Pet Talk

By Cathy Davis
    It’s 4:44 a.m. and I wake up with a heaviness in my legs. I did work a little too hard over the weekend, but this is different, and as I struggle awake and try to move my legs I realize there is a 20 pound cat draped across my legs and a 30 pound dog draped across the cat. I lay back and chuckle. The critters have bonded, sleeping in a pile, on my legs, seems they just can’t get close enough to mom no matter how hard they try.
    I try to roll over without disturbing either of them, only to find another cat next to my head. I try to slide my legs out from under the one pile without rolling onto the other cat, but it’s no use – they all wake up and spring to the floor, ready to play. It’s now 4:45 a.m., I’m not in the mood to play but I have to admit that you can’t wait up without a smile on your face when you’re surrounded by critters who adore you.
    This weekend we are celebrating the canines and felines in our lives with a Dog Days event in the parking lot across from Tim Horton’s. Katahdin Lane is the road on the left going north, right after Tim Horton’s, going back to the Katahdin Trust Operations Center. The Varney Agency is on the right, you can see it from the North Road, and there is a huge parking lot, plenty of grass, a really nice place to set up an event and allow us to have power and bathroom facilities.
    We will be showcasing adoptable dogs from Houlton Humane as well as other shelters and we invite you to come visit with these animals, especially if you are in the market to add a new member to your family. Other shelters will be joining us and the invitation stands to all shelters, if you have dogs you wish to place, come join us from noon to four p.m. this Saturday, June 11th.
    This is a shelter event and we can’t forget the cats, so we are offering free t-shirts to the first 20 people who bring a 20-pound bag of cat litter.
    There are a lot of exciting things going on at this event. We will be serving hot dogs and hamburgers, selling baked goods, including Cara’s famous beans, (come early, my dad will probably want at least 4 containers of these!), there will be bread, cookies, possibly some potato salad, I might even try my hand at a four bean salad, you never know!
    The local radio station will be hosting a live remote. We’ll have music, games, demonstrations, prizes, raffles and giveaways.  Come early, stay all day, or just stay long enough to have a hot dog and soda, but please come.
    There are so many animals that are in need of new homes and so often people think they want or need a new pet but just “don’t have time” to go from shelter to shelter so this weekend we are bringing the shelter to you!
    Yes, you may bring your dog with you. We encourage you to bring your dog. This event is in every way a celebration of the canine.
    Many thanks to Kelly McKay Agnew for offering to organize this event, what a lot of work this is to put together but she has worked hard to find a variety to fill the day. There will be face painting too, I almost forgot about that!  This event is “weather permitting” so stayed tuned, if it is pouring rain on the 11th, we may postpone, listen to the radio or watch facebook for announcements.
    Speaking of Facebook, we invite you to “like” Houlton Humane’s page so you can receive the updates on animals available for adoptions, adoption success stories, upcoming events, and other news. It’s a great page, we update it daily, and we love the feedback and comments.
    You can also check us out a houltonhumanesociety.org, where there is additional information on each animal, a list of tile donors, a list of items that we could use for the shelter, etc. Just a little extra information – we are also on PetFinder.com, an excellent place to find new pets. 
    The event this weekend is not really a fundraiser. We don’t expect to do anything except place dogs, that’s our goal, that’s what we are all about, just finding homes for these beautiful healthy adoptable animals. However, we will have a donation bucket set up and we could use your financial support. We have a small paid staff that we are very proud of, a mortgage payment, light bill, fuel oil bill, insurances, vet bills, and other expenses and any help you could offer towards these expenses is appreciated.
    And remember, we are always accepting used ink cartridges, cell phones, or your returnable bottles. We can turn all of these into cash! Thank you so much and we hope to see you Saturday!