Second time fostering: Sammy and the Bottle Babies

Note: "We" in this case means Mom and I, unless otherwise stated.

Well, it started when we visited Tracy, the HSSA Volunteer Coordinator, to return Merlin and Twix, our first fosters. She had a small cage on her desk, which held three sleeping kittens, each one small enough to fit in your hand. Their names were Tigris, Mantis, and Blade, and all three were girls.

She let us say hello to the tiny bundles, and explained that they were still on bottle, despite being 5 weeks of age(old enough to be starting dry food)! Why were they so tiny? We got the whole story later.

These guys were taken to the vet about a minute old. The mother had possibly died giving birth, and the kittens still had the umbilical cord attached. For unknown reasons, the kittens had not yet grown larger than the size of a 2 week-old. The theory was that since they never got their mother's milk, they were possibly missing out on some thing vital to their growth, and the pushing and teaching a mother cat gives her babies.

Tracy also mentioned another foster she had, about a half week older than these guys, but the correct size for his age, named Sammy. Apparently, Sammy tried to be a surrogate mother for the bottle babies. However, his fierce licking of their bottoms gave one of the kittens diaper rash, and he had to be separated from them unless he was under constant supervisation.

She explained that Sammy, unlike the bottle babies, could be left alone in the house. She said he did very well without her.

A while after we returned Twix and Merlin, we got a call, from Tracy asking us to take Sammy. We agreed, and upon arriving at the building, found another carrier on the desk. This one contained a scrawny(he really was scrawny) black kitten who still had the kitten-blue eyes that would possibly wear off. Sammy. And he was voicing his displeasure at not being paid attention to. He had a small clear rubber-ish ball with a bell inside that he occasionally batted around. But it was clear that he wanted attention from humans at the moment.

"Meow. Meow. Meow."

We tried to calm him, let him paw at our hands(although sometimes he got just a little rough with the claws), and talked to him while trying to keep up conversation with the other humans in the room, but he wouldn't stop. We even held him for a while, which helped a little bit.

As it turned out, Tracy was going on a trip for three days and couldn't take her fosters with her. The constant feedings for the bottle babies, and paying attention to Sammy, was wearing her out badly.

We would have offered the take in the bottle babies. But we hadn't taken the class for caring for them and feeding them. Apparently, no one could take them in and Tracy was desperate. So she gave us a 3-minute bottle baby feeding class. She said we passed and we should call up the Foster Care Department if we had any questions.

So we ended up driving home with a complaining Sammy and three bottle babies who didn't seem to enjoy the car.

       Above is a photo of Tigris.

At home, we tested out our skills at feeding the bottle babies. Tracy said we should feed them as soon as we got home, because they hadn't been fed for a few hours.

It is really hard to bottle feed kittens. They squirm, they close their mouths tightly, they even spit it out, and if you don't hold them right you could make them choke. And even if they don't want to eat, you have to feed them.

Finally, we let Sammy, who had been exploring my bed, return to the floor. He mewled whenever the bottle babies mewled, and tried to reach them. It was heartbreaking to keep him away from them, but we hadn't forgotten the bottle Tracy had given us. It was labeled "Butt Ointment", and we had to apply a little daily onto Mantis's tiny bottom, thanks to Sammy's urge to clean the kits.

 I had tried to get a photo of the black cat(which I'm sure you are aware is difficult).

There was a little bit of formula at the bottom of the bottle. Sammy appeared to be hungry, and although we were trying to get him to eat dry food instead of wet, a little couldn't hurt, right? 

We gave him the bottle and he latched on immediately, sucking with tremendous force. We could hardly get him to slow down.

We watched him for a while, gnawning on the rubber nipple of the bottle. We got a glimpse of his teeth and the same thought occurred to Mom and I at the same time.

"What if he chews off the nipple? Can he?"

As we reached for him to pry his jaws off the bottle, Sammy looked at us. I swear he had a "Oh, you don't want me to do this?" Mischievous cat look. He tilted his head up and gulped. We sprang for the bottle, but it was too late. The entire nipple, save the base, had been chewed off in a way that suggested sharks. And Sammy looked very contented with himself.

Mom open his mouth and looked, but we had to admit that he had swallowed the whole thing.

Mom ended up calling foster care about it. We were reassured that he probably wouldn't have any problem passing it, but we brought the remaining part of the nipple to them to make sure the amount he swallowed wouldn't clog his digestive tract. They compared the base to a whole rubber nipple, and said he would be fine. Sammy threw up the nipple later, whole. So I am very happy to report that he suffered no lasting damage from it.

However, that wasn't the last time this fostering would bring unexpected events.

We put Sammy in the tub, and the three bottle babies in a long cardboard box. We taped the top of the box up, and lined it with blankets. We fed them water with an eyedropper, since they couldn't yet lap, and we didn't want to leave them with a water bowl.

The feedings of the three bottle babies every few hours were very taxing. I had Karate to go to(about one hour per lesson), Mom had to cook and do the laundry, and homeschool me, and Dad had to work. It was only for the weekend, but it felt like forever.

The bottle babies needed to learn to lap, and then we could get them on solid wet food. 

