sick animals hanging about. The person may be reluctant to get veterinary care. The person may be secretive or dishonest about the number of animals they own. The person may be reluctant to go outside the home or have anyone in or around the home. Here's what you can do to help: If you know of someone fitting the description above, contact your humane society or animal control officer. Some animal collectors identify themselves as no kill shelters and offer to take in animals. Don’t drop off strays or unwanted pets without seeing the house, building or living area. Do not encourage the person by assisting them with pet food, money, etc. Volunteer to help when an animal collector is discovered by donating pet food, supplies and money to help pay for veterinary costs to the shelter in charge of the rescue. Understand that in many cases the animals are so sick by the time they are discovered that euthanasia is the kindest option. These people and their animals deserve our compassion and our help, not just humilation and scorn.

A Dog Waiting For Parts

2005-06-07T11:35:00.000-07:00

One day this spring a homeless border collie mix was hit by a car. Not big news. It happens all the time. He was found later in a ditch and brought to a local vet clinic that turned him down since there was no one to pay what looked to be some pretty expensive bills. Rather than euthanize him he was brought to the shelter. Off he went to one of our Good Samaritan vets who found him to be about 10 months old, and otherwise in very good health. The crash banged him up a bit but the real damage was done to his back left foot. All his toes were almost severed. The staff took him back for a few weeks of love and healing. On his next visit to the vet it became clear that the dog's toes and foot were not going to reconnect. There were now two options; amputate a perfectly healthy leg from an adoptable young dog or fix him. Our vet really didn't want to amputate - the toes were healthy, the leg was fine. She offered to fix him, at cost, by putting a metal plate in his foot to reconnect the two. For just $1,500. $1,500. For a shelter with crumbling kennel walls. With other bills to pay. Facing budget cuts. We just couldn't justify it for one dog - even one as lovable as this one. We had to go to the community for this one. But as much as I fell in love with the dog this gave me pangs too. There are kids and adults here in Helena that need medical care. You see cans on store cashier counters with stories of cancers and needed surgeries. You read of young moms skipping car payments to just to get kids to the doctor. And we wanted over the top surgery for a homeless dog. In the end I decided people give money to what they care about so we went forward. Some kids raised money during an after school program so the dog and I went to school and picked up their $336.00 to kick off the effort. The checks started coming in. Two little boys went to their Mom's work places and door-to-door in their neighborhood and collected over $200. Two unnamed donors pledged to make up any shortfalls. In the end, we collected over $2,000 for the dog. What we don't use we'll use for the next injured critter that comes in. And the dog? He finally has his surgery tomorrow. He was scheduled for last Wednesday but you know how it is. His parts hadn't come in yet. He has a new family too waiting for his successful recovery.

Shelter Stories

2005-05-31T22:20:00.000-07:00

Her name was Bear. She was a young Sharpei mix dog that came to us in September of 2004. Like so many Sharpeis she had problems around other dogs. She was great with people. Just as sweet as can be. It was hard to call her pretty although she had shiny black fur and a big curved tail. That Sharpei face made her look a bit like a manatee. Bear really needed a big pink bow. Month after month she stayed with us. Every week the staff and volunteers walked her and got to love her. As time went on she got hard to show to the public as she becomes very possessive of her only one home - her kennel - although once you got her out she was fine. Other dogs remained a problem. We even took her to a big community garage sale hoping to show her off and she behaved perfectly until too many other dogs got her stressed. We looked so hard for an adoptive family with no other dogs. Finally we thought we had a match. A couple with a Pomeranian brought their dog to meet her and they got along fine. Bear seemed to love the Pom. After many careful warnings Bear went to a new home. I for one cried to see her get a home after so many months. The couple reported back that Bear and the Pom were getting along fine for over two weeks - in fact they called the morning before Bear killed the Pom to say how wonderful things were. Bear was brought back on a Saturday morning. She certainly didn't understand why she was back at the shelter. After she enjoyed a McDonald's cheeseburger Bear was euthanized. We erred in giving Bear a chance. We let our hearts get in the way of making the hard decision to kill Bear early in her stay. It's a trap too easy for shelter staff to fall in to. Animal shelter staffing is unique and tragic in that it demands people who love animals the most to kill them. More shelter stories soon.

Cat walk

2005-04-25T00:13:00.000-07:00

On Sundays I take my cats out for walks. Recently cats have been in the news as the state of Wisconsin has debated whether or not to allow people to shoot cats that don't appear to be owned by anyone. Legions of cat people responded to the proposal - indignant at the thought of open season on cats. Unfortunately from my perspective they often claimed cat ownership myths that aren't true. They say cats can't be indoors only. That's completely untrue. Cats can and are indoor only in many responsible households. True, they need mental stimulation via cat trees, toys and an interactive owner but it is easy to have indoor only cats. My cats go out on leashes. I tried harnesses which some folks like but it was too hard to get the cats into them. Mine just wear puppy collars and a light weight line. Jim, my big male, really is most interested in eating grass and rolling in key spots to leave his scent. Other cats, that neighbors let run, trigger his aggressive nature and pose a real challenge. CC and Mary go out the front and love to lollygag on the lawn of the law firm next store. They all look forward to Sundays because they are cat walk days. I miss my old townhouse where I could just tie the cats out while I was outside. So, cat owners - be responsible and keep your cats indoors or controlled when outdoors. The songbirds will thank you.

