Cats, kittens, dogs, Earl and the plumber...

Who knows how many fresh kittens there are around here? Impossible to count because they don’t all wind up in shelters.
Nothing quite as depressing to a rescuer  in Dallas as reading  “Free kittens” or “Free puppies.”  Or “Lottery winner in New Jersey.”
OK, let’s move on and remember to spay and neuter.
THE DALLAS CATS -- Isn’t that the name of a jazz group? Well, maybe not.
Anyway, these are some Dallas cats. They’re all in the Dallas Animal Services Shelter & Adoption Center.  You’ve seen one of them before. More on the ol’ fellow in a second.
First up is Cleo, who birthed 3 kittens earlier in the week, and is “super fearful.” So the shelter folks are being cautious around A777034. No sense testing the new mom.
And that brings us to A776119 -- the senior cat we mentioned earlier. They’re calling him Franky now. He’s about 10 and came in as a stray. He’s very skinny -- negative for FELV and may have some kidney issues. (Aren't those great ear tufts!)
In contrast to Franky, there is A772540, known as Bonkers. He’s a bob-tailed cat who is a bit wild. He’s a year old and neutered. Healthy, DAS says, but whoever had him trained him to play rough.
To ask about helping these cats or any cat or dog in a fix at the shelter, email
[email protected].
Veteran cat rescuer Kelly Bond has been monitoring Franky and says the shelter says the little guy eats, but not much. Some blood work “points to either cancer or kidney disease.” Maybe he’s saveable, maybe he’s chronic. Maybe he just needs a good home to spend his last months. You hate to think he’ll reach the age of 10 and die without a familiar loving hand petting him as the world grows dark.
THE INTERESTING FACES ON THE CLOCK:  I’ve been looking at faces of animals on the clock for quite some time now. Like a lot of you have. 
It never fails to amaze me how the most wonderful animals wind up on death row.
These are some of the animals at Collin County Animal Services. CCAS has a bunch of hustling staffers and volunteers who work hard to get animals to safety. We got this batch from our usual tipster, the volunteer shelter-walker Allison Robeerts. 
(If you’re interested in saving these animals, email both [email protected] and [email protected]  .
That dog sitting up doesn’t have a name listed but is #401702 and is a fellow who has a “great smile and walks well on the leash.” Knows sit, shake and beg, they say. The dog is about 2 and deserves to get a lot older.
Then there’s this obvious Earhound, $402008, a Boxer mix named Chloe. Kind of nervous but loves hot dogs. [Larry aside: Nervous and loves hot dogs -- and here it is baseball season comin‘ up. So, obviously, this dog is a Texas Rangers fan. Nervous and loves hot dogs.]
And, speaking of dogs, here’s a bunch -- 8 puppies -- 3 boy and 3 girl Rottie mixes and 2 Lab mix girls -- all about 2 months old. They were “surrendered” to the shelter and now they’re all on the clock together.
Toi see the volunteer-maintained Facebook page of urgent CCAS animals, click HERE.
TWO DOGS IN A FIX? Karen Lee, the animal advocate, sent us a note about these two dogs that appear to be “hanging out at a home that is vacant and for sale. Maybe they once lived there or it’s just a quiet refuge.”
The black/brindle dog is said to be humanf riendly and the “red/golden” dog is shy -- wants to be friendly but isn’t quite sure. 
They may have been in this situation for a couple of weeks.
The goal is to avoid having them go into a shelter. The location is near the Jacksboro Highway at Loop 820. (To get more details about the location and to ask about helping, email [email protected].)
WHAT HAS BECOME OF LASSARINA? Ah, Amy Warren, who spotted this Dogue de Bordeaux mix in the Dallas animal shelter, was moved by the face to try to help the dog and, consequently, sent us a happy email yesterday reporting that Lassarina is now with the School of Wags in Killeen and known as “Sarina.”
Amy says the group helps owners train dogs and also does some rescue, primarily Mastiffs, and, as carefull readers know, the Dogue de Bordeaux is also known as the French Mastiff.
The School of Wags Facebook site HERE tells the story of Sarina. It isn’t a pretty story.
CONTEMPLATIONS: We’ve had plumbing work being done. It’s one of those stealth plumbing things where when you least expect it a plumber will materialize in your backyard and start working on a pipe.  Last night, about 7 p.m. -- the sun is still up these days -- my funspouse Martha decides to let the dogs out and I’m sitting at the computer working when, suddenly I heard, “Larry, help! HELP!” and some loud barking. I go rushing out to find that Earl the Rottie has an unexpected plumber frozen in place in a 3-foot deep pipe trench. Earl’s stubby tail was wagging about 100 miles and hour. The plumber was not quite sure of things. But when Earl came to me and smiled, well, let’s just say the tension was relieved. Earl had no tension -- the rest of us did. He simply likes to say “Hey!” to strangers and never gets the chance in his own backyard. My alarmspouse Martha’s heartrate returned to normal about a half-hour later. ... Martha also spotted kind of amusing Pit Bull test on Pinterest last night. See it HERE. ... This is my late little brother Barry’s birthday -- he was born in 1951. I don’t even like to think about the year we lost him -- too recent, but I do like to think about how he made me laugh and how he loved his wife Shelley and their kids, my genius nephews Aaron and Lewis, and his Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Oliver, who is now sitting with him in a chair in the hereafter. Barry always said that sitting at home in a chair with Oliver was a lot better than taking pills to fight blood pressure. Barry was a lawyer and a poet and a little brother. Earl the Rottie would have liked him as much as he likes the plumber.
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