Dutch Goes Home

Dutch was adopted yesterday. I am thrilled. I am hoping he has a wonderful life with his new friend, the young man who adopted him. I wish I had been there to tell him to take Dutch to obedience classes and work with him and exercise him and keep working on the 'drop' command so he doesn't chew up all his tennis balls. But I wasn't.

So all I can do is pray he knows what he is doing and he and Dutch will make each other happy.

God bless you Dutch sweetie.

Bengals for Adoption

Above is Laila cuddling Lucy. This is a very pretty pair of brown spotted girls I am fostering, sister girls so we insist they are adopted together and kept together. They were turned in to a shelter because the owner could not find them a home. We hope for better luck here at Great Lakes Bengal Rescue.

Lucy is a very outgoing Bengal, she is super affectionate and will meow and curl herself around your legs looking for attention, she loves to be touched.

Laila is very timid. She needs a nice, confident, cat person to bring her out. I would recommend for her sake the new home is quiet, no small children, only older children who know how to handle cats and are very respectful of them. Once Laila will come out of hiding and come to you, you can pick her up and cuddle her. She loves this and will purr and tread her heart out.

Both cats have no litter box issues at all and seem very healthy.

Lucy and Laila will stay fostered by me until their forever home comes along.

What would your Bengal say?

Apollo's favorite perch. Apollo is THE most nosey cat I have ever had. He is so intensely interested in everything in that Bengal way that he is literally in your face, or with his nose in a bag, or climbing in a closet.

This morning I couldn't find Sakura. I hunted for her, called her, nothing! Then something made me look up and there she was on the fridge freezer. So guess where Apollo is now? Not to be outdone. No more a safe haven for light bulbs and other assorted household 'stuff'. The Bengals have a new perch so everything else will have to go they say.

Tonight Apollo was right there in the kitchen while I got out chicken for tomorrow's dinner. If I could read his thoughts and going by his body language it would go something like this.

Ohhh bag! I wonder if it is treats. No, doesn't smell like treats, smells weird. Chicken? What is she cutting the top of the bag like that for? Attempt to stick nose in to bag.. chicken, funny chicken. taking it out one... twooo.. threee... in another bag, why? What you doing? Water, like water, chicken in water? Huh, not getting chicken, will just go back to microwave and complain.

I feel nervous leaving the slow cooker to cook dinner tomorrow, he wouldn't take the lid off it... would he?

The weekend was beautiful here, temps in the 70's, sunshine, unfortunately Waya was lame Saturday morning, would not put any weight on one of his front legs so he had to go to the vet. Vet said he thought pulled a muscle or two and gave him painkillers. He is getting better each day. He has also lost 10lbs which is great! Solid hunk of handsome muscle our Waya.

I went to the shelter, adopted out a little Dacshund to a lovely family, it was easy really. Jordan our other long time resident was adopted... yaaayyy!!!!!!! He came in just after Dutch so it was great to see him get a home. Our Adoption Coordinator is trying to get a little poodle into small animal rescue. Poor little love has allergies and needs special food which makes her harder to place. In the cat room we had two absolutely gorgeous pure bred Himalayans aged 3 and 6, lots of people looked at them but said, high maintenance. Honestly I would rather they do that than adopt them because they are pretty and then neglect them.

The new girls are doing well and they are up on the website for adoption. I will give them a blog of their own tomorrow.

Lucy and Laila

CAGE CRAZY

Usually I like to illustrate my blogs but this one needs to be what it is.. devoid of cheer. I am heart sick tonight. Dutch is still in the shelter tonight, sleeping on a cold concrete floor, thick bars, one meal a day. No sound but other dogs whimpering and barking and moaning or making no sound at all. No hand petting him, no toys.

Few dogs can take this for long. Around the six week mark the clock starts to tick and Dutch has been there since August 21, 2009. It is now November 7, 2009. How many days, weeks, months. How long can he take before Cage Crazy takes over.

Cage Crazy is a condition known only too well to shelter workers. When a dog comes into adoption he is already one of the lucky few in a county shelter. Hurt beyond treatment? Put to death. Possessive over food? Put to death. Possessive over toys? Put to death. Overly aggressive with other dogs? Put to death. Agression against humans? Put to death. Extremely timid and scared? Put to death. I am using these words because they are the stark truth in thousands of our shelters for millions of the dogs in this nation.. hour after hour, day after day, week on week, all year. I want you to see it. I want those who don't know or don't understand to know. I don't feel like pussy footing around with anyone out there. A dog who goes Cage Crazy has survived all that.. but he will not survive this.

But not for Dutch... not yet. But his time might be running out.

I remember them all. Each one of the beautiful dogs we played with and petted and exercised and worked with.. all dead. But most of all I remember Zambrano, who was play bowing, and jumping and running with 4 little kids playing ball, doing everything right, obeying every instruction... less than a week later.. that beautiful boy was dead.

Why?

When a dog has been in a shelter situation for more than 6 weeks the clock starts ticking. At any point from there a dog can begin to lose their minds. You can usually tell when it is happening, their bark will become more shrill, their behaviour will begin to just be... different.. and then one day they will growl at a visitor.. or nip at a member of staff.. or attack another dog. The dog has simply reached the end of it's rope and can take no more, like a deep depression or a person having a break down.. bam.. and instead of trotting happily out of the shelter on a leash with his new family, a corpse goes out the back door and it cracks my heart.. every single one.. leaves a crack in my heart.

So I am just going to ask a few simple things of you.

For gods sake spay and neuter your dogs. No it is not cruel. No your kids do NOT need to see the miracle of birth. No it will not change the dogs personality. Yeah your dog is beautiful and would make great puppies, one or more of which will probably end up dead on a metal table way too young.

Don't go just to look at the dogs or take your kids like it is a petting zoo. All you are doing is adding to the strain on the dogs. If you want to go play with the dogs.. volunteer!

