New Years Day

It's new years day and I slept late, a good start to the new year.  I bathed my cat (wow, that was not fun) and now I'm googling to see if Petsmart is open today. I've decided my cat is stressed out and that's the reason he has some acne on his chin and dirty ears. Nothing else has really changed in the house except for the addition of Zelda - the new kitten- and that is probably stressful for him. Especially now that she is older and starting to assert her role in the home.  That's the only thing I can think of since I've changed the bowls to shallow dishes and swap them out. I've never used plastic (since plastic can be irritating to sensitive skin).  He never goes outside to get dirty but he has always been a sensitive boy.

It's taken me a few weeks to come to this conclusion and a bit of reading about acne on the internet.  I've shaved his chin with a clipper and been washing it with mild soap. I think it is a reaction to stress and I'm off to buy some Feliway plug ins and/or the feliway spray.  I'll post again in a few weeks if it worked.

My politics

I am certainly not a politician and I have never been very involved politically. I also rarely take part in political discussions nor share my party line with friends and co-workers.  Unfortunately that's changed and I just have to share my views this year.  Not that anyone is going to read it or care what I have to say.  I've been more and more disheartened at the quality of political candidates in the past several elections and had pretty much come to the conclusion of picking the lesser of two evils.  This year is a big evil and I can't not speak up.

I am just appalled at the republican nomination of Sarah Palin. I am disturbed that she was chosen as a "token" on the ticket to try and grab the defecting hillary supporters as if all she needed was a set of boobs to guarantee success. If she had been a man, she never would have received the nomination and I resent that fact.  A woman is just as qualified as a man and her credentials should be just as good to qualify her for the exact same position.  Palin is an evangelical, anti choice, pro-gun, right wing conservative who wants creationism taught in schools.  I am a woman and she is not my candidate for the following reasons:

• Because she required the women in her own town to pay for their own rape kit after being traumatized
• She does not support a women's right to choose even in the case of rape or incest
• She cut funding in Alaska for teen moms and sex education and promotes abstinence only (doesn't work does it?)
• She believes the world was created 6000 years ago
• She believes humans and dinosaurs co-existed
• She has no foreign policy experience
• She is currently being investigated by the Alaska Legislature for alleged abuse of office
• She is consistently anti environment
• She opposed banning ariel bear and wolf hunting and enacted a $150 bounty on each freshly killed wolf (paid for by state funds) 
• She opposed a bill to increase salmon stream protection from mining operations and it was defeated
• She believes we should destroy our natural resources for economic gain such as drilling in the wildlife preserves of Alaska
• She doesn't believe in global warming
• She sued the Interior Department over its decision to list the polar bear as a threatened species 
• http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/377955_palinenvir07.html (here's a nice article)
• She does not support gay rights or gay marriage, "Pray Away the Gay"
• She only has TWO years of experience in running a state with a tiny population and her only experience previous to that was the mayor of a microscopic town
• Prior to that she was a SPORTS REPORTER!

While I think Obama lacks some experience and I am not sure his answers are clear on issues I hold dear.  His voting record certainly leaves much to be desired and I am not overly enamored by him, however....I will be voting for him in November.  I'm glad the republicans made the leap to put a woman on the ticket, remembering that the democrats have done it before with Geraldine Ferraro.  She's the first woman VP candidate, not Palin.  I think a better choice could have been made and am very disappointed in the small minds. 

Broken Hearted

I put my foster dog Kiki (formerly "Lucky Dog") down on Saturday and it was one of the hardest euthanasia's I've had to do. I was really starting to bond with her and she was a vibrant loving dog. It seems that her confidence was growing faster than her fears were dissapating and that left little options for her rehabilitation and placement. Until this past weekend I had decided I was just going to keep her and give her the best home that I could for as long as I could. She was a loving little dog and had finally started to adjust to the indoors and loved being inside as long as the room did not contain a TV. She was never able to get over her fear of the moving shadows.

