Foster Free!

Little Nick went to his forever home last night. He's not in a mansion by any stretch of the imagination, but home is now with a young couple who obviously love their animals. They had two cats, brothers just like mine, and one of their boys died due to kidney failure.


They were looking for a new friend for their guy and spied Nick on the PAWS website. He's a rough and tumble guy who now has a safe home and won't be resigned to a life on the streets...not a very good life at that. I think he's going to do great!


So eighteen cats have come and gone (well, okay seventeen since I kept one) since August! Sounds a little nutty, but they have all found great homes. If you think about it, that is a lot of cats and a lot of great people who have opened up their hearts to help these little souls. Okay so I use the term "Little Nick" lightly obviously, but he was such a love bug! I'm just glad he is going to be in a place where he will get all the love an attention he desires! Here's to Nick!



I am going to be taking a little bit of a break from fostering. Now, don't get me wrong, I do other volunteer stuff with PAWS: adoption screenings, helpline calls and most recently pr and marketing for an upcoming event.




April is also Prevent Cruelty to Animals Month so I'm trying to get our executive director featured in some newspaper articles to further our cause. I'm sure the spare bedroom will have a new inhabitant sometime soon...they know I'm a sucker :)

Please help Snoopy and vote!

I swear our Executive Director is always all over. I don't know how she does it. Anyway, this is a local story, but please pass this story along and vote so Snoopy can stay with Ansje!

My Own Flock

All of these "visitors" to my home, how come I haven't said anything about the permanent residents? Who knows, we all take the ones we love the most for granted it seems sometimes. My permanent flock has grown by one just since yesterday. I made up my mind that one of my fosters is going to stay.

But let's put the spotlight on the best of the best. I started volunteering for PAWS after adopting my two boys, Abe and Ron. There could be no two cats more perfectly suited for someone like they are for me. After fifteen years of two cats that only tolerated each other, it is so awesome to have two that love each other. They are brothers. Also rescued by PAWS, apparently they were bottle-fed since they were about two days old. Aren't they awesome?!?

It is almost two years since they entered my life and have made it all the better. I picked them up from their foster home in the middle of a February blizzard.

About six months later (Memorial Day 2007), I made what was probably the biggest commitment of my life: I got a dog. Now, I don't have any kids and cats are independent so this was a big change in lifestyle, believe me! After I made up my mind that I was definitely ready for a dog, I contacted the PAWS dog coordinators. We discussed my lifestyle, my preferences, likes/dislikes, you get the idea. I was both surprised and disappointed when they told me they didn't think we had a dog that was right for me. I wanted to adopt from PAWS but I felt that their honesty and commitment to doing the best thing for the animals in our care was admirable.

Enter: Petfinder.com

So, I searched and searched. Breed, size, color wasn't all that important to me. I wanted the right girl. Save Ohio Strays, another great rescue that fosters pets in private homes, had my girl: Liddy. Her foster mom told me that she was rescued from the Medina County Dog Pound on what would have been her last day. I can't imagine anyone not scouring the earth trying to find her. There is no way she would run away (from me at least). My feeling is that she may have been somewhat mistreated. But she is definitely a sweetheart.

After a DNA test, I found out that she is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever/Beagle mix. How cool is it that? I had a bunch of people tell me they thought Liddy was a Hungarian Viszla...never heard of that before. I have a neighbor who knew she had some Beagle in her!

Liddy and I have gone to school. We enrolled in a couple different training classes with the hopes of her receiving her Canine Good Citizen certification...then on to certified Therapy Dog! She has a wonderful disposition and thought she would really thrive in that environment. Well, Liddy has some separation anxiety "issues," so I don't know if that will ever pan out. Who cares! All I know is that she's her mommy's girl! And that's just the way I like her.


Two cats and a dog: perfect! Enter four strays in my backyard this summer. I have lived in my house for about ten years. I have never seen a stray cat in my neighborhood so when all of a sudden this mother and her three kittens were there, I couldn't stand myself! They were borderline feral (unsocialized, unused to human contact). I went out and got a couple humane animal traps, received permission to bring them in the PAWS system and the rest is history. The three kittens have found homes and I decided yesterday that Sarah is home...in my home.


If you could see the change in her since August you wouldn't believe it is the same cat (not only is she chubby, but her manner is so much better). However, the thought of her having to readjust to a new home after knowing how stressed she was under varying circumstances is something that I'm not comfortable with at all. So, she is formally adopted!


Strangely enough, all of the cats love the dog...even the new girl! And to be perfectly honest, I couldn't have a better dog for all of this insanity than the girl pictured here. So this has been my little tribute to the furry ones that improve my life and brighten each and every day!