Don't sit there moaning and whining about the 'terrible kill shelters'. Again, go and volunteer. Because when a NO Kill shelter is full.. guess where all the dogs and cats go folks!

Don't be a part of the problem, be a part of the solution. How? Volunteer, donate, take a care package of things to the shelter. But most of all.

Get your next dog from the shelter. You will get a great dog. But before you pick one please, always ask staff or volunteers which dog has been there the longest and look at that dog first. I am not asking you to take a dog just because you feel sorry for it, you should never do that, but DO look at the longest first in case that is your kind of a dog.

Watching a dog going Cage Crazy and feeling so helpless to save it is the worst feeling in the world. Please go and look at Dutch. He is only 1 yr old.. maybe he could be your baby. He likes tennis balls. He will sit for you to throw. He is not too good at bringing them back or letting them go, but he can be trained. He is cute.

There is a Dutch near you. Or you might be near Rockford.. in which case.. go look at Dutch.

And if you don't? I hope this one of my blogs stays in your mind for a long time.

Bengals and other Sunday Stuff

Nice pic of Sakura's love Apollo. It is like having a 2 year old child around. First is his obsession with closets and cupboards. If the door is open he MUST climb inside, if the door is not open he will open the door and climb inside. His favorite is the shelf inside the cereal cupboard for some reason. Then there is the basement. If anyone goes down there Apollo must go too and if Sakura is anywhere in the vicinity so must she. I think she goes because she knows I use treats to get her back upstairs again and she is getting really good at coming to call. Apollo just goes because Apollo is nosey and it doesn't matter where he is in the house, he hears movement on those stairs and he is there. Tonight I came back up to find Waya blocking his way, which was very smart of Waya.

Next Apollo has a 'thing' for the bathtub. We are yet to find out if he would actually like to play in water in the tub. When I can find a plug I will put some balls in there in lukewarm water and see if he goes in to play. If he does we can make that part of his play routine. Going down heating vents will NOT be. Apollo found a weakness in the vent in the kitchen and prised it up, it is missing a screw on one side, I caught him sizing up the hole he had made. I asked hubby to fix it. Next thing we hear a crash and Sakura's stroller has fallen over, Apollo sitting on top of it, my husband says it is like having a toddler in the house. Yet he would not go in it earlier when I took Sakura for a walk. In fact Apollo HATES to be picked up, but it is early days yet, perhaps in time he will tolerate just a bit more if he realises it leads to something nice for him.

I took Kasey our Cocker Spaniel and Sakura out for a walk together. There was no way I could manage the big boys and the stroller AND Kasey, or the big boys and the stroller for that matter. It is really intended for pack walks although now hubby says I had better find a tandem one so Apollo is not left out. Kasey walks beautifully beside the stroller, trotting along very content, I knew she would because she walks perfectly by the side of the kart at Petsmart. Sakura really enjoyed it, the sun was out, it was dry and not horribly cold. If she saw something interesting she would meow, otherwise she simply sat alert looking around and a couple of times she turned and looked up at me and gave a musical meow like.. 'thanks Mom this is FUN'. With Bengals intelligence I just think added stimulation like this has to be good for them.

Then I got some GREAT news. My sister and her husband, Vivien and Chris Dair have made it to number 7 on the Top 40 charts after being nominated last week for their song Angels. It is my sister singing. This is on www.aiiradio.net and I am SO thrilled for them. Also, Chris released his album What Chains? on emusic. They are also on Facebook. Chris is a really talented songwriter and guitarist imho and it is about time his music was more widely known in it's own right.

Then more kind of good news. The kittens are holding on so far. One of the kittens I treated has perked up and the other is keeping food down a bit better. They need another treatment tomorrow and Wendy also mentioned getting them to the vet. Please pray for them, they are tiny little things, eyes still blue and they have Mommy but she has been very sick too. In fact Wendy is splitting the litter to make it easier for the Mom and helping raise them herself. Wendy is awesome with hand rearing and able to give them all the time and attention 24/7 they need so I was really happy to be able to pass on some of my knowledge to her too.

Other than that hubby was working today so we took the dogs to the park late today. They had fun but Presley the black poodle who is only 2 yrs old stole Kasey's tennis ball but he brought it back so I threw it for him again, this time he not only didn't bring it back he destroyed it. His sweet owner is going to leave a new one in the shelter for Kasey tomorrow. Presley was having a fine old time running away from his owner and 2 other adults while he obliterated the tennis ball.

Finally we got home and ate a delicious beef stew I had going in the slow cooker, Sakura likes fall apart tender beef, she will even climb on your plate for it!

Happy Hallowe'en

Halloween started with a lay in and a mercy dash from the shelter. Fellow volunteer Wendy had some very sick kittens and said she was told I had a magic potion. Sure enough each kitten was bone thin and losing weight fast, fading kitten syndrome, the sickness that took 3 of my foster litter of 6 and this was a litter of 7. I rushed home and came back with the 2 tubes of Benebac I had. It is the one thing a foster kit should never be without and it is not foolproof but when it will help it's effects are dramatic. Wendy held her little kitties while I poured this yellow ointment stuff in their little mouths. I wait to hear if it will help them. They are bone thin and throwing up.
Benebac balances the digestive system, kind of like giving a probiotic yogurt where the Mom has failed to pass that on to her kittens and this Mom was sick herself. There is another litter of kittens there, these kittens look well. People brought them in because their cat had 7, finished feeding, they don't want them. Oh WHY don't people get their cats spayed and neutered! Another lady bought a cat in she had caught. She couldn't bear to see it die in the winter cold. It had attacked her, she didn't know she had saved it from the winter cold, but probably not from death. A cute little Chihuahua is in one of the exam cages, one moment she is licking me through the bars the next she is in full attack, no reason. This is the stuff of rescue.

On to Halloween night. This is the Betty that the Tall Dark One won me from the crane machine at the supermarket. I had wanted Red Devil Betty but he couldn't get her, so he got the pumpkin one instead, Sakura likes her, because I do.

