The Adventures of Jax and Zooey

 I puppysat for a friend of mine for a couple of days and in that time, Jax and the puppy formed quite an adorable friendship! Zooey is a Cockalier (Cavalier King Chalres/Cocker Spaniel) and she was actually adopted from my shelter by my friend who say she is happily spoiled in her new home. She is around 3-4 months old and is the most congenial and lovable puppy EVER! 

Now on to the pictures! I wrote mini captions on the bottom of each picture....enjoy :)

Day 1: Jax is not a happy camper the first day....look at his tense and alert body posture! Eventually after checking her out and realizing that she's not out to eat him, he accepted her into his comfort zone...and eventually took this opportunity to eat her food. He is a fat cat what can I say.

                

Day 2: I would always find them playing and running around the house. Zooey would be dragging Jax's favorite ribbon and he'd be following right behind her trying to get it. Then I'd catch him hiding in his carrier (that I leave out for him)...sometimes playfully lunging out at her anytime she came near the carrier.

 Below is a video of them playing, totally normal by the way. Jax is being his normal lazy self and plays with her while laying down, while she runs around him being her puppy self. 

  

                

After playtime was over...nap time began! My favorite part of the day :) I could hear a pin drop when they would be sleeping...it was wonderful. It was also my favorite because of the positions I would find them in. First I caught Jax sleeping in Zooey's bed when his bed was RIGHT next to it, but he decided hers was better. Then they would either snuggle together or plop somewhere on the floor or on top of me...it was too much cuteness for anyone to handle...seriously. 

    

Haha corny I know...but you gotta admit they were adorable together! Now Jax has the foster kitten as his playmate...so stay tuned for more on those two. And here's one last video of these two :)

New Foster Kitten

I've been doing a terrible job at writing lately! I think partly is that I've had a massive writers block this past month and every time I tried to start writing...nothing came out. Working at a shelter has it's ups and downs, pros and cons, just like any other job. The "downside" to my job is dealing with loss on a daily basis. Even if I'm not familiar or close to the animal, it still starts to take a toll on you mentally and emotionally. I try to separate and detach myself sometimes so it makes it more bearable and less painful to see these animals go through so much. Our animals are well taken care of, but many of them come in in terrible condition and from pretty bad situations. It boggles my mind how ANYONE can be capable of hurting a defenseless being and inflict pain on them. Sometimes I feel like I'm becoming this cynical person towards people just because of all that nasty things I see people capable of. But then this young girl came in the other day with a huge box of donations (toys, food, blankets, money, etc.). She said it was her 9th birthday today and for her birthday presents, she asked friends and family to give her donations so she could bring them into the shelter. It's a series of ups and downs and I've come to realize that I need to focus on the positive; the second chances our animals get, the nice people I meet, and uniting people with their new animal friends.

On to my foster kitten! This exuberant little kitten was found in the middle of the street and was caught in a torrential thunderstorm and lucky for her, someone found her and was able to catch her. She's too young to be put up for adoption so she needs to be fostered until she's old enough...and that's where I come in! Kittens must be 8 weeks old and/or 2 pounds in order to be put up for adoption...any younger than that can be dangerous for them to get spayed or neutered (a requirement in all adoptions). She's only 5 weeks old, a little less than a pound, and absolutely adorable! This little girl is all purrs and full of affection...and also nameless! I had some cute suggestions but I still can't decide, and plus I was wondering if I did name her maybe I would get too attached?.....naaah! I think everyone deserves a name and if you have any suggestions, let me know :)

My favorite part about bringing her home is having my cat Jax interact with her and have a new play buddy. He is the sweetest thing and is so patient with her! I previously also puppysat for a friend of mine (blog post on that next) and he loved to play with her too. Considering the kitten is always after his tail and constantly following him around and pouncing on him...he's been pretty nice to her lol. This was his face when I first brought her in...It's as if he was asking me "WHYYY???".

Jax eventually warmed up to the kitten and then I couldn't stop them from running around the house playing...thankfully.

Like I said, she follows him everywhere and is always chasing his swishing tail. I'll be posting up pictures of her later :)

I also wanted to add two more pictures of a cat and dog that stood out to me this week. The first is of an  eight week old Siamese kitten named Mickey and was adopted a couple of days ago. He was named by a friend of mine and I believe the new owners kept his name :) The second picture is of a beautiful German Shorthaired Pointer named Ruger who came in about a week ago because his previous family was moving. He's only about 3 years old and such a smart dog! Hopefully he'll have his chance with a new family soon enough.

Brennan The Black Russian Terrier

I realized today that I haven't written a post in more than a week! I've been so busy that I've neglected my blog and in the process I've accumulated a bunch of pictures that I have yet to post. So I decided to post two in one day! A lot has been happening at the shelter, mainly that we're pretty much at capacity in the dog kennels and almost there in the cat building.