We put a low bowl of wet food on the dining room table, with the tablecloth on, and placed the bottle babies near it. They were so underdeveloped they could hardly walk, and finally one walked up the bowl. She stood in it and continued walking until she was about halfway across, then seemed to realize that she was walking through wet food. She lifted a paw, inspected it with disgust, and shook it.  You'd think that wouldn't be too bad, but the act of her shaking each of her legs in turn, in an attempt to get off the wet food, made tiny particles of the food sail everywhere. It traveling a good 2-5 feet from where the kitten was, and soon Mom and I were covered head-to-toe in it. Mom wasn't amused until later, but I couldn't help it. I laughed and laughed as I scooped kittens up and placed them near the bowl, only for the same result. Finally, we gave up(for the moment), fed them with the bottle, and gave them their first bath, which was more like a sponge bath with a few dunkings in a bowl of warm water. They didn't like it, and the bath only helped to get some of the crusty food out of their fur. After that, we bought Kitten Wipes. 

Eating on her own!

Sammy was a climber and jumper

I think you now get the idea of it. I could go on for a much longer time with tales of food flinging and difficult feedings, but for your sake I'll get to the point. Suffice to say, they began to eat wet food off of our fingers, and even started eating from the bowl! They also learned to lap.

At one point, Mom and I went to the Furbaby Fiesta, an HSSA Event, to volunteer there and see Merlin and Twix, who got adopted that day. For more info on the Furbaby Fiesta and how it went, check out the article I made about Twix and Merlin.

After we were done at the event, we were walking at a moderate pace back to our car when Mom got a call from Dad. Apparently, the bottle babies and Sammy wanted to be fed and paid attention to, and they were making a lot of noise. We hurried back home and fed them, and attempted to calm down Sammy, and all was well until about 3 hours later, when the bottle babies wanted to be fed again. 

For the record, fostering is not easy. Mentally, and Physically, it taxes you. And the amount of love we pour into these guys.. The question I get asked the most is "Isn't it hard to return them?". Yes. It's hard. But you also get the satisfaction of knowing that you really made a difference to their lives. And we trust the HSSA to find the right match for them, or another foster family if they need it.

It can also be hard to tell similar kittens apart by appearance. We were having trouble telling Tigris, the runt, and her sister Blade apart. Mantis was easier to tell from the others, because she was blue and gray in some places, like her face.
We spent a while figuring out how to tell the sisters apart, but we eventually came up with a few ways.

They wouldn't often stay still while we were weighing them.

All the time we were worrying about whether or not the bottle babies were growing, Sammy was growing. A lot. He began to fill out his scrawny frame and slowly began to put on pounds. He played ferociously with a bird toy, climbed Mt.Couch, played with his ball that had a bell, and overall proved he was a healthy kitten.

But there were two concerns.

One, he wouldn't eat dry food. We'd leave it for him, mixed with some wet, and he'd eat around the dry pellets, licking off the wet food.

We tried adding water to the food, but then he barely ate it.

Mom chopped the dry food up, but then it was so small he didn't pay much attention to it, especially one he discovered it was all dry. So we added the chopped stuff to the wet, but he still ate around it, and what he did swallow was so small it wouldn't fill him much.

We had a little bit of dried catnip that came with scratching boards we bought, so I even added a little of that. Sammy still wanted wet food.

This was worrying, because he was losing weight when we were supposed to be making sure he gains some pounds, and we were also supposed to get him to eat dry food.

Finally, we ended up not feeding him unless he'd eat the dry food, and that mostly worked, but Sammy gave me a dirty look every time he ate some dry.

Second, he played too rough. We discovered this the hard way. As we played with him, he'd get more and more rough, until he was actually using claws. It didn't hurt too badly, but we had scratches on our hands, and we couldn't let him continue scratching anything but his scratching boards.

Mom's theory, which I agree with, is that because Sammy didn't have any playmates, he didn't have someone who would squeal and hit him back when it hurt. So we tried pinning him to the ground, not enough to hurt, to try to get the message across. He didn't get it, so we stopped the attempt.

Mom came back from the consignment shop with a Beanie Baby stuffed cat, who became Sammy's playmate. He loved the cat, who I named Shell, and would "rabbit kick" the stuffed animal for a long time before becoming tired of the play. I would hold the stuffed animal and move it around like a real kitten, and Sammy would attack it. We also gave him a stuffed sheep I had that had once been a dog toy, which he slept with.

Stuffed Animal friends. Can you spot Sammy?

As it turns out, Play-Time was the only sure fire way to get Sammy to be quiet. He would even try to meow while eating.

On the day we returned the bottle babies, I was weighing them one last time, to see how much they'd grown.

The bottle babies were coming worrisomely close to the edge of the counter. They didn't seem to understands that they could fall from the counter, and seemed to be determined to slip off. 

I grabbed one of them to keep her from slipping off, and Blade, who I had to release, did slip off.

The fall from the counter is only about 3 feet, but Blade was so tiny I immediately panicked. She was alive, but was on her back and writhing in a very scary way. Mom shrieked, automatically coming to the conclusion that Blade's back was broken, causing Dad to come over.

I won't lie, tears were shed. Mom held Blade to her chest until she stopped squirming and her breathing returned to normal. Then we rushed her to the HSSA, and brought her to the vet stationed there. The vet checked her out while we waited with the other two kittens in the carrier, and when she came out with Blade the vet said Blade was absolutely fine. Relieved, we explained that Blade was actually weeks older then she looked, which got a shocked look from the vet.

