Tail Talk

During the month of February I have attempted to stay true to the path of Cat Appreciation Month.  I will admit I have veered from giving thanks for those mystical creatures  a few times when writing Tail Talk but only when it was necessary to bring you information I deemed so important that it couldn’t wait until after that all important 30 days of adulation we’re giving over to the feline persuasion.  I try to keep my stories light but I came across a page on facebook titled the Adlai Grace Foundation, and it’s dedicated to a kitten that was thrown from a moving vehicle onto the road and left there to die.  Except she didn’t.  She was found.   And there is where the foundation comes in because it tells all about the three week struggle of the baby kitten that was left paralyzed and incontinent after her attempted murder, and her three week struggle to live.  And the impact that little being had on so many people.  It is an incredible story and I highly recommend that you visit the page, see Adlai Grace’s pictures, and read her tale.  My favorite photo is of her little face peeking out of the basket while the adult cat checks on her

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You can really see how tiny she is in the photo of her broken little body hugging the remote control.   That lets you know just how big a danger she was to society and why it must have been oh so important for whoever did this to her; to throw her from that moving vehicle and destroy that tiny body that didn’t have a chance at life.  I think she stole my heart because she looks so much like one of my own cats, Donald, my first class mouser and serious love monkey that sleeps curled up in my husband’s arms every night and tenderly gives me kisses with his sand paper tongue, and the thought of someone doing that to my sweet boy is more than I can bear to think about.  But mostly I guess I would like for you to read the comments of the people she has touched.  Most poignant was her adopted mama, writing “Prezzies! Everyday was like Christmas at our house when Adlai Grace came to live with us. People sent food, diapers, toys, blankies and treats for the precious beloved little girl. When Adlai died, I couldn’t even open my mail. All the joy had left my life. From Christmas every day to the depths of grief in seconds…….I seriously questioned whether or not I would ever recover. I have concluded that I will never fully recover from losing little Adlai….so I just need to fight in her name to help protect other babies from the same fate she endured. I love you, Adi Gray. I will never forget you. I will never stop loving you.”  Immediately after finding Adi Gray she began telling her story, sharing with the world the struggles this tiny wisp of life lived just to make it from one day to the next, until the unthinkable happened and there she slipped from the limit of our sight into God’s loving arms, never to struggle again but to run and play freely as a kitten should in a world of mischief.  But for those of us that are left behind on this side the struggle of letting go is a difficult one.  She stole our heart with one glance.  We would take on her pain if only we could but we couldn’t.  That poor, tiny creature was left to suffer in a way that was unimaginable to the rest of us.   We had to stand by and bear witness to her suffering, to make sense of the senseless.  In her name we go forward to insure that this does not happen to another innocent, but if it should, we must insure that the laws are there to protect them and that they are enforced to their fullest extent possible.  Remember, if it’s to be, it’s up to me.  If we all commit to changing our part of the world then the world will change.  And little Adi Gray’s short life will have had purpose far beyond the three short weeks she spent on this earth.  I encourage you to visit and “like” her page today.

https://www.facebook.com/adlaigracefoundation

This is more than the story of a kitten for cat appreciation month.  This is about what we all can do to make this world a better place and not let the abusers that take what is so precious from us win.  Not this time.

And never forget, it’s only through you that the Randolph County Humane Society continues to save lives, one by one.

