Ah, the season continues and so, too, the stories...

Remember, back on Feb. 2 Punxatawney Phil predicted an early spring. What does a Pennsylvania groundhog know about Texas weather? Let’s get our winter coats out of premature storage and move on.
We’ll start with two souls who need a break (our pal Jeneva O’Connor and her adorable foundling Ellie) and move into some rescue work for a cat, an unclaimed dog named Star and touch on a starving dog story.
ANOTHER PITCH FOR ELLIE: Bless Jeneva O’Connor’s heart. She’s still plugging away at finding Ellie a good home. We mentioned this back around Christmas when Jeneva, a legendary Dallas petsitter, found the dog out in the street2, puzzled and perhaps injured.
Here’s Jeneva’s appeal on behalf of Ellie. “Help me help her. Just read this and pass it on. Obviously almost everyone that is receiving this has a pet! But think of others you know who might want this sweet little girl!
“Ellie has been with me since Dec.18.  Although she is a darling, funny, and affectionate little Spitz, there are too many other dogs and cats in my house. She becomes overwhelmed with excitement and has difficulty calming down, and she transfers her play to my 15-year-old Beagle-- this is not acceptable.
“Although she is barely a year old, she would do best in a home without other pets, at least until she settles in for a while. She can learn a new routine and is very happy to be quietly playing with her toys, or just lying next to someone. At barely 22 pounds, she is a perfect size.
“She is playful ,and perhaps has suffered a slight head trauma, as she loves to stand up on her hind legs, but frequently loses her balance and falls over. That, and a slight head tilt, make her appear very cute. Also, if you hold her head she becomes very still and looks at you with the sweetest expression.
“She is housebroken, and completely vetted and spayed. She will be a fine companion for someone. Please help me get her out of this confusing household and into a home that suits her.”
To reach the famed N-Trust-Ur-Pet sitter Jeneva, email [email protected] or call 214-352-7700 or 214-727-7903.
AN INJURED CAT GETS A BREAK, NEEDS ANOTHER: We got this report from Becky Haisma, the longtime stalwart rescuer from Paws In The City, the Dallas rescue group.
Here’s the deal with this cat: I’m not running the photo of the awful leg problem. It’s too much. So you get the wide-eyed mugshot of this cat.
Where did the cat come from? A Southeast Dallas neighborhood, Becky says. “The neighborhood is boarded up with lots of homeless people and gangs. She lives with a disabled vet inside but he lets a homeless man stay with him sometimes and he let's her out sometimes.  Don't know what caused the wounds.”
The deal is Kitty Cat needs a foster for at least two weeks. The disabled vet is ailing right now and has no transportation. “Something happened to his cat’s leg and it was getting worse so he reached out for help,” Becky’s note reads. “With a police escort into the scary neighborhood, we were able to get the cat to a vet yesterday [Wednesday]. the leg has severe abscesses that were growing bigger and getting badly infected.” 
The cat’s wounds have been cleaned and she’s on antibiotics. She's’ vaccinated and negative for the bad cat diseases. Becky says, “She needs a safe place to heal. The man is not able to provide this and the wound will likely get re-infected if we return her to him now. She is very scared although she lets him pet her. She is acting feral at the vet.”
To offer to help this cat, email [email protected]. She says Paws In The City is helping with the vet bills -- the need now is a safe place to recover.
THE DOG, STAR: Remember the dog Star we featured a couple of days ago?
Everyone who meets her loves her. She’s in the Mesquite Animal Shelter.
Our tipster, rescuer Rebecca Mandeville told us yesterday, “The youTube video’s been viewed about 100 times since your article was published. . . . .unfortunately, I just talked w/the shelter and they’ve not received a single inquiry.” Here’s that video link. In case it helps.
And here’s the contact: [email protected].
CONTEMPLATION: Today’s contemplation directs you to a discussion underway on the Duct Team 6 rescue group’s Facebook page.
We learned about this from several emails. DT6 posted a plea for a foster for a starving dog on Feb. 17. But that situation changed after Dallas Animal Services became involved -- as you can see by reading the Duck Team 6 comments and explanations on the Facebook site HERE. Best way to tell you how to find it on the DT6 site is to say “look for this photo and start reading.” There are more than 80 comments.
Many animal people see a starving dog and want to take it away from the person who is allowing the dog to suffer. Yet, this dog was not confiscated, but was left with the person who reportedly said he didn’t know that a nursing dog with a litter needs more food to keep from starving. 
Of course, as anyone who has ever picked up a starving dog can tell you, it takes more than overnight without a bowl of kibble to get to the state in this photo.
Someone purportly with Dallas Animal Services posted a couple of explanatory notes on the Duck Team 6 Facebook page HERE. No name signed to the notes. Probably you should read it all yourself on the DT6 site.
But in case you're in a hurry, this is the first “DAS response” -- it appears to have been posted  on Feb. 20 via a DAS Facebook link (that's it in the blue type, as lifted off the DT6 page). It reads:
“Dallas Animal Services and Adoption Center All - We appreciate everyone's concern, and thank JP [Bonnelly, the rescuer] and DT6 for bringing this to our attention. We sent an Animal Services Officer experienced in cruelty cases out yesterday [Feb. 19] and he spoke with this dog's owner. The owner is a very young man who has never had a nursing mom before and he simply didn't realize that she needed a lot of extra food to help her stay healthy while she is lactating. The young man was compliant and eager to learn more about how to properly care for the dog and her puppies - all of whom appear to be in very good health.
“City leaders want us to be a resource in the community and educating people on how to properly care for their pets, and encouraging them to come to us when they need help with their pets is part of that job. If we just seize the dog without doing any education on proper pet care, the owner will just go get another dog and treat that dog the same way - the cycle of uneducated owners is repeated and the idea of pets as disposable property is reinforced. That is not our goal. Keeping all that in mind, we have decided that leaving the dog in the home, with follow-up visits to make sure the owner does what he has been told, is the best course of action. Our hope is we can turn an uneducated owner into a responsible, educated owner, and keep a dog in her home. And yes, the owner received multiple citations.”
Now, in an effort to be helpful to those of you who live in Dallas and may not know about your city government, you can click HERE to see who your city council representative is and how to contact that council member and Mayor Mike Rawlings. You can see how to contact the shelter at www.dallasanimalservices.org.
 I’m sure you’ll want to tell the council how grateful you are that, as elected city leaders, they’ve encouraged the animal services folks to educate residents via citation and consultation rather than confiscation. (Larry aside: We’ve sent queries to DAS personnel to determine if the note on the DT6 page was an actual DAS response and also to ask what citations were given to the dog’s owner. We’ll let you know.)
Now, if a dog doesn’t go into the city shelter, it doesn’t become a DAS intake statistic or a euthanasia statistic or, for that matter, a live release statistic, either, and taxpayers have avoided the cost of feeding and vet care. 
Of course, if the dog was a baby human it would be immediately moved to a safe haven and the caregiver would be thrown into the slammer for investigation of abuse and neglect. But this is just a dog. And if it dies, well, we’ve all learned a lesson, haven’t we, and we sure won’t have to worry about this dog any more.
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