The lovely lady Cara died on Monday December 20. She was a wonderful, smart, gentle border collie who came into my live only a month ago at around 11 years of age. In the short span of time that we had together she became a vital part of my life and my heart. She was less than half the size of Hershey, the lab but she was very much the one in charge. Even now he looks cautiously before entering a room as if he is expecting Cara to spotlight him with "that look" that let him know she made the decisions.

 

The injury to one of her legs left no alternative but to amputate and that was not possible due to the ignorance of someone in her earlier life who left her in pain from the arthritis in her hips that was severe enough it led to her not moving around and thus a great deal of muscle atrophy and loss. The muscle loss was so severe that she could never have supported her own weight on three legs.

 

Making the decision to let Cara go was one of the worst ones I've ever had to make. I wanted so much more time with her and yet this decision was the only thing left to let her go without the continued pain of the arthritis and what would have been the ultimately unsuccessful struggle simply to stand.

 

Cara if there is a life beyond this one I want so very much to see you and the other dogs again. I loved you for such a short time but that love was a gift you gave me which will remain as long as my memory of you does.

 

Megan died today. She was a lovely, gentle girl, 16 years old, who had been an important part of my life since 1996 when she was 18 months old. She had a lifelong fascination with cats, staring at them whenever and wherever she could. Loving, independent and affectionate to those she loved, both human and animal. During the last couple of years she "adopted" the puppy next door, teaching her and showing  how to be just as loving a dog as she was. Always curious about what was around the corner and eager to get there. She had extremely severe osteoarthritis and the meds she was on had largely stopped working. Megan I miss you and it's going to be a very long time until I stop looking for you. Now you aren't hurting. If there is any kind of afterlife you'll be there waiting and I'll be very glad to see you and all the others who are already there when that day comes. I'll always miss you lovely Megan.

In Michigan it is legal for shelters to sell animals for research who have been surrendered by the families they lived with or animals who are seized by the authorities. If they end up in the shelter system in that state look out, they could very likely end up in a research facility as an experimental subject.



This is Maxine, she is being used by Iams in their test lab. She is trying to hide in the back of her cage. She has trouble eating when locked into the metabolic test cage. She was debarked along with several other test dogs.



This dog has no name, she is also being used by Iams for testing purposes. She has no access to natural light or to the outdoors, she is not allowed out of her cage even when it is cleaned. According to an undercover investigator she is sweet, lonely and depressed.



This is Fifi who has been used as a lab test subject for six years.



This is Maisy who has been in a cage since 1997. She has also been debarked.

Is this where you want your pets to end up???

Over 127 dogs were killed today in Wilkes County North Carolina for no reason except ignorance and prejudice. The dogs had been seized from a person who used them for fighting. Not all of them were fighting dogs, some were nursing mothers who had puppies after the seizure. They and the puppies were all killed. There is no reason for this. Several reputable agencies had offered to evaluate and place the dogs in places where they could have been rehabilitated. Others had offered to pay the cost of spay/neuter for all of the dogs. All these offers were ignored. All of the dogs were killed today. We kill the victims. The perpetrators were given a slap on the wrist and set free.

Here's a chilling statistic - 575 animals are put to death every hour in shelters across the US. If you want a pet don't buy one - ADOPT - YOU'RE SAVING A LIFE.

I’ll always remember all of you with much love. You were a very large part of my life and if there is anything beyond this existence I want to be with all of you again.

 

Ceilidh –   1988 – 12-7-2003

            You were such a sweet handsome little sheltie man. I still miss the way you curled up on the leg of the recliner next to me in the evenings and the way you always wanted to be close. Whoever dumped you outside the shelter where I found you did me a huge favor. I’m glad I knew you, even though I only had you as part of my family for 7 years. It wasn’t long enough.

 

Shelley –   1995 – 7-5-2005

            The first dog in my family since I was a kid. You looked so much like a small yellow lab it was hard to believe there was some chow somewhere in your background. You were blond and beautiful and cheerful and outgoing and always, always loving. I like thinking that now you and your best buddy Snow are playing together again. 10 years as part of my family was entirely too short. I miss you still.

 

Honey –   1989 – 9-7-2007

            I only knew you for about 3 years and you were already an old dog when I met you. Such a tiny poodle, only 8 lbs when I brought you home. They were wonderful years. You were a grouch who wanted to be loved when you wanted, not on my terms but yours. That was fine, I’ve always had a liking for grouches. I wish I had known you longer.

 

Snow –   1996 – 12-31-07

            My so handsome, white chow. Shy, gentle, never mean. The nine years you lived with me wasn't long at all. I remember how scared you were when I met you, laying with your head under the fence because you had made friends with Shelley and wanted to play. Even that first night when you followed her into the the house and I dumped you in the tub for a bath because you were so dirty you never even snapped at me. Whoever abused you and then dumped you on the street deserves any bad thing that happens to him. I loved your gentle nature and sweetness. You were a very special gentleman. I’m going to miss you for the rest of my life.

Ripped off from The Ninth. This is the first one of these I've done but when I saw the list  I couldn't resist.

Bold the ones you’ve read, underline the ones you read for school, italicize the ones you started but didn’t finish. Add * beside the ones you liked and would (or did) read again or recommend (even if you read them for school in the first place), and a dash next to books you own but have not read.



Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury*
1984 - George Orwell *
I Am Legend - Richard Matheson*
Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut
Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card*
Speaker for the Dead - Orson Scott Card
The Handmaid's Tale: A Novel - Margaret Atwood
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions - Edwin A. Abbott
Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson
The Player of Games - Iain M. Banks
A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
Hyperion - Dan Simmons
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick
Lucifer's Hammer - Larry Niven*
Dune - Frank Herbert
Childhood's End - Arthur C. Clarke
Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
Shadow & Claw: The First Half of 'The Book of the New Sun' - Gene Wolfe
Foundation (Foundation Novels) - Isaac Asimov*
The Sirens of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams *
The Forever War - Joe Haldeman *
Jurassic Park - Michael Crichton
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress - Robert A. Heinlein*
Starship Troopers - Robert A. Heinlein*
Out of the Silent Planet - C.S.Lewis
Xenocide - Orson Scott Card
The Andromeda Strain - Michael Crichton*
A Fire Upon The Deep - Vernor Vinge
Red Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson
Caves of Steel - Isaac Asimov*
Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
The Martian Chronicles - Ray Bradbury*
Revelation Space - Alastair Reynolds
Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C. Clarke
The Mote in God's Eye - Larry Niven
Valis - Philip K. Dick
Time Enough for Love - Robert A. Heinlein*
The Man in the High Castle - Philip K. Dick
The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester
The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer - Neal Stephenson
A Deepness in the Sky - Vernor Vinge
A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle (and the others in this trilogy)*
Doomsday Book - Connie Willis
Neuromancer - William Gibson
Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert A. Heinlein*
Ringworld - Larry Niven*
The Cyberiad - Stanislaw Lem
2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur C. Clarke*
A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller Jr.
Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut
The Dispossessed - Ursula K. Le Guin
Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny
Startide Rising - David Brin*
The Reality Dysfunction Part I: Emergence - Peter F. Hamilton
I, Robot - Isaac Asimov*
The Incredible Shrinking Man - Richard Matheson
Gray Lensman (and the other Lensman books) - Edward E. Smith
The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham
Ubik - Philip K. Dick
Contact - Carl Sagan*
The Postman - David Brin*
To Your Scattered Bodies Go - Philip Jose Farmer*
The Fountains of Paradise - Arthur C. Clarke*
His Master's Voice - Stanislaw Lem
Journey to the Centre of the Earth - Jules Verne
The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. LeGuin*
Eon - Greg Bear*
A Stainless Steel Trio - Harry Harrison
The Invisible Man - H.G. Wells
The Uplift War - David Brin*
Burning Chrome - William Gibson
Ilium - Dan Simmons
Solaris - Stanislaw Lem
The Demolished Man - Alfred Bester*
The Door into Summer - Robert A. Heinlein*
Way Station - Clifford D. Simak*
Fiasco - Stanislaw Lem
The City and the Stars and the Sands of Mars - Arthur C. Clarke*
The Gods Themselves - Isaac Asimov*
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - Jules Verne
Use of Weapons - Iain M. Banks
City - Clifford D. Simak*
More Than Human - Theodore Sturgeon*
A Princess of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs
Gateway - Frederik Pohl*
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch - Philip K. Dick
Ender's Shadow - Orson Scott Card
A Scanner Darkly - Philip K. Dick
Citizen of the Galaxy - Robert A. Heinlein*
The Lathe of Heaven: A Novel - Ursula K. Le Guin
Puppet Masters - Robert A. Heinlein*
The War of the Worlds - H. G. Wells
The Time Machine - H. G. Wells
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court - Mark Twain
Blood Music - Greg Bear*
Have Space Suit, Will Travel - Robert A. Heinlein*
The Chrysalids - David Harrower

Snow died today. He had come home from the vet on Saturday morning after treatment for the initial mauling and was doing well, up, walking around, frustrated he couldn't go outdoors, etc. By Sunday night he was not interested in eating much, as the night went on he got more and more listless and by 10:30 it was obvious he did not feel well. I took him back to the vet this morning early and they attempted to give him more iv fluids and medications. He initially perked up a little but about 10 minutes later he started downhill again and for the last hour was in what seemed to be a coma.

Goodbye my handsome, gentle boy. I'll always miss you and remember you with love. You spent 11 great years with me and I loved every one of them. You were so shy and scared when I first found you on the street but you never bit or were mean to me. All you showed me was love and I miss you.

End of the year/beginning of 2008 hasn't ended/started to well for Snow, my white chow mix. He got into neighbor's yard 2 days ago through a hole in fence that no one was aware of and the neighbor's dog mauled him pretty badly. He's back home from the vet now, very sore, lots of stitches, on antibiotics and pain meds for the next week or so. The other dog bit him in several places and the worst injury of all was that she tore a sizable flap of skin back from the muscles on one side of his abdomen. Luckily she didn't do any deeper damage but right now Snow looks horrible, lots of staples and stitches plus a drain in the worst injury and bruises everywhere. Hopefully the skin flap will stay viable and reattach after some time. Right now he's limping round the house and staring wistfully at the back yard since he can't go outside for the next few days. He's also very frustrated by the e-collar he has to wear to prevent his biting at the drain and staples when they irritate him.