The difference a (foster) home makes: Rudolph

Little Rudolph goes back to the shelter today and then (fingers crossed) on to his forever home during the Mega Match event this weekend.

In the past month, he has gone from being a super scared baby (initially considered feral) who would hiss and growl at us to a typical rambunctious kitten.

Like most kittens, Rudolph refuses to sit still long enough to take a decent picture. So these are the best I got...though a video will be coming once I manage to get my computer put together.

He has gone from being super scared of most everything to eagerly exploring new things in his environment. In the last week or so, he started coming to the front of the enclosure when I come in to feed him. Before, he would run to the back and crouch behind the bed until I had the door open. Now he's right up there ready for pets and playtime.

Fostering is so crucial and there are many, many foster opportunities. Puppies and kittens, obviously, but also animals recovering from illness or injury, nursing mamas and litters, animals that just need a break from the shelter, and animals with terminal conditions that need hospice homes. Please, please consider opening your home to foster animals. Sure, it can be tough to let them go, but you can take pleasure in knowing that you gave them a loving home while you had them and that they are better off for it. And there are always animals needing fostering, so you'll never have an empty home.

July Shelter Cat of the Month

This little furball will win your heart

Deana

I don't usually do kittens for CotM since they get adopted SUPER quickly, but she is our first foster kitten and our house is pretty much all Deana all the time, so...just this once...

June Shelter Cat of the Month

With a coat as white as snow and a heart as big as the world, he'll win you over in no time flat.

Reily

UPDATE 8/30: REILY HAS BEEN ADOPTED!!!

May Shelter Cat of the Month

He's 16 pounds of purrs and head bonks...

Big Boy

UPDATE 5/12: BIG BOY HAS BEEN ADOPTED!!!!

March Shelter Cat of the Month

All freckles, all the time

Malory

February Shelter Cat of the Month

He'll win you over with his +2 Leggings of Cuteness

Eugene

UPDATE 2/15: EUGENE HAS BEEN ADOPTED!!!

January Shelter Cat of the Month

She's got the eye of the tiger...

Jilly Billy

UPDATE 1/6: Jilly Billy has been transferred to GPSPCA's Merriam campus. Come on, Kansas people - give this girl a home!

UPDATE 2/11: JILLY BILLY HAS BEEN ADOPTED!!!

Triple the fun

I've been to the vet each day for the past three days.

Cosmo developed a limp just before Thanksgiving. She was getting better, but then she just...plateaued. Got her checked on Tuesday and took her back for x-rays today. Turns out the poor pup has a torn ACL, so she goes in for surgery next week.

PeeWee the snot master had an appointment sandwiched in on Wednesday. More antibiotics for him, plus his kidney values were off, so he gets to go on K/D food now.

The joys of a fur family.

December Shelter Cat of the Month

He's a hunk-a, hunk-a burnin' love:

Bubba

He's a lover not a fighter:

Rocky Balboa

UPDATE: 1/1: These boys have been transferred to GPSPCA's Merriam location. Hopefully new eyes will mean a new home.

UPDATE 2/11: BUBBA & ROCKY BALBOA HAVE BEEN ADOPTED! TOGETHER!!!

Gratitude

I have so many things to be thankful for today and every day.

I am so very appreciative of Great Plains SPCA and similar organizations that provide shelter to homeless pets without the looming euthanasia deadline.

TNR is catching on, so we will eventually be able to bring feral cat populations under control.

In addition to the shelter aspect, I'm so very thankful for GPSPCA's Hero Team for providing education and resources to the families of at-risk pets so they don't become homeless in the first place.

I have unending gratitude for the opportunity to foster sweet PeeWee. He has brought so much love into our lives.

And, of course, I am lucky to have an amazing, loving human, canine, and feline family to share my life with. Today and all days, I am most grateful for them.

Happy Thanksgiving!

November Shelter Cat of the Month

She's soft and strokable:

Velvet

UPDATE 11/25: VELVET HAS BEEN ADOPTED!!!

UPDATE 3/23: Unfortunately, sweet Velvet is back in the shelter. We hope for the best, but a new home isn't always the right fit for our kitties.

UPDATE 4/29: VELVET HAS GONE HOME!

Mega Match!

It's here! The biggest Kansas City shelter event of the year:

MEGA MATCH! 

$35 pet adoptions October 7-9 at Great Plains SPCA, KC Pet Project, and Wayside Waifs!

