sometimes i wonder about rescue....what is it really?

take chyna with her skin problems for example, who ended up posted on one of our rescue boards...that very long thread went south really quick with accusations and judgments leveled at her owner and solutions offered up like putting this poor suffering dog out of her misery....when it was offered that chyna could come here, there were comments posted that maybe saints was not an appropriate placement as we could not manage her "aggression" and food allergies cuz our animals lived communally and we free fed. lot's of assumptions were made about this dog that no one had ever even seen yet....honestly?...i am ashamed to say i only took that dog cuz i was horrified at some of the possible advice the owners might have taken as gospel from that thread...it is a stupid reason for taking in another dog.

so here we are a couple of months later...and chyna's skin looks healthy today...her coat is getting thick and shiny, she has not worn that dreaded cone that she grew up in since the day of her arrival. she is finally at 2 yrs old, spayed. she plays with the other dogs esp. with puppy beau and she is pretty good with the cats too. she can run the fields with a pack of up to 17 dogs without any problems at all. she and phoebe are not the best of friends...but gee why does that not surprise me. chyna does not have food allergies or allergies to anything that i can see, she has treatable demodex and is a very GREAT dog...she is loyal, and friendly and funny. she has a fuzzy potato nose too which is super-duper cute. the only not so great thing that has happened for her here...sigh, i just noticed she is getting a little bit fat...ooops. but stupid original reason or not...chyna is lucky she came here.

good thing that family and i ignored many of the offered opinions cuz chyna is alive and well and actively looking for her new forever home. it does bring to mind however, that what we hear, and what we read, and what someone else has told us...is not necessarily the real reality and we should maybe give a dog like chyna (and maybe even saints) the benefit of positive thinking.

and then there is webster (AKA broken tail)...fed on the street by rescue for a couple of years. he was trapped a couple of times and given medical care and then returned to streets again. this is a lovely, sweet and affectionate cat...he is one of the biggest face smoochers here. he lets us now pick him up and carry him around. technically he is in the absolutely worst place in the world for him...a chaotic animal shelter with a myriad of cats and dogs milling around all over the place. that cat should by rights be having a freaking meltdown, but he's not, he is doing great.

why is this?...i don't know...but i have to ask, why was he still out on the street? i know the logistics of not enough space in shelters and not enough foster homes...but in 2 years a spot must have opened up somewhere? how many other NOT feral cats are still out there in feeding colonies with no place to go? yes he was sketchy while he was out there but sketchy is a far cry from feral. sketchy comes from living in fear surrounded by danger, it goes eventually away when safe haven is found. thank god webster's caregiver/feeder was moving so i had to take him in here...cuz if she wasn't, i would have said no...how unfair would that have been to this sweet and resilient survivor cat?

double senior chi's arrived today, i was in a soft and generous mood when i answered the phone...they are at the vets for assessment. the owners were looking to euthanize because they sometimes bite and pee on the floor, the vets passed them on to me and they agreed to sign them over and then i told them to drop them off at the clinic sometime this week. so many of us will not take in owner surrenders, these animals already have homes and it is not our responsibility to fix the owners problems. except...owners with pet or any other kind of problems can make bad decisions that lead to permanent death of someone who maybe is not ready to die yet.

anyway...i don't know much about them cuz i just said yes we would take them...not sure if they are male or female or both...i remember something about one of them being 11 or 12, i don't know their names cuz i forgot to ask, don't know if they are fixed or not or if they have any health problems...all i remember is him saying something about snapping at kids and peeing on the floor and not really wanting to euthanize but feeling like he had no other choice. ( some choices are options that present themselves in a timely manner)

hey, no problemo... saints will be an alternative choice if we can, i don't care if they are owner surrenders or pound orphans or maroonees from outer space...if someone is seriously looking at nuking as an option...we will try really hard to be a better option than that. is rescue not about saving animals lives? (besides all that... i am STILL missing little coco-puff)

saints welcomes double, no-name, snapping, peeing chi's... i will find out their names tomorrow when i pick them up from the vets. i hope they are feisty little buggers, i think tiny dogs with big attitudes are a whole lot of fun....geez, tho i hope they are not shaky little shiver'ers, they always make me feel so guilty!

so what is rescue to me? way too many freaking animals without a hope in hell...but great animals if given a second chance somewhere...want to know why i rescue most of the animals i do, sight unseen? cuz i pretty much don't like the other options they are facing.