On Friday, take time to smile...

You know why you’re seeing this cat first thing today? Because the picture makes me smile.
That is one comfy cat. The photo was taken by Lacy Ball, the communication specialist with the SPCA of Texas, and, frankly, the photo communicated with me. Lacy titled her e-mail “Maybe a pick-me-up” and when I opened the photo and saw this black and white cat all curled up, it did pick me up!
First, I always get a kick out of the ways cats and dogs find to sleep with abandon. Second, this cat reminds me of our late gentleman feline, Cyril. He was a round mound of slumber, a genuine plus around the house.
We had such a rough week around here for animal stories that I thought this was the way to start Friday’s report. Lacy Ball’s pick-me-up photo of Shada the Available Cat. She also told me that Shada and Shelby The Also Available Cat are “pair bonded and must go home together.” That cat that’s awake is Shelby. They’re both at the SPCA Perry Animal Care Center in McKinney. You can find them on www.spca.org and see how to adopt them.
As long as I was clicked onto the SPCA website, I decided to look around for a genuine, immediately recognizable Earhound and, son of a gun, if I didn’t spot Alvis right away. Not sure what breed he is, but the SPCA described as an “8-year-old cut jack” which I think must be some sort of hybrid long-faced Jack Russell.
Just typing that last sentence made me feel good.
IT’S ZANY IN EULESS: Oh, you know, the folks at Euless Animal Shelter are desperate to get a bunch of dogs adopted and relieve pressure on the small shelter. And they get help promoting and sponsoring the animals from the students with Euless Trinity High Schools GAP Club – Girls Awareness Program.
We’re just highlighting one dog but Hummer has proper summer headwear and an obvious summer dog tongue. He’s 91 pounds – the theory is he’s a Mastiff/Swiss Mountain Dog mix.
And he’s already neutered, friendly and huggable.
You can see the shelter’s site HERE and the GAP club animal site HERE. Call the shelter at 817-685-1594.
MEANWHILE AT DALLAS ANIMAL SERVICES: Well, of course, we all know that there are always animals on the clock at DAS, but we also know there are always people trying to help them.
Some of them get helped – for example we get this info from Jonnie England, the Director of Animal Advocacy for Metroplex Animal Coalition and a member of the Dallas Animal Shelter Advisory Commission. She cites the list of animals on last week’s DAS VSP (Very Special Pet List), dogs and cats that have been in the shelter for 45 days with no takers.
Before presenting the VSP dogs and cats on the July 3 euthanasia list the note reads, “Lonny the cat and dogs Daisy and Deuce were adopted, and Cat Matchers took Leona and Feona, the Cinnamon Twins!”
So, back to the starting line with these three cats and two dogs – yep, nobody takes ‘em and they’ll never see Independence Day. No Fourth of July.
No fireworks – which reminds me that no doubt the shelter will need to empty some cages because when there are fireworks, there are runaway animals and runaway animals wind up in the shelter. Why is that? Because people are idiots. I’d like to have a nickel for every time I’ve typed that sentence or thought it.
OK, back to the animals.
That dog with the happy face and the summertime tongue is Bruce, 2 years old, 55 pounds and “super friendly.”
That dog who looks as if she is posing for the “Most Likely To Succeed” photo in the high school yearbook is Red, 4 months old and 22 pounds. She’s shy, they say.
And the chubby-looking cat who looks like she ought to have county jail numbers under her chin is Jelly – 7 months old and 7 pounds.
Then we have two black cats. Becca on the left and Carla on the right. They’re sisters, 3 months old and under four pounds.
What’ll it take to adopt these animals? Nothing. Not a single dime. No adoption fee. None. Zip. Zero.
Remember, Saturday is the last day of National Adopt-a-Cat Month and DAS extended the bargains to cats and dogs.
To adopt animals, here are the contacts: Catherine.baxter@dallascityhall.com, nicole.self@dallascityhall.com or adrian.vela@dallascityhall.com or call 214-671-0249 or 214-670-8312. Rescue groups should email mark.cooper@dallascityhall.com or mindy.sewell@dallascityhall.com or call 214-670-8298.
You can see these animals in person at the shelter – along with scores and scores of other animals – by visiting the facility at N. Westmoreland at I-30. Goto the city shelter's website  HERE.
