A Happy Ending

Arthur and Guenvere found a fabulous furever home :) They're going there tonight and a coworker was awesome enough to offer to drive me up to say goodbye during our lunchbreak. So grateful to DeDe. Seriously, good coworkers are everything.

Arthur and Guenevere were purring and cuddly. Arthur licked my forehead and hand before grabbing my head with his paws to groom it. I actually feel right about this. They're going where they are supposed to be. They'll be fussed over and loved and the center of two gentlemen's world. That's amazing and wonderful.

Thank you to everyone who sent vibes or prayers for them to find a furever home fast. They'll be going home tonight with their tube, bunny ears, and a firm foundation of love. I'm so happy for them.

Also, I did ask for a request for photos to be passed on to the adopters. If I get any I'll post them here so you all can celebrate their fantabulous new life, too!

Also, a thank you to the Washington Humane Society shelter staff for being so awesome and helping me and for being such great caregivers and finding these kitties their perfect home.

A Cat's Prayer

I came across a very sweet "cat's prayer" on the site of a cool FL rescue group

It made me laugh and think of the cats in my life. How the way we treat and raise our cats changes how they treat us. How the raising goes both ways.

Toby with his insistent looks that communicate better than words whether "WTF was THAT???" at his first accidental glance of a new foster kitty, "Food, woman. I want some gorram food now" or my favorite "YOU'RE HOME!!!! My PERSON is HOME!!!!!"

That last one is usually accompanied by a highly-held, twitching tail and crazy amount of face and flank rubbing.

The last two stanzas seemed particularly apt:

Please protect me from the inhuman humans
who would hurt and torture me for their own amusement.
I am accustomed to your gentle touch and am not always suspicious
nor swift enough to avoid such malicious acts.

In my later years when my senses fail me
and my infirmities become too great to bear,
allow me the comfort and dignity that I desire for my closing days
and help me gently in my pain or passing.
Hear this prayer, my dear friend, my fate depends on you.


Their fates do depend on us. We're their people. We've created a world where they can't easily live on their own. We are their source of food, love, entertainment, and care. Children grow up and stand on their own two feet eventually. Cats and dogs? They need us desperately until the end. A coworker suggested Keen was surrendered because his family couldn't bear the thought of watching him die (he is 15, most cats pass between 15 and 20, he has a few years left on him). I hope that wasn't the reason because, to me, a cat who has given you 15 years of love and affection, deserves familiar love and affection when it is his time to pass on from this world. Who else will he wait for on the other side?

Btw, the photo at the top is LeCat--a 14 year old previous foster who now is living the good life with an awesome woman in DC.

It Hurts. You Deal.

Keen, a 15 year old gray male cat, was depressed and in desperate need of a foster home. Arthur and Guenevere were playful, sweet, and happy at my apartment but not meeting enough people to get adopted. The logical choice was to agree to exchange the kittens for Keen. It was the right choice but it was the most difficult choice I've made in my 25 years of living. I love those 8 month old cuddle-monster cats. Love them. I've raised them since June to be comfortable with people, unafraid, happy, and healthy. My maternal instincts were poured into them.

People ask me again and again how I can volunteer at an animal shelter or how I can foster. They ask "doesn't it hurt?" as though that's a reason not to do something good. Yes, it hurts. Jarrod can attest to how much I've cried since making the decision and giving up Arthur and Guenevere. I've felt a physical pain in my chest that I'm certain is the guilt I feel over the kittens being in the shelter right now. I haven't gotten a full night sleep the past few days because I read until I pass out because I can't stand the quiet worry that creeps in at night.

Fostering and volunteering with animals pulls your heartstrings, makes you wonder if you can take anymore, makes you curse people for what they do to their animals, makes you curse your income for not allowing you to take them all, and yeah, fostering and volunteering at a shelter brings you pain and makes you cry.

