Bollinger County Stray Project Report: Nov. 25-Dec. 1

Hank, the little dog I wrote about last week, has already left me to be adopted. In fact, he could already be adopted.

When you foster a dog, the receiving rescue seldom keeps the foster informed on adoptions, and they usually don’t inform the foster who the adopter was.

Rescues are usually very temperate in that they don’t feed the emotions of the fosters and transport drivers. If I want to find out anything about the status of a dog once it has left my hands (as a foster), I’d need to attempt to follow the pet on social media like Facebook. That is time consuming for those of us who are very busy, but then again, the rescue who finally gets the pet adopted out is also very busy.

A lot of “things” about rescues are cold it seems, at least to my thinking (and feeling).

I liked having a say who got the animal I had cared for. I wanted to make the match, too.

I wanted to know the pets were not in limbo, especially the ones with a special bond to me.

I also felt a degree of responsibility for the dogs with issues, even if they weren’t aggressive issues, but issues like Hank had with separation anxiety and the fact he was not housebroken.

I feel a responsibility to help teach the new owner how best to get that dog trained, especially since I got to understand its temperament.

When I brought Hank to be neutered at the Cape shelter on Tuesday, they had a quick opening for a small pooch and kept him.

Relieved I didn’t have to get up in the middle of the night to get him on grass (before he peed in his crate) but worried all the training I had already done would be foiled.

Last week I also had a caller who needed help with a mother cat who had 10 kittens. Several of them still had their eyes sealed being only about 10-11 days of age. The owner had been told to ask me for help by a friend who I did not remember.

She had four children under the age of 5 and now a stray cat that gave birth to 10 kittens. The litter was in their house, in the basement because of the cold. They were starting to smell due to the high number of kittens for the mom to keep up with.

When I called other rescues asking for help for her one of them said, “She needs to stop having kids!”

I thought to myself, the caller never asked to have the stray cat, and it’s not my place, nor that rescue person, to question someone having their children close together in age or how many they have.

After her harsh snap, she told me she had lost two personal pets recently and was exhausted. That group was also struggling to make ends meet in this economy.

We all need to take a deep breath from time to time. After hearing her harsh response then the amount of grief and worry that person had, I’m forgiving her and took the most responsibility to find the mother cat and kittens a shelter.

Like the mother with the four young children, that shelter worker was overwhelmed, too.

Rescue is usually a balancing act. Every situation is different. It takes a flexible attitude to survive in this line of work. Actually, it is like being a mother of four young kids.

Dogs held for other rescues (1)

• One of four Aussie/Husky, Great Pyrenees type mix pups that were abandoned in Bollinger County.

Return to owner (1), placed in other rescues or foster (1) or adopted (0)

• Hank went to the Cape shelter.

Dogs with erlichia or heartworm (0), special needs (0), or euthanized (0)

• None.

Lost, found, and pets needing homes

• Several dogs listed on our Facebook page, also on the two Bollinger County “What’s Happening” pages, that are found or missing. If you don’t have FB, call us so we can try to match lost pets.

Miscellaneous and contact info

We were caring for 17 dogs and pups at our home as of Dec. 1. If you have a stray camping out in the yard, don’t wait. Call us at (573) 722-3035 or cell (573) 321-0050.