A New Addition to the Family

OK, so I was going to buy food for Tiger at Petco and a local pet adoption agency was outside with about 8 kittens, looking for adopters. I chose to look from afar but when I saw they had 2 orange kitties, I decided to go take a look. That was my first mistake (as Lyle Loveitt would say). My second mistake was holding both of them and asking questions about their personalities and their needs. I was suckered in. I tried to call my husband to talk me out of it. He was busy in a meeting and never got my message. So I was on my own, trying to decide, would Scott get really mad if I brought another cat home. I walked around Petco for a while and then I decided, I was going to do it. I went back outside and picked what I thought was the shorter haired of the two, filled out all the papers and away we went. I brought him home with time to spare before Scott came home from his meeting.

Then I was sweating it. What if he REALLY doesn't want to keep him? How mad will he get at me? We always make decisions together. But could he really turn away this cute little face?





He couldn't. Boy was I relieved. After careful inspection, a bond was formed.




And now we are a three cat household.

Oh, and by the way, his name is Motor. He does not stop purring, even to sleep. I chose him from the other kitties because he looked calm and was quiet. Boy, was I wrong.

A Dog's Journey

I read a lengthy article in my local sunday paper by Cheryl Wittenauer of the Associated Press. It was about the pitbulls that were rescued from Michael Vick's (NFL football player) home where he and others staged pitbull fights and destroyed the animals that were not aggressive enough or that had become too injured to fight anymore.

"Vick is serving a 23 month federal sentence after admitting that he bank rolled the dog fighting operation and helped kill six to eight dogs." Three others were also sentenced and all four are now facing state animal cruelity charges. Personally I think the charges should have been tougher.

During the police raid at Vick's home, police rescued over 50 pitbull terriers and mix pitbull breeds and sent them to city and county pounds and shelters. Teams were assembled by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals to evaluate if the dogs could be rehabilitated into society, and then adopted into families.

What was found was that most of the dogs were tolerant with other dogs and were actually social with other dogs in the shelters. Once the dogs were evaluated, only one was put down for being too aggressive. Half have been sent to a Utah sanctuary, Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, where they will be trained and worked with for eventual adoption. Others were evaluated as being ready for adoption and were taken to different adoption groups.

When I read this article, I felt happy that these dogs were given a second chance at life instead of just being judged as too aggressive and being destroyed. Each dog was evaluated individually to see if he could be socialized and trained to lead a normal family dog life. And many, if not all, have gone on to do just that. My heart hurts for the pain and fear they must have felt living with Vick and his friends. That is over. For that I am thankful. And I am thankful to all the human angels that have helped in rescueing and rehabilitating these dogs. Now they will get the love they overwhelming deserve, and for that, my heart is happy.