The Top 40

Is it because they speak and look at us in ways we need?
Inter species communication of simple, sustaining emotion. The dog and cat simply need affection and protection from cruelty.
' For it is in the giving that we receive.' h/t St. Francis

Animal's should never be given as gifts, the people that work in the shelters know this, but accelerate the process anyway.

As soon as Fido shits on the Christmas floor it'll be chained up in the backyard in minus weather.

By New Years Eve 1/2 of them will be dumped somewhere.

If you're going to have a pet for 10-20 years you have to take the time and choose it yourself.

If someone else chooses it, it breeds contempt within you and soon neglect and abuse set in.

My sister has run 2 no kill shelters in North Carolina for the past 20+ years and has seen it all.

The only cruel animal is the human being.

I just got two kittens from a good quality shelter. I am hoping to love them as much as my cat who got sick with FIP recently and had to be put down because he was miserable. I am hoping to love them. They are good little cat kids.

katz iz kool
we have 5

Awhile ago I went looking for them but only found 2.

I looked some more.
I called out for them by name.
I rattled the snack container.
I kicked their toys around on the floor.
Where are the other 3?

I stood there in the living room perfectly still. Barely breathing.
Perfectly still.

The tree moved, slightly.
I think.
Laid on my back, slid under the tree, looked up.
Guess what I saw?

About 40 pounds of katz draped over the various branches.

I slid back out.
Grabbed the remote for the train.
Hit the whistle button and held it down.
I thought the tree was gonna crash.

3 streaks, 1 dark brown and black, 1 black and white, 1 gray with darker tiger stripes flew past, up the stairs, and into the unknown.

Won't see them again til suppertime.
Or they decide to get back in that tree....

Just saying, but do you suppose they might just have had a major influx of Obola sponsored Somalian immigrants who were longing for "a little taste of home for the holidays"? I mean, a freshly tortured puppy roasted alive over an open fire! Yum!

Good for you ghost! Lol

On 20 June 2000, what would have been the 15th birthday of my longtime buddy Dusty (Dustyn DaWynn) I went to the local shelter in Fort Myers, FL and donated 100lbs of Iams dog food and 100lbs of Iams cat food. While there, and suffering from extreme dog loneliness, I walked the aisles interacting with everyone of the 100+ cats and 100+ dogs. 3 cages from the end, I came to my dream girl. As soon as our eyes met we were both smitten simultaneously. I knelt down and she stood up and we formally met. Without consulting my wife I went to the counter and signed the papers and paid the money to make this little gurl mine.

We were waiting for our new home to be finished being built and our old home sold so we were renting for a few months. The shelter required proof from the landlord that we could have a pet. They also required proof that out other animals were vaccinated, proof of income, and current utility bills. We provided all of that but we still had to wait 3 days for the paperwork to go through.

While all of this was happening I drove the 15 miles to the shelter each day to spend time with my *Lady* as I had named her. The shelter required that all pets be spayed or neutered and I'm in agreement with that, but I wanted my own vet to be involved. The vet we had been taking pets to since the 1960's. My vet told me that there was a urine test they could do that would determine if Lady had already been spayed. Lady had been dropped off at the shelter several days prior in a night drop facility so it was unknown whether she had been spayed. She was less than a year old.

On the 2nd day when I approached Lady her demeanor was all wrong. She was in pain. I got down on the floor and felt under her and her belly had been shaved and I could feel stitches. I flipped her over and an "S" had been tattooed on her belly and she had been cut open. I was inflamed and sizzled. I stormed to the desk and jumped square in the ass of one of the many aqua shirted female employees standing around gabbing.

She sputtered, deferred to another employee that wasn't there right now and I instantly saw what was going on. The same thing that goes on in ALL gov't funded institutions. I turned in disgust.

I went back to Lady and consoled her and left.
The next day I went back and was told we were approved and they'll have the paperwork ready directly. My wife was with me. I removed Lady from her cage and held her and told her everything was going to be OK. 1.5 hours later I was told I was approved, signed some more documents and left, we took Lady home.

Even though she was in pain Lady was elated with her new home and her kitty brothers and sisters, and ran pell mell from one end of the house to the other over and over. We had to slow her down otherwise she would rip her stitches. My wife threw Lady in the tub and gave her a much needed scrub from stem to stern and then blew and combed her out. She was radiant! Then she got a proper supper and she stretched out on the carpet in the living room and snoozed.

Lady was MY gurl for 14 years and she passed in Apr 2014 crushing me completely. I was with her to the very end and right here under my desk, with me lying next to her, she slipped away quietly. I was numb for weeks. My wife encouraged me to get another dog but I'd have none of it. There is NO replacement for Lady. Ever.

I spend a lot of time in the woods. It's there that I find my center. Where I realign. It was there where I changed about my thoughts about getting another dog.

I realized that though there will never be a replacement for my Lady, there are still many dogs in shelters that need a person to take care of them, and the longer it takes for me to get my head on straight the longer a dog will have to suffer in a shelter. My ignorance was the reason a dog was suffering from extreme loneliness and who knows what in a shelter some where. I can't have that.

5 months had passed since Lady slipped away when I came to my conclusion. I went to a private shelter an hour away and went window shopping and it was there that I found my Shannon. She was no Lady and I knew that going into it and addressed her like a whole new friend.

A shelter is a terrible place to meet a new friend for the first time. I was irritated by the noise of hundreds of barking dogs distracting Shannon and causing difficulty in determining if she was going to be my new gurl for the next 12+ years.

Shannon and me when into a large fenced in area that was surrounded by mayhem, as described above. She was very distracted and I couldn't make a meeting of the minds with her. Then something occurred to me.

I dropped Shannon's leash to the ground and just stood there pretending I was ignoring her but keeping her in the corner of my eye. She stayed right there.

I turned and walked to the farthest corner of the area some 100' away. When I got there I was surprised Shannon had followed me there and was standing close to me. I had not said a word to her at all. I stood there for a minute then abruptly walked to the next corner. Shannon was right there. Then the 3rd corner, then the 4th. I never spoke to her during this experiment. Shannon dragged her leash along each time.

At the 4th corner I knelt down to Shannon and she was wiggling all over the place in joy and I had my hands all over her. I jubilantly told her she was my new gurl and she licked her approval all over my face. I filled out the scant paperwork and we took Shannon home. She is right here under my desk right now and that's where she spends most of time, always within just a few feet of me. We rarely leave each other.

There was another dog in that mix that was Lady's adopted sister named Brandy that has her own unique story, maybe for another time.

I name my dogs after 70's songs.
Dusty (AKC-Dustyn DaWynn) for the Kansas song "Dust in the Wind". Lady was for the Styx song "Lady" and Brandy from the Gallery song "Brandy" (you're a fine girl...), and Shannon is named after the Henry Gross song of the same name that was written for Beach Boys Brian Wilson's dog, an Irish Setter that had run away.

So that's my Christmas Festivus story, enjoy. Or not.

er Looking Glass

Anyone who has had animals around knows you don't go to the shelter and pick one out. The animal be it dog or cat (more on cats) pick you out. If they don't, if they wish not to be with you, there will be no bonding.

Cats take a bit more time but don't fool yourself, they check you out just as thoroughly. They aren't as standoffish as people think, just with those that don't wish them well.

This is a nice thing.

Being a cynic, I expect a whole lot of returns around about new years day,

It took me from August when my Henry cat died to just a couple weeks ago to get my head around a different cat. It's hard. But here they are