awww

I stop by Freekibblekat.com each day to donate food to shelter cats.  Recently they had a contest for youngsters to express how they felt about shelters.  Surprisingly enough a local (to me) shelter won!  It is also a shelter I have great respect for.

http://www.freekibble.com/kontest.asp#winners


Max Christian, Age 13
Shelter: Homeless Animal Rescue Team (H.A.R.T.). Cumberland, Maine
Why is my shelter special to me? Everything about H.A.R.T. is special to me, but there are certain things that can really bring warmth to your heart. For instance, when my Dad and I bent over to scoop litter, one of the cats thanked us by hopping up on our backs and purring. Every single cat at H.A.R.T. is different in its own unique way. Some are sweet, others timid, but what sets apart traditionally bred cats from the cats at H.A.R.T., is instead of being picked up when they are just small kittens, the cats at my shelter have lived together, so their true personalities are exposed. Another differentiating factor that makes H.A.R.T. exceedingly special is that they take in unadoptable cats and give them a lifelong place to live. Some spend their entire life in the shelter under the care of the staff and volunteers.  I’ve had instances where I wish I could’ve adopted them all.
When I first volunteered at H.A.R.T., I knew I was going to end up with a kitty. Turns out we ended up adopting two kittens, Smitty and Mojo. That makes three adopted cats from H.A.R.T., because we already had Belly. All of our cats from the shelter have had an extremely positive impact on our life.
The staff and Board of Directors there are just as amazing as the cats. They dedicate 100% of their time to these cats just so they can live happily. It is an understatement to the least to say that they are helpful to the shelter. I’m sure the cats appreciate them as well, along with the incredible volunteers, too. I have volunteered there numerous times and know the procedures, which aren’t always easy. They include scooping litter, cleaning cat dishes, washing furniture, scrubbing the floor, and last but most certainly not least is getting to know the cats. When you are finished with your jobs, there is always a little time to stop by each room and say hi to all of the cats. There are lots of rooms to visit, but one of my favorites would be the FIV room. All the cats that go to H.A.R.T. are FIV tested. What makes the FIV room special is that it is the quietest and the cats in it have great personalities. It’s impossible to pick favorites, though.
With over one-hundred cats that need adopting, it would be the least I could do for H.A.R.T. to send this letter to freekibble.com to help support all the cats and the staff. I believe H.A.R.T. deserves to win and the shelter is incredibly precious and special to me, as well as those with two and four legs in Southern Maine. Thank you for reading my letter and giving the Homeless Animal Rescue Team a chance.

this bites

well Skippy is at the shelter.  I brought him in because he hasn't shown any symptoms since Wednesday, and I wanted to see what they wanted to do with him.  They suggested I set him up at the shelter in one of the community rooms and watch him for a couple of days.

He was so grumpy the second he walked into the shelter.  Growling, giving me the angry eyes, etc.  He hisses at any other cat that comes up to him, and lunges and snaps at me if I was pushing too hard.  I left for a while to get some groceries and went back and checked on him again,  he wasn't any relaxed.

*sigh*

He deserves more than I can give him, but he so doesn't deserve this.. Sadly this is the only avenue I can see to get him the home he deserves.

another Skippy / Ollie post

Getting a little overhwelming on the Skipster and Ollie postings lately, but they are all consuming right now..

So Skippy.  He was congested yesterday morning.. breathing through his mouth, sounding pretty miserable.  Last night he sounded just fine.  However he had to stop several times in the night (and again this morning) to cough pretty hard.  He's eating and active..   No idea what to make of this.  That little devil part of my brain keeps going back to the "he to smart for his own good, and got sick to be returned to the shelter" statement I made when I first heard he was returned.  I want to think he's doing this so he can stay with us.

Ollie.. I think he's very much on the mend.  He's back to his grumpy demanding self.  He hates the clavamox, but that is almost over.  Now I need to decide if I am going to try to take the stitches out myself, take him to the vet, or leave them in to dissolve..

*headdesk*

Last night I was so uber hopeful!!  Ollie was being a pain in the Ollie.. and he climbed up on one of the cat trees to survey his domain, even found a way up on top of the fridge - his all time favorite place to be (and yes, we were completely freaked out, but sometimes you have to let a boy do what a boy is going to do to help him feel better mentally even if it hurts him physically)  He then climbed up on the bed between us and started disin all the other cats.  I assumed he just felt the need to remind everyone that HE is alpha, even if he was out of commission for a few days, and that all was right with the world.

Well this morning he was hiding on me.  I searched and searched, and finally gave up and relied on the ol "throw dry food on the floor" trick.  With so many cats, giving individual treats is not really an option.  The agressive ones get all the treats while the passive ones get none. (even when you walk up to them to offer treats they walk away) so I have taken to tossing dry cat food on the floor.  I do this very sparingly because I consider dry food to be very low quality food (I think of it as cookies) and it does a number on Jack's system (He loves it, but it doesn't love him).  Usually everyone comes running when I open up the door the bag is in, but he did not show.  I rattled the bag, no show.  I tossed some on the floor, no show.  After a moment I thought I saw something on the stairs to the basement, and indeed he was sitting on the top step.  Why he was not participating I do not know, and it bothers me. I finally went over and gave him his medication, and figured I'd toss another handful on the floor just in case.  Well I only needed to touch the door and he came over, so they got another handful.

and to top it off, Skippy was congested this morning.

I was so hoping for ONE day with out stress.. *sigh*  I guess I'll just have to be content with the hour I got last night.

Ollie is at the vet

well fiddlesticks. 


It is so hard to try to describe why I feel Ollie is not doing well.  It is all very vague symptoms.  He didn't eat his dinner last night.  He didn't eat much of the dry food I offered.  He's tender when I go to look at his incision (which is to be expected, but it complicates things as I can't get a good look at what is going on in there)  He has a lot to say now - which is more like him - but he's asking for things and then not wanting them.  Food is refused, treats are refused, heck even deli meat was refused this morning.

He wants to groom, but doing so is not easy for him, so he stops after a few licks.

and when I scooped his litter box this morning I noticed that he appears to be constipated.  He has eaten since he's been in the office, but there was almost no stool in the box. 

We called the vet, and they wanted to monitor him today.

My poor boy.