The Blog Pound

Thursday, June 25, 2009 , early evening

A “boy meets dog” story

I tend to go on week-long obsessive stints where I want to find out everything I can about some obscure topic. One time I read and researched about how to grow my own mushrooms, and when I felt I had a good grasp of the subject, I moved on to something else (like Borneo or prion diseases or carnivorous plants or pentathlon). I can immerse myself into just about anything, and lately I’ve been fascinated by Antarctica. I’ve always felt awed by the South Pole region, especially after reading about Ernest Shackleton’s adventures in the incredible book, Endurance, by Alfred Lansing, but I was recently lucky enough to stumble across a few blogs written by people who actually work at the Pole. It’s ironic that I’ve been reading all these personal accounts of life at the bottom of the Earth just as Dr. Jerri Nielsen FitzGerald passed away… you’ll remember her as the woman who had to perform a breast biopsy on herself after discovering a lump during one of her stints at McMurdo Station. Medical evacuation was impossible because of seasonal weather issues, and she was brave and gutsy and I really respect the life she lead.

As I was reading various Antarctica-themed blogs, I found an entry written by a contractor who was back in the US and enjoying the heat of Arizona. She and her boyfriend found a lost dog, and the story of the boyfriend and the dog was really sweet and made me smile. Just the photos are worth your time, so if you’re in the mood for a nice tale of the fates being kind to a puppy, please check out The Story of Sonora.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 06/25 at 06:45 PM
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Come visit us on Facebook!

I know many of you are regular Facebook users, and I’d love to be able to get to know you and your pets better via that venue. You can find me at http://www.facebook.com/lgerow, so please send me a Friend Request. I’m also very excited to announce that Wee Paws has its very own Fan Page on Facebook, and I hope you’ll take the time to join. The group is growing rapidly, and we even have a celebrity fan: Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald, from the TV show, “Emergency Vets”! You can either search for Wee Paws Animal Sanctuary on Facebook to find the Fan Group, or go directly to it at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wee-Paws-Animal-Sanctuary/78639474298. Please drop by and say hello!

P.S. Wee Paws has one more celebrity endorsement in the works—it’s an Olympic athlete who not only won a gold medal, but who set an Olympic record for competing in four Olympic games in three different events. I’ll have more about this as I get all my links and ducks in order, but it’s nice to meet so many great people who want to help animals in need.

Wee Paws Animal Sanctuary

Promote Your Page Too

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 06/25 at 05:15 AM
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Monday, June 22, 2009 , evening

Dante adjusts, plus, Some cute and cheery videos

Last week I started to write a lengthy blog entry about Eli, and let’s just say that it’s… lengthy. I’m still not finished. When I’m done, I might need to upgrade our server to handle all the text, but I promise I won’t hold it against you if you don’t read it all. I’m mostly just writing it for me, so I won’t forget anything about my wonderful dog. The past week has been challenging, but it’s been made worse as we’ve watched Dante go from a state of confused to a state of sadness, and it’s frustrating that we can’t explain the situation to him. The two dogs were never apart a single day after we adopted Dante, so for 9 years Eli was a constant presence in his life. He’s having to make even more of an adjustment than the humans in the family, I think. For the first four of five days after Eli died, Dante wouldn’t go near the bed that Eli slept in, even though when Eli was alive, “stealing” that bed was the best part of Dante’s day. He seems to be over that as of yesterday, and I found him sleeping in that bed this morning. This evening when I fed him he spun in circles and wanted to play with me for the first time in a week, too, which is also a good sign. I’ve tried to get him to play but all he’s wanted to do is lean on me and have cuddles. Dante is an emotional dog, and he truly has radiated feelings of grief at his loss. If he adjusts to life without Eli faster than I do, I’ll be very grateful. Speaking of grateful, I can’t express how much I appreciate all the condolences you’ve sent to us in email, on Facebook, and via my blog… it helps knowing that there are so many people who understand how we feel. Even the postal service was understanding—a condolence card from my Mother in Canada arrived in only 4 days, instead of the usual 14 days. It took the same amount of time for a card from the vet’s office to arrive, and they’re just a couple of miles away, so two thumbs up to Canada Post for knowing that a girl likes even a virtual hug from her Mom when she’s feeling sad.

On an unrelated note, as I’ve aimlessly wandered the Internet over the past few days, I’ve discovered quite a few cute videos that made me laugh or smile. Rather than write a blog entry for each, I’m just going to list them below. If you’re looking for cuteness, I hope this will be just what you need:

Baby Foxes Born in Tokyo Zoo

Another Cute Video of a Slow Loris

Nutty and Tony

Pet Penguin. It wears a cute little backpack!

