Tuesday, December 15, 2009

To Each His/Her Own?

Picture Left: "Coco." If there is a home for every homeless animal, why is Coco waiting so long for hers? Rescued from death at the pound last Spring, Coco has spent almost the entire year in boarding. This, despite being a very loving, healthy and beautiful, (now) 6-year-old dog. We are literally watching Coco grow old in boarding.)


Some good news over the past couple of days.

I did call the shelter the other day to pull Bujoe off the Euth list and thanks to the last minute efforts of a colleague who frantically posted Bujoe to "Craig's List" we were able to secure a committed foster home for the gentle, Lab/Chow mix.

I think of "Craig's List" like the old adage of "having to kiss a hundred frogs before one finds a prince." Indeed, one has to wade through a lot of crap before one finds a potential foster or adopter that actually transforms into a real and loving home for an animal.

Typical calls from Craig's List however are mostly frustrating with the usual first question being: "Ya gotta pay anything for the dog?"

When one hears that question in the first three sentences, its a sure bet that the person on the other end of the line will never pay a dime to take an animal to the vet -- or, in many cases, doesn't even know what a vet is.

Still, every now and then one strikes adoption or foster gold on Craig's List and so for that reason, it is worth the aggravation.

Its just that there's so much of it. -- like the (intoxicated?) woman who called yesterday and couldn't seem to remember the sex of her dog at home.

The woman told me her dog was a neutered male, Collie mix. But, then she kept referring to the dog as "she" and "her."

Utterly confused, I asked the woman about this and she answered that she also had a cat and that the cat was female!

"But, Ma'am you should have told me you had a cat," I replied. "The dog you're seeking to adopt would kill a cat!"

Yep. Craig's List is a little weird. But, it can sometimes be very effective for those animals about to die at the pound:

"Please help us save Fluffy from the pound. Only ten hours to live!"

That only it were even one tenth as effective for those animals languishing in boarding facilities for months and advertised hundreds of times.

Indeed, one could say, the animals slowly dying from loneliness and lack of a real home -- or person to call and feel their own.

Would it be a lie to say they are dying too? -- PCA

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