"But pain... seems to me an insufficient reason not to embrace life. Being dead is quite painless. Pain, like time, is going to come on regardless. Question is, what glorious moments can you win from life in addition to the pain?"
Lois McMaster Bujold, "Barrayar", 1991

That's one of my favorite quotes. I was an epeeist in college and my coach told me to not be afraid of getting hit. You'll get hit, but you need to deal and decide what's more important--pain or doing good. I know that I do good when I foster, when I give attention to a sad and lonely animal, when I exercise a dog who is so excited to leave her cage she jumps for ten minutes, when I play with a bored rabbit whose owner won him at a fair and didn't realize he needed stimulation and love. I did good by bringing home Keen for some foster love. I'm hurting right now. There's a lot of pain.

But, pain is an insufficient reason to not try to help an animal. If you don't get your heart pulled by that animal, some person will screw you over or you'll do something stupid that causes physical pain. We will all experience pain in life. I want my pain to have meaning. I want my pain to come from doing the right things and making the tough choices. Bring it. I'll cry, but I'll deal and go back to doing the right thing again. Saving a life is glorious enough to be worth this pain.

Weight Loss

On the left: Toby as a svelte young cat. On the right: My beautiful currently tubby Toby.
My cat and I are both trying to lose weight. Well, to be more accurate I am trying to lose weight and Toby is really confused at the smaller amount of food showing up in his bowl and me making him actually MOVE for said food as a result of me trying to help him lose weight.

This dual project has me thinking about the similarities and differences between helping a cat lose weight and helping yourself lose weight. Both involve a lot of self-control, common sense, exercise, and some innovation.

Self-Control
For me, it's not buying the Ruffle Cheddar potato chips that sing a siren song from the vending machine at 3pm every afternoon. For Toby, it's not giving into his sad looks and plaintive meows.

To avoid the chips, I tried buying mini rice cakes. Verdict--not buying again. At first, I loved them and thought they were awesome, then realized I had eaten over half the multiple serving bag and had this weird chemical taste in my mouth. To boot, I was craving Ruffles even more than before. I've recently tried oatmeal. Microwaved with a bit of milk and a small amount of heavenly dark brown sugar seems to help get me past the hump.

To deal with Toby's meows...reminding myself, and him in a perky voice, that he is NOT a starving kitty. And then throwing some toys or petting him until he gives up.

Common Sense:
For both of us: smaller portions, more movement. It's so basic, I hate to say it, but it needs to be said. I also checked with his vet about how much to decrease the food.

Exercise:
Bribery and conscious argument with myself works. I know I need to exercise and only need to argue with my lazy bookworm brain in order to get off the cushions and lifting weights.

With Toby...sometimes tossing toys or danging his toy sticks work. Other times he just yawns. So I'm getting sneaky. Some days I toss his food a kibble down the mini foyer of my studio, making a noise when it lands, and he runs for it, then I toss one down the kitchen so he runs in there, "hunting" his food.

I also use most of his meal times as training times. I know it's not a lot of movement to go from standing to sitting, to high fiving, to sitting pretty, but it's some movement and it means I'm not neglecting his training while we're currently swearing off treats.

Innovation:
For me? Not a whole lot. It's all ideas I've read elsewhere or simply finding ways to put different workouts together so I work everything without getting too grumpy (I'm seriously perky at the end, but halfway through I just want to whine and stop).

For Toby this meant finding a way to deal with his habit of eating cardboard and plastic when he wanted food without rewarding him for eating the cardboard and plastic. During the day I can keep an eye out and my timing is good enough to distract him before he's made contact with the cardboard. At night...I wake up about an hour before I need to and he's trying to get to cardboard or paper. It's better than it used to be. At first, he would wake me up at 3am with this. I realized I needed to feed him right before bed and then cover the box with a blanket to make it less appetizing. To deal...I have premeasured baggies of food so I can stumble out of bed, distract Toby, toss some kibbles in his bowl, and stumble back to bed without having fully regained consciousness. Is it perfect? No. Is it the best I can do in a studio where I have foster kittens who would otherwise eat any food I left out overnight and find and devour any interactive toy I left out with food? Yes. So much better than 3am or actually measuring at 6am. I consider this an innovative improvement.

