Drawing the Line

Every time that I walk into a shelter or see requests for help and fosters on Facebook or various rescue blogs, my heart falls into my belly. Every animal deserves a home and warmth and love, but when you start realizing just how many animals there are without those basic things, it's more than overwhelming -- it's disheartening.

When Renny - the two week old drop-off - came to us, my promise to him was that he would never know what it was to be cold or afraid or unloved, regardless of how much (or little) time we had with him. When he became ill just a few weeks later, I chanted that like a prayer. The other cats had all gone into mourning and no one seemed to expect the little fella to make it through that awful time. Preparing for the worst and living through it are two dramatically different things. At one point I was holding him and rocking and crying and begging and pleading with him to eat, to drink, to just TRY...and he put his little paws on my face and hopped down and wobbled over to his food bowl on his own for the first time in days and looked back at me as if to say 'see, Mama? I'm okay.' I know -- it was a lot of pressure to put on a little fella, but it did the trick and while I must have looked like a raving lunatic, I wouldn't take back a second of it. Suffice it to say, our little Renny (so named because it means 'small & mighty' and he needed all the help he could get) is still with us and just as fearless as ever. Every time I look at him, I think of the promise that I made...and I think that he probably remembers it too.

But where do you draw the line between doing all that you can and overdoing it? I wish that I had the answer to this question and my real hope is that I'll be able to see the line as I'm about to cross it. For now, we have the means and space to provide all of the animals in our care with basic necessities plus all of the woobies and treats and tennis balls that they can stand. We're blessed and so are they. That's the point, right? To do the best you can for as long as you can to help as many as you can?

What You Should Know About Shelter Animals:

*they're not perfect. they have faults and foibles and quirks. don't your other best friends?

*they know that, because of you, their lives are no longer confined to small cages.

*they know what it's like to be afraid, and once they realize that they don't have to be any longer, they are eternally grateful.

*sometimes they don't know what treats or toys are -- the joy that you will feel from watching them learn is comparable to no other.

*they're not at their best when you first meet them: they've been living with other animals in other cages and they may or may not have had a routine or a kind word; they may be afraid to look you in the eye; they may pee on your shoe because they want you to belong to them.

*they may never have had a cushy, cozy existence inside of a house. be patient with them while they learn how to live that way.

*they do know that they may be their last hope. try walking into the kennels or cat room and then leaving without taking one of them with you; then turn around and watch every eye follow you longingly while their faces ask, 'why not me?' (no, really - try it. then go back and get one.)

*they will love you through the end of their days because they will always know on some visceral level what life was like before you showed up.

Second Chances

This life we lead is all about second chances -- Chaz and I have both had our share, and I believe that's at least part of what brought us together: the Powers That Be decided that we both deserved a little something good once we'd each been broken down and taught how to NOT take it for granted. The critters that let us share this house with them are all by-products of second chances as well. There's Edgar who was dumped out into an unforgiving neighborhood to fend for himself as a kitten; Luna who was adopted and returned to a rescue group not once but twice for being 'destructive' (for the record, 'destructive' is what happens when you bring an animal into a new home and leave it unattended for days); Lennon, who was foundering in the back of a cage after his littermates had all been adopted and he was rooming with a kitten that didn't leave much of the spotlight for him; Stella, who was surrendered to a kill-shelter but was thankfully picked up by an animal welfare group; and our precious Renny, who was brought to us as a 2 week old with little hope of making it through the night. The dogs each have their own story, but our most recent additions were both days away from having their bright lights snuffed out permanently because of overcrowding at the local animal shelter. Lucy, my 'little red fox' was found as a stray; she's an incredible little dog with a sense of entitlement and empathy for people in hospitals (I've spent a great deal of time in hospitals recently due to my Mom's illness, and it hasn't been difficult to sneak Lucy in with me for visits to brighten everyone's day). We just picked Buster up on Friday; he's been making rounds on the rescue blogs and I was hoping that when I called the shelter, they'd tell me that he'd been picked up. What they told me instead was that, while they'd tried to keep him off the chopping block, come Monday they may have no other options. We picked him up not knowing if he'd be a foster or a keeper but he's done beautifully with our pack and the way his face lights up every morning when he realizes that he gets to spend the day with the same people and animals that he did the day before makes it pretty much a no-brainer. We wanted to live on the farm so that we could live THIS life -- with all of its chaos and early mornings and stress and occasional sleepless nights and surprises -- and watching all of the critters make the most of their second chances makes every moment of it worthwhile.