My life has become an unexpected life.  When I was young and I dreamed of what I wanted to be when I grew up, never once did I dream of being forced from my choice of careers by hypersensitivity to pain from back surgery that didn’t cure what ailed me.  It wasn’t a life choice that was anywhere on my radar, but when it reared its ugly head it took total control over every aspect of my life and lifestyle and left me with the choice of learning to enjoy a new way of living or living a life filled with anger at everybody and everything for what I had lost through no fault of my own.  I will admit I have those days when the anger seeps in, but I do try to keep them at bay, and the way that I’ve found to keep my days filled with sunshine and joy is through the animals that I have adopted from the shelter.  I have always enjoyed the antics of having a dog at my side but having cats is new to my psyche, and I have to say I highly recommend them because they are, at the very least, the most highly entertaining creatures I have ever come across.  But as in all things, the real joy is in numbers because we have four inside cats right now, and while there are moments when having that many animals can be irritating, between the interactions of the three dogs and the four cats, there is always something happening around here that allows me to forget about myself and lose myself in them and what is happening in their world.  And their world is far more interesting than anything that is happening in mine.  Sissy and Bubby, the brother and sister kitties we adopted a year ago Christmas, couldn’t be any less alike and yet you can tell immediately they are siblings that love each other unconditionally, even as they jump out at each other, rolling around uncontrollably until they tire in each others arms and settle into a somber sleep, barely glancing if I walk into the room and disturb their slumber.  Bubby is as lithe and agile as you would expect a feline to be but  when Sissy runs through the room all you hear is thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump as if her little legs are going in the circles of a wheel with a flat rather than moving with the grace of a cat in motion.  They’re all as curious as can be and don’t want to miss out on anything that happens so we have to be careful if we go into the spare bedroom for something that they’re not closed into the darkness and left with no thought because the next thing you know the carpet will no longer be attached at the carpet bar.  Not a problem, so long as it comes out in one piece and doesn’t come apart in the waft and weft as it came off the loom (as has happened).  It doesn’t go back together like it comes apart.  We like to start our spring garden plants from seed but now that we have four cats to help us prepare our garden inside the house and out our big decision this year is where do we put the seed pots?  So we decided the spare bedroom would be the safest place and out of harms way.  We’ll begin in the kitchen with the dirty work, then transport everything to the bedroom so we’ll only have the door open for seconds.  I turned around after those seconds and was shocked to see there are three dogs and four cats in the bedroom with us, all trying to figure out what these things are in the peat pots, what these grow lights are for, why does mommy have towels laid out and if I jump from here can I pull them all over in one fell swoop?  Why yes, I believe I can, so here goes, and… SUCCESS!!!  All this happened within thirty seconds of the door being opened and our carefully thought out plans gone have awry.  So you see, when life takes you down paths you never intended to go and you think you’ll never have any joy again, the answer my friend is to adopt cats and dogs.  Lots of them.  You’ll never have another moment to be able to sit by and concentrate on “poor me” because you’ll be too busy laughing at the silliness going on around when you’ve got all these critters trying to help you with every task you try to take on, and if you think you can’t live with the pain one more moment, well guess what, oh yes you can because you’ve got way too much else to think about than to think about poor me.  So get over yourself and save the world, one animal at a time.  And never forget, it’s only through you that the Randolph County Humane Society continues to save lives, one by one.

So did everyone see the news story about the dog in Colorado that bit the lip off the news anchor during the interview about his rescue after falling through the ice after chasing the Coyote?  Well, if you’ve heard the story but not seen the video, things are not always as they seem and there are important lessons here that we all need to pay attention to because the only ones to suffer are the animals, and this poor dog may die because of it.

Lesson number one, at all times make sure your dogs and cats have had their shots because to not to do so will cause problems beyond your ability to believe or overcome, resulting in their being euthanized for your stupidity and laziness.

Lesson number two, you are responsible for your dogs actions no matter what, so don’t let other people do stupid things because dogs will be dogs no matter how irresponsible people are and your dog could die because of their lack of responsibility.