Adoption Hours: 
Friday, Oct. 7th -- 8 am - 7 pm
Saturday, Oct. 8th -- 10 am - 7 pm
Sunday, Oct. 9th -- Noon - 6 pm

Also, the SOS Match campaign is still going on. Every dollar donated to Great Plains SPCA through October 15th will be matched

It's a great time for shelter pets!

September Shelter Cat of the Month

You'll feel like a smart cookie if you adopt

Harvard

UPDATE 9/16: HARVARD HAS BEEN ADOPTED!

Purr-sonality

When talking with potential adopters at the shelter, I'm often asked questions about some variation of the 'rules.'

"Can two male cats really get along?"

"Are female cats too territorial to live together?"

Over and over I give the same response, that it's really more about the personality of the animal than the gender. I feel like this often frustrates adopters, and I get it. It would be so much easier (for all of us!) if there were a set of rules to follow to ensure a smooth addition to your fur family.

Linky Treats

There's all kinds of tasty stuff around the web:

First up, my college friend is fundraising to get a service dog for his son. Please consider throwing in a few bucks if you can, or at least sharing the link. Thanks!

Next is some advice for reducing the stress levels of newly adopted dogs:

What normally happens in a dog’s day is that they meet a series of stress-inducing triggers. If you’ve socialised them and introduced them to these triggers when they are young, they will most probably learn that these things are nothing to be afraid of. If you don’t, you’ve got an uphill battle to show them that a strange man in a hat is nothing to be afraid of. When we adopt an adult dog, we have no idea what they have been socialised with and what is a trigger.

- from "Trigger Stacking: how we set our dogs up to fail"

Then we have the CEO of GPSPCA encouraging us to put our judgments aside:

Now, instead of having 57 dogs in our possession at Great Plains SPCA and breeders who are mad, hostile, unwilling to heed to our advice and likely to just “do it again,” we have compliant partners with a better understanding about how to properly take care of their pets. We also have folks who won’t be afraid to call “those crazy animal people” if ever they find themselves in a position where they need help again. And.. that cute little wire-haired terrier who was matted three weeks ago, they’d had her shaved and treated for fleas. They did what they committed they would do.  

Had we let our emotions or the judgment that we wanted to cast upon these people drive our interactions with them, the outcome in this case would have been much different. Because we could focus on building a relationship with them and educating them, the outcome for the animals was the best it could be. And that, my friends, is the goal.

- from "A Note From Our Top Dog: When We Judge"

Finally, I can't stop watching this video of Kate McKinnon talking about her cat, Nino:

Frazzled

Living with five pets is often like living in a house full of exceptionally gross toddlers:

Mike is hungry. Starbuck needs to go potty. Mike is hungry. Cosmo wants to play. PeeWee has a gunky nose. Mike is hungry. Cali is hitting! Starbuck is hungry. Mike pooped all over himself. Cali is taking stuff. Cosmo wants to play. Starbuck needs to go potty. Mike is hungry.

The Mike poop is underrepresented, there. It's probably about 1/3 of the time he either gets it on himself or steps in it and tracks it all over the bathroom. Spouse says it's like he's trying to teach us really crappy dance moves (yes, the Dad Jokes are strong with that one).

just imagine that second one created with poopy pawprints...yeah

There are definitely moments where I envy fur-free households. But then I come home and the dogs are so darn happy to see me they nearly wag their butts off. Or PeeWee curls up behind me in bed and his purr rumbles through my entire back. Or I see something like this

and I'm reminded to appreciate the love and companionship of my pets. Even as I'm scrubbing the bathroom floor for the fifth time in a week.

August Shelter Cat of the Month

This Mr. Big Stuff will never break your heart.

Jimmy

UPDATE 11/2: JIMMY HAS BEEN ADOPTED!

July Shelter Cat of the Month

Once you meet this sweet, shy girl, she's forever on your mind.

Georgia

UPDATE 10/19: GEORGIA HAS BEEN ADOPTED!!!

June Shelter Cat of the Month

He's built like a truck and noms down kibbles like a vacuum, but this cat is a love machine.

Peterbilt

UPDATE 7/2: PETERBILT HAS BEEN ADOPTED!!!

Ramblings

We're taking a short break from school, so my computer has actually been turned off for days in a row. DAYS!

Last year the kid attended the Young Heroes Camp at Great Plains SPCA in Independence. He had a great time and learned cool stuff, even if he did opt out of witnessing the spay surgery.

This year we're going it alone and focusing on music all summer, so that should be...interesting.

BUT this is not a homeschooling blog. So on to the animals!