After an absence of several weeks I returned to the shelter today. I´ve missed my cats and dogs so much with graduations, whirlwind trips to Spain and parties, I haven´t had much of a chance to go lately. Rosie the gentle giant Newfoundland-something mix has been taken to a foster home. No one wanted to adopt her. Poor girl...at least now she can leave the shelter for a good long while. She´s so huge that she needs a very large home. I spent a long time in the cattery. I was greeted by Sylvester who seemed to remember me. He´s been there so long. How can people not want such a loving, shiny black cat with bright green eyes? He acts more like a dog and follows you around. I had to hold him just about the whole time, much to the frustration of Sassy, the sweet little calico tiger that wanted lap time. There is a very regal and friendly Siamese cat there now. Cody is very tall for a cat and has long long legs. He is a cream and sealpoint king of a cat who is so inquisitive and very loving. It´s rare for a purebred Siamese to be given up for adoption but there he is.

While I was there, a woman came in with a bunch of pre-teen and teenage kids. They had just brought in their cockatiel and parakeet to be given in adoption because mom had just gotten a full time job and she couldn´t care for the birds and their two dogs as well. I just nodded and listened to her story thinking all the while: you have big kids who are perfectly capable of cleaning bird cages, lady! It might teach them some responsibility. But who am I to judge? Again, I can only think of the abandoned animals and I know people have their problems too. I just think some people are too quick to acquire pets and then give them up at the slightest inconvenience. Sigh.

The nursery is bursting at the seams with puppies and kittens. It´s that time of year. And with so many people on vacation, adoptions are slower. I sat in a kennel with two golden retriever pups ...the epitome of gentle dogdom. They are one of my favorite breeds. They were apparently mixed with something else but all I could see was the golden in them. There was a run full of a large litter of Australian shepherd pups. These rough and tumble little guys were all over the place. One sad little female in the litter held back, though.
I went into the kennel to check her out and she seemed to have a fever. So I called the vet and it looks like the whole litter has to be quaratined in case she has something serious and catching.

I´ve never seen the shelter so full.
:(