Is It Spring Or Is It Just Me?
Wow. Talk about a big change! We had that late February ice storm followed by that late February snow storm that was supposed to be this major big deal foot of snow kind of thing, and like a lot of things we ladies are promised, fizzled out and didn't deliver. Oh well, I was actually glad because snow is a LOT of extra work here at Dot's Place. Whether our dogs are housed inside or outside during the storm, one of us has to go out every two to three hours and knock the snow off of the roofs of the kennels. This insures the roofs don't collapse from the weight of the snow. We need new roofs for our kennels anyway at this point, two winters of smacking snow and ice off of the roofs has left them very holy, and I don't mean in the religious way. Good thing we had a wonderful woman (Thank you Logan Rice!) donate us two dog houses to replace the ones the outside dogs ate. Yes, ate. There are pieces of them scattered around, but for the most part Betty, Runt and Rufus used them as chew toys. Speaking of, Dogloo houses rock. That was the one doghouse they could not chew up. The newly-donated dog houses are ALSO Dogloo houses, so they are made from the same plastic. We would have been happy with anything, but we are really happy that they are Dogloo houses. At any rate, having new dog houses means all the outside dogs are protected from the weather even if the roof does leak like a seive. They have hay in them and on rainy spring days will be comfy and dry. Even so, it's my plan to finish cleaning the empty kennel and find a way to put at least a partial roof up over it (with no resident I used that tarp for other things) and moving the two girls we've had indoors all winter back outside. I think they will be happier back outside where there is plenty of wildlife to taunt them.
Then I'll finish up another floor area and move Torch's kennel down and attach it to the other three, and eventually build the fourth kennel and move Banjo back out for the summer. I guess I got used to the long days of winter where, while there was plenty of stuff that needed done, the weather limited sometimes what you could do so you learned to prioritize a little bit differently. The warm weather has brought with it a new host of problems, and a little bit different way of doing things this year. Last week I drove Butterball down to his new home outside of Atlanta. It was obvious almost immediately that Butterball had hit the kitty lottery, these folks were just absolutely taken with him. I need to post pictures they've taken and sent me since. That was a good, good day, even if I was on the road a good part of it. It was well worth Butterball getting a good home. While I was gone, one of our senior kitties, Verdie, had surgery on her hip. She had started dragging her leg and they needed to remove part of her leg bone (the ball at the top). She's doing well but that was certainly out of the norm! Then I found out about a feral colony out in western Oconee County that included at least two pregnant females. I've spent most of the last week either assessing, transporting, vetting, or on Facebook begging for fosters for the two pregnant cats. Now with the help of the caretaker's brother, we will be getting the rest of the group (12 total) spayed and neutered, up to date on shots, and assessed. Any that might be adoptable we'll work with to socialize and get them up on our Adopt-A-Pet page along with our website. Those that aren't I think will be able to stay after they are fixed. We will see. In the middle of all of this, I get a message from another rescuer about a mama dog in Iridell County, NC that is scheduled for euthenization along with her puppies, and if I can find a foster the rescue will take them from me in 3 weeks. I beg, I plead, I annoy the crap out of people for two days and finally a friend of a friend agrees to take her. Yay! So Seneca to Statesville, NC to Franklin, NC, to Mountain City, GA then back to Seneca. I was on the road about 9 hours that day. Once again, totally worth it though, because mama dog and her seven pups are safe. The mama cats we took in have tested feline leukemia/FIV negative, which is a good thing. One's a grey tabby, the other's a torti. I think the torti is further along, she's much bigger and the vet thinks she's carrying 5 kittens, and is 7 to 10 days out. Both mamas are very sweet. Once the kittens are 4 to 5 weeks old we'll get pictures up on the website and Adopt-A-Pet and do pre-adoptions for pickup or transport at 10 weeks. Once the babies are weaned the mamas will get fixed, and then they too will be available for adoption. At that point, I'm praying we have a lot of people looking for kittens. I have wonderful fosters who have agreed to 3 months. At that point, I have to find someplace for them to go. I hope it's to homes of their own. Then over the weekend we adopted out Priscilla, and I delivered her yesterday (Monday). This family is really wonderful too -- I think Priscilla is going to be very happy there. We're batting a thousand so far this year on wonderful adoptable homes. On the other end of the spectrum, the ownership of Saluda River Pet Food Center in Seneca has made the baffling decision to stop allowing us to come there on Saturdays and hold adoption events. We've been coming almost every Saturday for almost two years now. We aren't aware of any issues or any problems. We've always tried to be good neighbors and clean up after ourselves and put away our equipment. The people who work there seem to like us and look forward to us being there on Saturday. But this owner, for whatever reason, suddenly decided we were no longer welcome. While I'm not surprised at this, I am disappointed. We believe that our association with Saluda River benefitted both our group and the business. Donations of pet food helped the store's bottom line too. In the end we may never know what happened. So now we are looking for other venues to bring our rescue animals. All within the last couple of weeks. Plus some working, cleaning, medicating, shopping, and hanging out on Facebook. I guess it's a good thing I have insomnia. While the rest of this week looks a little calmer now, I'm thinking this is just the start of a very busy spring. Please spay and neuter your pets.
