Saturday, September 08, 2007

Look What I Brought Home Today!!!!

Today Cathy and I struck out this morning to pick up a sweet puppy named Pete, a doxie rescue, to help him get to a different part of the country with hopes if finding a new forever home. It works like this - dogs are rescued through owner relinquish, abandonment, picking up from puppy mills or shelters, or by getting a call from someone saying there are animals in need. They are fostered and vetted until they are ready to be adopted. All animals are spayed and neutered before going to their forever home. Sometimes they need to get from one city to another or from one state to another to be adopted. Some are adopted before being transported, some just go from one foster to another. Either way they need to get from one place to another and there are no funds to put them on a plane to travel, so a lot of us volunteer our time and gas to pick up a sweet puppy and go part of the journey.

Today, a very sweet lady by the name of Sandra, drove from Hayden, AL to Breman, GA with Pete and a couple of other surprises. Cathy and I drove to Breman, GA to pick up Pete and complete the second leg of his transport. We then drove from Breman, Ga to Buford, GA and dropped Pete off with Katie. She then drove the next leg of the transport. And it went on from there. The transport will take two days and Pete will end up in Baltimore, MD to another foster mom to await adoption. It takes a lot of time out of your day and a lot of gas out of your car, but believe me, it is well worth the time and expense to help save a baby. Two of my three doxies are rescues and I probably will never go to a breeder again for a baby, they will all be rescues from now on.

Well the surprise today was that Sandy had two 3 1/2 week old kittens in her suv that were being bottle fed. I was in hog heaven when I saw them. They are both calico's and beautiful. One is the normal looking calico and one has some tiger striping on her.


Cathy and I had originally planned on stopping at walmart to get our nails done after dropping off Pete, but I decided that I would just let Cathy get her nails done and I would just run into walmart to get some kitten milk and some canned food for the baby's and just sit in the air conditioned car with them. By the time Cathy was finished I had the babies fed and pottied, yes you have to help them go potty when they are so young. Now these babies are 3 1/2 weeks old but look like they are only about 2 maybe 2 1/2 weeks because of the hard start they had. Sandy got a call about a week ago and responded knowing that some animals needed help. When she got there, there were 16 dogs and 16 cats that needed to be rescued, along with these little girls. Their mom didn't have milk to feed them, as she wasn't being fed enough to produce milk for her kittens, so Sandy started bottle feeding them. There were three to begin with, but one, the smallest, did not make it. These two did and now I have them. I get to do what I love to do best and that's being mom and caretaker and it helps Sandy, as she is picking up the rest of the cats from the vet this next week and will have a house full, with her other animals and the 32 new additions. She was excited that she would be able to stop at a real restaurant on the way home to eat instead of having to drive thru a fast food place, as the kittens can't be left in the car very long with the heat.

When we got home and picked up Chuck, we went out to eat at Zaxbys. Then back home to feed the kittens again. After they ate and pottied, they were introduced to the dogs. Star and Emmie were ok, Ripley and Dottie wanted to eat them.....lol. After Ripley and Dottie realized that they weren't stuffed toys, they calmed down. They found out that if they wanted to sit with me when I was holding the kittens, they had to be nice and kind....a little hard for Dottie to do, but she managed. Star even barked when the kittens were crying, she has never had puppies, since she is a rescue, but still had the motherly concerns and wanted me to know that they were crying and to do something about it. The doxies decided that the kittens tasted good after eating, since they had kitten milk and cat food all over their faces. They all three wanted to lick them clean.

The kittens will go to work with me everyday until they are old enough to stay alone and eat on their own. Once they are older, I can come home at lunch and feed them, until they are ready to go to two feedings a day. I can't wait for them to get old enough to run around on the floor to play with the doxies.




Cathy finished her half of the friendship socks while riding, now I just have to finish mine.

Now to the really good part - these little girls need names! So post your suggestions in the comments section of this post and Chuck and I will pick the two we like the best. The winner or winners will receive a neat prize!

9 comments:

Jane said...

What a great story! And how great to hear you sounding so upbeat and excited!

Jane said...

Oh - I forot about the names. Hmmm - Itsy and Bitsy? Not very original but appropriate.

Unknown said...

Oh, the were beautiful, it's a shame I am so allergic, or you could have sent them to me, disguised as KoolAid *LOL* Names... how about Tiny and Miny? Or Vigdis and Terje.....

starrypurplehaze said...

Oh my goodness, those kittens are ADORABLE!!

Penny said...

Oh I love them and they are so adorable. You are a real sweet to take them in and love them. How about cuddles and puddles. Or Zeeva and Diva.

PenCraft said...

Hi Deb, I saw the link to your blog on the New-Yarns list and was excited to see your reference to dachshund rescue. We have a standard wirehair mail that I got from dachshund rescue. I've designed some postcards and a T-shirt for CO rescue.

Happy knitting!

Penny said...

Maybe the spelling shold be Ziva and Diva not Zeeba.

marysaline said...

Adorable kitty's. I love kitty's. How about Patches and and Priscilla?

Coffey-House-Creations said...

You are an inspiration. We have 3 smooth mini doxies (2 dapples & a red) a big bark of a mutt that has the sweetest soul who is from a shelter & a playful black tom cat found on the road at 4 weeks old. They are 2 lucky babies. I think I'd name them Charity & Hope