Tonight was the first night in years hubby has been home. It was fun. They came by almost the hundred, the Zombies, the knights, the pumpkins and ladybugs, the Dracula's, the ghouls, the Princesses, one stunning silver robot complete with flashing lights. They came in sackcloth and ashes, satin and lace, one looked like she was wearing Mom's lingerie, that was kind of scary sweet. I had bought a simple little Bratz bit of make up to give my Princess who has been here every year for 3 years.. but she didn't show. So I gave it to a cute spanish flamenco dancer in red and black, her hair trimmed with a black silk rose. She was pretty and pretty chubby. Why her the Tall Dark One asked. She was big, but oh so pretty, it made her night, that was all the reason I needed, that one smile and the joyful glow in those dark brown spanish eyes.

Then we had a really big surprise.

Our Grandson Jake arrived on his very first Trick or Treat night. Here he is with the Tall Dark One and me. His first year going to the door and able to say Trick or Treat all by himself.

Would you like your Halloween Mouse Sakura?

It was a beautiful night.

A Day in our Lives

The photo should give you a clue. Although the guy looks nothing like the tall dark one.

I get a voicemail at work today, it is hubby, he says, 'I need HELP!' and then the line goes dead. So I call back frantically and yell what the hell is wrong?

The toilet in the basement exploded, or rather a piece of pipe inside the top of the toilet exploded, sending water shooting up several feet to the ceiling and downwards to hit the blockage that was there and worse... that someone had used and not said it was not working and.. so not clean water running in a stream through the furnace room, through the family room, into the laundry room and down the drain.. but not before it has soaked carpet.

Is this a Fiend Curse I ask myself? Fellow Bengal rescuer Fabulous Lorraine has a terrific blog and she does not have Friends, she has Fiends of which I am one. And lately Lorraine has not had the greatest of luck in her house either. Seems I must do an Avert Spell here on All Hallows Eve, and prevent further exploding toilets and further damage to the Fiends.

It is a bit late for this Halloween, but Lorraine has a great line of T Shirts currently selling that will directly benefit Great Lakes Bengal Rescue. With the economy having tanked, most of you will have read the terrible effects on pets and we barely have enough foster homes to cope and due to a lot of medical attention needed recently we need donations too. Please go to www.greatlakesbengalrescue.com to learn about our beautiful Bengals and see how you can help with fostering, adoption or donations. I just bought one of the shirts too, a pic of Lorraines eyeball with bats flying over it.. it is SO COOL. Follow this link and see.. maybe you might buy one too or a hoodie or something. Great Lakes Bengal Rescue get money and you get one of the coolest shirts on the planet for next Halloween! Go here:

http://greatlakesbengalrescue.spreadshirt.com/

Watch out for Halloween Pack Photos.

A Bengal is like a Wedding Dress

You know, I just KNEW that if I typed cat in a wedding dress in my search engine I would get a photo. Yep. Here it is. I just thought it would be nice to use an pic in the spirit of the post as it were.

You see... a Bengal is like a Wedding Dress. Not that I ever wore a store bought wedding dress but I have been shopping with a bride and I know how it goes and that is why it occurred to me.

A bride goes to the store with a particular kind of dress in mind. She wants one that is off the shoulder and with a big huge skirt like a fairy Princess. But she comes out having bought a slender fishtail gown with a corset bodice and spaghetti straps because it looked so darned good on her that she felt like a billion dollars.

And that was me.. and Bengals. I loved the red colors with the rosettes, that looked so exotic to me. And I really wasn't that keen on the marbles, I wanted spots. Then along came Sakura who was a color I had never seen before AND she was a marble and she was spectacularly beautiful and just MY cat.. and so she stayed.

So then, sometime in the future, I had fallen for the snow leopard type of Bengal, they look like something out of a safari photo. And I liked Sakura's small head in proportion to her body and her little ears. And then.. along came Apollo and I didn't like his color at all.. or his coat.. or his long face.. or his huge ears although I did like Apollo, if that makes sense. But Sakura liked everything about him, Sakura told me, 'this is a BIG strong man Mom and just LOOK at those muscles and that handsome face,' Sakura was in love so she showed him to me through her eyes.

So there you have it, metaphorically speaking, I didn't come out of the store with a single dress I liked, I came out with 2 that were just right for me and made me feel wonderful.

Wedding Anniversary

Yep, I know this isn't a Bengal. I wanted to upload a photo of me and the tall dark one but it said we are corrupted.. giggles.. so here is one of my former foster's. This is Ping who I was fostering along with his sister Posey right before Sakura arrived.

Today it is EIGHT years since I tied the knot for the second time and married the love of my life. It has been 8 years full of heart ache, struggle, drama, chaos, a major move of country, so much change. But worth it all. He is the breath I take, the beat of my heart, the joy of my days, the safety of my nights. He is my life. He challenges me, he inspires me, he leads me and he has changed me to be a better me. More than anything he brings laughter to every day, it wasn't always so but that was because I needed to change and learn how to love. Love isn't brief and scorching, it isn't agony and tears, it is that slow, steady glow that comes from two well matched souls grounded in reality and braving all the weathers of life together. And that is something beautiful.

Tyson

This is Sakura's first companion Tyson. They were only together 6 days but liked each other very much and Tyson showed Sakura around, where the food was and the litter trays and such.

We adopted Tyson from the Animal Shelter at the end of July 2008, he was 9 years old. I didn't mind. The lifespan for an indoor cat can be as much as 20 and I knew that the older cats were harder to place.

