Pet Blog

  A few weeks ago one of my coworkers (in another department on campus) announced she was doing a display for rescued animals so she needed pictures of employees rescued pets, their names and their stories. When I sent in my boys info, I asked if I could also send in pics and stories of some Heartland cats and dogs in need of homes and the response I got shocked me: they were going to do a donation drive for Heartland! Today they dropped the donation off with me. I couldn't believe it! It was more than I expected.

  Cleaning cages at Petsmart went pretty quickly this morning. It's weird because all the cats will be in the mood to do the same things most of my mornings. One Tuesday they will all be talkative and wanting attention, the next Tuesday everyone will be sleeping or lounging and they don't want to move, and then the next Tuesday everyone will start eating when I get there. Every single cat stole my heart this morning. I was extremely crabby from having cramps when Calamity Jane started rubbing against my hand. I ended up petting her for 10 minutes. Sweet Belle jumped down from her perch to say hi and get some pets when I walked by. Momma Mia and Calliope were affection machines. Toledo always wants my attention and Uno was greeting people at the window. Gabrielle had quite a few admirers this morning too. Star was in her usual hiding place. We thought Gabrielle and Calamity Jane might want to play together since they seemed very interested in each other at first, but they passed. Maybe next week, if they're both still there, they'll feel more comfortable to play.

  If everything goes well this week, closing is set for the 28th and then my boys will have a home. I like to tell them about it, as if they can understand me, to see if my voice gets them excited. I say "Dewey, we're going to make you a window seat so you can look outside all day! What do you think of that?" He just stares at me.  Clyde does get excited but only because he'll hear the words "go" and "outside" when I tell him about how he's going to love playing in his new, big backyard.

 Maybe after I move in I'll stop at my mom's to get my big box of articles so I can finally finish the dog dominance post I haven't touched for over a year. Hopefully she hasn't thrown it out.
 (This blog is new, but I have another blog that I used to write about running, personal thoughts, and life in general and that's starting to go in another direction. My first few posts on here were transferred from there.) Once I finish the dog dominance post, maybe I'll work on the two other big ones I have in mind: one is about Pit bulls and the other is about good breeders vs bad breeders and puppy mills.

   I occasionally babysit my infant niece whenever my brother visits. I'm always proud of my boys whenever she comes because they're generally very well behaved and very sweet. Dewey loves her. It's like he knows she's a baby and he has to be extra gentle with her.
   When she came to visit on Saturday, Dewey followed us around the entire house - room to room - just to be near her and when I needed to prepare lunch, he laid next to her while she watched Wonder pets. That's all he wanted to do all Saturday - just lay next to her. What a sweet, sweet boy.

BabyJDew

Babyjdew2

http://blogs1.marthastewart.com/martha/2008/04/my-beauty-paw-p.html

    Since Oliver, my big black cat, is declawed he has trouble jumping up on the counter to get to his food bowl and needs to use the small cabinet we keep Clyde's food and treats in to help him reach his own food. The other day, Clyde was napping in front of his cabinet when Oliver wanted food. Oliver got really close to Clyde's face, then started his protestation meows. Clyde slowly opened his eyes and smugly sat there because he didn't want to move. So for almost five minutes, they were practically nose to nose with Ollie whining loudly. Dewey decided to go check out what was going on in the kitchen and immediately went into action to help Ollie get to his food. Clyde's most beloved toy was sitting just outside of the kitchen. Dewey ran over to it, stood over it, looked at Clyde - who perked up and looked back at him - and then put his paw on it to claim it as his own. Clyde jumped up and ran over to Dewey and then stood there and whined like a baby because the cat was touching his toy. The minute Ollie was able to jump onto the cabinet (so that he could then jump onto the counter), Dewey pushed the toy away and walked away.

 I love to gather and tell stories about the things I see or experience in my life. I'm not so good at writing them. One of my student worker's favorite stories to hear is about my older cat, Oliver.

 Whenever he's confronted with things he doesn't like, but mostly when it something that's being done to him, he uses the what I call the "go limp" defense. I bought party hats for Clyde's birthday and had some left over when Oliver's birthday rolled around. I decided to take pictures of him with a party hat on to put on his caster page. I only had a few seconds to snap the picture before he went limp and wouldn't get up until I took the hat off.

  Next, we bought a leash and harness for cats to see if we could use that instead of a crate when taking him to the vet. No go. The minute the harness was on him he flopped over. At first, we thought we had the harness too tight and it was cutting off his circulation, nope. We thought maybe if we started walking he would get up too. No. He just laid there while I dragged him a few inches.

 The bedroom closet is the favorite spot to be. As much as I try to keep him out, he bum rushes past me to get in and then he'll jump past the boxes so that I can't reach him. The only way to get him out is to stretch and reach in with one hand to pick him up. This works for two seconds before he goes limp and his dead weight causes me to let go.

I just read this story about a cat named Jack on one of my favorite blogs and it made me cry. Also, someone else posted a Winston video on that same blog today too. It's a video I haven't seen yet and I freakin' LOVE Winston so I'm adding here.