Wed Waifs & Shelter Sweeties: #BlogtheChange

Today, we're joining bloggers around the world as we focus our attention on ways we can Be the Change for Animals.

This time, we're focusing our attention on the plight of black cats.

Did you know they are 5 times more likely to be euthanized in a shelter situation than a cat of any other color?


Today, we're reposting about two special kitties looking for their special families - cats still awaiting their forever homes. We originally told you about these two in August. And yes, they're sadly still awaiting their special human. 

And at the end, we'll tell you about another special cat who has been waiting a long, long time for her humans to find her.

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Linden

First up is Linden. We originally posted about her back in August:

 "Thanks for taking a moment to read about me! My name is Linden, and I'm a very friendly and sweet black kitty with amazing green eyes."

"I came to Wayside as a stray. I'm talkative, too. If you come to Wayside to meet me, I will probably greet you with a hearty "Meow!" However, I won't be in the Cat Adoption area. You see, there are lots of cats in there, and I can't stand other cats.

Maybe another cat was really mean to me once -- I can't put into human words what happened -- but I don't like other felines at all and actually scream when I see them. So I need to go to a home where I'm the only feline family member.

But I have such a great personality, I'm all the cat you need. I love attention (from people!) and I will let you know how much I enjoy your affection with headbutts and my great purr that sometimes sounds like a coo.

The Felineality testers here say I'm a Sidekick. That means I'm moderately brave in new situations and I love the company of people. If you take me home, most of the time I will want to be right by your side, keeping you company. But I'm also capable of entertaining myself, too, should the need arise.

If I sound like your kind of cat, please come to Wayside and ask about me, Linden. One of the great staff members or volunteers can take you back to meet me. I can't wait!
Love, Linden"





Linden is available for adoption at Allie's Alma Mater, Wayside Waifs.

Alexander

Next up: Alexander. He charmed his way into our mom's heart with his soulful look:

Hullo. My name's Alexander.
Yeah, I know I probably look a bit long in the face.

It's not that I don't appreciate being warm and dry and having food in my belly. I do, honest!

But... I hear stories. Stories about a place where humans will cuddle you and give you chin scritches and belly rubs. Some place called "home."

And, oh, I don't know. Maybe I'm a bit of a dreamer, but I long for that. Yet I look around me and I see cute kittens, and literally hundreds of other cats in exactly my predicament and I worry.

I worry.

Won't you please come out and meet me? I promise to keep all your secrets and be loyal to you - just you - forever til the end.

Wistfully yours,
Alexander.

Alexander is waiting for you at Great Plains SPCA, Independence, MO.

Snowflake

Third and last up today:
From our friends in the blogosphere, we've learned about the plight of this girl - she's FIV+ (which is a condition overblown by far too many shelters!)

According to Petfinder:
"Snowflake is a sweet girl who is approximately 3 years old and was rescued off the streets by a Good Samaritan.

She is FIV+ but nice with other kitties, so she can safely live a long, normal life with other negative kitties."

"She is playful and loving. She snuggles in bed with her humans. She is great with other cats but afraid of dogs.

She would likely be fine with kids, especially if they play with her.

She has amazing different colored eyes which will capture your heart!

Please consider giving her a furever home. Don't let her test result scare you away- do your research! Snowflake is spayed, vaccinated, and microchipped.

She deserves a second chance!"
Snowflake is at Ohana Animal Rescue in Tempe, AZ.

Be the Change: Pet Fire Safety

We're joining bloggers worldwide today to focus attention on how we as individuals can be the change for animals.

***

As today also happens to coincide with National Pet Fire Safety Day, we chose this for our topic.
(Hint: there's a giveaway at the end of today's post!)

The last thing you want is for your beloved pet to need this! Prevention is key.
Photo: Save Our Pets

The National Fire Protection Association has published an estimate that as many as 1,000 fires are started by pets annually. The AKC and ADT security services have teamed up to create a checklist for you to consider in making your home fireproof for pets:

• Extinguish open flames   Pets are generally curious and will investigate cooking appliances, candles, or even a fire in your fireplace. Ensure your pet is not left unattended around an open flame and make sure to thoroughly extinguish any open flame before leaving your home. 
• Remove stove knobs   Be sure to remove stove knobs or protect them with covers before leaving the house - a stove or cook top is the number one piece of equipment involved in your pet starting a fire.
• Invest in flameless candles  These candles contain a light bulb rather than an open flame, and take the danger out of your pet knocking over a candle. Cats are notorious for starting fires when their tails turn over lit candles.
• Secure young pets  Keep them confined away from potential fire-starting hazards when you are away from home such as in crates or behind baby gates in secure areas.

Other Things to Consider

Do you have a
pet emergency kit? 

If not, take a look at this video made by fellow pet blogger Amy after she lost everything she owned in a fire. She had a pet emergency kit – and she needed it! Do you have a designated caregiver for your pet in case of emergency? If you don’t, the ASPCA has recommendations here that can help you work through the process of selecting one.