I remember walking in to the cat room, fellow volunteer Mick was there and I told him I was looking for a cat for me and I wanted to look at the oldest ones. As soon as I said this a very loud meowing started in the middle cage at the end of the row. I looked at cat after cat, but none of them had the personality I was looking for. With 3 dogs in the house the cat needed to be confident and outgoing, not timid and shy. All the time the noise continued from the end cage. At one point I glanced over and said, 'you are MUCH too vocal'. But he wasn't going to shut up. Finally Mick gestured at the cage and gave me a look of appeal. So I said, 'oh alright I will look at him'. When I opened the cage door the cat jumped eagerly into my arms and immediately ceased that terrible racket and began to purr. I put him on the cat furniture and he immediately began to roll and rub at me in an incredibly affectionate way. He was appallingly thin, I could feel every rib and his hips stuck out, my heart almost broke that anyone could have treated such a loving cat so badly. And I said.. 'I am taking this one home'.

His name at the time was Mr. Tiggs, but my husband was having none of that. I wanted Tiggsie and called him that but after watching his prowess boxing the dogs he renamed him Tyson and Tyson he stayed. Tyson was so handsome and he knew it. He was also very loud and complained a lot all the time, some nights he drove us nearly nuts but then he would come and sleep on my pillow above my head and then he would be quiet. Gradually he put on a little weight. His favorite food in the whole world was KFC chicken, he loved it, followed by roast chicken of any variety as long as it was roast or fried chicken that was ok with Tyson. But we thought him delicate stomached and would give him tiny bits as he would gulp big pieces down barely chewing them and sometimes he would throw up. At least we thought it was the chicken.

Tyson's story was that his original owner gave him away to someone. That someone then moved house and left him behind which was when Animal Services picked him up as a stray. That accounted for his low weight. His original owner was contacted and signed him away, she did not want him back and that is all we know or ever will know.

Tyson was a sweet, sweet boy. Gentle and kind, did not stand nonesense from the dogs, he had just the sweetest expression. When we first got him he was playful and liked his cat nip mouse, but later thinking back, he lost interest in his toys and he used his litter box diligently, not having had cats for years I didn't realise that it was too much urine.

Tyson needed company but hated our foster kittens. He would hiss and swat at them all and when we got 6 tiny ones in earlier this year he was unimpressed. Until the night Abby died. She was the third kitten I lost to fading kitten syndrome and it was horrible. She died in my arms and there wasn't a thing I could do. It was that night that Tyson slipped out when the dogs were let out and jumped over the back fence. Despite flyers, calls to vets offices and contacting Animal Services, we didn't see him again for 17 days.

If an indoor cat gets out and you don't get them back right away, they will most likely go to ground near the house. We figured Tyson had been hiding between the 2 garages because that is where he emerged from. Hungry and painfully thin, all that good work undone. Hubby heard him meowing and started calling for him, came and got a flashlight and I ran outside too but I couldn't believe it when there he was, standing there between the cars. We had also read the cat can be scared, but my luck was in, that night we had eaten roast chicken for dinner so I came out tearing chunks off it and putting it down for him. Tyson grabbed a mouthful of chicken and I grabbed him. He spent that whole night rolling on us and treading on us in bed and sleeping curled up with us and Kasey, he was so happy to be home again. But it was not to last.

Last month and I can't believe it is only last month, Tyson suddenly started to vomit and he was having diarrhea. At first I thought it was a stomach upset, but he went on having symptoms. At the vets his BUN was up a bit and he was put on antibiotics, an IV to flush it out of his system and an anti vomit drug. For some days Tyson was better, but we had also noticed he began to drink more and more and pee more and more. I read on the internet and suspected he was in renal failure. He was. the vet confirmed this on Tuesday September 15. Tyson was at the stage he would need IV 3-4 times a week and he HATED it. It would progress to one a day. I said to our vet, 'isn't this prolonging the inevitable?' I will never forget how matter of factly he said, 'oh yes, this cat is going to die of kidney failure, but you can maybe buy him,' he looked him over, '6 months'. I burst into tears. I called hubby. We had already discussed this moment. We had already decided we would not prolong his agony if he were terminally sick, what was that for? For him? Or for us? I couldn't do something that selfish and nor could hubby. I was sobbing when I called him and I said.. I can't do this today.. I CAN"T. So we had IV done and I took Tyson home for his last few days with us.

Sakura had arrived on the September 12 and all she wanted to do was chase Tyson.. she still did. And Tyson still ran and Tyson drank.. and Tyson pee'd. More and more and more. It was so hard. He was so sweet. He spent his last day cuddled up to hubby all day long knowing he was loved. I went to KFC for his last dinner which he loved.

It was not to be Tyson's fate finding out one day that nothing worked, or he could not pee, or he was feeling too sick to move. He would never feel dizzy or giddy and he would never have no energy. He passed away quietly on Friday September 18, 2009 at 5:40 p.m. with Mom and Dad by his side comforting him. It was very fast, less than 10 seconds. And I put my face in both hands and bawled my heart out. I felt hubby's arm come behind me and I leaned against the solid strength of him. If he shed tears I don't know.. I couldn't see through my own.

We left him there. We took some of his fur in an envelope. We have our own little Momento of him and our memories. Both of us kissed his still body softly and told him we would see him again at the Rainbow Bridge. We loved you very much Tyson. Sakura sleeps with your favorite mouse, she is taking care of him for you.

Tyson and Sakura

Roast Pork Sunday

Sakura and Mischa in their favorite place on top of the cat cage. A perch from which to survey their world.. and what's coming!

It looks like the Bengals have finally decided on what food they like. They like Whiska's pouches and kibble to nibble. Mischa doesn't care much for people food, he would rather munch his way through a bowl full of kibble. But Sakura will nibble ham and chicken and tonight I found out she LOVES roast pork. So much so she was climbing all over me to get at it so I had to go and cut her some of her own to munch on, I almost couldn't feed her fast enough and she certainly wasn't waiting for me to come back, she started on Dad's plate. So now she is stretched out on the back of the couch full of pork and fast asleep.

The dogs are also asleep. They got the dog park, a walk through the woods AND roast pork and kibble, they are OUT.

