Make Me Your Kitten of the Month :)

-- Rue

Yay!  I'm in the top 10 of Love Meow's Photo Contest!  Please vote for me again in the final round; make me your Kitten of the Month again!  Just one more click away :)

FINAL ROUND HERE

On a side note, I found out that this photo is all over the net already.  I'm all over everyone's tumblr, yay!  I'm a celebrity! :)

Rain, Rain, Go Away, Lil RUE Wants to Play!

-- Rue

I am missing the outdoors... *sigh*

Since it's been raining on weekends, momma doesn't want to bring me to the park so that I can bask in the sun, climb trees and just feel the soft grass under my paws.  Momma, Qish and I live in an apartment on the 12th floor, and my only access to the outdoors is when momma opens the door to the balcony.  But she keeps me on a leash, because my eyes get really big when I see those birdies hover over me at the balcony!  I almost gave momma a heart attack when I tried to chase one, but I couldn't because I had my leash on! :(

Rain, please just go away!  I want to go to the park again!

Please Vote for Meee!

-- Rue

Momma entered me in Love Meow's contest again, and I am hoping to be the Kitten of the Month again!  I got the March 2010 Kitten of the Month award when momma posted my photo with really huge eyes!

Look here:  March 2010 Kitten of the Month

So please let me have the title again for July!  Please vote for me and spread the word to your friends, thanks!  *purrs*

Vote here:  July 2010 Kitten of the Month

My Little Treats Buffet Paw-ty

-- Rue

So...momma didn't give me a paw-ty.  But she gave me a cat treat buffet!  Of course Qish got his share, too, but because I always eat fast, I finished ahead of Qish and I tried to get his share.  Teehee.  I thought momma would allow it.  She owes me a paw-ty, anyway!  But she shooed me away to let Qish finish it.  Boo!

Anypaw, I did enjoy the yummy treats!  I had shrimp, chicken, sushi and some kibble treats.  These were the ones she got from Singapore.  She only opened them now!  How special!  She made me eat my dinner first, though, because she thought I wouldn't eat my regular meal if I had my treats first.

So here are my photos, happy 1st rescue anniversary to me and my paw-mily (momma and Qish)!  I love you both!

 

Almost finished!

Uhh, excuse me, I am trying to sleep!  Burp!

Zzzzzzzzz...I love my cat life!

1st Rescue Anniversary!

-- Rue

By tomorrow, I would have given Momma a year of mischief, cuteness and charm!  Yay!  If she hadn't picked me up from that dark alley, she will not be as happy as now (If you don't know anything yet about my cat life, please read THIS).  Granted that she has Qish, but the more, the many-ier, right?  Or is it merrier?

A year had passed, and I can't help but feel a little bit melancholic.  I used to love this piece of blanket, but now, I seem to have outgrown it.  Sigh.  I used to suck on it when I was still an itty-bitty kitteh, because I had no cat momma to get milk from.  Momma wanted to throw it away because Qish chewed on it, and it has big holes now.  But momma knows I love that blankie, so she keeps it until now in one corner of our bed!

Yes, that's my tiny bum!  I used to go under the blankie for some privacy.

I still love it even when I got bigger!

Hmnnn...I wonder if momma would throw me a kitteh paw-ty tomorrow?  What do you think?  I am excited!  I can see more years of melting momma with my cuteness :)

A Letter from a Shelter Manager

-- Jonna (Hooman Momma)

I chanced upon an honest piece HERE on the reality of the condition of shelter animals.  Pet owners often feel that they are "doing the right thing" when they abandon their pets in animal shelters, sleeping well at night with the belief that the shelter will find a more loving and responsible home for them.  But according to this article, that is not the case.  Make sure you have a box of tissue beside you.

 

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If you have never worked or volunteered in an animal shelter, you should.

If you’ve never adopted a shelter dog, you should.

If you’ve never known a shelter manager or shelter staff member, you should.

Maybe then you would realize why it is so important to adopt a pet.

Today, I share with you A Letter From A Shelter Manager. If you think you can’t read this because it would be too hard to read, too much to bear, too much to deal with; you should.  Maybe this letter can make a difference in just one person. YOU.

