EDITION OF TUESDAY, MAY 29, 2018 (PetPowellPress) We’ve reached a key holiday in the United States, created by Holiday Insights in 2011. Many of you are ahead of us on this, but, to enlighten the rest, May 29 is National Learn About Composting Day. Has nothing to do with Washington, D.C. The official dish of the day is a Spinach & Mushroom Salad. You can’t make this stuff up, though, of course, Holiday Insights appears to have done so and who can't applaud Compost Day, eh? Oh, and on this date in 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay conquered Mount Everest, the highest place on earth.
That cat? Has nothing to do with either Compost Day or the conquering of Mount Everest. That is Meg and in case you saw her photo in any of the weekend appeals to help her find a home, she now has a home. Tipster Leighann Hayden reports that this blue-eyed lap cat was adopted over the weekend at Collin County Animal Services in McKinney.
The Collin County Cat with the “Hey, you adopted somebody else ahead of me?” look is #20082OS, a 3-year-old fellow who’s available at Collin County HERE.Email the shelter at [email protected] or call 972-547-7292.
Leighann wrote, “They are extremely full with kitties at CCAS. Saw lots of cute baby kittens there.”
SUPPORTING THE EFFORTS
TO SAVE COCKER SPANIELS
The Sixth Annual Dogleg Classic is scheduled for Sunday, June 3, at Meadowbrook Golf Course in Fort Worth --- the event supports the work of DFW Cocker Spaniel Rescue. Entry fee for a team is $360; an individual can play for $90.
Register online HERE.
The rescue group also needs volunteers -- you don’t have to be a golfer, just a diligent worker for animals. To ask how you can help, email [email protected] . The Dogleg Classic has a shotgun start at 1 p.m. -- volunteers will start working earlier than that!
FYI: Among the available adorables through DFW Cocker Spaniel Rescue is that handsome fellow Captain Casper, a recent rescue. He’s neutered, house-trained and six years old. The rescue group brings in young dogs and older dogs and sometimes there’ll even be Cocker mixes. All are in need of some love. Go to dfwcockerrescue.org.
[LARRY ASIDE. At readlarrypowell.com, we endorse Cocker Spaniels as the perfect companions companions -- not just the perfect dog or pet, but the perfect being for companionship on this planet. We base this factual opinion on a long and successful partnership with the late Cocker Laureate of the State of Texas, Inky, a mange-afflicted Cocker puppy I rescued from Kiest Park. That is Inky, our staff impersonator, from our archives, demonstrating his impression of a golfer rushing into the clubhouse and spotting, on the post tournament buffet table, a giant steaming platter of Mom’s Big Club Meatloaf with Ace Gravy, accompanied by Angry Putter-Mashed Potatoes and In-The-Rough-Green Salad. Dessert? It’s Golf. Enjoy the Humble Pie.]
THE CURIOUS CASE OF TITAN,
A DOWDY FERRY CASUALTY
Over the weekend, outrage began to build over the fate of Titan. According to a post on the Facebook page of animal advocate Emily Speck, this dog was owner-surrendered at the Garland shelter on March 9, adopted on May 25 and “found shot to death on Dowdy Ferry Road 5/26.”
Here’s a link to the Speck PAGE.
And here are links to two videos with Jeremy Boss of the Dowdy Ferry Animal Commission who, apparently, received a bit of a “taunting call” about where to find the dog’s body. Video ONE and Video TWO.
[LARRY ASIDE: One of the comments reacting to the Speck post said there are people who adopt Pitties just to kill them. Snopes.com, the fact-checking people, have declared this to be a myth. Still, it is not beyond the possibility that people get dogs from shelters and use them as bait dogs for training fighting dogs and when the adopted former pet won’t fight, he or she is killed. Remember how quarterback-now-broadcaster I won’t watch Michael Vick dispatched dogs at his felonious training facility. He isn’t the only dog-fighting felon who eliminated overhead by murdering dogs.]
