Help Stewie!

There's a great new program in Baltimore called Spay Maryland, which offers low-cost spays and neuters in our area. Recently that organization has been working with another group called Baltimore Cares About Pets to help a cat named Stewie that was caught in a housefire. His owner was disabled and unable to pay for the vet care the cat needed, so the two groups stepped in and are trying to help.

Here are the details:

On Tuesday, March 11th, a house in Brooklyn Park, Md caught fire. The homeowner, who uses a wheelchair for mobility, was able to escape with his dog but could not find his cat. Luckily, firefighters found the cat, Stewie, and quickly treated him for smoke inhalation. Stewie was taken to a local veterinary hospital for treatment but his owner, who lost everything in the fire except his beloved pets, was unable to pay for the rising costs of Stewie's care. An organization called Baltimore Cares About Pets was contacted about Stewie's case and they contacted our organization to see if we could help. We are now making special accomodations to provide for Stewie's care. Right now, we are looking for donations to help Stewie's owner pay off his remaining balance at the hospital that originally treated Stewie. We are also taking donations to use towards caring for Stewie at our hospital.

Through all of this, Stewie has maintained his sweet personality. He's a very nice young cat (only a year old) and he still purrs at our doctor and technicians as they provide him with care. Baltimore Cares About Pets has made a couple of Craigslist postings about this as well. The first is located here: http://baltimore.craigslist.org/pet/1087628774.html and the second, with pictures, is here:
http://baltimore.craigslist.org/pet/1091562732.html

If you could help us spread the word about Stewie's case I would be very grateful! I know that cats are outside of your normal focus, but as an animal lover I thought you might be able to help us out. Maybe a blog post might help? I'm not sure if there are any good email lists you know of where I could post this, or any other well-trafficked blogs for the area that might be interested in the story, but if you're aware of any please do let me know! We're trying to reach out as much as possible to raise funds for a very deserving little kitty.

If anyone out there has a soft spot for cats, please contact Chris at chris@baltimorecaresaboutpets.org

Looks like Stewie's got some good folks in his corner.

The Story of Trevor

Years ago, when my precious Misha was an only child, people started telling me she was getting old. Now, this is a horrible thing to say, especially to someone as close to her as I was. Would you go to someone and say "wow, your mom's getting old. Bet she keels over at any minute!" Nevertheless, everyone mentioned how old she was (at NINE!). More and more I was thinking about her leaving me, which I knew would kill me. And I knew if I didn't have another cat in my life when Misha passed, I never would. If I had one to keep caring for, I'd get by, but if all I had was memories of her, no one else would live up to it. So I started thinking about getting a kitten.

Just then, GB announced that Elvira was pregnant by Meathead. This is not the scandel it could be, since Elvira and Meathead were the names the soldiers on the Naval base where GB worked had given to two stray cats who were seen 'round and about together.

So it was decided that I would have one of Elvira's kits - my pick. I had heard that alternating genders makes cat integration easier, so I'd decided to get one of the boys. Since Misha was named after a male dancer (Mikhail Baryshnikov) I had decided that my little boy kitten would be named after a female actress - Antoinette Perry, the only woman to have an Academy Award named after her (the Tonys).

About a week after the kittens were born, in early April of 2000, I went to visit GB and see a movie with him and with his son. During the entire movie, I heard a mother talking to her son. I never heard her son. I never saw her son. But throughout the entire movie I heard a contstant stream of
TREVOR-SIT-DOWN-TREVOR-BE-QUIET-TREVOR-WOULD-YOU-TREVOR-PEOPLE-ARE-TRYING-TO-WATCH-THE-MOVIE-TREVOR-I-MEAN-IT-WOULD-YOU-COME-HERE-TREVOR-IM-NOT-GOING-TO-TELL-YOU-AGAIN-TREVOR-BEHAVE-YOURSELF-TREVOR-I-MEAN-IT-TREVOR-SIT-DOWN-RIGHT-THIS-INSTANT-TREVOR!

And people think the cosmos doesn't give warnings.

We went to see the kittens after that, and they all looked almost identical. There was one of the boys who had the tiniest white fluff on the tip of his tail - maybe 15 little hairs. He was running around, slapping the other kittens around, jumping on them, bossing them around....
and as soon as I picked him up, he fell asleep in my arms.

Yep, this was my little guy.

