Dedication

As I got back into the car this morning, after I was at my 12th stop, which is at the corner of Central and Third, on the front and back porch of a boarded up house, where the steps are covered in filth, where there is a pile of something really rancid on the side of the house before you go up the steps to the back porch where there are more shelters, I realize how GROSS this mission I am on can be.  I won't publish some of the gross things I've seen and touched, but I thought to myself as I got in, and probably said it out loud, THIS is DEDICATION.  There isn't a day that goes by that I am not out there at 4:15 feeding over 50 cats that I know of, and this morning, 9 extra cats I saw on the side of the streets driving to my normal stops.  Of those 9, 6 were en route home.

Seriously, I saw a cat on the sidewalk driving down Melville Street, so I immediately pulled over.  Hey, you have NO idea if they've eaten in the past 24 hours.  NO IDEA.  So I do it. I once had a girl that was a rescuer/foster that drove with me one morning, I think we may have been trapping, and she said to me when I would see a cat - Janine - you can't pull over each time.  You can't save them all.  Well, yes I can!  And I will continue to do it!  So when I pulled over for this one cat, out of the woodwork comes two more.  I placed two bowls and a water bowl down and drove on.  At the next corner, voila!  Another cat.  I pulled over, and again, two more cats behind that one.  A black kitty, a beautiful white fluff with beautiful black markings.  And another calico.  Of course you just want to take them, but all you can do is feed them and drive off.

We have GOT to do something about this situation.  We need funding, we need more vets to offer low cost services, and we need more people out there willing to trap, and feed these animals.

Please spread the word.  Please do your share to help in this life you've been given.

Last evening I drove Wubby over to her new home.  I was supposed to be there at 6, and if any of you know me I am ALWAYS on time, but most of the time, I am there BEFORE that.  So, it was ten minutes to six, so I pulled off to a side street, unzipped the carrier the crying Wubby was in, and held her in my arms.  I became so attached to this little girl I whisked from Ferndale and Webster that morning three weeks ago.  She was brought to vet for spaying, she was pregnant, and only 7 months old.  The babies were the size of peanuts.  We both became attached to each other, so this was a hard one for me.  She was clingy, and sick for most of the time I had her, but after hundreds of dollars being spent, she was healthy, but scared.  Her new family welcomed her with open arms, and I received a good report this morning.  It was heartwrenching when I left her because I felt like I was abandoning her.  She had immediately gone into hiding when I let her out of her carrier.  This is the same family that adopted Cookie - one of the Robert Wesleyan college kittens. Here is a before, and after pic of Cookie, now named Bella.  And by the way, Wubby is now Wubbles.  :)

Cookie - 5 months

Cookie/Bella - 1 yr. 5 mos!

So to you, Kellie, and all the others that have given a second chance to a cat from the streets, thank you from the bottom of my heart - and theirs, I am sure.

Have a good day.

"Courage, sacrifice, determination, commitment, toughness, heart, talent, guts.  That's what little girls are made of."