New family member

2005-04-09T23:01:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, it's been a long time since I updated this. No good excuses but lots of good intentions. Okay - new family member. I should have known as soon as I named him that he would come to live with me. His name is Brian and he's a short haired guinea pig. He and another piggie were brought to the shelter by a woman who had been breeding piggies for the pet store trade. Now she wanted out and had two boars (males in guinea pig world) to get rid of. Neither he nor the other one have been properly socialized. They were just meant for breeding and wear metal tags in their ears to prove it. Sadly, they don't get along so they had to be separate. I've had piggies before, and I'm still not sure why they are so popular as pets. They live a long time - about 7 years and they really are like owning a fuzzy brick. Not much affection for people. But Brian needed a humane home and I'm a sucker. So welcome home Brian! Pictures soon.

Captive Birds

2005-03-03T00:53:00.000-07:00

I have two birds. They are not a pair since Sugar doesn't like Steve. They are Cockatiels, native to Australia and very popular in the pet bird trade. They are about the size of robins but way noisier. I never intended to have birds but was in a pet store after a major life change and Steve just seemed to beg me to buy him. He's mostly white with grey wings. Sugar came into my life a few months later after a neighbor got evicted. She had lived a life full of noise, chaos, smoke, and benign neglect. She's a regular gray and yellow. Steve talks. He often sidles up to Sugar and says "You be good" and "You pretty bird" in a lecherous little bird voice. She isn't in the least bit impressed and usually gives him a hiss and bite in return. I do think they like having another of their own kind for company though. The problem with having birds as pets (captives) is that they are so smart. I feel guilty that I don't give mine the enriched lives they deserve. Unfortunately, having 3 cats makes enrichment a risky business. They both come out every night for a pet and a cuddle but I can't give them the freedom they deserve. Bottom line - I don't really think birds should be pets except for the most devoted owner. I love mine and will give them the best lives I can for the 20+ years they may be with me but wish they had never come to be the caged creatures they are.

Gorilla Glue warning

2005-02-10T01:48:00.000-07:00

The world can always use some more glue. Sticking things together has always been a vexing problem. But dog owners, here's a caution. Some of the newest and most popular glues pose a new hazard for pets and possibly kids. Polyurethane based glues like GorillaGlue or Elmer's Pro Bond are the newest thing. Do they work? From all accounts yes andvery well. The problem is that dogs can get into the products and after ingesting just a bit get a tummy full of trouble. While technically non-toxic, these glues contain Diphenylmethane diisocyanate. This substance expands – a lot – when exposed to moisture. As a result, critters who may have eaten just a small bit may end up with a large mass in their intestines. Just 2 ounces - a few tablespoons- can result in a volleyball sized mass in your pup's stomach. Even worse, as the glue expands, it heats up which can damage the lining of the stomach or intestine. It also adheres to the internal tissue. If your pet ever eats the glue, getting some water down it right away will help rinse the esophagus clean of the glue but immediate emergency medical care will be needed. So be careful out there!

Welcome family!

2005-02-04T02:50:00.000-07:00

Maybe this is how all blogs start out. I know now that my family is reading it now and then. Turns out that one of my nieces also lost her pet rat this week. Hers was just a baby. I felt bad because she loves her rats very much and has proven to be a very loving and responsible owner. Although we'll never know what the cause was, one of the problems is that pet store suppliers consider ratties to be short lived novelty items rather than pets. They have to sell right away because they age so fast. I seriously doubt that they have any sort of responsbile breeding program in place. Rats make such wonderful pets for kids - and adults. They are clean, smart, affectionate but sadly have short lives. For lots of very good information about rats click here: http://www.rmca.org/. And hello to new reader Ann!

A Tiny Light

2005-02-02T23:10:00.000-07:00

A tiny little light in my household went out today. My rescued rat, Augustus, had to be euthanized this morning. This was a pet rat who had been left abandoned in an apartment. All together 3 rats were turned into the shelter. The hairless rat went to our wonderful Shelter Director's daughter and I - as I have done before - took in the other two. Mine were alive with lice, way too thin and in need of care. Happily a local vet was able to help me. Both Augustus and Julius were treated for the lice. Julius suffered from a huge tumor, which the vet removed, but he passed away during Christmas. Gussie got a great deal of attention from me - especially since he was without his rat buddy. About a week ago it became clear that Gussie wasn't well. By yesterday he had stopped eating and drinking, even his favorite cheese and banana chips. He was telling me it was time. Every animal we love leaves footprints on our heart. From goldfish to horses, and even little rats, the price we pay for the happiness they bring us is the hurt when they leave. Good bye Augustus, I'll miss you.