Do you have an 
evacuation plan? 

The ASPCA recommends you plan for the worst, and assume you may not be able to return home for a few weeks. Check with your local government officials to see if there are designated evac routes in your area in case of a natural disaster.

And be sure to store your emergency kits – both human and animal – close to an exit so you can grab it quickly. Ours are stored in a closet by our front door.

Do you have a pet 
alert window badge? 

The ASPCA recommends you have a pet alert window sticker or cling attached to your front window for firefighters to easily see. (We have one on our back door as well.)

Make sure you keep it updated with the number and type of pets inside the home.

You can see our badge, below:
     I've customized it to show exactly what the cats look like,
     I've called out that Faraday's the one that will hide,
     and also told them that all 3 are microchipped.

 Want one for yourself?

Because we feel so strongly that this is a critical step in pet preparedness, we're going to give away custom-made "Rescue Me" badges to THREE winners!

Just comment below and tell us how many pets you have, and that you would like to be included in the giveaway. You have until July 25 to enter.

We'll let Random.org select the winners, and they will be announced on August 1.

GOOD LUCK! 
And please take these tips to heart - so that both you and your pets are prepared for any emergency.

***

The fine print:

This giveaway is open worldwide.

If you win, I will customize your badge with photos of up to three of your pets, provided you have high-resolution images you can email to me.

Images need to be:
     1200 pixels wide X 900 pixels high
         OR
     3" high X 4" wide at 300 dpi
         OR
     16.667" wide X 12.5" high at 72dpi
          (all three of these are actually the same size!)

Winners will need to be able to send their images to me electronically so that I can digitally access them to complete the custom badge.

Winners will be sent digital files they can print or take to a company like Kinko's to have laminated.

__________
Sources:

The Red Cross
National Fire Protection Association
ASPCA Disaster Preparedness

***

Thanks to you, A Tonk's Tail is up for the Petties' Funniest Blog Award!

Winning would mean $1,000 for the cats of Great Plains SPCA.
Their numbers are creeping up to 800 - and they are running out of supplies.

You have our heartfelt thanks!

Blog the Change: Compassion Fatigue

We are participating in today's Blog the Change for Animals. Thanks for joining us!

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For those of you who aren't familiar with Compassion Fatigue, it's what can happen when a caregiver (of humans or animals) focuses on others without taking care of themselves.

A few years ago, Wayside Waifs flew in an expert on Compassion Fatigue. I know it's not the same as being there, but the presenter, Jana Svoboda, has also written about it on her blog, and there's some really helpful information there.

Here's how she describes CF:

"Animal shelter workers and other workers in fields where needs outweigh resources, and where empathy is a crucial part of the call to service are at high risk for compassion fatigue.

"Like burnout, CF can suck the joy out of doing important work. But while one can burn out at any job, compassion fatigue is associated with jobs in which the worker is exposed to suffering and trauma.

"Also known as secondary traumatic stress or vicarious trauma, one doesn't have to be the victim of life's precariousness to feel the effects of witnessing it. "

She goes on to talk about something she calls the Troublesome Trifecta that we need to be aware of, and manage for our own mental and emotional health.  This Trifecta a combination of three traits: what she has labeled Big Radar (the ability to take in everything), Big Sensitivity (you just feel everything in a big way) and Big Brains (the need to analyze everything).

If this sounds like it describes you, read on:

The Trifecta can be a double-sided coin when you're engaged in a mission to help save the lives of animals. On the plus side of that coin you'll find a deep empathy, curiosity and creativity. On the other side, however, is the ability to be wounded deeply, feeling overwhelmed and not feeling adequate to meet the needs of your particular calling.

As Jana says, "It's important, beautiful, essential we don't give it up learning how to navigate these beautiful, dangerous waters."  Finding balance in our own lives every day will allow us to avoid Compassion Fatigue, and will in the long run, be better for those sweet animals we so long to help.

I know this is a short Blog the Change for Animal post, and it redirects you to another site, but I feel this is important. And I hope passing this info along can help someone else as much as Jana's lecture helped me.

Enjoy.

Blog the Change: Pets are Domestic Abuse Victims, Too

We believe in the power of change, which is why we enthusiastically support Blog the Change. 
And we pray that today's post gets the word out so that there is, indeed, change on this issue, worldwide.

 ***

Early in 2012, a local story made national news: it was about a Great Dane named J Matthew. When J Matthew saw his mom beaten with a hammer, he thrust himself between her and the abusive man.

As a result, they were both nearly killed. J Matthew’s human is certain that without his brave intervention, she would have surely died.

J Matthew’s owner beat the odds – she left the abusive relationship. One of the reasons she was able to do so was due to a new policy at the Rose Brooks Center in Kansas City, Missouri.

