Thursday, April 23, 2009

ANDY AND DELILAH


Nope, I don't mean "Samson and Delilah". Andy is our Ragdoll, who already has two blogs telling his story up until now. This new tale comes from Carol, one of our foster moms, referred to earlier as my Wheel Man. At any rate, Carol took in D., or Lilah, to save her from being euthanized at a local shelter. She, the cat that is, had a very bad "rep"; she fought with all the other girls and was nasty when people came to visit and she was briefly let out of her cage. D. remained unspayed after nine months because she kept going into heat. Cause for Paws felt this was very cruel, so arranged to have the operation done, and Carol was to provide a safe, quiet refuge for her to recover in. It was expected that the cat would not be much fun, that is not respond to affection, toys, or cajoing with treats, etc. Well......as you can imagine, just the reverse occurred. Carol said Delilah was sweet, charming, delicate, shy maybe, but very easy to care for. We all assumed that having total peace and quiet, no other cats, and Carol to dote on her had made all the difference. Maybe it did, but soon enough a new challenge to all this serenity arrived in the form of Andy (whose new mom calls him Cesar). Carol was doing some pet sitting, and is quite skilled at gauging as to whether or not her charges can get along well. She debated introducing D and C (or A), but then decided to see if they could play together, rather than being isolated. As she tells it, after only one night, she opened both their doors and Andy, who is rambunctious to put it mildly, walked gently up to D. and, like a perfect gentleman gave her a chaste kiss of hello. She readily accepted this overture and for two days they played together and became fast friends. So now we can tell everyone that she is really ready for adoption and can even join a family with another quiet, well-behaved feline like herself! ABRACADABRA

Monday, April 6, 2009

CATS & COLLARS GO MISSING


I posted a sad little poster on Saturday asking if anyone had seen a young black cat with a red collar anywhere around our village. You might think it was good to have this distinguishing feature on the little guy. After all, there are oodles of black cats, but how many sport a brightly colored leather accessory? However, if the cat is not inside the house ALL the time, a collar can be lethal. It can get caught on bushes and branches-not always letting the animal go easily. I myself almost lost my Abyssinian, Missy, permanently when she got her front foot caught in her collar--don't ask.....Back in the day, we used to put flea collars on all our cats and let them out. it took her five days to get back to the house. It is no longer necessary to do such a thing since all vets recommend the drops which are placed on the back of the neck and work very well to rid the cat of fleas and ticks. I hope there are few of these posters this Spring as we all are very much aware of the large coyote population in our area. It's tempting to let our animals out for "fresh air", but I think we need to be thinking in terms of a little gazebo or screened in area to keep them safe and sound.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

OCTO-PUS-ONALITY


This is an invitation to all you readers and friends to stop by the library and "name" our octopus. He is the great big purple guy hanging in the children's room-our mascot, created by local artist Lynne Parks Kuhl. So far : Inky, Scylla (Homer's monster which was described as having tentacles), Octie.....More will be added as we get them. After a few weeks, we'll put all the suggestions on a big poster and pick the one the staff feels best suits our" seasonal" guy. (Currently he's sporting flowers, spades and watering cans in honor of Spring.) New suggestions: Octavia, Sophia, Purple People Eater.....