I hope you aren’t planning on reading this post while you are waiting at a stoplight because it is really, really long. Unless, of course, you are at the stoplight at Newman Rd and Rangeline. Then, you might have time to read the whole thing. I could name a certain Airline that would allow you to catch up on reading ALL of our blog posts while you wait for their consistently delayed/cancelled flights, but I will refrain…
Well my fellow animal lovers – I must apologize – much time has passed since our last correspondence. A lot has happened between then and now. Parents have been sick and passed away. Beloved kitties have been sick and passed away. SCR rummage sale and auction came and went with HUGE success. Special foster babies found forever homes. Cancer. Surgery. Pain. Laughter with friends. Soccer games. Foster kitties that we thought were gone forever have returned. Work. Offsite adoptions. Friends have moved. Fingernails have grown. And been chewed off. Parents of pets adopted at offsite adoptions have connected with us. Insulin for my cat went up $35 since last month to a whopping $230. Gained 15 pounds but will be losing it quickly as my budget for food just got raped to pay for insulin… 🙂 and I have spent wayyyyyyy too much time at airports lately.
Life has happened. That doesn’t leave much time for blogs and facebook!
So let’s review. SCR Auction & Rummage Sale. Earlier this year, a friend and neighbor moved but couldn’t take her belongings so I suggested she donate them to SCR. Our auction was on June 1st and was a HUGE success. In fact, we nearly fainted several times. Of course, SCR folks bought a fair amount of the stuff, too! With those donations, we will be able to spay and neuter SEVERAL kitties! On June 14th, we had the SCR rummage sale. Many of our friends and family, upon hearing of our sale, donated items to the sale, too. Thanks to everyone who donated items and to everyone for coming out to support us. We saw many friends at the sale! Though dead tired and operating on very little sleep due to travel misfortunes (refer to top “wayyyyyyy too much time at airports”), the success of the sale kept me pumped! It was an INCREDIBLE success! With all of the donations from our supporters, we pulled in just over $2,000!!!! Every penny of that money will go to help cats and dogs in our area. It was a lot of work and a special thanks to my mom who spent countless hours cleaning stuff and preparing for the sale. Thanks also to some of our local radio stations for plugging the sale for us! We would love to have another sale, but our main problem is that we do not have anywhere to store the donations. If anyone has a shed or garage that they aren’t using – we could use the space to store items for future sales!
Sadly, our small group and many other friends mourn the loss of one of our biggest fans, Margaret. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her family and we will miss her cute kitty cartoons that she used to send to us.
One of our very own volunteers mourns the loss of one of his own kitties this week, Danny. Danny was a handsome Siamese kitty who was almost 17 years old! Ed & Betty got Danny when he was just a teeny little kitten. He had a very good life and was incredibly spoiled – as it should be! We will see Danny again – when we get to heaven…
We also tried to save a black and white kitten, but unfortunately, we were not successful this time. It was one of a litter that was in need of help. This particular kitten was taken in by one of our volunteers because it was looking especially puny when she went to feed the kitties one night. She took him home and he was covered in big, huge “Montana size” fleas. She gave him a bath, which killed many of the fleas, but several still remained. Another effort was made to comb some of the fleas off. The kitten was given some wet food and tons of kisses before he was tucked in on his big fluffy pillow for the night. By the next morning, however, the little kitten seemed to have worsened and was taken for vet care. Sadly, the little kitten had already lost too much blood from the flea infestation and did not survive. As sad as it is, one has to consider that the kitten, in that last day of its life – was probably happier and felt more love and was warm and had a full tummy – more than it had in its whole life. He died happy and loved. Sometimes when our volunteers try to save a pet, we are met with this ending. It makes it very difficult to try again, but we have to keep trying to save the furry babies. When we succeed, there’s no other feeling more ecstatic!
I am excited to say that I was recently tracked down by a family who adopted one of our favorite foster dogs, Nelly. She contacted my employer and she remembered which department I worked in and the email trickled down to me. Once I made contact with her, she sent her story and lots of AWESOME pictures of Nelly. I will be sharing her story and photos with you in a separate blog post. Stories from pet parents keep us going!
Our foster kitty, Fiona, who had been gone for 6 weeks or so and had been presumed to have moved in with someone else – finally returned! We are so happy to see her! She has been staying inside these past few weeks. Another foster cat that had gone AWOL also was found and returned to her appropriate spot!
Cancer. Surgery & Pain. We’ll just skip that part…
Insulin – here’s a sad story – no, not the fact that the insulin was $125 when I first started buying it and now it’s over $230. Yes, that’s sad, too.( First of all, let’s just put this out there – my cat is “special” and doesn’t use the regular insulin… she has to use “the good stuff”. The Cadillac of Insulin. And you thought gas prices were high!) Last year, a friend of my husband came to visit for a week. The friend’s family lives in Mexico. One night while I was giving my cat her evening insulin shot, he said, “Que estas haciendo?” which means, “what are you doing?” So I explained to him that my cat has diabetes which is controlled by insulin shots twice a day. He then told us that his dad in Mexico has diabetes, too. I said, “Oh – so your dad does shots too?” (foot in mouth…foot in mouth…) He said, “No. He can’t afford insulin.” (that big space there represents the huge awkward silent pause that followed that comment). How sad. And how horrible I felt. Just like I feel horrible complaining about Tati’s insulin going up again when there are HUMANS who use that insulin and they probably can’t afford it anymore. People who are on this particular insulin are on it probably because they didn’t respond to regular insulin. Imagine living on a fixed income and buying insulin for $125/month and then having to pay $230/month for the insulin. Where are you going to get that extra $105? Very upsetting.
Thanks to all of my friends and family for the recent support they provided. They just proved that they are better friends than I am and they give me something to strive for. And proved to my husband that they can cook better than me! (darnit!)
I’m sure I have left out some important things but this is just the short version (YEAH RIGHT!)
Just a reminder as I listen to fireworks exploding outside while I write this. This is a good time of year to keep your pets inside. I will not discuss the heinous acts that have been committed against pets during this time of year. Also remember that the fireworks might frighten your pets and they may escape and run for miles – possibly getting hit by a car or meeting with other bad luck. My dog is deathly afraid of fireworks and refuses to go outside to use the bathroom during this time of year. I have found that it is helpful if I put him on a leash and go out with him. We try to coordinate this bathroom break activity with times of the day when it isn’t so active outside. And GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!
Viva Mexico!!! Don’t forget to watch the soccer game tomorrow at 11 CST – The Netherlands and Mexico. You are probably sitting there thinking, “Hmmm. I thought this was an animal rescue blog. What does soccer have to do with cats and dogs?” Well, I can safely say that you could give me ANY subject – ANYTHING – and I will somehow find a way to relate it to cats. (
Nelly – from 2011 – an awesome dog who found a good home. Turns out she lived next door to my former boss!
Just ask my co-workers – they try to stump me all of the time – and fail.) As for soccer, my cat, Bonnie, loves to watch TV and soccer is one of her favorites!
Please notify me of any typos – I can’t type with long fingernails…I don’t have time to chew them anymore….
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Until next time….
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