The shelter allowed her to keep J Matthew with her, once he was released from veterinary care. Rose Brooks is the only shelter in the Midwest region that will allow victims to bring pets with them.

Many battered women refuse to leave abusive situations because domestic violence shelters will not make room for their beloved pets.

In fact, according to nationally renowned animal and family advocate attorney Allie Phillips, almost half of domestic violence victims delayed or refused to leave the abusive situation out of fear they would have to leave their animals behind. This makes perfect sense when one considers that a pet is a source of comfort and unconditional love during a time of great distress.

As we well know, our pets are family members. To leave without them under any circumstances is unthinkable. In this, a situation where a pet may be a touch-point of sanity in a world gone crazy-wrong? You can see why a victim might even choose homelessness over seeking assistance if that shelter won’t take their beloved friend in, too.

The Animal Welfare Institute hosts a list, searchable by zip code, of shelters in the U.S. that are considered Safe Havens.

A Safe Haven, by their definition, is “a domestic violence shelter that either provides sheltering services for the animals of domestic violence victims, has a relationship with an entity that does, or provides referrals to such facilities.”

Sadly, most of these do not have on-site facilities to care for a victim’s pets.

When they do, it’s big news. Just a few months ago the Urban Resource Institute launched New York City’s first ever co-sheltering program to enable domestic violence survivors and their pets to reside together in shelter. The project is currently in a six-month test.

 If your area does not have a system in place, there is a resource available to help. And this is the focus of today’s Blog the Change:

Allie Phillips has created the first and only global initiative that provides resources to shelters to help them get to the place where they, too, can offer what Rose Brooks and the Urban Resource Institute now provide: housing for families and their pets.

The program is called SAF-T, Sheltering Animals and Families Together, and they offer a free start-up manual for any organization interested in providing this service to families fleeing abuse.

Please join us in spreading the word. We hope in the near future to be able to report that many other places have followed the ground-breaking work of these fine people and organizations.

Kudos to Allie Phillips, and to Rose Brooks (and Wayside Waifs, the no-kill shelter that worked with Rose Brooks for over a year to help make their pets program a reality). And we’re crossing our paws that the six-month trial in NYC becomes permanent.

_______________________
Sources:
Allie Phillips
Washington Times
Ohio Domestic Violence Network
Animal Abuse/Domestic Violence Fact Sheet
Urban Resource Institute
The Rose Brooks Center

Photos:
Great Dane photo courtesy Marcia O’Connor via Creative Commons 3.0 license

Blog The Change: "Twisty cats"

Today we interrupt our weekly Toon Tuesdays to join forces with our fellow pet bloggers around the world as we work to help bring about positive change for pets.

For this Blog the Change post, we'd like to tell you a story.

Recently, our shelter, Wayside Waifs, rescued a 5 month old kitten found as a stray. That's not unusual - we do that quite often.

What is unusual is that this sweet little boy was born with an medical condition that ensured he would not last long on the streets.


Stiles is what is known as a "twisty cat". Sometimes called squittens or kangaroo cats, these kittens are born with front legs that have not developed normally.

In Stiles' case, he's missing one of the two bones in his forearms - the radius bone. And a few of the bones in his wrist are underdeveloped, too, causing his paws to permanently curve inward.

Our Monday Medical series is usually a written article, but this time, we made a video and saved it for Tuesday's Blog the Change. We interviewed Stiles' veterinarian at Wayside, so you could get firsthand information about this sweet little boy, straight from the source.

And yes, he's incredibly sweet, as you will see. In fact, one of our volunteers calls him a "special gives" cat, not a "special needs" cat, because he has so very much love to give.

She calls him that for another reason too:  because in caring for a kitty like Stiles, invariably you are touched and amazed by the big heart these animals have - and how utterly unaware they are that they are different in any way.

 Stiles is indeed a "special gives" kitten.




As much as Stiles wanted a forever home, all of us at Wayside were determined to match him very carefully with an adopter that understood his special needs and would give him the very best care.

Well, we're very happy to say Stiles got his New Year's wish!

A woman saw Stiles' video - and saw his news coverage on KCTV 5 - and called repeatedly to ask if he was out of foster yet. When she heard he was, she drove an hour and a half to come get him. And she plans to knit Stiles his very own leggings to protect those delicate wrists.

Don't you just love happy endings?

Since today is Blog The Change Day we wanted to highlight this very special type of cat.  Many shelters would have considered Stiles unadoptable and he would have probably been euthanized. And - horrifying thought - we heard during the course of getting to know Stiles that some people actually try to breed for this condition. To us that's cruel and inhumane - and there should be a law to forbid it.

We're so glad Stiles has a happy story to tell. And w wanted to shine a light on one incredible nonprofit organization that creates leggings for paralyzed and impaired pets like Stiles, to help make their lives more comfortable.

Please "like" Leggings For Life on facebook - and take a moment to share a word of thanks with them for their labor of love on behalf of disabled pets.