How Do You Lose a St. Bernard?

2005-01-31T02:00:00.000-07:00

Tonight's Shelter Story: About a month ago we got a St. Bernard. A stray St. Bernard. And no one came to claim him. That fact alone is so puzzling. How do you lose a huge, beautiful dog and not try to find it? Anyway, dogs like this one - which we named Anton - don't do well in shelters. Our kennels aren't big enough and it's warm and humid. When we got Anton he would literally crawl across the unfamiliar indoor flooring - clearly he had been an outdoors only dog. Thanks to a St Bernard rescue group, Anton is now on his way to Washington state to live with a retired doctor and his wife. A volunteer got him profesionally groomed before he left and he looked just like a show dog. The lesson here? There are treasures waiting for you at your local humane society or animal shelter.

Lotta Blogs

2005-01-27T22:02:00.000-07:00

Came across a Feral Kitten Rescue Blog: http://www.luna-fish.com/blog/blogindex.html. This gal has a heart of gold. Feral cats are such a huge problem. Here in Montana we have the Montana Spay and Neuter Task Force: http://www.mtspayneutertaskforce.org/ . This year we held an event in our town during which hundreds of feral or ranch cats got spayed or neutered. More on that another day.

Wild Horses May Stop Them

2005-01-27T21:12:00.000-07:00

A stealth amendment was added to a huge omnibus spending bill which allows the wild burros and horses on public land to be sold for slaughter yet again. The President signed the bill, probably totally unaware of that rider in it. For the sake of honesty, the bill only applied to horses over 10 years old and those that had been placed unsucessfully before. But it still allows these creatures to be sold for pennies for pet food and meat overseas. Imagine a horse plucked from the wild and sent to fatten at a feedlot with hundreds of other strange horses - ankle deep or more in manure and muck - just waiting to be shipped for slaughter. Is that the Wild West as we know it? So please read the information below, which is courtesy of the the US Humane Society. A SIGN OF HOPE FOR WILD HORSES - CONGRESS RESPONDS:This week, Congressmen Nick Rahall (D-WV) and Ed Whitfield (R-KY) introduced H.R. 297 in response to a last minute amendment by Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT) to the omnibus appropriations bill passed late last year that weakens the Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act by allowing wild horses to be sold for slaughter. The Rahall-Whitfield legislation would restore a federal prohibition on the commercial sale and slaughter of wild free-roaming horses and burros. “A public outcry has again begun across the United States over the change in law that now allows the commercial sale and slaughter of these animals,” said Congressman Rahall. “We need to act before it is too late for thousands of these animals.”The Wild Free-Roaming Horse and Burro Act passed in 1971 as a result of the enormous public outcry against wanton killing of wild horses. Before this bill was enacted, wild horses and burros were shot and slaughtered by the hundreds of thousands for use as pet food or for human consumption overseas. The recent Burns amendment has turned the clock back and set the stage for mass slaughter once again. WHAT YOU CAN DO:It is critical that your federal Representative hear from you today. Please ask him/her to cosponsor H.R. 297 and to do all they can to ensure the enactment of this legislation. Please let your Senators know that you hope they will support similar legislation in the Senate, as well. Letters and phone calls are most helpful. Click here to find your legislators.

Shelter Stories

2005-01-27T03:20:00.000-07:00

Every so often a young man would stop in to the shelter. He had been severely injured in a motorcycle accident, so much so that he had to be accompanied by a "helper". One of the way his head injury manifested itself was that he lost his inhibitions about hugging and touching people. He is very likely to grab people to hug or touch - whether they like it or not. Ordinarily a person like this would not be good with cats. One Saturday afternoon he came in with his helper and discovered a a cat. Not a very good looking cat as cats go. Mostly white with some black spots. But this was a very friendly cat. Unlike most others, he loved to be picked up and held, even for long periods of time. This was a cat that craved physical attention as much as this young man did. After a couple of visits, his helper arranged for the cat to be presented to this young man as a birthday present. Now Cobra Fang, as the young man calls him, has a great new home. In fact, we saw him during our Christmas event in which we take pictures of pets with Santa. Cobra Fang clearly adores this young man and the love he gives is returned is by this young man's pride and love for him.

Fur Removal

2005-01-23T21:57:00.000-07:00

Here may be the most helpful nugget posted here that makes your life easier. The best way to remove pet hair from furniture. Believe me, as a 3 cat household, I have tried them all. Get yourself a pair of rubber gloves (like the Platex ones) , get them slightly wet , and rub whatever you want the fur off of. You'll be pulling the fur out of evrey nook and cranny. Just throw it away. Your thanks are welcome.