We still aren't sure why she went into that trauma, but Blade is sturdy, like most kittens.

The hardest part was explaining what happened to Tracy, who I secretly feared would never let us take another foster. This was not the case, thankfully.

We kept Sammy a few weeks more, and we slowly recovered from losing so much sleep while we had the bottle babies. Mom said we wouldn't take in another litter of bottle babies, but we ended up taking more months later. But I'll write a separate article on that.

When we returned Sammy, people were impressed at how sleek his once-patchy coat was. 

We handed in the paperwork explaining Sammy's habits, which would be handed to his adopter when was adopted. On it, we had mentioned Sammy's habit of playing rough, which now included teeth. The woman checking out the paperwork told us where to sign, and circled the part of about confirming  the foster doesn't have rabies.

"Oh, no, it's not that kind of biting." Mom said.

"I know, that's why I circled it." Was the reply.

I explained that Sammy liked his ball to be with him, and the volunteer who picked him up assured us that she'd make sure his ball stayed with him in the kennel.

After we returned Sammy, Mom said that he was harder to return than the others, because Sammy looked up to her as his mother. It's true that Sammy seemed to bond to one person.

About a month later, pictures were posted by the bottle baby's new foster. The sisters were renamed, and had grown amazingly! They were about the same size as they should be, their fur had grown a bit, and their eyes were brighter. It's amazing what foster care can do.

Foster dog: Angel

Yo readers! Yesterday my uncle Steve got a new foster dog from Golden Hugs Retriever Rescue. Her name is Angel, and she's a real sweetie! Very tolerant, loves to be brushed. And she has a TON of hair. We brushed her undercoat yesterday and today, and both days we ended up with an entire bag of shed fur.
She came from Kentucky, and we're in Vermont right now. :O She was found on the streets, picked up by animal control, and was schedualed to be euthanized that day. Apparently she and the other dogs were forced into submission with an electric rod! How anyone could do that to such a sweet puppy is beyond me. She loves dogs, and going for walks. Not sure if she's OK with cats. She's friendly and submissive towards everyone, and she's a little fat. She's about 9 years old, but fairly energetic, getting spurts of energy.
We brought her to the dog park yesterday and she was very good, being nice to the dogs, but not too interested in the people.
It turned out that she had fleas, and we gave her a bath with flea shampoo and the hose, which she obviously did not like but tolerated very well. Such a nice dog. The fleas are almost gone, we think, and a few rounds with the flea comb should do the trick.
She's missing a few teeth, unfortunately.
She's in foster care to get her more used to the house, but from her familiarity with the leash and door(she asks to go out and in!), we'd say she was once someone's pet. Please don't leave your dog on the street. If you have to give them up, don't abandon them, bring them to your local no-kill shelter!
Note: From her traumatic experience in the animal control basement,  she's extremely afraid of kennels. Again, please don't put your dog through this. Or any animal. Care for them like your children.

More updates as the days progress.

A plea for Kittens and Puppies

Please, please, please spay/neuter your pets. We beg you. You've heard it before, we know, but then why don't you listen? You say spaying or neutering is wrong, but what's more wrong is abandoning helpless newborns whose existence is partly because of you, the one who became an accidental breeder.
What's your goal, by allowed your dog or cat outside, where they can have kids with anyone? When she gets pregnant, it's too late to spay her until she's given birth to the pups or kits. And then what? You leave them outside to die? You give them to your neighbor, who doesn't want them either? You keep an entire litter, plus the mother, in your house or apartment? The logical choice, you say, is to give them to the shelter. Yeah, that same shelter where they will probably not be adopted, and die? OK then, a no-kill shelter, you say. Well guess what? They can barely afford to take care of the animals they have! And you're still abandoning these animals to a place where they may stay their whole lives.
Even if your pet is male, he will still be contributing to the overpopulation resulting from many owners not spaying or neutering their pets.
According to the American Humane Association, approximately 8 million animals are taken into local shelters. 3.7 million(nearly half) don't make it out.

'Simply put, there is no such thing as “accidental” breeding. Spaying and neutering is a conscious choice.'- Quoted from the American Humane Association Pet Overpopulation page @ http://www.americanhumane.org/animals/adoption-pet-care/issues-information/pet-overpopulation.html.

One can spay one's puppy or kitten safely at 8 weeks of age. The only side effects are a happier, healthier pet, and one or two days of grogginess, to get over the anesthesia.
Still want to keep your pet inside, to keep them from breeding and saving you from having to spay or neuter? Trust me, your pet will be very unhappy, especially males that sense a female in heat. Behavioral problems may result, and some un-spayed or neutered animals become snappy. Escapes are not unheard of.

Are you refraining from spaying or neutering because of cost? Imagine the cost of lives, or caring for an entire litter. That's the cost you'll be placing upon the Humane Society too.


This is Silv, signing out, and urging you to reconsider if you were not going to spay or neuter your pet. Millions of animals thank you.

Water, water, water.....

Water, everywhere. Pools, streams, creeks, ponds, lakes, seas, rain, puddles...water can be found all over, even in the driest deserts. And without it, we couldn't survive.