Mischa has decided he likes Sakura's bed that is also now on top of the cat cage. It is round and he was curled up on it, but being the gentleman he is he had picked up Sakura's mouse she loves and dropped it in his bed so that she can sleep there.

Cinnamon Marble Bengal

For those who have never seen one, here is what a Cinnamon Marble Bengal looks like. Finally I got a good photo of Sakura and her spectacular coat. Isn't she gorgeous? I got a really nice one of our very handsome Mischa too. It is as though he knows he is now home. He spent a lot of time tonight being petted and fussed and ended up on the couch between me and Dad, feet on Dad, head on my hand.. you try moving your mouse with a Bengal's head on it! When I wasn't feeling good earlier Sakura spent some time laying on my feet, it was very comforting.

Saturday afternoon is our time with the orphans at the animal shelter. We had I don't know how many cats and 31 dogs in adoption so it was busy. We have quite a few puppies and a couple of those went home including a pure bred 6 month old Siberian Husky and an adult pure bred Husky too. I adopted out a black miniature poodle to a nice couple, the dog was a mess with big mats of fur hanging from it's legs, tail and poor love, a huge mat on each cheek. They were headed straight for Petsmart for a makeover. They were wondering what to call him and I suggested Pepe, like the cartoon skunk because the dog had a flash of white on it's chest and a patch under it's chin. They loved it, so Pepe it is.

Before we left for the shelter I threw dinner in the crockpot, so when we got back we took the dogs straight to the dog park. It was a beautiful fall day, wonderful colors on the trees, huge deep blue sky and sunshine and we all had a blast, coming home when the chill really started to a nice hot dinner which I couldn't eat all of even though I had the points for it because I just didn't feel good. Lay down with Sakura and Mischa for a while. Today was darned near perfect.

Sakura gets her Man

It went like this....

This morning I walked by the cat room and there were Sakura and Mars on their beds on top of the cat cage just rolling around and attacking each other. They looked so cute I called hubby over to see them. There is Sakura on her side with her paws up and her ears laid back against Mars ready to just pounce on her. Hubby walked over to pet them both, just at a nice height for him to do that and then he said... 'You know.. you might as well call that lady and tell her we are going to keep him. I just don't think we can take him away from her.' Carefully, because remember this was NOT my idea I said.. 'really?' The tall dark one followed me into the living room and he says, 'I just don't think I want to deal with the fallout if we take him away from her,' He said this several times.. hands spread.. palms up.. appealing for my understanding. I replied. 'Nor do I'. He then said.. 'I mean.. we have a pack.. so we might as well have a pride too.' And the deal was sealed.

So Sakura gets her man and she will live happily ever after with him. She is 2 years old, he is 3 years old. She is chunky but a gorgeous princess, he is tall and lean, strong and handsome.. hmm.. like another pairing I know. Princess Sakura gets her dashing Prince. A Happy Ending.

But not Mars.. he needs a new name... anybody?? The boys like Aries.. I like Mischa.. anyone else?

On my Weigh

Tonight is one rainy soggy night in Illinois. It was also the night we had to go and shop to fill the cupboards, why does that happen? It always rains when I get my hair cut and when I go shopping.

But good news today made even a rainy night good.

The tall dark one lost 5.2lbs his first week at Weight Watchers. And I have lost 9.6 lbs in 2 weeks. So I am on my way and feeling better already. We shopped for all healthy stuff tonight and we are making a really radical change in our eating habits. I claim copyright on the next saying, hubby picked up a big bag of his favorite rippled potato chips (crisps) and went 'ooohhhh' and I said, 'You can't get ripped if you eat rippled'. Was that genius or what?

And finally we got the figures in for our Canine Classic event our volunteer force runs every year to fund the Patch Fund that provides medical treatment for animals in the County shelter that need extra medical attention so that they can go up for adoption. Some of the treatments we have paid for include cherry eye surgery for an adult female Beagle and removing an unsightly skin tag for a chocolate Labrador and a great many more. We raised almost $9,000 !!!!!!!!!!!!! YAYYYYYYYYYY!!!!

Flight of the Dark One

Okay folks tonight I am OUT of photos BUT do not be despair, sometimes imagination is better.

Last night unbeknownst to me (I think that is Shakespeare). The Tall Dark One went hunting for coolant for my car in his trunk (boot for my English family members). So he took out Sakura's stroller from the Petsmart trip and laid it down behind the car and... left it there.. all night. You now have 2 possible endings to choose from:

a) The stroller was stolen and I punched the Dark One for his carelessness thus sending him flying.

OR

b) The Truth.

Because let's face it, I might be big but I am nowhere near strong enough or tall enough to land one on the tall dark one and even if I could? I sure as hell can't run that fast!!

So. The truth is hubby left for work at 5:30 a.m. and it was dark and having totally forgotten the stroller the Dark One tripped over said stroller and went flying... UNgracefully I would imagine. Unfortunately guys I do not have video.. I wish I did!

One thing also to know about the Dark One is that he laughs when he is in pain, and the greater the pain the more he laughs. When he appeared and began telling me what happened, stroller in one hand, coffee cup in the other.. and a limp.. he was giggling. And before I knew it I was giggling too, it is hard to commiserate when you are giggling.

Tonight the Dark One is not giggling, he is extremely sore with a horribly banged up knee and very grouchy.. poor love.

Sakura goes to Petsmart

Above is one of my favourite photos of Sakura and Mars. Hubby managed to snap it just at the right moment, you can make up your own caption, but my fave is, 'hey! Gimme Some!'

Yesterday we went to Petsmart all together. The stroller I got for Sakura does not have a detachable carrier, that was deliberate as they are so big and bulky. We have a Chevy Sedan and the boys pretty much take up the entire back seat, that leaves the front for me, hubby, Sakura in her carrier on my lap and.... Kasey. Ummm... where are we going to put Kasey? So she starts on the floor at my feet where she likes to ride, then on Dad's lap, not so desirable as he is driving, then we try her in the back, like Goldilocks looking for the perfect bed. Yelps from the back seat as clumsy brother forgot she was there announced this was not the perfect bed either. Oh dear.. maybe we need to rethink this entire all the pack at once in the car thing.