A string was tied around his neck so no one else would take him (eventually all the kittens found homes, and Elvira was fixed) and when he was old enough, he came home with me. For a while, he was Trevor Perry, but on visiting my parents, my mother decided that "Trevor Miguel" had much more "yellability" - and he knows the middle name means trouble!

Misha hated him. She didn't want a kitten (she might have liked a puppy). And he was fearless. Lungs like you'd never believe something his size could have. He was sick a lot when he was tiny. The vet told me he was small for his age, and that his inners hadn't caught up to his outers in growth, so things weren't processing as smoothly as they could be. He outgrew it, and hasn't had a problem since. He jumped on everyone and everything - the world was his playground (the picture above is him spelunking through a pair of my father's pants at about 6 months old. He'd started at the cuff).

When he was eight months old, I came home from work to find uncooked spaghetti all over my apartment. The box was still in the cabinet, which was above my head. He had climbed up, opened the cabinet and the box, and knocked it over, to pour noodles down to play with. He could turn on and off lightswitches by jumping up and hitting the toggles (I'm sure my neighbors thought I had some sort of freaky disco going on most nights.) He turned on the air conditioning once doing the same thing. I had to have GB raise the chandelier in my dining room on one of his visits, because Trevor would take a running leap at it, catch it with his front legs, and swing like George of the Jungle. You know how most cats poke and prod, and finally settle, and then start purring? When Trevor wants to cuddle, he starts at your feet, walks up your legs (with the pressure of what feels like four little ball-peen hammers pounding on you) purring loudly all the while, before he ever makes it to your chest to lie down and cuddle. It's as if the whole way he's thinking "oh, man, this is gonna be a good snuggle!" He still plays fetch with the little plastic rings from milk jugs, or his favorite toy, a little green and white stuffed chicken, which he knows by name
(Stephen - ).

I almost lost him a year-and-a-half ago, but thank God, my Trevor Miguel is nine today. He'll get extra cuddles, and a little bologna for a snack, and maybe I won't yell quite as loud when he pesters Aslan or chases Fiona tries to ride Oscar or any of the other trouble I know he'll get into. Any minute now he'll outgrow that kitten behavior, right? I'll cry that day.

He is everything a cat should be. Ferocious, and curious, and fearless, and loving. He will get into trouble where you think there is none. And then he will want to cuddle until the fear goes away. No mouse stands a chance with him around. And strangers better be ware, as well - I'm his mom, don't bother to try to steal my love (it took him years to accept GB!). He is by far the most affectionate cat I've ever lived with, though no one (myself included) would say he's the sweetest in temperment. He is my Spud. Spuderball. Trev. Monkey.

Happy Birthday, Trevor Miguel.
I love you.

Dogs and cats don't get along

Just ask Oscar.

The poor guy just wants to sleep in his dog bed, next to the couch where I sit.

So he curls up and tries to go to sleep. But then Fiona comes along and pats Oscar on the fanny until he gets up and lets her get in the bed. So she's in the bed for about thirteen seconds and lint or something distracts her and she leaves, and so Oscar gets back in the bed.

Then Trevor comes along and tries to sleep on top of him, so Oscar gets up and leaves. Then Trevor realizes no one is pestering Aslan, so he leaves, and Oscar gets back into the bed.

Then Fiona comes along and pats Oscar on the fanny until he gets up and lets her get in the bed. So she's in the bed for about thirteen seconds and lint or something distracts her and she leaves, and so Oscar gets back in the bed.

Then Trevor comes along and tries to sleep on top of him, so Oscar gets up and leaves. Then Trevor realizes no one is pestering Aslan, so he leaves, and Oscar gets back into the bed.

Then Fiona comes along and pats Oscar on the fanny until he gets up and lets her get in the bed. So she's in the bed for about thirteen seconds and lint or something distracts her and she leaves, and so Oscar gets back in the bed.

Then Trevor comes along and tries to sleep on top of him, so Oscar gets up and leaves. Then Trevor realizes no one is pestering Aslan, so he leaves, and Oscar gets back into the bed.

Then Fiona comes along and pats Oscar on the fanny until he gets up and lets her get in the bed. So she's in the bed for about thirteen seconds and lint or something distracts her and she leaves, and so Oscar gets back in the bed.

Then Trevor comes along and tries to sleep on top of him, so Oscar gets up and leaves. Then Trevor realizes no one is pestering Aslan, so he leaves, and Oscar gets back into the bed.

Are you starting to see a pattern?

If you are, you might also see a pit bull who looks like this

(grumpy)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Make Your Next Search a Good One!