So why waste it? We all need water. It is totally pointless to waste water, and wasting does harm. That tiny trickle that kept coming out of the faucet because you were too lazy to turn it off completely? Yeah, according to USGS website, that wastes(no joke) an entire gallon of water in one day. And that is assuming the faucet does 20 drips per minute, on a 1/4 millimeter faucet. Yours may drip much more. Shocked yet? How about this quote from the EPA's website:
'Leaks can account for, on average, 10,000 gallons of water wasted in the home every year, which is enough to fill a backyard swimming pool.'

And another quote from the EPA: '10 percent of homes have leaks that waste 90 gallons or more per day.'

So now it's quite apparent that leaks that go unfixed are huge water wasters. Let's now look at the statistics for water wasted for other reasons, like in the shower. If you want to take a long soak, a bath may actually be less wasteful. It may seem worst at first glance, gallons of water in the tub, but believe me, if you know how much water goes down the drain during hour-long showers..Before deciding to take a bath or shower, look realistically at how long you will be in there. Are you washing up to go to work in 20 minutes? OK, then, take a shower. 
Are you going to spend an hour in there because you need to relax? Seriously consider that bath.

Need more? How about..The garden hose? No playing with it while watering. The garden hose is one of the biggest water consumers. A singe hose can waste more than six gallons per minute. Gah. That's more than you need to drink in 24 DAYS. Yikes.
And here's one more EPA quote: 'Each person uses 80 to 100 gallons of water per day, on average.' Note that that is for an American Household. 



So. Seen enough? Good. Now, how can you reduce your waste of water?

1. Take shorter showers.

2. Have leaks fixed professionally. Yes, professionally. Even if you think you can do it, don't. You may think it's fixed, but there's a chance that it's not fixed, and you don't realize it until it's wasted another half gallon.

3. Don't play with that hose too much. It uses up water fast, especially while on a strong setting.

4. Use the public pool. Believe it or not, using your own pool uses more water.

5. Just be overall water-concious while doing "everyday" things. Before doing a load of laundry, stop and think about whether you could wait until there is more laundry. Doing small loads wastes more than large loads. But don't use this as an excuse to slack off.

And when you use the washing machine. Think about how much water your washing machine uses, and wash the dishes by hand if you can do it without using a ton of water.

Remember: Statistics are general facts. Don't lose sight of the amount you hurt our environment, and what you can do to stop it.

We have got to Save this planet now. This is the time for action. You're not alone. If we all work together, we can fix the harm we've done.

Silvia's first fosters

Here is the true story of Silvia's first foster kittens.
Sorry it's kinda a long story, there was so much I wanted to tell. But I don't think I made it too long, or boring. Frankly, Merlin and Twix had lots of little quirks and great points, and we had a lot of fun with them. Between that, and the fact that I didn't get to tell some true and hilarious stories about them, I feel like I almost didn't write enough. If you're interested in hearing about some of their pranks, just comment asking for a story. I'm full of 'em, and I promise not to bore you too much.
The point of this article is to show how wonderful it is when people foster. How much it does for the animal(s) and the foster(s).
There will be more foster stories to come. After all, we didn't stop at our first fostering.
Enjoy.

We were driving back to our house in Tucson, Arizona. We had just come back to Arizona after a trip.
I have been asking for a pet for years now, and brought up the subject again. That's when my dad had the great idea of fostering. We all really wanted a cat. So maybe we could foster one.
I pointed out that in most cases I knew, you had to foster the animal until it got adopted. And since we travel a lot, that wasn't an option.
Not always, said my mom. She knew someone who fostered kittens for a Humane Society, and she only had to keep them until they were strong enough to go back to the shelter.
I got online and found the Humane Society of Arizona(HSSA). And yes, you could foster for them! It also said that foster homes could refuse to take on a foster at any time, and it would not reflect on their foster status.
Perfect.

Later that week, we printed out the foster form, filled it out, went to the Humane Society, and handed it in.
We later got an E-Mail saying that a foster care class was scheduled, and we had to take the class before fostering.
Since Mom and I were to be the "main caretakers", it was us two who were to take the class. When we went to the class they explained the basics of keeping puppies and kittens, like how to keep very young ones warm. They said that it was best for the animals, kittens especially, to come into fostering with their mother, so they could pick up on the normal attributes of their kind. However, sadly, most animals that ended up in foster homes were orphans that weren't able to survive in a shelter.
We were given a fostering manual during the class, and we were told two additional things before the class ended. One was that we would receive E-Mails notifying us of animals needing fosters. We had to reply by phone call if we wanted to take them in.
The other was that if we were overlooked and didn't get any fosters, tell them. The staff would put our names on a certain board, so that we would be some of the first to get fosters.

A little while later, we received several E-Mails about kittens in need of foster.
There was a 7 kitten litter that needed Sub-Q fluids and antibiotics. We decided that would be too much for a first time. Another was a single kitten that was very weak. Maybe we could take that one.
We replied to the E-Mail, and were told that, sadly, the kitten had died, having been too weak survive. However, they said, they did have a pair, brothers, that were underage and needed socialization. We jumped on it.
(Note: Most animals that we take in as fosters are the ones needing socialization. We've found that giving a ton of love and care to cats is what we do best.)