Once there I get the stroller from the trunk and put it up by the open passenger door while the tall dark one sorts out the dogs. Transferring Sakura is suprisingly easy, she likes her stroller, but one thing I did do was put a harness on her so that I had something to hang on to should she panic for any reason. When she panicked with the leash on she almost panicked out of the harness but using it this way kept her close at hand.

Sakura had a blast once in there. She LOVED the little lizard thingies that came to say hi, so did the dogs in their.. what the HELL are those??? way. She also loved the birdies and the mice and gerbils and don't worry folks I am quite satisfied they had no idea she was there, no panic, but she was really interested. She took a look at the foster cats and liked all the toys in the cat section when...

A lady in the cat aisle spotted her in there and moved closer to look..'OMG what a BEAUTIFUL cat!' So we had to stop for Sakura to be suitably admired and our animal stories swapped. The tall dark one wandered off bored to take our things through the register. Then of course we had to get Sakura out so that the lady could pet her, 'oh WOW,' I am now used to this reaction, had it myself the first time I touched Sakura. 'This is AMAZING, she feels like a Chinchilla!' Then I had to tell the lady a bit about Bengals and direct her to Great Lakes Bengal Rescue to take a look at all the different colors this cat comes in.

The tall dark one didn't think that Sakura enjoyed her outing. But I did. She was very content when she got home, purring and thrilled to see Mars. They are thick as thieves.

But that wasn't the only thing yesterday. Sitting on my couch I can see some of the kitchen cupboards. So I look up and my cereal cupboard is open and I think Stepson left it open again and then I realise what I am looking at. On the upper shelf a bundle of fur containing a pair of glinting cat eyes is staring back at me!!! It was Mars!!! Now understand Mars has a closet and cupboard fetish. If it is open he will go in it, if it is not he will attempt to open it to get in.. not for the food.. no.. he disturbed nothing at all.. because I guess, he just likes to sit in cuboards and closets. If you adopt him one thing is for sure, if you lose him go on a closet and cupboard hunt first.

James and I dread Mars being adopted. Sakura loves Mars and Mars loves Sakura. Hopefully she loves the next foster as much.

Sakura my Bengal Queen

Time to properly introduce our Bengal Queen Sakura (it means Cherry Blossom in Japanese). This is not her best photo but you can be sure this blog will see a lot more of her in future. Time to tell the story of how she came to be with us.

Sakura is a 2 year old Cinnamon Marble Bengal and she is a Bengal with problems. The story goes that she was quite literally thrown into a shelter in Wisconsin by someone who had grown totally frustrated with her because she was intermittently peeing on the bed. Now in most shelters, sadly, this would be a death sentence. In many shelters like the one I volunteer at, if an animal is not adoptable there is no place to go but over the Rainbow Bridge. Luckily Sakura went to a pure breed cat rescue and from there was adopted by a lovely couple.

While all this was going on I learned about Bengals for the first time, I saw photos of them one day when I was surfing the net and thought they were the most beautiful cats I had ever seen. I read about them and wondered whether it might be just too much cat for our home, but yet, I was drawn to these beautiful creatures. Then I came across Great Lakes Bengal Cat Rescue and finally after seeing their appeal for more foster homes and with experience fostering under my belt I applied.

My first foster cat Raphael was wonderful, I only had him 2 weeks, but from the moment he thrust that powerful head at me for attention I was sold, so incredibly strong and powerful it was like any other cat on serious steroids. Our lovely angelic Raph a brown spotted male went to Michigan where he is making his owner ecstatically happy.

What happened next was strange. Cat after cat it seemed would come to me but nothing came of any of them. Then one day I got a call about Sakura, she needed a foster home, I was open, I said yes. Sakura came from a wonderful home, her owners brought her to me and spent several hours with us, facing a major move they could no longer cope with Sakura's urinating and they didn't think she could cope with it either. Furniture had been destroyed and they were willing to try, but their whole world was going to be upheaval for a while and they wanted to give Sakura the best chance.

Four days after she arrived our orange tabby Tyson was diagnosed with kidney failure - we were utterly heartbroken because at best we could buy him 6 months, he was dying. Four days later he was gone, with Mom and Dad by his side. This is still hard to talk about, once he was gone we both bent down to him, kissed him and promised we would see him again.

That meant according to the laws we had room for another animal in the household and 2 days later Sakura became a permanent member of the pack.

I thought we were winning. The night Tyson died Sakura went pee on our bed. I felt that might be just a reaction to change and her realising he was gone. Sure enough there was no other incident, not even when our new foster Mars came along and they seem to get along very well but yesterday morning, the bed was soaking wet and it was hard to get it out and stop it smelling. This morning, she went pee on Kasey's blanket on the couch so I had to move all of her things in to the Foster Room and she and Mars stayed there for the day.

It was suggested to us to try Prozac and after a conversation with our vet this morning he agreed. We are just waiting for him to decide on dosage levels and call us. I now know how Sakura's former owner Cindy felt, there is a feeling of failure, a feeling that maybe I am missing something or not doing enough for her. What I do know is this is her third home in two years and she needs help. All the usual things have failed to help her but I am consulting with behaviourists to see if we can pinpoint what is going on.

Sakura is not at all like Mars and she is not at all like Raphael. There is an 'edge' to Sakura. She is quick to growl, quick to snarl, and also quick to go into full blown attack at Scout and Waya who are very tolerant. Someone declawed her front paws so she can't hurt unless she bites and she doesn't get that close but boy can she look fearsome!

And I also know, Sakura is home. She will not have to worry about settling anywhere again if I can help it. And we will win and make you whole Sakura - if it takes forever - we WILL win!!

