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How Do You Feel About Animal Welfare?
9th December 2008 19:02 ∞ Animal welfare ∞ ∞ RSS 2.0
A lot has happened since I last posted here. During Thanksgiving week, my daughter was feeding the neighbor’s cat every day while her friend was out of town. She noticed that the food bowl kept getting knocked over, and eventually found out that a stray dog was stealing the food. Over that weekend, she managed to lure the dog home with her, and brought it inside. It was a female Australian Cattle Dog, known around here as a Blue Heeler. (I googled the breed based on her appearance; I knew it was familiar.) She was maybe a year or so old. She was emaciated and had clearly been on the streets a while. We fed her and kept her here for the week while we sought her owner. She was housetrained, had had her dew claws removed, and was relatively well-behaved other than the strong desire to enthusiastically chase our cats (in a friendly but terrifying way).
We contacted the local “Humane Society” (run by a real bitch of a woman) and two lost dog ads. One owner visited to look at the dog, and it wasn’t theirs. The other owner was able to ascertain over the phone that she wasn’t their dog, either. The weekend was quickly approaching and we needed a place to take this animal, because we can’t keep a dog here due to current restrictions on my lease. (My mother is my landlord, but she’s firm on this.) Saturday arrived and we were headed to the only place we could think of, the Pasadena Animal Shelter. I was told they kept the animals for up to 8 weeks before putting them down. I looked them up online for directions before we left the house, and I wasn’t happy with the reviews I found, so I stopped at the nearby feed store to ask if they knew of anyone missing a Blue Heeler or if they knew where I could take her.
They didn’t have any lost dog notices, but they did know of a shelter that took dogs. The shelter, Homeward Bound, is a new shelter run by two women (both named Cindy) out of their homes. Cindy (#1) and I talked on the phone at length. She said she would take the pooch, and offered a trade: she’d acquired a very young kitten that a friend had picked up walking in the middle of a highway in the rain the night before. She had no way to take kittens, and when she heard about my cats she hoped I would be able to take him. I agreed. She came to the house and we made the exchange.
I also told her that I have a strong need for an official affiliation with a shelter because of my inability to allow a stranded animal to suffer on the streets – I’m constantly bringing them home and so is my daughter. My mother is truly fed up with us. But I can’t help it; it breaks my heart. So I need the shelter affiliation so I have somewhere I know I can take them, and I can know that I am truly doing some good. She needs a cat person, so we have mutual need. I also offered to do a website for them that’s not just a page on petfinder.com, and I showed her this site and my other sites. She didn’t wig out at my occult leanings, and she loved the sites, so all that remained was for her to talk to the other Cindy and for me to talk to my mother.
Those conversations went well, and it’s a go. I’m just not permitted to keep any dogs here. The kitten had to go to the vet this morning for a leg injury, where he got an x-ray and an exam. Cindy can do his shots and worming. But I am in a serious red zone right now, and I need donations – stat! If you want to know that you are helping in the direct care of a rescued animal and help a new shelter with a strict no-kill policy (seriously ill animals notwithstanding), please give. The first donations will help pay for this one’s vet visits and the feline leukemia tests for the other two foster cats I have for adoption, and subsequent donations will pay for food, cat litter, treats, and so on. But first I have to get myself out of the red for this vet and grocery bill.
Please give – I don’t normally beg, but I really want to make a go of this, and if I start out by spending myself into overdrafts it’s not gonna be a good thing. I had $200 in extra bills this month plus Yule/Christmas, so it’s a pinch. Thank you. I will post a button here.
Everyone who donates more than $25 will get an email tarot reading – a general reading and two questions. Additional questions available for additional funds. Email at sheta @ rendingtheveil .com, sending me your email address and two questions. Don’t use yes/no questions. Format your question as “How will [situation/relationship] work out?” For more complicated issues, if you want to give me an explanation and then pose your question, that’s fine. If you make the question something like “Should I make this choice or that one?” You need to ask TWO questions. One “how would it work out” for each choice. That provides the best clarity in terms of answers.
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All content ©Sheta Kaey 2002 and beyond for Spirit Companion.com. This work is licensed under a 
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Yeah… you grabbed my heartstrings and tugged HARD
How soon would you need the money? I have a lot of my income already earmarked for the month, but come January I could probably give a bit easier. Ping me about it, in any case.
@Clare: Good! It pulls my heartstrings every time I see one of these poor souls suffering and abandoned.
Thank you for the donation.
I will get your reading to you asap. Haven’t read your email yet cuz I just this second woke up. lol
@Soli: Currently the need is urgent, but I will apply donations toward the animal care no matter when they are given. So January would be great, and I’ll be happy to do the reading then. Meanwhile, tell all your friends.
Thank you.
I posted about it on LJ. Hopefully you get some more money in soon.
@Soli: Thank you so much! I hope people will continue to spread the word. LJ can network like nobody’s business!
I put a link on several of my multitude of blogs. I’m really broke and that’s no joke! But I will donate $5.
@Lily: Thank you! It’s very nice that you gave in spite of being broke; I know the feeling all too well, unfortunately. I hope your links will help. I really appreciate it.
I love cats! We used to take in cats that were going to be put down.
I donated just now. I have no idea what to ask as my questions though.
@Kim: Bless your heart. Thank you so much. You have put me into the black (or is that green?
). You can save the reading for whenever you need it, if you don’t need it right now. Or just email me when you think of your questions. 
Yay! I’m so glad to hear that. Thank you so much for what you are doing for the animals.
I’ll get back to you on the questions if I think of any.