The next day, Mom and I went to pick up our future fosters. Dad had to go run errands, and would probably be home the same time as us. When we got to the Humane Society, we were told the whole sad story as we were led over to the building in which our future fosters were kept.
There is a thing around here called Brush and Bulky. Brush and Bulky is basically something where people leave their yard scraps and old furniture out by the curb, and a truck comes by and picks it up.
Just before a certain pile was about to be thrown in the truck, mewling was heard, and inside the pile of twigs and scraps they found two 6 week old kittens, presumably brothers. These were our foster kittens.
They did not have names yet, so we could name them ourselves. They needed to be kept in our home until they were of age(8 Weeks) and weight to go back to the shelter.
When they brought in the carrier, I gasped and melted before the incredible cuteness that is two kittens, looking at you with kitten blue eyes. 
They were huddled in the back, a little scared.
When our escort, Stephanie, stuck her hand in, they hissed.
After all they were through, could you blame them?
"They're a little hissy." she said cheerfully, drawing back her hand.
"Hissy is good." breathed Mom, half talking to the kittens, half talking to Stephanie.

Stephanie and I. Merlin and Twix were in the carrier.

"It means you're aware." 
Our eyes were glued to those kittens, and the most we could say was "Oh my gosh, they're so cute!".
A photographer for the shelter wanted some pictures of us holding the kittens. That picture ended up on HSSA Facebook page later.
We carefully carried our new fosters, who were huddled in the back of the carrier, to the car and drove home. While we drove, Mom and I discussed names. One was fluffy and an Orange Tabby. The other was Black, and had shorter hair. Both had grayish/blue eyes, but the Black One's were more stormy. Since the sky was the same color at the time, we considered naming him something like Storm. Mom wanted to name the tabby Arthur, and maybe the black one Merlin. We agreed to ask Dad his opinions before deciding. 
When we got home, we set up the tub with towels and a litter box, and food and water. We put their carrier in the tub, door open, and let them be.

Twix(right) and Merlin(left) eating together.

For most of the first day, all they did was hiss. The tabby swatted a little at Mom, but we were fairly certain that they would settle in. It soon became obvious that the twosome were very close, sleeping together and sharing food well(although the black one sometimes pushed his brother away).
That night, we took them out on the couch while we were watching TV, putting them carefully in our laps. After a few minutes they settled in, and we had a very enjoyable night sharing the kittens, who would occasionally change laps.

The next few weeks, we established a routine.
The kittens we decided to name Merlin(the black one), and Twix(the tabby).
Every morning, Twix and Merlin got wet food, we played with them in the afternoon, they were free fed dry food all day, and then got a dinner of wet food. At night, we would take them onto our laps and watch a movie. The kittens would climb all over us with little claws, play fighting with each other. After the movie was over, we would play with them ourselves. Eventually, the kittens grew big enough to jump off the couch. We took shower curtain rods, wedged them between the walls in the hallway, draped a curtain over it, and stuck the curtain to the floor with slate. In the kitten's minds, this was another wall, and it prevented them from going out into the hallway(at least, it did until they figured it out).
We noticed two things about our little foster kittens. One was that Merlin was quite the jumper, pretty athletic, while Twix was kind of a pushover sometimes, and found it hard to jump high. Thus, Merlin was the first to manage to get out of the tub. Mom wanted to change his name to Houdini, since he was an escape artist, but Dad and I said it was too late to change their names.

The second thing we realized was that they clung to whoever was holding them like burrs. Cling they did, with those little but sharp claws that got through nearly every shirt. And it really hurt when they climbed up onto ours necks. We learned the hard way that many kittens do this. Luckily, Merlin and Twix stopped clinging quite so much when they began to trust us more. Until then, however, we had to hold them with their claws facing out.

Merlin and Twix were our Yin and Yang kittens. Merlin hardly ever groomed himself. Twix was fastidious. Merlin was more adventurous. Twix often wanted to nap.
They also complimented each other. Twix would be roused by Merlin sometimes. Twix would groom Merlin.

Finally, one day we brought our kittens to the shelter to get their shots, and received surprising news.

On the prowl.

Sleepy.

Stephanie, weighing them, them told us that Twix and Merlin were "of weight".
This stunned us, for while we had been tracking their weight, we hadn't realized that at four pounds and eight weeks they were ready to go back.
Stephanie told us that we could keep them for another few days, if we wanted.



"Well, would we be lessening their chances of getting adopted? I mean, would they be up for adoption those few days?" asked Mom.
No. They were scheduled to be fixed in a few days, and then they would be up for adoption at the Furbaby Feista, an event HSSA was doing for three days, in which mixed breeds would be free, no adoption fee, and purebreds would be half-off.
In that case, said Mom, we would keep them. Better they were in our home for those few days instead of a cage.

Blue feather toy..oohh..

Their eyes began to lose that kitten blue, and turned green.

A few days later, a somewhat sad farewell was said, and Mom and I took our little kitties back to the shelter. They had really grown, and the shelter staff oohed and ahhed over their glossy pelts. We talked for a bit, and found out that they would most likely be at the main shelter for the Furbaby Feista, which was going on at different locations. Since Mom and I were volunteering at said Feista, we signed up to be at the shelter on Friday, the first day of the event.

After Merlin and Twix were gone, I found myself instinctively doing things I had to do while the kittens were in our home, like closing the bathroom door before inquisitive kittens followed me out.