A Home for Mars

What I learned today. It is not wise to engage in conversation with the tall dark one whilst waving around a hunk of ground beef in front of a hungry Bengal. It is kind of like waving an antelope in front of a hungry tiger. Even though denim might not resemble a tree trunk it does serve as a means for a hungry Bengal to get to said beef.

Actually he didn't climb. He just let me know.. hey I am here, that is food, helloooo??? I am HUNGRY!.

Mars needs a home of his own. We love having him but he and Sakura are starting to get attached and we are praying that when he does find his home it does not signal the start of her issues that caused her to come into rescue in the first place. You can see Mars on Great Lakes Bengal Rescue at http://www.greatlakesbengalrescue.com/. All you have to do is go through the application process.

Mars is a really handsome cat. He is almost 12lbs, tall, long and rangy, a lovely big framed cat with a handsome face. His coat is black and kind of that reddish brown so I guess that is how he got his name. He is only 3 years old and was turned in to a shelter in Chicago because he did not get on with an older cat. He gets on beautifully with Sakura, they are good buddies and he is not one bit afraid of the dogs.

Mars is a very 'interested' boy. He loves to open room and closet doors and explore but he hasn't done any damage, he is just interested in what is there and does not like a door shut against him (typical Bengal). He is a counter surfer but I am teaching him 'Down' and perhaps with patience he won't. He tends to do it more when he is hungry - gee - I wonder why? Mars likes to play but he is not a lap cat and doesn't like being picked up, he is quite independent but I feel he would bond with his owner in his furrever home. He digs to China in his litterbox and he happily uses his box, Sakura's, her food etc. But they happily share and if she wants his bed she will chase him off it. However, I heard tell they were curled up together in his bed earlier today.. shock!!!!

If you think you could give Mars the right home please look him up at the website. He is a handsome and sweet puddy tat.

The Road to Oz

The hospital sucked today. It was a long drive and a very long wait, we left late morning and didn't get home till almost 6.30. The news was not good, hubby's one eye is pretty critical, he is diabetic, I had to hold back the tears. Diabetes is a lousy illness. We got home and hubby cooked my favorite steak on the barbi with mushrooms and onion in olive oil, salad and potatoes.

So what, you might ask has this to do with the Road to Oz and is the photo above IT? Well, not unless it is a yellow brick road and we didn't see the Wizard or the Witch on pack walk. But we did see Dorothy, complete with sparkling red shoes, the cowardly lion, though he probably wasn't more than 3ft tall and the tin man. 3 children in costume out having their pics taken by Mom and Dad amongst the fall leaves in the park. We were privileged to witness this precious memory of theirs and honored to be allowed to photograph although I can't publish them but it was so cool that sharing that memory with them also became a part of ours. Such joy on the faces of the children and a bit worriedly the parents looked way too young.. did I ever look that young with my children?

Back to work tomorrow, the happy holiday over. Can't wait for Halloween.

Ooohhh BIG news today.. almost forgot. Benjamin the little black and white cocker spaniel you see the picture of got adopted!! He went to a family who already have another cocker spaniel and they got along great. He will have a wonderful home. I am glad I got to meet him and so happy he is home already. God bless Benjie.

The Pack Walk

Perhaps I should have written yesterday's blog later.. on the other hand.. naaahh. But yesterday afternoon was beautiful, chilly but sunny and pretty. The boys obviously knew it too because they nagged and nagged to go to the dog park. Don't believe me? Then you don't have dogs that go to a dog park, Waya can actually say park, it comes out paarrrkkkk but we know what he means. Here is a photo of the tall dark handsome one posing with Waya on the left, Scout on the right and Kasey in front ready for Pack Walk. The dark one may appear strangely pregnant in this photo, but it is just gloves.



We have had Waya and Scout since they were puppies. Scout at 6 weeks old when he was brought into the office by a co-worker whose Rottweiler/Labrador dog had 12 surviving puppies. 3 of them were together that day, a black one, a beautiful red one and... Scout. Scout was a fur ball, he looked like a chow pup and I traded lunch hours and took him home to show prospective Daddy who had been saying he wanted a puppy for years and now we were moving into a house in 2 weeks, time to make dreams come true. At that time hubby was on shifts and he was asleep as I crept down the hallway and opened the bedroom door and woke him the way one should wake ex Marines.. from a distance.. kind of like lighting the blue touch paper yknow?

I will never forget the look on his face as he woke up and set eyes on that puppy, the hugest smile, arms outstretched as he sat up, 'Where did you get him?' And I passed the pup to him. I explained and hubby asked how much, I said he was free if we wanted him and I went off to get coffee. When I came back Dad and new pup were snoozing together, the pup flat out on his chest. 'You look like a Scout' he said and so he was. Now he is 4 years old and 99lbs. He is just one big goofy boy, always happy, just a normal well adjusted dog who loves his food and treats and chasing other dogs.

Waya is Scout's twin, which causes a few people to look twice and even confused our vet to begin with. On the day I picked up Scout at 8 weeks old my friend had one puppy left. Hubby and I had already discussed having two and so Waya came home too. Waya however is not a dog, he is not human either, we are not sure what he is. He talks for a start, he says Hot Dog, Park and Hellooooo every single morning when we get up. He is the Pack Dominant after hubby and the Dr. Phil of the dog park, any skirmish Waya is in there to sort em out. He will not eat burgers without cheese, mustard and tomato ketchup, no onion. And yes he will take them apart to remove foreign bodies or moan about the lack of. He won't eat nachos without cheese sauce as a lady at our local Dari Ripple discovered and much to everyone elses amusement. French fries or chicken nuggets need sauce or he won't eat them, he will simply take them gently in his mouth, softly spit them out and sit there looking at you like you owe him money. Where Scout is pure pretty and hubby swears he could make us a fortune, Waya is just darned handsome and knows it.