Case in point, watch the video of what took place between the news anchor and the poor dog that had a traumatic day of falling through the ice and almost losing his life, only to be saved by the fireman and come back to face this woman’s stupidity:

Lead up to and bite of News Anchor by Dogo Argentino dog that had been rescued from drowning

This woman is obviously a dog lover and she had every good intention in the world, but she didn’t have a clue that how she was behaving around this strange dog in a strange environment that had just been through a traumatic experience might lead to his death sentence.  Watch what she does in the lead up to the bite.  She rubs the dog in a very excited manner all over his face and back, a maneuver that gets him all worked up.  Then she gets in his face and stares him directly in the eyes, a threat.  He growls but she doesn’t back off.  So he strikes.  It’s quick.  He doesn’t go after her, which he could.  He could get her down, go for her throat, and that would have been the end of her.  But no, he growls, she doesn’t respond, so he lets her know he means business and this time she understands what he was trying to tell her the first time when she didn’t listen to the growl.  Now they are talking about killing him because his shots weren’t up to date.  He’s not showing any signs of rabies but that doesn’t matter.  The dog will pay the price because of his owner’s stupidity and laziness.  And the interview isn’t the first time his owner was stupid.  The reason why the dog ended up in the water, almost drowning and requiring a rescue in the first place, was because he was walking him off leash and the dog chased a coyote onto the thin ice and fell through.  If you want to see something that will make your heart sick, watch the video that shows the dog before and during the rescue:

Max the Argentino Dogo in the frigid waters of the pond and the fireman that saved him.

There is never a time that I don’t realize that my dogs are my responsibility and if I am not careful I could be the cause of their death.  I am particularly worried when the grandkids are around because all it would take is one second of not paying attention and everyone’s life will change.  And it won’t be for the better.  So I never relax, not for one second, because I know if I don’t pay strict attention at all times it could be a moment we’ll never recover from, and where children are involved, well, I’m just not willing to take that chance.

There will be people that will say that was a vicious dog and they are a vicious breed, but nothing could be further from the truth.  Any time there is an incident between canine and human it is the human to blame.  So take responsibility for the situation and make sure your animals are protected.  Never, ever leave a child alone with a dog no matter how loving that dog is and has been because they are, after all, a dog.  And are you willing to lose your dog because you trusted them to be something more than to act out on their instinct to react?  We owe them more than that.  There is no one to blame but yourself if you find yourself in this situation, and don’t ever, lay the blame on the innocent.

I’ve had a new addition to my RCHS shelter volunteering activities and within my first week I’ve already learned how wrong I can be.  How’s that for beginners luck?  But in this instance luck had nothing to do with it, it was a total misunderstanding on my part of how words can be perceived and once it was pointed out to me I could see how wrong I was. And I will admit, I was wrong (Tim take note here because this isn’t something you’ll probably ever hear).  I have taken on the task of helping to update items on the Randolph County Humane Society facebook page, and it has been a learning experience, let me tell you.  I am familiar with working on websites, and I can send an email, and I guess you’d say I’m familiar enough to stay out of trouble with most but a master of none.  So I felt pretty confident to take on the task but I felt every much the grandma as I tried to learn facebook.  And while I’m trying to learn it I’m trying to insure we put our best foot forward because it’s not just my face that’s going to be red with embarrassment by any faux pas I make but the shelter as well so I have to be on my best behavior.  I was writing a description one of our board members that is also a regular at the shelter in the day to day operations, handles the PetSmart foster care program and adoptions in addition to taking the shelter dogs to PetSmart every 3^rd Sunday, and she cleans the shelter of poo and tinkle, seeing to it all the animals are loved and fed on her scheduled days.   I posted the description as “our very own overworked” because in my world what I just described is someone that is way overworked when you consider this is all done without pay, out of the goodness of their heart, for the love of the animals, and in their spare time.  I was told to remove that word “overworked” because that was a terrible word that did not at all describe what they did or how they felt.  And therein lies the difference between a true hero and the rest of us and why we need to be grateful for that .1% of the rescuers that give their lives to the shelters and the animals every day that find the word “overworked” as in insult to what they do.  Hard working would be more appropriate, is how they feel.  Okay, I’ll give you that one, but hard working doesn’t even come close to describing it in my book.  I am hard working but I don’t come close to what they give in time or effort.  And I think that’s a distinction that really shows the love and the passion because when I look at myself I know I don’t have it to give, and I don’t think 99.9% of the population has it to give.  So tonight when you take that moment to be grateful for all the good things in life, spend a little extra time giving thanks for all the people that really give of themselves, that .1% that feel that overworked is a dirty word and would rather just be thought of as hard working.  Because they are our true heroes and without them the world would never change.