I think our society needs a huge “Wake-up” call. As a shelter manager, I am going  to share a little insight with you all…a view from the inside if you will.

First off, all of you breeders/sellers should be made to work in the “back” of an animal shelter for just one day. Maybe if you saw the life drain from a few sad, lost, confused eyes, you would change your mind about breeding and selling to people you don’t even know.

That puppy you just sold will most likely end up in my shelter when it’s not a cute little puppy anymore. So how would you feel if you knew that there’s about a 90% chance that dog will never walk out of the shelter it is going to be dumped at? Purebred or not! About 50% of all of the dogs that are “owner surrenders” or “strays”, that come into my shelter are purebred dogs.

The most common excuses I hear are; “We are moving and we can’t take our dog (or cat).” Really? Where are you moving that doesn’t allow pets? Or they say “The dog got bigger than we thought it would”. How big did you think a German Shepherd would get? “We don’t have time for her”. Really? I work a 10-12 hour day and still have time for my 6 dogs! “She’s tearing up our yard”. How about making her a part of your family? They always tell me “We just don’t want to have to stress about finding a place for her we know she’ll get adopted, she’s a good dog”.

Odds are your pet won’t get adopted & how stressful do you think being in a shelter is? Well, let me tell you, your pet has 72 hours to find a new family from the moment you drop it off. Sometimes a little longer if the shelter isn’t full and your dog manages to stay completely healthy. If it sniffles, it dies. Your pet will be confined to a small run/kennel in a room with about 25 other barking or crying animals. It will have to relieve itself where it eats and sleeps. It will be depressed and it will cry constantly for the family that abandoned it. If your pet is lucky, I will have enough volunteers in that day to take him/her for a walk. If I don’t, your pet won’t get any attention besides having a bowl of food slid under the kennel door and the waste sprayed out of its pen with a high-powered hose. If your dog is big, black or any of the “Bully” breeds (pit bull, rottie, mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door.

Those dogs just don’t get adopted. It doesn’t matter how ‘sweet’ or ‘well behaved’ they are.

If your dog doesn’t get adopted within its 72 hours and the shelter is full, it will be destroyed. If the shelter isn’t full and your dog is good enough, and of a desirable enough breed it may get a stay out of execution, but not for long . Most dogs get very kennel protective after about a week and are destroyed for showing aggression. Even the sweetest dogs will turn in this environment. If your pet makes it over all of those hurdles, chances are it will get kennel cough or an upper respiratory infection and will be destroyed because shelters just don’t have the funds to pay for even a $100 treatment.

Here’s a little euthanasia 101 for those of you that have never witnessed a perfectly healthy, scared animal being “put-down”.

First, your pet will be taken from its kennel on a leash. They always look like they think they are going for a walk -- happy, wagging their tails. Until they get to “The Room”, every one of them freaks out and puts on the brakes when we get to the door. It must smell like death or they can feel the sad souls that are left in there, it’s strange, but it happens with every one of them. Your dog or cat will be restrained, held down by 1 or 2 vet techs depending on the size and how freaked out they are. Then a euthanasia tech or a vet will start the process. They will find a vein in the front leg and inject a lethal dose of the “pink stuff”. Hopefully your pet doesn’t panic from being restrained and jerk. I’ve seen the needles tear out of a leg and been covered with the resulting blood and been deafened by the yelps and screams. They all don’t just “go to sleep”, sometimes they spasm for a while, gasp for air and defecate on themselves.

When it all ends, your pets corpse will be stacked like firewood in a large freezer in the back with all of the other animals that were killed waiting to be picked up like garbage. What happens next? Cremated? Taken to the dump? Rendered into pet food? You’ll never know and it probably won’t even cross your mind. It was just an animal and you can always buy another one, right?

I hope that those of you that have read this are bawling your eyes out and can’t get the pictures out of your head I deal with everyday on the way home from work.

I hate my job, I hate that it exists & I hate that it will always be there unless you people make some changes and realize that the lives you are affecting go much farther than the pets you dump at a shelter.