Kasey... ahhh.. she is another blog all to herself.

And there is of course something I need to say about Bengals too, it hit me this morning. Most of us think cats are curious and perhaps they are. Bengals are not curious, they are 'interested'. There is a difference. A cat will be curious about what is behind a closed door. A Bengal is interested in how you get the door open so that what is behind the closed door can be thoroughly examined while you are not around, think about that for a bit.


Today was great. Quiet. I slept in, I did housework, I read a great book. Tomorrow off to the Veteran's Hospital for more work on hubby's eyes, hopefully it will be a sunny and glorious fall drive.

The boys flying.

Sunday wonderful Sunday

I am not usually a lover of Sundays. Sundays signal the end of the weekend and return to work on Monday and if my job were Animal Rescue I might love that. On the other hand if that were my job one day would probably merge into another unceasing. But this Sunday is different. This Sunday I have two more days off yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyy!!

Last night was lovely. I went to bed and lay there reading and very soon Sakura joined me. She shoved the book, pushed at it, the book was in her way. Once I put it down Sakura made herself comfy and did her comfort thing. When Sakura does her comfort thing the world stops, nothing is allowed to interrupt her, nothing. She nestles her nose firmly into my throat where it dips and reaches her strong front legs either side of my neck and begins to knead rhythmically, so strongly she moves my skin back and forth. She had begun to do this with her former Mom and will only do it with me. The bond between us right at that moment only becomes more powerful. When she was done she settled down with her legs over me while I read. You comfort me, I comfort you.

This morning I am making coffee, there is a lot of meowing. I look down and Sakura and our foster Bengal Mars are circling like Indians round a wagon train and yelling for breakfast. They have wised up. After coffee comes food and they want it right now, they are hungry. Fed Bengals are happy Bengals and after food comes cracker cat, that wonderful state where they thunder round the house and jump on chairs and crouch down with silly expressions while it seems there is so much electricity under their coats they can't contain it. I have always called this going cracker cat.

It occurred to me that I should tell you all that Sakura is the Bengal in the photo that goes with Soggy Fall and Bengals. She is my Bengal Queen, my newest baby and the light of my life, the one creature in our pack to bond the strongest with me.

At the top is Kasey our Cocker Spaniel showing JUST how Sunday should be. And below is Mars enjoying Animal Planet.

Shelter Saturday

Every Saturday afternoon is spent at our local County Animal Shelter taking care of the orphans. It has been a normal part of the week's routine for more than a year now. This afternoon was very special.

A few months ago we had a tan color mix puppy in the shelter, I could never forget her. She had small wounds all over her face and head and a young couple stopped by her cage. The girl asked me where she got all the marks so I went back to the exam room to find out and I remember the almost numbing and overwhelming sadness. I went back to the girl and quietly told her the puppy was rescued from a gang of teens who were torturing her in the street, the marks were all cigarette burns. I saw her fists clench and her eyes fill with tears, it took several moments before she composed herself and choked out they would like to see her please. She was only 4 months old.

We went into one of the introduction rooms and the puppy was cowering, tail between her legs. I told them to please not feel sorry for her because of what they had been told but please treat her like the beautiful, cute little pup she was and give her positive energy to build her confidence. As I watched them with her and I learned more about them I knew they were the right family for her. No children, the husband training to be a veterinary tech at school and 2 other dogs at home, both rescue dogs. Sure enough they brought their dogs to meet her and they took her home.

Today I walked into one of the cat rooms and there they were! They had photos of a fast growing and beautiful Beatrix with her family, the scars barely showing at all. His Mom had come to get a cat and chose a pretty calico female that had just been seperated from her kittens. A wonderful home. The staff were able to see the photos of Bea, they remembered her too as such a sweet puppy. These animals amaze me. Those that have been through the most awful cruelty and neglect at the hands of humankind and yet.. will keep on giving unconditional love and loyalty.

The photo above is of Benjamin, a joyful and pretty black and white cocker spaniel, I have a BIG weakness for those. According to a fellow volunteer he was brought in several days ago as a stray. At first they thought that he was obese until they weighed him and realized his coat was so matted he just looked huge. In fact it was so matted they couldn't even get a needle in through it to take blood, they had sedate him fully to shave it all off because he was in so much pain and the skin underneath so bad and he stunk to high heaven. Just like my Kasey.. but that is a story for another day.

It snowed today, not much more to say about that except when I told my husband he said, oh just SHUT UP! Which I think sums that up!

A stroller arrived for Sakura on Friday and I got a matching blanket for it and took her out for a little stroll when I got home. I am not sure what she thought about it, but she calmed when she sniffed it was me and seemed very interested in everything going on around her. It will be great when we have our pack walks and then we can all go together. Now I really will be known as that nutty cat lady. It must be love, I got rid of those stroller things years ago.

Soggy Fall and Bengals

Soggy fall came to me this morning as I drove under the trees admiring their color with rain misting, plopping and splashing on the windshield. But I have to admit I love the vibrant colors this weather brings out in trees. And that is something I discovered quickly here, the weather is as huge a topic of conversation as it is in England, and we are equally as discontent because it is rarely just perfect.

I always wondered about blogging. I have tried to blog before but wondered why anyone would want to read about me? But then came inspiration from a fellow Great Lakes Bengal Rescue supporter FabulousLorraine who has a terrific blog and I realised I don't have to write about me when I share my home with these beautiful cats, a handsome husband and a dog pack. Plenty of material there.

Then there is the fact that I can't make up my mind right now whether I look like a squat gnome on a toadstool in my picture or that I do, in fact, resemble Winnie the Pooh. My son's nickname for me because he always fondly (I think) says, 'You are small and round and a bear of little brain.' Hmmmm. The photo was a shock because I have regained a ton of weight so I rejoined Weight Watchers last night and in the bits about me will be a chance for you lovely people to donate to GLBR.

Coming soon.