My husband and I have a way with words that’s fun for us but makes everyone around us wonder what the heck is going on in our world.  Our latest kitty kid likes to sit at the top of my recliner, which also happens to be a rocker, so if I’m not careful when I get out of the chair I send her flying across the room.  Tim’s warning to let me know of impending cat doom is to holler out “catapult, catapult” while everyone else sits and looks at him like he’s nuts.  But I know, and I guess that’s the important thing.  I’ve only sent the cat flying across the room a couple of times and so far she’s no worse for wear, so we’re good.  That doesn’t get us into trouble like our code name for our blood pressure medication.  For some reason Tim started referring to it as his “heartworm” medicine, and I picked up on it and have gotten so used to the terminology that I can no longer think in terms of blood pressure, even when I am at the doctor’s office and have to try to speak intelligently about my medical conditions.  However, the defining moment was when we were in Northern Indiana visiting his mother and he suddenly remembered he’d forgotten to bring his medicine with him.  I don’t know what was funnier, the look of shock on his mom’s face when she exclaimed “you don’t have heartworms, do you?” or her expression when he responded “of course not, I take medicine for it.”  Yes, sometimes we forget ourselves.  We have multiple names for each of our pets because the names evolve.  Take Happy Jack for example.  No one ever knows who I’m talking about because when we brought him home from the high kill shelter we named him Happy Jack because he was so happy to be out of the shelter he pooped in the van on his way home.  Then his name evolved into Action Jackson because of the speed with which he ran through the house.  That stuck for a while until we started calling him puppy, because he was compared to our older animals, then we started talking about his cute little puppy toes, and the name Puppito came about.  Then we started calling him Pete.  So 50% of the time we refer to him as Jack and the other 50% of the time we call him Pete, but it’s the same dog.  Everyone thinks we have more animals in the house than we have, and when you have as many as we do that’s quite an impressive number.  We do the same thing with the cats.  Donald was originally Don Cato, but now he’s Donald but with a lot of different pronunciations, like Donowd, it just depends on the occasion.  So you just never know what we’re talking about when you come to our home.  But somehow all the animals and the people involved understand each other and know who is speaking to who and when.  The cats know their names and come when their called, and most of the time the dogs do too.  When they don’t it’s by choice and not because they don’t know any better.  And don’t let any dog or cat pull the wool over your eyes into thinking otherwise.  They’re smart animals and know a lot more than they let on.  The really smart ones have us at their beck and call.  And if you don’t have any really smart animals in your life, well you don’t know what you’re missing out on.  Life just doesn’t get any better than spending an evening at home with your loved ones, the furry ones and the less furry ones.  It just don’t get any better than this.  So if you’re missing out you too can have it, just go to your local shelter and adopt.  Not just one but two or three.  And never forget, it’s only through you that the Randolph County Humane Society continues to save lives one by one.