When Friday came, we left around 3:00, being on the second shift.
We found out from Gina, the Volunteer Coordinator, what we were to do, which was hang out in the cat room and help people who wanted to know about the cats. If we didn't know something, direct them to someone who does.
I looked, but couldn't find our kittens.
We found someone we recognized, and asked about Merlin and Twix.
It turned out that a dry patch on Merlin's leg had to be inspected before they could be put on the adoption line. We had noticed the dry patch before, and figured it was from a scrape he may have gotten in the Brush and Bulky pile. The shelter's Veterinarians thought it might be something more serious, and had to check.

MEOW!

Finally, we were told with a big smile that the dry patch on Merlin's leg wasn't anything to worry about, and they were cleared and ready to go.
I soon found Merlin and Twix in their spot in the cat room, and felt like crying. Twix was eating and looking tired, while Merlin was occasionally showing off for the people that came over. It seemed that no one was interested in adopting both, and everyone seemed to lose interest with them after having a kitten cling to them and shiver(well, they were in a scary, loud place) for a while.
I wandered around a bit, telling people about Twix and Merlin's good points, checking out the ferrets(both of the ferrets got adopted by a man who had one, and wanted company for it), and checking on the dogs. Almost every dog's kennel card said "Adopted" or "I'm being considered for adoption". That was good. But no one seemed to want our kittens.
I came back to the cat room and got the best surprise ever.
Mom and one of the foster staff were talking to a girl, a little younger than me, and her mother. They have decided to adopt Merlin and Twix!
It was explained that when the mother and daughter came in looking for a pair of kittens, it was an instant match. The foster volunteer quickly said that it would be best if Merlin and Twix were adopted together, and that was that.
I sat outside the cat room with the adoptive family, telling them all about Merlin and Twix, and answering questions that they had, like Twix and Merlin's diet.
The daughter even has the same name as me. Her mother insisted that could not be a coincidence, and I agreed.
The girl could hardly sit still for all her excitement, and I was having trouble too. I'm still so glad that our little kittens got adopted.
"Well, it seems like you've done a great job fostering them." the mother said.
I think we did.

Shelter Virus hits lots of cats, by Silvia Phenora

The Humane Society of Southern Arizona(HSSA) was hit with a cat virus know as Calicivirus recently. It causes Upper Respitory Infection, and can be very hard to spot. Many cats who are infected act perfectly normal. There is no specific treatment, and it spreads extremely easily. Some of the virus can be killed by bleach solution, but that is about as far as treatment can go. It survives for a long time.

Some of the cats at HSSA were euthanized, and all others with the virus were put in quarantine.
For about a month, no cats were allowed to go to foster homes, and HSSA could not accept cats from the outside, such as those being surrendered.

Now, certain cats are being allowed to be put into foster homes, but many cats are still in quarantine.

Yesterday, my parents and I went to see the quarantined cats. Volunteers are allowed to pet the cats, keep them company, take them out of their kennels, etc. in an attempt to lift the cats' spirits. Most of the cats, despite having Calicivirus, are active.

When we arrived inside the building where the cats are being kept, we were shown to a table where Latex gloves and disposable gowns were, as well as towels and a bleach solution in a spray bottle. We were instructed the following: Put on a disposable gown and gloves before handling any cats. In between cats, throw away your gloves in the trash bin provided, and wipe down your gown using the bleach solution and the towels. Should your gown become torn, either by being caught on a cats claws or something else, change it as you do you gloves.

You may sit down with a cat if you have a towel in your lap.

They had a sign hanging nearby with numbers on it. The numbers showed which cat kennels had cats that needed extra attention. None of the cats were known to bite, but some swat.

Some of the cats in quarantine, in their carriers and kennels.

The cats inside were either in typical cat kennels, or dog carriers, and many meowed at us as we walked by, and stuck their paws out of their cages, at each other and at us. Aw.

I picked out the cat in kennel 1, while Mom and Dad went for the cats whose numbers were on the sign. The cat whom I handled later on turned out to have one eye. The weird thing is, I didn't even realize I was handling a one-eyed cat until Mom said "Oh! That cat has only one eye."

 It took a few cats, but we eventually realized that we were not picking up the cats we thought we were("Is this cat 48, or is that number referring to the cat above it, not below?") After we realized how the system actually worked, we got it right, and lots of cats got handled. Thanks to the fact that other people there were handling the cats too, all the quarantined cats got attention, which we were told never happened before. Every single cat. (Give or take a kitten or two. It's hard to tell, with so many cats there.)

One of the cats I handled. A big cat, plush, and quite the lover. Didn't want me to leave,  and frankly, I didn't want to leave her.
Such a good kitty. Wanted rubs, rubs, rubs. Oh, and did I mention rubs? Purr..purr..purr..purr.

Mom, handling a kitten.

The three of us, ready to pick up cats.

Saving the Guinea Worm: What is the "right" thing?