Between 9 and 11 MILLION animals die every year in shelters and only you can stop it. I do my best to save every life I can but rescues are always full, and there are more animals coming in everyday than there are homes.

My point to all of this DON’T BREED OR BUY WHILE SHELTER PETS DIE!

Hate me if you want to. The truth hurts and reality is what it is. I just hope I may have changed one person's mind about breeding their dog, taking their loving pet to a shelter, or buying a dog. I hope that someone will walk into my shelter and say “I saw this and it made me want to adopt”. THAT WOULD MAKE IT WORTH IT.

Momma, Why So Busy?

-- Rue

You're always in bed, reading your book and scribbling on paper.  I peeked in one time when you were in the toilet...who reads these whatchamacallit stuff?!?

Can anyone answer that?

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Qish and I try to help the best we could.  We know how hard this is for momma (she tells us she hates Math) so Qish lies on her book while she's reading it, and I run away with her pencil in my mouth.  We're helping her, aren't we?  We're trying to save her from that thing she hates!

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Momma, why get busy with something you hate, while we are here to make you happy all the time?  Come on, throw that little mouse toy, I promise I'll fetch it!

Perching on Top

-- Rue

They say that when you put your books under your pillow, it will make you wiser.

Well, I'm putting this into practice, only better!  My favorite place now is watching my little world go by on top of momma's bookshelf.  It used to be Qish's territory, but I like taking over his favorite places, so now I am the princess of the bookshelf!

Will this make me wiser?

No More Donut For Me!

-- Qish

Finally, my donut collar has come off!

Last month, when momma arrived from her trip to Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, she noticed a bald spot in between my shoulders.  She had me checked, and was advised that it may be an allergy to Revolution which Rue and I get monthly to ward off those mites and fleas.  I was given pills to take but I wouldn't let her shove those pills in my throat!  Teehee. 

The bald spot was soooo itchy so I tried to lick it all the time.  But since that part is supposedly "unreachable" for my tongue, I licked the part nearest to it.  I licked it over and over again until momma noticed that I already developed lesions from it!  She put on the most-hated Elizabethan collar (I call it the ugly cone collar) that morning and scheduled a visit to Dr. Riza after her work.  Rue was such a bully as soon as it was on!  She was biting me here and there, and was just nudging me to play with her maybe because she knew I can't run with that thing on!  I wanted to smack her in the face but the cone left me helpless.

When Dr. Riza saw me, she told momma I have a hotspot!  I learned that it's a self-inflicted lesion caused by overlicking a part.  It may be triggered by an insect bite, a rash, bald spot, what-have-yous.  So momma has to put an ointment on it twice a day.  I got an antibiotic injection, too.  I also has to keep my ugly cone collar for a minimum of 10 days!!! :'(  That's a tragedy.  But of course momma understands how bad I feel about that ugly cone, so as soon as we (Rue and I -- she always tags along because she loves getting attention!) got home, momma left again to buy something from Bow & Wow in Shangri-la.  And it's a beautiful gift for me!  It's an alternative to the ugly cone, and I call it the donut collar.

 ProCollar Protective Collar, X-Small

I love that it doesn't get in the way of my navigation, eating, drinking and playing.  It feels a little funny having a tad too big a thing on my neck, but I was comfortable wearing it.  I wore it for almost a month, would you believe!  Because when momma & Dr. Riza took it off after two weeks, I started licking it again and developed lesions, again.  Teehee.  I can be naughty, you know.

Check out how great this product is!

  

Our New Playhouse

-- Rue

Yay to our first post!

Momma's friend, Uncle Oliver, gave us something to get busy with -- a little playhouse!  It's got big holes that we can explore, and a little dangling fish toy on top.  Which, sadly, didn't survive the night!  Qish chewed on it and when momma woke up, her eyes got wider when she saw the stuffings scattered all over.  Teehee.  She just hugged us while chuckling.

We love our playhouse!  I love staying on top, while Qish loves chilling in the cube.

 Sport Pet Exclusive Activity Cube

Check us out!