So far we're both making progress. Toby feels lighter and I feel healthier. That's what it's all about, both of us being healthier and better able to play and enjoy our days. That's worth a little effort and self-control.

Big Black Dog and a Cherry Tree

So I know that the actual lyric is horse, not tree, and while a lot of the assumptions do hold true for horses that exist for cats and dogs...my shelter doesn't have any black horses to adopt out.

I went to a seminar tonight about Big Black Dog Syndrome (BBD). It's an observable syndrome in shelters across the country, that big black dogs stay the longest and get euthanized the most in shelters. Black cats also stay a long time.

The talk was hosted by the Washington Humane Society and presented by a smart whip of a Masters candidate from George Washington University's anthropology program. We discussed BBD from a historical/anthropological perspective, as well as how those aspects translate into the everyday at shelters across the country. It wasn't all sad though. We ended by discussing the great success stories of BBDs who, due to their lengthy shelter stays, were able to earn their CGC certificate, learn awesome tricks, and end up in amazing homes as hearing assistance dogs, trekking buddies, and also family pets.

I had known of BBD before but hadn't looked too closely into it and this was an eye-opening reminder of how much of our daily behaviors and choices are subconsciously influenced by our society.

We don't think that we're so affected, but we are and that's why we need to always make sure to communicate with people and push strong, positive messages that encourage smart choices.

Comments like Chris Rock's about how Vick didn't deserve to serve time because it was just pits, who aren't even "real dogs" don't just sicken and disgust me because they're wrong, but because there are people who listen. Because when people hear those comments over and over and over, they see a sweet pittie puppy and think "vicious" "unimportant" and decide not to adopt that dog who needs a loving home.

This weekend is Halloween when many of us will see people looking completely unlike who they really are. This weekend we will automatically look past appearances to see the real people underneath. I wish people could always do that with animals and see beyond Big Black scary Dog and see instead Big Bundle of Fun whose shed hair won't show up on my black suit!"

Kittens

I've never had kittens. My Toby is 2 years old and I met him when he was almost 1. I've fostered 6-, 2-, and 14-year old cats (oddly all male) and Toby's "sister" was a year older than him.

I'm fostering three kittens now. Two months old. They're cute and adorable but exhausting. Even supposedly on painkillers from their surgeries they're hyper and exploring everything.

They're reminding me to not stop exploring and testing. When I fall I should imitate the kittens and jump back up with more energy and exuberance than one would think possible. They think everything is a toy and something to play with and explore.

I'm also learning...
-kittens can clamp their mouths pretty darn tight when they don't want a pain killer.
-Yesterday's News does not absorb smells as well as World's Best Cat Litter. I can't go back to WBCL until after their stitches heal though.
-Toby is extremely patient
-a kitten "growl" can be heard while the kitten is nomming on a My Little Pony Happy Meal toy
-no bite/lick spray is really attractive to kittens for licking (this was not good!)
-a kitten in an E-collar is ridiculously adorable

I'll post photos as soon as I get my camera working again. Off to TAFA this weekend and pretty excited. Jarrod is going to check on the kittens during the day so they're not going all day without a person. So grateful to him for that.

Oh, the kitten runnig around with the tiny My Little Pony toy in his mouth might beat out the E-collar as most adorable...

New article

Go click!
http://www.examiner.com/x-12366-DC-Pet-Rescue-Examiner

http://www.examiner.com/x-12366-DC-Pet-Rescue-Examiner~y2009m7d14-Obvious-but-Cool--Cats-Know-How-to-Manipulate-Humans

I tallyed up my earnings...they almost paid for the calming treats I bought Toby to help him deal with fostering.

I should probably apply for a second job at Big Bad Woof (awesome pet supply store in Takoma Park) just for the product discount...
Living Ruff (equally awesome in Silver Spring) isn't hiring so far as I can tell. Still all one totally awesome family.