Some of you may have heard of it. The Guinea Worm. Likely, you haven't heard BOTH sides of the argument. Caring Environmentalists VS those who make a point when saying they think the Guinea Worm should not live.
The Guinea Worm is a long, well, worm. An endangered species. And we have no idea what it would do to the environment if we killed it off.
On the other hand, the Guinea Worm is also a parasite. Humans drink contaminated water with Guinea Worm larvae in it, and the Guinea Worm finds its host. (That is what most think. The truth is explained later in this article.) Extracting the Guinea Worm is a painful, and rather gross procedure that can take several weeks. Because of this, many people who have an influence over the populace say that we should exterminate the Guinea Worm.
But there is more you should hear before choosing who's side you're on. The Guinea Worm is also blamed for being the main cause of "Guinea Worm Disease", which is what being inhabited by the Guinea Worm is called. In reality, the Guinea Worm is not targeting humans to survive. Rather, in the water that is contaminated by the Guinea Worm, "water fleas" eat the larvae, and pass it to humans when people drink them.
Guinea Worm disease is also thought to cause a host of other factors, but some scientists think that the Guinea Worm is not responsible for those, and many other factors about people's environment are more likely culprits.
The Guinea Worm can be easily avoided, by cleaning water thoroughly, but that may be hard for people living near the Guinea Worm to do so.
The Guinea Worm is a living thing, just like us, and can't help it if its way of surviving is by taking a host. Please consider carefully whether or not you truly want the Guinea Worm to become extinct. Who knows how much damage we are doing? And if you decide to join the causes helping the Guinea Worm, act quickly. There are likely only about a hundred worms left by now. Donate to causes helping the Guinea Worm, spread awareness, help out.

More information on the Guinea Worm and the Guinea Worm Disease can be found at the following links: http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/guineaworm/
http://www.deadlysins.com/guineaworm/truth.htm

I strongly encourage you to find out all that you can about the Guinea Worm and other endangered species, so you can really decide who you're with.

The Wonder of Earth and Sky

Nature. Wilderness. The wild. The great outdoors. No matter what you call it, it's beautiful. And it's outside.
We often underestimate the beauty, power, and amazingness of Nature. It's awesome. And natural beauty can be found in your backyard, found in a bird flying through the city, anywhere. We often close our minds and hearts to this.
Beauty is everywhere, if we would just look for it. National Parks are good examples. They show that people and nature can be in the same place, together, and not be entirely competing. Just step outside sometime and enjoy it.
I admit that I'm guilty of staying on the computer instead of playing outside. But I never stop appreciating nature.
By polluting we mar that beauty. And that we definitely should not. People often ask, what's in it for us if we stop polluting, wating electricity, and wasting water? The truth is, Earth sustains us. If we continue to pollute, waste, and destroy, we will ALL suffer the concequences. Dirty air makes us sick. Lack of water is bad for obvious reasons. Electricity is not endless. This destruction is caused by us.
But we do more than that. We ruin amazing veiws.
You may be thinking now; I thought this was an article on Nature's beauty. Why am I reading about pollution?
The truth is: It all comes down to the same thing. We cause the ruin of so much. Please protect our Earth mother, and all those veiws that make you say "Wow.".

Note: We do NOT own the pictures in this article.

Shelter Animals And How To Help Them, by Silvia Phenora

You've probably been to an Animal Shelter sometime in your life. Passed by all those longing faces, begging you to let them out, let them lick your hands, or maybe purr and cuddle.
Maybe you asked the staff to let one out with you, just for a short time. But chances are, you put them back.
There are many animals at shelters. Not just dogs and cats. I volunteer at the Humane Society of Southern Arizona(HSSA). I mainly work with the cats, and our family fosters kittens(more on fostering later).
A while ago HSSA had a three-day event called the Furbaby Fiesta. All mixed-breeds were free(no adoption fee), and all purebreds were half-off.
My mother and I worked with the cats, telling people about them and handing them adoption applications if nessesary. Nearby, in a separate room, the "pocket pets" were kept. And that brings me to my point.
Shelters aren't just about cats and dogs. They save any kind of pet, reptiles, rodents, birds, cats, dogs, etc.
Below: Rufus, a rat that was at HSSA.

I even got to witness the adoption of Snowball and Fiver, two Ferrets. (See below pic)

Below: Snowball and Fiver

So anyway, about fostering... It really touches animals lives. Yes, it can be hard to let them go at the end of the foster period. But without being in a foster home, these animals wouldn't have lived. Many of the animals that end up in foster homes are too scared to be adoptable, are too young to survive in the shelter(some kittens we had for three days came to a veterinarian just minutes old, with the umbilicle cord still attached), or have to recover from wounds. If you can't adopt, consider fostering.

About rescuing an animal: At kill shelters, sometimes an animal will be listed as a "rescue". This means that animal, for whatever reason, has less "time" left at the shelter than other animals.

If you can adopt a rescue animal, all the better. But it helps all the animals in the shelter if you adopt any. By doing do, you make more room in the shelter for others.

My uncle and aunt foster dogs, and rescue them too. They often have two rescued dogs at a time, three if fostering.

About volunteering: Volunteering is a great thing to do. You can help out by walking dogs, handling cats,  

cleaning kennels, advocating for animals during events, and more. By volunteering, you can help immensely. You don't have to stay all day cleaning the shelter or anything. All it takes to touch a life is just sit down for a while with a lazy rat in your lap, throw a ball for that high-energy dog that hates being cooped up, stuff like that.

Shea volunteers at Homeward Bound(previously known as Addison County Humane Society).

Note: Each shelter has an age limit on certain things. For example, if you want to directly handle animals at HSSA, you have to be 15. Please respect such rules.