I hate her breeder, the person who robbed her of a normal life. The one who simply "forgot" about her and left her where she would get no socialization of any kind and no stimulation outside of her small chain link pen. No stimulation from other animals and no stimulation or interaction with people. She did not know anything that we take for granted as normal for a dog to know. Lack of stimulation during that most impressionable time in puppy hood. It's no wonder she broke down.

I feel like I failed that little dog. I think of her looking up at me with those sparkly dark eyes and a thump of her tail thanking me for bringing her home and it hurts to have done what I did. I wish there had been another way and I can't help feeling like a complete and utter failure for her. She wanted to live, she didn't want to die, the little sparkle in her eye told me so in those moments when she felt safe and could relax. I don't think she was born this way, I think she was made this way by the harsh conditions she had to live in devoid of any stimulation - suffering through the freezing winter, sweltering in a hot summer. She is a product of what was done to her. Rest in Peace Kiki, please forgive me. I won't forget you. I wish the person who intentionally brought you into this world could be held accountable. You weren't an accident, you were intentionally brought into this world and intentionally forgotten about, intentionally unwanted and intentionally discarded. Hopefully one day.

Interesting

Interesting article on how much we do to destroy our environment

http://www.slate.com/id/2193693/?y=1

 

I for one won't be buying this now that I know the beads are plastic.  There is far too much plastic in our environment from litter and waste.  We don't need to intentionally put it there by washing it down the drain.

June 2008

Summer has finally arrived, hot and ambitious!  I love the warm weather and am super glad I don't have to wear shoes except for work.  This month has started off with a flurry of rescue activity.  After Hemi's adoption, we took back a female named Star that was placed as a puppy.  Sadly we didn't choose well enough for her home and her adoptive parents chose not to keep her in their family when they moved to an apartment.  Luckily she went into Hemi's recently vacated foster home and they thankfully weren't able to rehome her on craigslist as they tried.  We'll find her a suitable home.  She is just as lovely now as she was then.

 

Brody was pulled and evaluated but sadly had severe crate anxiety and couldn't be housed safely in a crate. He returned to the SPCA for crate training and hopes that he could be acclimated in a familiar setting and brought back into rescue.  Our foray to visit Brody did land us a fabulous little female named Kayla who is not only tiny but just about perfect. She is darling and sweet and luckily got a great foster home though a little begging.

 

Our little Spice girls were the victim of a greedy greedy backyard breeder who was not only ignorant but irresponsible.  She bought a pair of pits for "breedin" and let them run loose.  Whem mama dog was stuck by a car and denied vet care....she died and her puppies were fed real pasturized cows milk instead of puppy formula and three died.  The remaining two were saved but are so tiny.  They only weigh 3 lbs.  They will survive now and thrive.

 

Lastly, Lucky Dog - Lucky dog, lucky dog, lucky dog.  What to say about you.  You are so frustrating but it is not your fault. It is your drunk worthless owner who kept you in a "pen" for your whole life.  You haven't seen anything except chainlink and the back of a barn. It's no wonder you dont' know what is up and what is down. Hopefully we can get you straightened out but at this point I am not so sure.  Every day is a struggle to get you to adjust to your surroundings and you are far more comfortable outside than you are inside and you just don't get the concept of crate training.  Lets give it a little more time.

Good ol eastern nc

I am glad I no longer live in NC. I still miss the place but don't miss the ignorant and cruel.

http://www.witntv.com/news/headlines/19888284.html

 

More more more

June 4th was a historical day for Virginia animals as the governor signed the new animal fighting omnibus into law.  I was really excited to be there and even more excited that I actually had a hand in helping draft that law.  It felt really good to be at the table with all of the other "animal" people in VA who were dedicated to the cause.  It means there ARE people who care about doing the right thing and have a moral compass when it comes to treatment of animals.  I hear way too many people say "it's just a dog"

 

Now, cockfighting is a felony, attending a dog fight is a felony and involving a minor is a felony.

Here is the HSUS article on the bill

http://www.hsus.org/press_and_publications/press_releases/virginia_senate_passes_animal_fighting_bill_030308.html

 

It was signed into law on June 4 and will go into effect on July 1.  Go commonwealth!  It was great to be a part of this effort.  A feel good moment when the pen crossed the paper.