I came upon a news story today about the number of homeless
kittens that are turning up in shelters this month. It’s really staggering-
hundreds of the little things with only a few caring humans to take care of
them all.

It made me think about pet owner responsibility, and how this situation could be so easily reversed.

There’s no excuse, really, not to have your cat neutered. It can be done cheaply or even for free in many facilities. If a person doesn’t want to have their cat spayed, shouldn’t they be the ones to find homes for all the kittens?  If life worked that way, there would be very few unsprayed cats in the world- perhaps just enough to keep the species going.

The mystery is where do the raccoons go when they aren’t invading my compost heap?

I’ve seen them meandering across my back yard at dusk and the next morning find their teeth marks on the watermelon rinds, but it’s not like I live in the forest.

In one of my reference books it says that raccoons often make their homes in hollow trees. It also mentions that they’re solitary and need about 4 acres to themselves. Hmm, maybe the neighborhood raccoon finds my yard particularly delectable- could she think I’m actually feeding her?

I guess technically I am. But I certainly don’t mind and it always makes me smile to see those little signs in our watermelon rinds.

Here is the completion of Sweetie’s story.

”On Monday morning, June 21^st,
I took Sweetie to Eastern Shore Veterinary
Hospital, where Dr. Stacey Waters
took over her care. Dr. Waters spayed her, gave her shots, and treated her for
Lyme’s disease, Ehrlichia and mange- with heartworm treatments. To no one’s
surprise, Sweetie had a list of medical problems, but all were treatable, and
she would soon look and feel well. She spent her first week at the hospital,
lovingly cared for by the doctors and technicians.  When I visited her, I wondered how she would
make out going outdoors to the bathroom, worried that she would try to run away
from the staff who were watching over her so carefully. I asked Robert, a
teenage assistant at the Hospital, how her disposition had been, and I dropped
my jaw at his answer. He had just taken her for a walk on a leash. Not once had
Sweetie ever growled at any of the hospital staff, never was she aggressive,
always docile as strangers were attending to her needs, and she willingly allowed
herself to be leashed for a walk.

This was the same dog that so many people said was vicious, should be put down and could never be domesticated. This is a dog that had been shot at, nearly poisoned, and survived the trauma of having lost a leg. The same dog that came towards me on her leash with no problem. The same dog that, a few days later in recovery in Miles’ barn, started wagging her tail for the first time when I came into her large stall. This “vicious ‘ dog who raided trash cans to stay alive and feed her young has been gently grateful for every bit of human handling and assistance she has received since she was rescued and has shown her love in the way that dogs in loving homes do when they see the people who care for them- by wagging their tails.

There are many people who have given their time, their dedication and caring. The Veterinarians and staff at Eastern Shore Veterinary Hospital in Laurel, has selflessly gone beyond the call of duty in caring for animals that need their help.

Although Sweetie became the most popular dog in Delaware and people wanted to meet her and pet her, she was very shy and very reserved around her human friends and it would take time for her to feel secure around new people. My uncle came over every day to give her a treat, and after 1 week, she looked forward to Uncle Gib’s visit. And then, after 2 years of these daily visits of love and treats, Sweetie gained some extra weight.

She also loved her new brother and sister, Sheba and Czar. Every day we all 3 would run, yes I said run, she had 3 legs but that did not stop her, we just slowed our pace for her. Sweetie was the most loving dog and she re-gained her trust in humans. Animals love unconditionally, and she is proof of that.

Delaware Humane Society had their Annual Walk for the dogs on April 28th 2007, and Sweetie was the only 3 legged dog in the walk. She actually finished. However, she became very ill one week after the walk and suddenly passed.”

Another chapter in Lisa’s tale …

“The pattern of my going across the county both days and every weekend to feed Sweetie continued throughout the rest of April. When I would see her outside she continued to run away from me-not very fast, but fast enough. By early May I had a friend to help me and began to accompany me on the weekends. The weather was getting hot. We worried about ticks and the heat. I began making two trips a day on some days, still feeding her and calling her name. In the midst of this people told me that she should be shot or put down if caught and that she would never be socialized and never healthy.

May 22. Over two months. Finally, on that Saturday, when I went into
the house I heard a thump! It was Sweetie. As I came in the door, she
got off the sofa in the abandoned house, calmly walked past me and out
the door. That was the first time I realized that she was missing her
right hind leg. And the first time I could see that her eyes were
filled with pus and looked so weak. I called her name, but she would
not let me near her. I also understood then that because of her
condition and the approaching summer I did not have time for her to
learn to trust me- I was going to have to capture her soon to take her
to safety.  Miles (volunteer/friend) was willing to help, and others
that I had contacted, gave me ideas and suggestions A rescuer by the
name of Diane told me of a situation in which she had to lock two dogs
in an old house until she could get help and it worked- they were
rescued, crated, and taken to the vet. This was going to be our plan
with Sweetie. The next day Miles and I tried, but Sweetie was
threatened by him, and ran into the field. But now Miles was as
determined as I. I began feeding her after work on Wednesday and
Fridays, as well as on the weekends.