Next time you need an internet search engine, consider www.goodsearch.com - if you select B-More Dog as your charity of choice, we'll get a small donation for each search that can add up to hundreds of dollars over the course of a year - all without costing you a cent. In addition, if you shop through the site, we'll earn 3% of your purchase price in donations.




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All of this, without costing you anything. It's an easy way to make a difference for pit bulls and responsible dog owners everywhere!


Oscar says "Please!"

Warning:

If you are an owner of a dog that belongs to a 'dangerous breed' category, and you also have a small child, please heed this warning!

Do Not leave your dog with the child unattended.

A short period of time was enough for this to happen.

Hands in the air, screaming WWWWWHHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

I came to a difficult decision last weekend that I needed to leave one of the two places I've been working lately. I like the guys in the office, we laugh like crazy whenever we're together, but the office itself is so very disorganized that they've been costing me money. So after another straw got laid on my camel-like back, I decided I'd had enough and told them I wasn't going to be working there anymore. They spent several phone calls trying to convince me to change my mind, but it just wasn't working out. So I finally got through to them today.

I hung up the phone feeling frustrated, disappointed, guilty (I hate quitting) and angry.

Then I went to check e-mail, and got an e-mail from a lawyer friend/associate that B-More Dog got our notice today of being approved for 501c3 status by the IRS.  This is mind boggling.  I very well may have screamed out loud.  We were told the average time for a decision was between six and twelve months.  That there may or may not be at least one time that the IRS wrote to us asking for clarification on issues.  We submitted our application almost exactly two months ago, and they didn't need clarification on anything.  That's FAST. In fact, our lawyer (the aforementioned friend/associate) said she's never seen a group approved as fast as we were.

That amazing news that still has me giddy comes less than twenty-four hours after a very productive meeting to discuss one of B-More Dog's programs.  Called B-More Responsible and already approved by Baltimore City officials, we'll be doing a program for people who've received citations from Animal Control teaching them about how to be responsible dog owners, why leashes are important, how health and behavior are linked, why "letting dogs do what dogs do" isn't necessarily appropriate for human society and how owners need to take accountability for the behaviors of their animals.  We've secured a video crew and several experts to help us with pre-taped portions of the program, and are scripting out the interactive discussion sections.

In addition, a local film program is doing a documentary on B-More Dog for a class project, and we're getting clips for that.  Oscar and I will be doing a demonstration of Rally Obedience:

(this is a class a few months ago - we'll do a new course for the doc)

and we'll be interviewed as well (well, I'll be interviewed, Oscar will likely just toss a little Blue Steel their way).

So it's been a bit of a roller coaster today, but what a ride.

If you don't know how to fix it, stop breaking it

Time Marches On

I'm not exactly sure when exactly it became March. The snow is blowing outside, the weather reporters are all a-twitter, I'm snuggled up on the couch with the animals, most of us under blankets, and it's hard to believe Spring is a scanty three weeks away. But it is.

Along with Spring comes a time of rebirth. Things that you were convinced were dead somehow find it within themselves to push for warmth, and burst out into green and growth again. Some things, you discover, really have died. They fertilize others, though, so even in death, more life can occur.

Always a fan of metaphors, my life has been in a bit of a long cold winter. And I'm looking forward to Spring. I've made several career changes, people have come in and out of my life, and I've felt much of the time that I don't even know who I am. To paraphrase Inigo Montoya, there is too much to explain - let me just sum up.

I've gone back to school. Again. I'm studying Animal Behavior and Training, with a focus on working/service animals and exotics, through a program grounded scientifically in operant conditioning. That means I'll be learning positive methods to work with behavioral issues of many species of animals. No, I don't know exactly what I'm going to do with that yet (I don't want to be a "dog trainer"). But the timing worked out that I had a minor (I thought) disagreement with one supervisor and then coincidentally was falsely accused by her of somethings that I couldn't disprove, so it was a good time to make a little switch I'd been contemplating (and in fact taken early steps towards) anyway.

Some friends have slipped from my life as well, which I suppose means they weren't the friends I thought they were. I do believe that people come into our lives for a reason, and I guess that means they go out of our lives for a reason as well. The friends who are still in my life stand beside me as I make some big changes, laughing and crying with me. If a time comes that they no longer belong in my life, I will miss them and these times with them.

I'm of course still knitting and spinning, though not as much as I would like. I hope to resume blogging with a little more frequency, even though time is so short.

No matter what, I'm on my way to becoming healthy, wealthy, and wise!