THE CROWD IN COWTOWN
Fort Worth Animal Care & Control issued a weekend appeal to rescuers and partners for help with uncrowding the shelter. The note from the shelter’s Kim Fredericks read, “Like many shelters in the north Texas area, we find ourselves at-or-near capacity more and more these days. We always want to thank you for your outstanding support of our animals. Your willingness to rescue pets from our shelter has helped us maintain an incredible live release rate of 85%-92% for more than two years.
“We're in need of your immediate help once again. We are full. Check out the dogs who need the most help courtesy of our partner Urgent Animals of Fort Worth.”
[LARRY ASIDE: I was looking at the available animals in Fort Worth and saw this very pig-like photo of Boss. Enchanted me right away and that’s why Boss’ photo is advertising the need for human help at the animal shelter in Cowtown.]
LOADING UP AGAIN IN WILMER
These are a couple of the several dogs in a fix in Wilmer’s small shelter, according to the latest report from the folks monitoring the low- traffic muni- cipal shelters on the south- ern side of Dallas.
Alia is the “sweetie pie” Border Collie mix who has “clearly been out and about” but now is in a shelter that will be happy to adopt her out or get her to a rescue while reserving the possibility of giving her the needle.
Same thing with that Hound/Pointer mix Laurel. The report is Alia and Laurel “are currently in the same kennel and seem to love each other.”
To get involved in saving the lives of these or other Wilmer animals, contact Laura Macias at [email protected] or call or text 214-949-2726.
TWO TO GO IN MESQUITE
Yep, dealing in pairs in Mesquite again. These two were strays who came in on May 22. Our Mesquite tipster Judi Brown writes, :The issue is they were and still are scared -- and the ACO had to use a pole to capture them.”
They are mono-coated Huey, a 3-year-old Chiweenie (38633511), and Dewey (38633503), described as a 1- or 2-year-old “Chihuahua/Corgi mix” who may be his son. Huey may have the “beginning of a cherry eye.” He weighs 19 pounds. Dewey weighs 16 pounds. While he may be timid and scared, Judi writes, “He seems to like to be held.”
To ask about adopting these fellows, call 972-216-6283 or email [email protected].
CONTEMPLATIONS:
CONVERSATIONS ABOUT ANIMALS
When you are congenial humans and you live with animals, youe conversationa may occasionally focus on the companion animals who are, indeed, the family. We’ve been raising this abandoned kitten Simon. We got him when he was about a month old, bottle-fed him and now he’s growing into a giant white cat with “flamepoint” ears and a tail with reddish rings. He did not learn much from his mom, so we’ve been his examples. No known connection to living with us, but this cat eats shredded lettuce and, now and then, spinach. “He might be part rabbit,” I said to my Funspouse Martha who replied, “That would explain his shape.” ... Being a keen observer of changes in my environment, I saw something different about our boy Dudley and asked, “Where’d Dudley get the new collar?” “Mail order,” Martha replied. “How’d you now what size to buy?” I asked. “I measured his neck,” she said. I asked “How big was it?” and she replied, “Nineteen.” “Oh,” I said helpfully, “He can wear some of my old shirts.” We’ll see. ... And you may wonder what is going on in this photo with my breakfast bowl, the paper napkin and the cat. Here’s the deal: I fixed a breakfast omelet of Eggbeaters, faux sausage, minced onion, milled flax seeds and jalapeno slices. Then I shook a tablespoon of ground parmesan and sprinkled it all over the omelet. I ate the omelet and there was a good coating of cheese on the bottom of the bowl. As I was writing, The Senator stepped off his table, nudged the napkin aside and began to lick the cheese off the bowl. It turns out he is a cat who loves parmesan cheese. We’ve experimented. He can’t resist it. I know the feeling. We think he developed the taste for cheese while he was an intern at a Washington boutique haberdashery with sohisticated snacks --the name of the place is The Many Moods of Cheese ‘n’ Pants.
--- Aim your SmartMouse at “comment” below and type a reply, some advice or the next set of six lucky Lotto Texas numbers. I need a break. ---