June arrived. No Sweetie. It had been 2 1/2 months of trips out there
to the west of Laurel from the east side of the county almost daily,
sometimes in the rain, taking food and fresh water, calling her name
softly, getting the abandoned house set up to hold her in there when we
would be able to find her inside.

On June 9, Miles and I arrived one evening about 8:30 pm. As we drove
up, there was Sweetie. She was walking towards us down the road.
Sniffing in the air, she saw us and halted, and then turned to run into
the planted corn- her hiding place. We stayed until quarter of 10:00
that night, but she never reappeared. After this I was making trips
every night after work, and still on the weekends.

Sunday, June 20th, a beautiful day, Miles and I drove to the house,
parking away from it and walking quietly back to it, Miles went in
first, turned to me, and softly said that Sweetie was on the sofa. He
closed the front door to keep her in. Finally, we had her where we
could capture her. I called around to an Animal Rescue for assistance,
since neither Miles nor I had any experience in using a catch pole or
performed a rescue such as this. However, there was no answer. So I
added some medicine to Sweetie’s food that Dr. Sarah Dykstra (Eastern
Veterinary Hospital-Laurel, DE) had given me for the purpose of
relaxing Sweetie when we did get to this point in the rescue. Perhaps
nervous with both Miles and me in the house, Sweetie ate very little of
her food, and after two hours with no success in coaxing her near the
crate we brought in, I went in search of Terry Dunn, a neighbor in that
area who worked at Four Paws Veterinary Hospital in Seaford, DE.  Terry
and her husband returned to the abandoned house with me, and with their
expertise, within ten minutes we had Sweetie crated. It was finally
over. It had taken three months.”

It’s not over yet! Tune in soon for more of Lisa’s touching tale of rescue.

Avril, my friend in the UK, recently purchased some of my sterling silver turtle earrings and wrote me a little of her “terrapin history” to explain her interest…

“We had a couple of red eared terrapins given to us by mum in law many years ago. One got lost in the garden when we were trying to get some sunlight on them to strengthen their shells. We were distraught; a fortnight’s intensive search was fruitless.

So we replaced the missing creature, added to them until there were 4. They grew into 3 ever increasingly large aquaria. OK. Fast forward 10 months… first halfway warmish day. My husband Norman, walking down the garden path, found a tiny shell of missing terrapin and then headed for the railway embankment at the end of garden, to quietly lay it to rest with out upsetting me… and a head slowly emerged! He had been under the compost heap for almost a year! It weighed nothing at all, and after a cliffhanger week, started to eat and survived! Had a party on the strength of it. Name immediately changed to Lucky.

The sequel to all that is that I had a huge career change, from that of a perfumery chemist to self employed, opening a whole food shop, which we called Terrapin Station (Grateful Dead album title) as an icon of survival.  Our shop survived 9 years, but we didn’t actually, er, sell much. However it was more of a community centre than a shop, and the back room was a musician’s jam space. We got a band together which was the precursor of most of our individual musical activities. So the Terrapin Era was quite formative for a lot of us.

Well, Mr. Green is still with us at 31, although the others have gradually demised. We have a turtle memorial corner in our garden, by a pond where they’re interred. So another tear jerker, sorry Merry, I’ll send you another tube of mascara.

Best regards, Avril.”

Lisa’s heart warming story of a dog’s rescue continues…

“The following weekend I returned. Again a 45-minute drive across the county. The food was gone, but there was no way to determine if she or another wild animal had eaten it. Knowing her comfort with the abandoned house, I decided to begin feeding her there. At that point, I reasoned that at least I would know that she wouldn’t starve, and that hopefully, foraging less would bring a measure of safety.

My cry for help went out over e-mail! After two weeks I knew I could not give up on this dog, but needed guidance. I didn’t know what to do next! A woman I only know as Debbie, from Massachusetts, responded with a list of instructions.

First, to give the dog a name to begin recognizing- which became “Sweetie”. (My heart strings had already been tugged.) Next, to put down a soft blanket for her to lie on, which will also tell me that she’d been there. Third, to leave something with the scent of her puppies with it -for her, it was a soft stuffed toy with the puppies’ scent. And last, my own additions: I boarded up the bedroom doors, secured the accessible windows, swept and cleaned the room in the abandoned house as much as possible, making it more secure and a warmer place for “Sweetie”, a dog I still had not seen but was becoming connected to.

Saturday, April 3. Three weeks. It took Sweetie another week to feel comfortable enough to stay in the newly cleaned and boarded up room, but finally I could see that she was eating the food, and that she had left some of her black hairs on the white blanket. Grateful that she had returned to the house, I filled the bowls with fresh food and water, and began a habit of walking near the woods edge calling her by her name, hoping she could hear, and could begin to trust my voice and the sound of her name. The next day, Sunday, April 4, Sweetie had already come, had eaten her food and had left the house. I walked again towards the woods to find her sitting in the warm sun-my first sighting of her. As I neared her, calling her name, she calmly stood up in the brush, then ran into the woods. At last, however, I had seen her and I knew she had seen me.”

To be continued!