It seems every organization today is desperate for money. When your money is very limited, where do you give your money? Tonight I was at Feed My Starving Children with my family and my sisters friends, neighbors and church friends. She wanted to celebrate her 50th birthday this way. They send millions of meals to children around the world, including Haiti, East African countries and today, El Salvador. So about 65 of us packed meals and hopefully many will donate online or with checks later.
The Humane Society is also dear to my heart. I was a foster volunteer with the Ramsey County Humane Society for 7 years. My "specialty" was sick cats. Once I went in for a meeting of cat volunteers and came out with a beautiful rust colored husky mix and her 8 five day old pups. What an adventure that was! I adopted the mother and one pup.
I adopted my hunter cat Lilly from that Humane Society about 5 years ago. She had been there for awhile. Evidently she had a litter, then when they were adopted she was spayed and then she got an upper respiratory infection. She was very very happy to get out of there. She would jump up on my shoulders all the time. She still tries to do that when I am sitting down. She is not that social with others but maybe out of gratitude, showed her love to me from the first day I took her home. She hunts for me. She lines up mice and other critters near the door for me. She tries to keep the other cat and my dog in line. I call her "the enforcer". If I trip on something and make a noise, she blames the dog and attacks him!
A year ago I decided that since it was 4 years since my huskies had died, it was time to get another dog. I went there on a Friday night to check out what dogs they had. There was a truck like the old milk trucks parked in front with a sign that said Oklahoma Humane Society. Inside, I saw information on several cats, dogs, rabbits and other animals that they had transferred from another Humane Society . There were very few cats and dogs in the cages.
How wonderful! I remember it being over full and the staff having to put down healthy kittens. I think the change is that they now can spay or neuter kittens and puppies when they are young, before they are adopted. Before, people promised to do it and often did not. I think this policy is the reason that there are far fewer animals needing new homes.
There were two rooms with dogs. Most of them were quiet! I decided to come back in the morning and take some out for walks to check out their personalities. I bought some treats and then took three dogs out for walks. One stood up on his hind legs, balancing a long time, when he saw the treats. He didn't bark he just looked intently at me. He's the one I adopted. He's eager to please and seldom barks. It was a week before I heard him bark when a neighbor used a leaf blower. He wasn't completely trained and he chewed on lots of things. The vet estimated his age at around 1 year old.
He's good with other cats and dogs and with kids. He's very agile and very fast. Unfortunately my cat Lilly didn't like having a dog in the house again and attacks him sometimes. He stays far away from her.
The other cat I got from a hobby farm foster family. They kept all animals outdoors. The mother cat wasn't feeding the kittens and they were dying. Only the 2 I took survived. Unfortunately my handsome male cat died of disease 4 years ago.
There was a wonderful story on the 10 PM news last night. A young couple looked at dogs at the pound. They saw a Saint Bernard that was 75% underweight. Afraid he'd be put down, they paid for him and took him home some hours later. As they entered their home with him, he went tearing ahead and through a screen door and chased a burglar hiding out there! He chased him to a fence and tried to pull him down by pulling on his pant leg. The guy did get away. What amazing instincts! I think the police department could use him!!
I will be donating a little money before 10 am tomorrow because it will be doubled by a matching fund. I think my pets help keep me sane. They are pretty good company even if they do chew on things or spit up on the carpet.
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