Oh, yeah, I thought I’d check DAS’s inventory for Earhounds and ran across Sylvia the Shepherd Mix and Zeus, described as a Pug/Boston Terrier mix. I didn’t find a single Cut Jack in the shelter. But that was last night and by today, who knows what has shown up.
FIFTY WAITS BUT THE DONKEY IS GONE: Earlier in the week we published this photo and the story of Fifty, a handsome Pit fellow who is on death row at Collin County Animal Services. We learned about them from Miranda Fick, the CCAS volunteer coordinator. She and CCAS volunteer shelter walker Allison Roberts keep us informed of the constant daily pressure at CCAS – it’s in McKinney and it’s been loaded with animals for some time now.
Miranda sent us a note over night. “The Donkey was rescued, yet Fifty is still waiting at the shelter. Each day he comes out of his shell a little more.  Here is a quick video and a glimpse at this boy's soulful eyes.  We can't let him down!” That Fifty video is HERE. [Larry aside: Based on experience with dogs, that is one lonely dog. Makes me want to go get him. If it wouldn't put us beyond the "lonely" limit in Dallas.]
 Oh, and she notes that on Saturday and Sunday, all adoptions are $50 each at the shelter. To ask about any animal at the shelter e-mail ldrummonds@co.collin.tx.us and animalshelter@co.collin.tx.us.  You can reach the county’s animal services page HERE.  
THE PRESSURE IN BURNS FLAT: It is infrequent that we find rescuers willing to spill their guts about the pressure of all of life. We have for many years written about the work of Terry Lynn Fisher, the accidental rescuer in Burns Flat, Okla. She got into this because a peace officer, rather than trying to humanely capture her dog Oddball, shot the dog to death. Terry Lynn vowed that wouldn’t happen to anybody else if she had anything to do with it.
She’s had something to do with it – and Burns Flat has been dodging the bullet of euthanasia for a while. But summer is here and things are tough. Terry Lynn writes, “I am just so tired. I really do not know how much longer I can continue. I honestly am just wore out. I have actually been on ‘bed rest’ because of my back (not so much, with all the animals to care for). The pound has stayed overflowing, even though I transport some to rescue every week. They just keep coming in. I have had 2 injured tiny kittens -- one died, one survived. Two kittens that just needed a safe place to go.  An elderly boxer PULLED through a wooden fence by two pits and mauled to death.
”Now, today [Thursday], after a transport, I get a call about a cat that had been SHOT. I go check and it is just laying there, with a hole in its little leg. We took it to the vet and he said its temperature is VERY high and it is dehydrated. He is very weak and not doing well at all, but we have to try.
”I am having serious personal issues right now. As most of you know, I mow for money to do what I do with all the throwaways, but with the back problems, I have NOT been able to mow. I am going back to work tomorrow, so maybe I can get more yards. But I need help with this poor cat. I have NO PLACE to keep cats.
”I know it seems like I have been begging for help a lot. I am so sorry, but I am alone and I feel like I am drowning and I just really need help.”
To offer help to this rescuer in western Oklahoma, call Terry Lynn at 580-330-1459 or email her at remembering_oddball@yahoo.com. You can snail mail her at Terry Lynn Fisher, P.O. Box 578, Burns Flat, OK. 73624.
[Larry theory: That’s a photo of the cat, shot in the left foreleg. Right through it. Not even a graze. Why? Because someone in Oklahoma is an idiot. Probably drove up from Dallas for the summer.]
CONTEMPLATIONS: Regarding the opening photo of Shada, I am compelled to tell you that our black and white boy Cyril, who has been gone many, many years now, was as broad across the beam as a quarterhorse and about once a week he would decide to gallop thunderously through the house, then come to a sudden halt and return to his steady, slow, “I’m in no hurry” pace. Once my cinemaspouse Martha and I were watching the credits at the end of some rented video (that’s how far back this goes) when the name of an assistant something or other scrolled up and, just as Cyril walked in front of the TV, Martha and I read in unison, “SNICK KAPLAN!” and Cyril stopped in his tracks, turned to look at us and, I swear, smiled. We assumed then that we had inadvertently discovered his alias. Cyril, AKA Snick Kaplan. Cats have existences that we humans can never fathom. We’re lucky they include us now and then.
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