Back in the saddle

I am so very happy to be back at the Humane Society of the Palm Beaches! It has been five years since I left there and I can't believe how much things have changed in just five short years. Many of the staff are still the same, and that's really good because all the good people stayed, or are coming back. I still have some reservations about working in the shelter and seeing all those sad, sad faces. I found a cat in the cat room who had been there since November of 2007! I can't believe how long he's been there. I think it's very hard to place cats, everyone wants kittens. I so wish I had a big, big farm with lots of land far, far away from any roads or cars or trucks and I would have lots of "barn cats" who could live on the premises and just be free. But of course I would take twenty and in a day or so twenty more would have taken their place. It never ends and that is the tragedy of working in a shelter. I keep looking for Siamese, and wondering what I will do if I find one. It will be very hard for me to leave a Siamese behind. Or if I find that perfect Maine Coon that I have been waiting for my whole life. I don't think I can bring any new cats into the household though. The existing resident cats wouldn't like that and have made that perfectly clear every time Rocky and Clyde come to visit. Maybe they would get over it, but they are all older now and so set in their ways.

And there is a very sad greyhound. He's a love. He's black with a little white blaze on his chest. He reminds me of my sweet Eli who I miss so much but he's much, much thinner, scrawny, actually. He is usually up there at the cage door, always the first to be curious and interested to see who is visiting. But not today. Today he lay in his bed and all my efforts to make friends with him were in vain. It's all so very, very sad.

I am looking forward to going to Capital Hill this weekend to work on all the pending bills. I always feel as if I have made a big difference after going to this conference. This is not a conference with a bunch of people with big egos just wanting to see and be seen. No, this is a very important work time to get a lot of work done. There was quite a bit of controversy over TAFA last year because of the humane farming activities, but that does not seem to be an issue this year.

I have to try to talk myself out of taking home this little white, long-haired Chihuahua. This little guy has a whole lot of issues and I am not sure I am strong enough to deal with them all. He's not housebroken, of course, and that will be an issue. I wonder how long it will take him to learn? But there is the bigger issue of his emotional stuff. He really has a lot of psychological issues, as do all the other dogs in the shelter who came from the Tennessee puppy mill. I pray that they will all recover, and find loving and caring homes. I am proud to be a part of the effort.
Bye Ce