In the cat 'world': 


We've had a ridiculous amount of kittens coming in to the shelter these past weeks, many coming in with the momma cats too. They must be 8 weeks and/or 2 pounds before they can be put up for adoption and we've had a lot of litters come in under that mark; meaning they had to be send out to fosters if we had available (which I think they are all full now).

This female cat in the picture below is named Pinkers who came in with a large litter of kittens that had to be fostered out. She came back about a week ago and her kittens have since been adopted while this poor girl was left with a mild form of mastitis from the pregnancy. Mastitis is an inflammation and/or infection of the lactating mammary glands that can be a result from bacteria entering the teats through abrasions made by the kittens sucking with their teeth (or from their nails). Luckily for Pinkers her case isn't too serious as she isn't seriously infected and didn't catch a fever. She just has inflamed mammary glands and we have been applying a warm compress on her belly twice a day so the swelling can be reduced.

This little guy is Elmo, another Persian cat that is absolutely adorable and very loving! The story behind him is pretty sad and the condition he came in was absolutely dreadful; full of fleas, matted hair, covered in feces, and dehydrated beyond reason. We honestly didn't think he was gonna make it through the night and surprisingly the next morning after drinking large amounts of water - he was up and at it! He is now in Iso being treated for Coccidia and to get him restored back to better health so he can be put up for adoption. I've grown to love Persian cats and now have a soft spot for them. We don't receive them often but when we do, they have been some of the sweetest cats I have ever seen.

A little more on Coccidia if you're interested:

Coccidia are tiny single-celled parasites that infect the intestinal tract in dogs and cats and are transmitted through contact with infected feces or ingestion of infected tissue. The common side effects are diarrhea and loose stool; but it can be more severe such as bloody diarrhea and if not treated, death. Younger animals are prone to get it more than older animals, although they can have it too. We test for it with by doing a fecal exam and then isolate and treat them if they are positive for coccidia. I've been learning how to check the fecal exam and look for the coccidian protozoa under the microscope.

Brennan - The Black Russian Terrier

The Black Russian Terrier breed is not actually a terrier but according to the AKC, they are known to be working dogs with a strong build. The breed originated in the Soviet Union during WWII as an army dog then later used as a police and guard dog. They are very strong, courageous, and highly intelligent dogs that require an experienced dog owner to care for them. What I found interesting when looking more into the breed is how they were developed - over 20 different dog breeds were used when they were breeding and 'creating' this dog! Some including the Airedale Terrier, Giant Schnauzer, Rottweiler, and Newfoundlands. Crazy right?

Brennan, a 3 year old female, came in a couple of days ago because the previous family had too many other pets and she wasn't getting along with the smaller dogs. Yet with us and the other dogs here she has been extremely calm and gentle with everyone! It's an amazing feeling just being in the presence of such a giant dog that weighs almost as much as I do, she's around 110 pounds. Her paw is twice the size of my hand and she reaches near my elbow when standing on all four. Here's a video of her that I took when I was in her kennel :)

Tebow Gets Adopted

We had a special event happen on Friday that we just HAD to celebrate for. One of the volunteers made brownies in lieu of the adoption of one of our special cats, Tebow. I wrote a post on him earlier when he first came into the shelter (click here). His adoption was extra special because after a couple of days of coming into the shelter, he began to freak out anytime someone tried to take him out of his cage and put him in a meet and greet room with someone. He refused to get out and would hiss, try to bite, and wriggle himself free and jump right in to the cage. We think it was the smell of the other cats in the room and the unfamiliar environment that made him lose it. So the only way people could see him is if he was in the cage...meaning it was going to take a very special person to adopt him without seeing him in a meet and greet room.

As it turns out, there was a girl who came in, a senior in college, that was looking for just one special cat to adopt. She was looking through all the cages and Tebow stood out to her; he would perk up anytime she came close to his cage and seemed to really take to her. The volunteers told her that he doesn't like getting out of the cage and to be careful because he does start hissing and going a bit crazy. A little while later, she managed to take him out of the cage and into the meet and greet room and had him laying on her lap calmly! All the volunteers and staff were freaking out because NO ONE has managed to do that with Tebow and it was as if he chose her as his new owner. Yup there were tears involved (new owner, volunteers, and staff) and a lot of celebration. I was actually in the dog kennels that day and my co-worker announced it on the loud speaker, during feeding I heard "Attention volunteers and staff: Tebow has been adopted!". These are the kind of things and stories that make my job so incredibly rewarding and fulfilling :) Oh and those brownies were delicious!