February is Cat Appreciation Month according to ASPCA.org.  And in honor of Cat Appreciation Month, all cat lovers are asked to show off their cat pride by wearing their favorite cat-centric clothing or accessory.  So girls, if you own any, bring them out and flaunt them.  If you don’t, it’s time to buy some.  How often as dog lovers do we look at what we can do to wear our dog ownership proudly, showing off to others that we indeed are the smart ones that have dogs in our lives, sharing the stories of their antics and how they fulfill our lives with love and laughter.  Our cats, on the other hand, get no recognition for their part in our lives yet the part they play is just as grand.  Who hasn’t laughed while watching their kitten bathe themselves with that back leg straight in the air while wondering how do they do that and wishing we could do the same?  Or get that creepy feeling that someone is watching you but you can’t figure out why, when suddenly you see two little eyeballs staring at you from over the back of the couch just before they slowly back down, out of sight.  Some nights we’re entertained by Donald doing laps around the bottom of the couch as he hangs on with his claws and runs laps around the lowest three inches, creating as much static electricity as he can muster, then zapping the dogs with his new found power.  You never miss out on noticing a bug in the house when you have a cat there because you just follow the gaze and sure enough, there’s one on the wall where they watch, silently waiting the that moment when they can attack.  And God forbid if a mouse invades the household because they’ll be on it.  It’s their job and they take great pride in making sure there are no vermin that live within the confines of their domain.  Our Pearl apparently is able to understand conversation in great detail, because our nephew and his wife were visiting and they mentioned they would love to have our long-haired Black Pearl as their own to be a part of their pack of two male cats, one young and one old.  But their cats are both inside cats and never go outside, where ours go in and out at will as farm cats do, and their cats have had their front claws removed.  Well, Pearl must have decided that she wanted no part of that because while she was part of the family gatherings the entire time right up until it was time for her to leave with them suddenly she was nowhere to be found.  We searched high and low, all through the house and in the barn where she lived when she originally came to us as a barn cat but it was like she vanished into thin air.  We finally gave up looking for her, they went on their way and we got back to regular life.  With the house quiet and back to normal we decided it would be a good time for a nap so we laid down and out of the closet pops Pearl.  I had been in there at least twice looking for her and calling her name, as had Tim, but she didn’t budge an inch until after they were long gone.  You can’t tell me they don’t know and understand what’s happening around them.  She fully understood she was going to their house as a new member of their household and she was putting her paw down and saying she wanted to stay here where she thought she belonged.  And I guess she does.  Anyone that can hide that well has earned themselves a permanent spot until she picks a family she wants to go home with. So I guess she’ll stay right here as number 4 in the cast of cats that are the perfect complement to our pack of three dogs.  If you’re living in a house with dogs, good for you.  But if you don’t have any cats, in honor of February, Cat Appreciation Month, how about going to the shelter and adopting a cat or two.  You won’t be sorry.  Especially if you adopt two to keep each other company and entertained.  As they entertain each other they will entertain you beyond your ability to understand the definition of entertainment.  If you don’t believe me, watch the cartoons on YouTube about Simon’s Cat:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0ffwDYo00Q&list=UUH6vXjt-BA7QHl0KnfL-7RQ&index=19&feature=plcp

because it’s close enough to the truth to give you an idea about the real thing.  If you can’t handle Simon’s Cat then you won’t be able to handle a real life cat, but if you laugh at Simon’s Cat then you’re in for a lifetime of joy beyond your wildest imaginings!

Does anybody out there read what I write week by week?  Most days I wonder.  I know there are some of my blogs that are found by the search engines because I see the stats and I know what people search on.  I know they are interested in reading about Oogy, and it makes me happy to know that his story is being found, but twice a week now I pour my heart and soul into writing about the animals that I love so much and feel so passionately about and I wonder, do I make a difference in the lives of any of the animals out there?  Do I bring comfort, or educate anyone?  Does anyone care?  Did anyone pay attention when I wrote that there is no medication to treat heartworms, so we have to treat our animals with preventative 12 months out of the year now rather than just during the warm months because you can’t take that chance in this environment?  Or the truth of cats and toxoplasmosis.  Even if you’re too old to be pregnant today it’s information you could be sharing with others if you knew about it and understood it, but first you have to read it, and I don’t think anyone paid any attention at all.  So I wonder why I continue to do this.  It’s one thing to be ignored, but to be ignored twice as often, well that’s really insulting.  Then today I again saw on story of the German shepherd that had his face blown off by the boys that tied his mouth shut with firecrackers inside:

German Shepherd with no face

And I remember why I do this.  Twice per week I pour my heart out to whoever will listen to me in the hopes that somehow, someplace, someone will be touched and will do something.  Maybe someone will adopt a cat because they’re no longer afraid of having a cat around pregnant women.  Or they recognize that there is something wrong with those boys that live down the street and the police need to be contacted because their abuse is accelerating and if I don’t intervene, no one will.  But I can’t do this alone.  I need your help.  I’m not asking you to read every Tail Talk I write.  My own family doesn’t even do that.  All I’m asking is that you read what looks interesting to you, take it to heart, then when you see something where you can put it into action, do it.  Don’t sit on the side lines any more.  Be the one that makes the difference.  Make your voice be the one that speaks up and is heard because no one else is speaking up.  We have to stop this abuse.  We have to stop this acceptance of dropping off animals because we’re tired of them.  Let’s hold people’s feet to the fire and make them accountable.

Tail Talk is published bi-weekly http://TailTalk.org or you can find us on facebook by searching for the TailTalk.org page.  Please visit and share with all your friends, and ask them to share with their friends, etc.  Help me get the word out because remember, we’re in this together, and I need your help.  Let me know you’re in this with me and I’m not out here by myself.  Together we can change the world.  Please…

And never forget, it is only through you that the Randolph County Humane Society continues to save lives, one by one.

How many of you have donated to your favorite charity in order to help them during their difficult times?  Have you ever thought about checking into that charity to see if what they presented to the public is the truth, or if they are even, in fact, a charity?  I was confronted with this very issue this past week when a gentleman my husband used to work with contacted me through facebook and asked me, along with other folks that he knew were involved in the rescue of animals, to check out an organization that publicized animals that are available for adoption in shelters across the country.  His daughter had found the picture of a puppy that she fell in love with and she wanted nothing more for her 18^th birthday than to make that puppy her own.  I was only familiar with one website that has the photos and details of animals in shelters across the country and that is Petfinder.com, so I was surprised to hear there was another attempting to fulfill that need but whatever works to get the message out there is a good thing.  I didn’t have much to go on except the name of the puppy, the photo of the puppy, and the name of the website where she found the information.  The first thing I did was go to the website and checked out the “contact us” and “about us” information, and saw that they presented themselves as a 501(c)3 charity, which means any money you donate to them is 100% tax deductable.  Whenever anyone tells you that you don’t have to take them at face value, you can go to the IRS website and check it out for yourself:

http://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/mainSearch.do?mainSearchChoice=pub78&dispatchMethod=selectSearch

Fill out the information and it will return their exemption status.  Imagine my surprise to find out that this organization was not a 501(c)3 charity but instead a public charity with only a 50% deductible so what they presented on their website was incorrect.  I tried to call them, but they had a phone number that was impossible to get through on so I sent them an email, their preferred contact method, but I have yet to hear back from them.  I don’t understand why anyone would do that because I couldn’t find anything else about them that didn’t seem legitimate, but this sends up a serious red flag.  Then I checked with the Better Business Bureau Charity Review website:

http://www.bbb.org/us/Charity-Reviews/

but there was no record of them there so I asked the BBB to investigate them.  There had been no negative report on BBB.org about them before I contacted them so I think they were legit in all other ways except this, but this is a big one.  You can’t fool with people’s money.  There are many organizations out there that are legitimate charities that take your money yet little of what they collect makes it to support what they state.  It is always good to check into their operating costs and ask how much of your donation goes into board member salaries, etc. before you donate.  That’s why I’ve always been impressed with the Randolph County Humane Society.  Their board members donate 100% of their time.  All the monies raised goes to support the animals.  There is no waste.  Before you donate your hard earned dollar, check out where it’s going.  If the charity is taking more than 10-15% for operating costs to support its board before the money is used to support the charity, maybe you should look elsewhere to donate your hard earned money.  I’m not saying they don’t deserve it, I’m only saying it deserves another look.  And then think about sending it to RCHS where all of it goes to the animals.  And never forget, it’s only through you that the RCHS continues to save lives, one by one.