Murray is doing exceptionally well in our home! We did have an incident of breaking out of the crate one day but just found him snoozing in the middle of our bed. Now that we have made room for his big crate in our bedroom he is much more comfortable. He is currently getting vitamins and some meds to bring him to health for his neuter. His chest x-ray indicates that he can have his neuter prior to his heartworm treatment. Our initial concerns have been allayed and we have a good routine and "crowd control" set up now for all the dogs and our cats to live harmoniously until Murray finds his forever home.

My husband saw a pit bull chained to a tree in a vacant lot a few blocks from our house on Saturday, so we called the SPCA. Come Sunday morning, the same dog was still chained to the tree. He had just a little water and no food in sight. Murray -- yes we've named him... -- submissively approached me when I came towards him with food. My husband and I worked to remove the heavy logging chain, large master lock, and heavy hasp tethering Murray to the tree.

Murray had several scars running down his spine (healed over burns, according to the vet) but he was not a fighting dog; his ears were not docked and he showed no evidence of fighting. We treated him to an eventful day: He went to the pet store, where he had clearly never been in his life. He went to the SNAP Wellness Clinic where he entertained everyone for 3 or 4 hours while we waited. He got his vaccinations and heartworm test which was, not surprisingly, positive. We gave him a heartworm preventative tablet and will start heartworm treatment soon. We are now working on getting him neutered at the Houston Humane Society (for free, thanks to the support of PetSmart Charities).

This big guy has yet to show the slightest aggression. He definitely enjoys humans and seems to feel the same about other dogs. We are not ideal fosters for a pit bull, having other dogs and cats at our home but we are crating him and allowing him to run the yard with supervision. It sure beats life at the end of a weighted down chain.

We really have no way of knowing why Murray was left chained to a tree -- whether it was some nefarious plan or simple, awful, neglect but we couldn't walk away from him even though it is going to be tough to foster him at our home. We are looking for other resources right now but he will stay with us for the long haul if necessary.

I work hard to continue to believe the best about people but I know that the person who "owned" (if such is the word) this dog was neglecting him, that he had tormented him. I guess we still have a lot of work to do.

This week we were expecting to see one of our HOPE dogs as pet of the week in the Village/Southwest News but instead had the pleasant surprise of finding one of our special needs kittens listed. His name is Gimpy and he was born with Swimmer syndrome which prevents his back legs from becoming fully developed. This results in a swimming or paddling movement when he tries to use his back legs.

Little Gimpy almost missed the rescue bus to HOPE. His siblings had been taken in by a kind woman who found them at the front door of her apartment complex. After searching for the mother cat she determined that someone had abandoned them at her doorstep. The next day as she was leaving to take them to HOPE, she spotted one more tiny kitten. It was Gimpy. She scooped him up and brought him along with his two siblings to HOPE not realizing that he had anything wrong with him.

Upon evaluation it was discovered that Gimpy had Swimmer syndrome. Everyone held their breath until Gimpy received the all clear by Dr. Rigoni at All Cats who said he would never know he was any different than the other kittens. From there Gimpy and his siblings went to live with their wonderful foster mom where he proved to all of us that he could do just about anything that he put his little mind to... like finding a forever home: Gimpy has received a lot of interest since he appeared in the paper and it looks like he will be adopted to a loving family very soon.

HOPE has other special needs kittens and cats. The most common are those that test positive for FIV (see this page at Best Friends Animal Society for more background and facts on FIV). These HOPE kitties need a home with no other cats or a home with an existing FIV+ cat(s). They are very healthy other than testing positive for FIV. FIV+ cats that are asymptomatic could easily live for ten or more years with the virus.

HOPE also has some deaf special needs cats and dogs that are looking for homes. Their handicap takes a little getting used to [Ed.: although it does sometimes work to their advantage] but this does not prevent them from being adopted to a loving home with the right family. Please consider the special needs cats and dogs if you feel you might be able to offer them the time and attention they need.

Racquel on her first day out of her cage.

How about now?

Racquel 5 weeks later

What do you do when someone brings you a feral baby who is just so cute, you know you can't let her go back to life on the streets? You take her in and make her your mission to prove everyone wrong... Everyone with more rescue experience than I kept telling me it was impossible. Well, here we are 5 weeks later and the little darling -- former demon -- passed her temperament evaluation, meaning that she is ready to come meet her forever family at adoptions.

It wasn't easy for either of us, but it paid off handsomely as Raquel patiently sat on her evaluator's lap in the midst of a Broadway-esque singing and waving performance neither fazed by the noise, movement or disturbingly off-key a capella performance... While maybe not ready for anything, Raquel has shown that she has learned to trust people (and their occasional musical foibles).