One last thing… this isn’t a video, but a funny blog entry written by a cat about a very important subject: A Disclaimer From Mazie Grace. I’ve never been a big reader of the “cats who blog” genre (I’ve just been jealous that none of our cats have the aptitude), but I have to thank Victor Tabbycat for introducing me to the gang at Whiskers and Purrs, and the beautiful Daisy the Curly Cat. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a blog that has so much work and time dedicated to it as Daisy and Harley‘s blog, and I highly recommend you check it out (if only to see the photogenic cats). Love me some Mr. Shrill, too!

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 06/22 at 09:33 PM
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Tuesday, June 16, 2009 , evening

Saying goodbye to my best canine pal

This is a long story but for now, you just get the short version. This evening we had Eli, our German Shepherd, put to sleep. She was 13 years old, and we found out she was suffering from an aortic tumor and congestive heart failure. Parts of her heart weren’t beating normally… if you know about a normal heart rhythm, and how it starts with a P wave, Eli’s heart was having multiple beats where it never got past PQ. It wasn’t something we could fix with drugs, and she was destined to die in no more than a couple of weeks, and I didn’t want to prolong her suffering. I always thought of her as my best friend, as the dog who understood my moods and who stuck by me when I was sad or upset. I’d always hoped she would make it to her 14th birthday, but I’m glad I had as long as I did with her. I’m also glad her suffering was minimal, and her death was peaceful. I still clearly remember how she chose me… I went to look at a litter of GSD puppies, and while her siblings ran around and played, she came and sat quietly between my feet. She did a good job picking, because I was lucky to have had such an amazing dog.

If I sound calm, I’m not… I’m utterly distraught yet highly medicated.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 06/16 at 08:22 PM
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Kevin Goes Home

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 06/16 at 03:55 AM
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Sunday, June 14, 2009 , mid-morning

Off to CoffeeFest!

Flippy and I are rushing off to attend our second-favourite convention of all time, CoffeeFest! It’s a shame neither of us can drink caffeine, because that’s the one limitation on a day of endless samples of exotic coffee beans, frappes, fruit smoothies, biscotti, chocolate, and all the other yummy things you’d find in a coffee shop (or on a dessert tray… mmmm, cheesecake). Most vendors have decaf samples of their coffee products, and I need to stick to those or I’ll get so agitated my head will pop off. I’m especially looking forward to the Lollicup booth, where I’ll get to try their newest flavours of bubble tea.

Our other task for the day is to collect donations for Wee Paws. On the last day of a convention, many vendors (especially those with perishable or liquid items) don’t want to ship them home, so they give them away. I find they’re always quite receptive to making donations to local charities, so I hope we’ll come home with some good coffee beans and other goodies to put up on eBay. We may not be able to drink caffeine, but you caffeine addicts know you won’t be able to resist, so I’ll keep you posted if we get anything you’ll want to try. See you in a few hours!

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 06/14 at 10:08 AM
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Saturday, June 13, 2009 , evening

Police Officer Saves Baby Ducks

Sorry for the lack of updates over the last few days. My old bad habits of not posting aren’t coming back, it’s just been a busy, busy, busy week! Eli has also been sick after eating a cat toy on Wednesday, although today seems to be well on the mend and eating again. That’s good, because we spent 3 hours at the vet on Thursdays getting Kevin/Cody ready for his adoption on Monday, and the thought of going back to the vet today is just too tiring to contemplate. While at the clinic with Kevin/Cody, I had the chance to feed five week-old orphaned kittens.... SO CUTE! There were three tabbies with white splotches and pink noses, and two which were black and white with pink noses. I also got to clean up one with the runs, wheeee! Oh, we will be bringing home those two, 4 year old cats who lost their elderly owner last week. I met the cats on Thursday and they’re adorable, terrified, and not eating, so I think they’ll do a lot better if we bring them into a normal home environment. Their owner left them tons of food, toys, cat trees, etc., so they were definitely well-loved. They’re so sweet and unique-looking that I think they’ll get snapped up via Petfinder quite quickly. I’ll post photos of them when we get them (and after I’ve recovered from getting Cody-Kev (we’re trying to break him in to his new name) to the airport on Monday.

While you wait for new cat pics, enjoy this slideshow of a police officer helping a duck damsel in distress: Cop Rescues Ducklings

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 06/13 at 09:39 AM
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Tuesday, June 09, 2009 , evening

Green with Envy

Now this is my idea of a good time:

I mentioned earlier today that we might get two foster kitties. We thought they’d be arriving today, but the vet’s office is keeping them for a few days because they think they have a client who might be interested in adopting them. They’re 4 year old Siamese-mix siblings, who were surrendered by an elderly man who’s in poor health and unable to care for them any longer. The man’s wife just passed away, and perhaps she was the one who took care of the cats, so now the cats needed to find a new place to live. We’d be quite happy to take them—in fact, we were kind of excited about it—but we have to wait a few days to see how it pans out. It would be best for the cats to be adopted, of course. Our current foster cat, Kevin aka Cody is hopefully going to his new home in Seattle on Monday, so we’ll be down one cat and the house will feel practically empty!!! Seriously, Kevin is a sweet, chatty guy, and I’ll be sad to see him go, but he’s going to the most amazing owners and he’s one incredibly lucky cat. He went from living in a feral colony at our local bird sanctuary to living in an old car in our neighbour’s yard to living in our laundry room to being flown on an airplane to a fabulous home in the Pacific Northwest. His adopters plan to install cat fencing for him, so he’ll be able to indulge his love of the outdoors without leaving the yard. I posted on Craigslist and found a nice woman from Seattle who’s visiting this weekend for a reunion of her military unit, and she offered to take Kevin back on the plane with her. It saves me a trip (I was going to go up and back on the same day), and it saves the adopters a ton of money.

I had another offer to move Kevin to Seattle, but this person was driving up from Arizona, and I didn’t want Kevin to have to spend so much time crated in a car. I was also afraid he’d yell the entire way and drive everyone crazy. The driver was a professional mover, and he and his wife move antique cars, boats, etc. all over the country. While making these moves, they also try to deliver rescued animals to their new homes, which is amazing, because they move the animals for free. I found out about free pet moving for charity by using a service called uShip.com, and I’d definitely use the service again. The movers are generally experienced and user ratings are provided. There’s a specific section for pets from charities. Pet breeders also move animals using this service, although then it isn’t free. It’s great to know there are so many options starting to become available to move pets, because in the next few months we might need to employ them.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 06/09 at 08:39 PM
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Inappropriate feline urination

Isn’t that a magnificent title for an icky problem?! Go check out this blog entry, If your pee pee hurts, what would you do? at Tails From A Cat Vet, to get insight on how to resolve the unpleasant situation. As a bonus, the blog entry is even kind of amusing.

psst! I think we’re getting two new foster cats. News to come later today!

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 06/09 at 09:49 AM
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Economic Euthanasia

I recently read two good magazine articles about the rise of “economic euthanasia” during the country’s current financial crisis. Economic euthanasia is the term used when an owner chooses not to treat their sick (and curable) pet for financial reasons, and it also refers to people who choose to have their pets euthanized because they can no longer afford to take care of them. It’s not surprising that this depressing procedure is happening more and more often, but what was encouraging about the article was that many people are instinctively taking action to help stop it. Dr. Patty Khuly, who writes the blog Doolittler, is quoted in the article as saying her animal hospital has seen a big upswing in the number of donations made by clients to help other clients and pets in need. The article also mentions that the animal retirement and pet hospice movement continues to grow, and that’s encouraging. If you’d like to read the article, you can find it in last month’s issue of Veterinary Practice News. I’m afraid I can’t link to the second article I read, which is in the current issue of VPN, because it isn’t online yet. However, you might be interested in reading about the increasing popularity of palliative and Pawspice services. As someone who specifically tries to adopt elderly/senior animals, I like knowing there are options available for me to care for the animals at home towards the end of their lives.

One disagreement I have with the first article is the author’s claim that vet clinics should reject convenience euthanasia, and should direct the pet owner to use their community’s shelter services. I’d hate to think the author was advocating that the owner surrender their unwanted pets to an overcrowded shelter system, where the pet is likely to be euthanized, but only after a few days of terror in a place full of strange smells and noises. I can understand the unwillingness to perform these euthanasia services in the vet clinic, but if you’re advocating for the animal, it seems you’d want it to be as comfortable as possible. This seems especially important if the animal is older or a large mixed breed—animals generally considered “unadoptable”. I don’t know how I’d handle the situation if was a vet in my own clinic, though, so I don’t want to be really black/white about the issue… it’s difficult. The animal hospital we go to doesn’t perform convenience or economic euthanasia, but asks the pet owner to surrender their animal so it can be rehomed. That’s how we ended up with quite a few of our cats, and also why so many of the clinic staff have so many animals (one vet tech has 20 cats, as well as a few kids… busy woman!).

One last point to take away from the first article I posted: your tax dollars pay whenever someone decides to drop their pet off at the city animal shelter. Your tax dollars aren’t involved in the operation of private rescue and sanctuary facilities in the slightest (unless you choose to make a donation), but you’re automatically contributing to local animal control via your property taxes. If you’re concerned about your taxes rising, be concerned about people who aren’t caring for their pets properly, because those are the people who are using up the local shelter’s budget and forcing taxes to increase. There’s a oft’ quoted statement about the penal system, which says that it costs more to execute a person than it does to keep them in prison for life. That applies to animal care as well—it costs more for animal control to euthanize a pet than it does for them to keep the animal alive and offer it for adoption. No-kill shelters can actually be less expensive to run than kill shelters, when properly administered, but that’s a topic for another time.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 06/09 at 12:16 AM
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