About donations: With most shelters, all funds come from donations and the money from adoption fees. That is why it can be expensive to adopt. The shelter depends on that money.

Some shelters lower the adoption fee on certain animals(such as those with a cold), to increase their chances of getting adopted. Other shelters(such as HSSA) do events where animals have lowered adoption fees.

If you can't foster, adopt, or volunteer, at least donate. Every penny counts.

And now, here is a picture of a wonderful pet that got adopted, Fred.

Below: Fred the Cockatoo

Bee's big problem by Shea Montgomery

Most people are afraid of bees ( this may not apply to you).  What people don't realize ( again this may not apply to you) is that honey bees are more or less harmless. Yes, they have a stinger and all that but they most likely aren't going to use it on you unless you've as good as killed them( stepping on them sitting on them etc) or threaten their hive.  Why is that? Because there is only one sting per bee. Once the bee has stung it dies.  So no bee is going to sting you for no reason( however hornets are a different story). Got it? Good.
Without honey bees we wouldn`t have 1/3 of the foods we like to eat ( apples, almonds, broccoli, cucumbers, pumkins etc).  Unfortunatly the bees are disapearing at an alarming rate. Over 1/3 of the colonies have already died. Scientists are not quite sure what is causing the bees to disapear. It could be parasites, pesticides, the possibilities are vast.  But losing food isn't the only problem we have here. Bees are living things too and we can't just let them die. Please help the situation by either donating to an organization trying to figure out what's happining to them, or help raise awareness among your friends and family. The bees need you!

Beauty products and their ugly secrets by Shea Montgomery

Every year thousands of animals are killed due to absolutely evil tests done by beauty product companies, to make sure their makeup is safe for humans to use. Most of the tests are deadly and others cripple the animals for life, tests such as rubbing mascara or eyeshadow in the animals eyes are common acts of abuse committed by these companies. They would perform a test causing the animal to be in great pain, record there injuries and fianlly kill them The thing is there are plenty of alternative ways to find out if their makeup is safe for humans that don't include abusing innocent animals, such as testing on skin cells or not using toxic ingredients altogether. If you're shopping for beauty products please make sure it's a company that does not use unnecessary acts of cruelty to make its products.  The is nothing to gain by testing on animals so why do it?  To all those make up companies out there that test on animals I bet you could get a lot more people to buy your products if you could say that you don`t abuse animals.  Makeup in my opinion is one of those optional things so just remember that inner beauty comes first.

Rescue Dog Duke Saves Baby Harper's Life

When infant baby Harper stopped breathing, her parents were unaware, and would have gone to sleep if not for their dog, Duke, whom they had rescued years ago.
Duke started shaking violently on the bed. Realizing that this was not normal behavior, Harper's parents investigated, and found the non-breathing Harper. Her father called 911, and the ambulance arrived. Harper is now doing well, and her survival is thanks to Duke.
Harper's mother Jenna Brousseau said "He's the perfect dog, he was meant, meant to be ours, he was meant to be hers."

The moral? Even in ways you may not have expected, if you rescue an animal, they will return the favor.

Watch your step. Pollution crossing. By Silvia Phenora

At one point my family and I camped at Padre Island National Seashore. With a beach home to Kemps Ridley, the smallest and most endangered Sea Turtle in the world, it seemed a nice place to go. It was, with good scenery, a loooong beach, and a nice campground. 
While staying there, I found a hatched Sea Turtle egg(we gave it to the Ranger exhibit) and we learned interesting facts. Like, did you know that there is a coral that lives there that looks just like electrical wire? The coral come in pink and yellow, is long and thin, and appears to be a copper wire with a coating. In fact, the Park Rangers warned us before we went to the beach to pick up trash not to pick up coral instead! A way to tell if it's coral or wire is to take a good look at the side. Do you see little pores? If so, that's coral you found.

(Above: Wire....? Nope, coral.)

We also learned of Man-O-War, a creature that appears to be a Jellyfish. WRONG!
It is actually four different animals working together. However, the Man-O-War still has a nasty sting.
And so, knowledgable about coral, and knowing to avoid the Man-O-War who lived there, we set off to the beach to pick up trash. We had heard that the beach was full of trash, because of people throwing it off of ships, but nothing could have prepared us for the sight of it.
Trash....EVERYWHERE. All you could see on the sand other than the occasional Man-O-War or coral was trash.
We got out our bags and got to work. And we worked for about an hour, still picking up trash.
Occasionally, we found a piece of coral, a plastic bottle cap, a baby's pacifier, a trash bag, even dangerious used needles. But the saddest things were the plastic bottles.
It had been explained to us earlier that floating plastic bottles were often mistaken for Jellyfish by the Kemps Ridley and bitten by the hungry creatures, as Jellyfish are part of their diet. Thus, they ingested plastic, which you can probably imagine is not good for their digestive system. We were told that if we saw a diamond-shaped mark in the bottle, it meant that a Kemps Ridley had bitten it with their sharp beaks.

(Above: Sea Turtle bite marks in a plastic container)

Finally, we stopped for our picnic, and surveyed our work.
We had cleared about a mile in a whole hour.
Groan.
That experience really opened our eyes to how much a seemingly little action of throwing something off a ship can do.
Please recycle, and protect our beaches.