Pet Talk

    Another beautiful weekend!  People laugh at me because I believe in meteorological karma, in other words, I believe that eventually we’ll pay for the good weather, or, conversely, that this good weather is our gift as pay back for previous bad weather. Since we had an awesome winter, the best ever, and best spring, the most fabulous summer, I feel that eventually we’ll pay for this with a 16 foot snowfall winter. It’s not that I’m a pessimist, or an optimist, I just believe in life there is balance.
    That’s why I should not be surprised when we have another fantastic week at the animal shelter. Six cats adopted in one day, along with a dog, and one of the cats that was adopted was the elderly lady who came in the day of our Grand re-opening. We are always so delighted to see the mature kitties go home.  Being “mature” myself, I can tell you that we older folks have a lot to offer! And we still have some life in us, trust me, I can still mix it up with the best of them!
    We even had a stray cat that had come in that was returned to its owner, and that so rarely happens! Which brings me to my request of the week – If you are missing a pet, please call the Shelter. The telephone number is 532-2862.  Please don’t assume that Fluffy was eaten by a fox or hit by a car and crawled off to die somewhere. I just can’t believe that people care enough to adopt a pet, feed a pet, take it to the Vet, give it a name, give it a home, but then one day when it doesn’t come home they say “oh well” and just forget about it?
    But yet that happens every single day. Hundreds of animals come through the  Shelter doors every year and out of those hundreds probably only 20 or 30 are returned to their owners. These animals have no identification on them at all, most of the time where they are found is not where they lived so the staff could walk up and down Court Street all day long if a dog came in from Court Street, and never find the owners because the dog could be from Green Street or Franklin or Commonwealth or anywhere within miles. 
    We’ve had some limited success by calling Vets to see if they recognize an animal when it comes in and we’ve had some very limited success by canvassing a neighborhood. I can remember many many years ago when I worked at the shelter taking an entire day and knocking on every door in a five mile radius to find the home of a dog that came in and never did find the owner. 
    So you need to call the Shelter if Fluffy comes up missing. It could be that we have her and it could be that she is pining for home, just waiting for your call. If your pet isn’t at the Shelter, your name and a description of your animal will be placed on file in case the pet comes in a week or two or three later. The ultimate goal of the shelter is to help you be reunited with your companion. But if we don’t hear from anybody, we can’t sit on these pets forever, it’s not fair to them at all. So then the emphasis shifts to finding new homes and if after six weeks of not seeing Fluffy you call the shelter and Fluffy has already gone to a new home, please don’t be upset with Shelter staff, they are just doing their job. And a fine job they do, too! 
    So that’s my speech for the day, call the shelter if your pet is missing. It’s quick, painless, easy, and  free. 
    And if you support the work of the animal shelter, please remember to join us on Sept. 11 for the most rockin’ fund raiser ever.  Monument Park, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., music all day long, HumVee rides, dunking booth, concessions, kids games, bouncy house, antique and class car show, balloons, Tatitudes, raffles, you name it there will be something to keep you in the park all day. Bring a chair, spend the day, I promise you won’t be bored!