It’s been a busy few weeks here in my wannabe farm. The litter of four foster kittens I’d had since early April when they were only six days old left on Tuesday to find their forever homes. I’m really hopeful that they will be adopted in pairs. And since they’ve yet to be adopted at the humane society, I’ve also got my fingers crossed that they will join the wonderful program that puts adoptable kittens in storefront windows in our lovely downtown in Lawrence, Kansas, called the Mass Street Kitten Academy.
And right after I brought those four loves of my life back to be spayed and neutered before they were available for adoption, I was asked to foster three more tiny kitten babies for the next three to four weeks. I introduced them with a weigh-in video on Instagram yesterday. They still need names: two tiny girls and one boy, and I would love help on that.
My four current foster dogs:
Murphy, a deaf 15-year-old cocker spaniel whose family dumped at a sports bar parking lot. His story is not uncommon – senior dogs have health issues that are expensive and sometimes difficult to deal with. Murph got a dental cleaning this week, and needs to have an eye dealt with and some masses removed by the vet soon. But he is the most wonderful guy, and I feel so lucky to have him here. Getting used to not being able to talk to a dog has been interesting again, but we are communicating just fine!
Tofu is a 12-ish-year-old shi tzu-maltese mix who is dealing with the consequences of a tick bite at some point in his life. He has neurological damage and lasting Lyme Disease as a result. He can’t walk or see straight, but he’s still got spunk. His story is like so many abandoned dogs – preventative meds are a bit pricey, but they really so protect your best friends from truly gnarly health problems.
Sweet Melvin is a 13-ish-year-old yellow lab with Diabetes. He’s losing his vision too, but he takes his insulin twice a day like a champ and is just the sweetest guy who has blended into the pack here like he has always belonged. That’s the culture I like to think I create and nurture in this house.
And finally, Miss Ellen has been here as a foster since before Christmas. She is a blind chihuahua who really needs to lose some weight, but because her back legs have a tough time due to some muscle atrophy, we are both doing our best with diet food and some daily movement on that front. She’s the sweetest little snuggle bug, and will fiercely protect her space from any other dog or kitten that interrupts her beauty sleep.
In other news, I got out on my paddleboard (with a life vest, of course) last weekend, and it was so nice to soak up some sunshine and courage on some open water again.
It’s going to be a great summer, and I can’t wait to get confident enough to work with Finch on becoming my next water dog, so stay tuned for those photos. I also snagged Sadie a life vest on a garage sale last weekend, so maybe she’ll get in on some action too if I can work with her on controlling her long legs and boundless enthusiasm. 😉
Also, a couple of the photos that were taken of my little pack in January 2020 made it to Lawrence Magazine this month! You can see Chicken and Sal on pages 24 and 26 respectively. We just had some more photos snapped this morning for another local publication that wrote a piece on fostering and pets in the pandemic, so I’ll share that when it’s available too!
All our love while we live our second chances!