Raquel is now focusing her energies on helping socialize her sister Damita while taking time off on the weekends to come to HOPE mobile adoptions to find a forever family.

In this story, we learn that even the most wonderful cats and wonderful families can sometimes prove to be incompatible, move on, and learn something for the next time. Pets do surprise us.

May 6, 2008

I adopted Sassy with the hope that she would join our family of me and my four cats. Adult cats are so much more settled and secure in who they are. Sassy proved to be no exception. She is truly “her own gal”. I never saw a cat adapt so quickly to new surroundings and new beings.

She is clearly a “people-centered” cat… more like a dog really. She comes when called. And when you just pat your lap and call her name, she comes running and jumps right up. And don’t expect her to leave your lap any time soon. Once she settles in, she’s there for the long haul. Everywhere I went in the house, Sassy just waited for the sign to jump in my lap. What a wonderful companion!

At bed time, she slept on the bed next to me and was quite a well-behaved individual. She never woke me up early to be fed or to demand anything. She is very self-entertaining and self-assured. She is content just to find her own way and never makes trouble. But always wants love.

She responds immediately to friendly, happy voices and runs towards them. I had several visitors in my house during this time and she always greeted them immediately. People were amazed! And she even likes dogs (after she lets them know who is boss, of course)!

We were all settling in nicely when I discovered that someone in my house was not so happy after all. I never did determine for sure who the culprit was but someone was spraying. So, to make peace in the household once more, Sassy went back to her foster Mom and my four are chillin’ once again.

So, what I had hoped would be a "forever addition" turned out to be just a great holiday for both of us. But I can unequivocally say that if you want a true companion animal who will be devoted and by your side forever, Sassy’s your girl!

J.P.

As we've been stocking up the store, we've been looking into our volunteers' book and DVD collections to find those that we like and recommend. As it turns out, we have some pretty extensive pet-related book collections in some of our homes! There are quite a few well-worn covers on shelves as we experience new challenges with the pets in the adoption program.

One thing is for sure, you can't do this for long without learning something about pet behavior -- which is another reason why we are excited about the HOPE Amazon Store: we finally get to share what we learned and the sources we learned from.

It was a tearful but joyful moment for the adopter as well as Button's foster parents when the adoption took place and the foster family had to tell Button goodbye. The new owner was so happy with her new cat and the foster family was grateful for such a wonderful loving forever home for Button. Button was such a special foster because of her size. She weighed in at close to 20 lbs but part of that was due to the Maine Coon in her background. She was black and white with a perfect black furry heart right in the center of her beautiful fluffy face.

Next week's Pet of the Week will feature one of the HOPE dogs. The Village/Southwest News will feature a new pet of the week every week and will alternate with a cat one week and a dog the next.

Button, HOPE alumni

A few weeks later, I saw Frances again at another adoption event. She was demurely sitting with a young woman and attentively obeying commands. I was shocked! Could this be the same dog? I asked her foster mom what she had done to cause such a transformation. She had kept Frances on a leash next to her off and on for days rewarding good behavior and correcting negative behavior. The consistency and perseverance of the foster mom had paid off and Frances was adopted not long after that.

I was taken by the stick-to-it-ness and sense of humor of Frances' foster mom in dealing with such a difficult and seemingly impossible to adopt dog. It gave me hope that if Frances could get adopted then a lot of other challenging dogs could learn to behave and get adopted, too.

]]> http://www.homelesspets.net/blog/archives/2008/05/index.htm#000089 http://www.homelesspets.net/blog/archives/2008/05/index.htm#000089 Success Stories Sat, 03 May 2008 19:58:06 -0600 photo album.]]> http://www.homelesspets.net/blog/archives/2006/05/index.htm#000054 http://www.homelesspets.net/blog/archives/2006/05/index.htm#000054 Fostering Tue, 30 May 2006 09:26:28 -0600

Hi, Spike here.

I have been in my new home since the end of June and expect to have my new people fully trained soon. I have been busy and this is the first opportunity I have had to write.

I also have been keeping up with my favorite shows on the Animal Planet... the ones about big cats in North America. Somehow the producers neglected to contact me about my segment and interview for that show. I qualify as a big North American cat. I'll have to email them about that.

'Not much else is new. I just thought I'd give you an update. I send my best regards to all my 2-legged and 4-legged friends at HOPE.

Yours mewly,

Spike >^..^<