SHADOW OF THE CAT, FATES OF DOGS AND CATS, BEARS & DIAMONDS

EDITION OF FRIDAY, SEPT. 24, 2020 [PetPowellPress] Parts of this edition are being written on Thursday morning — outside the sky is overcast and the temperature is downright livable. The day before, it was about the same thing. And the day before that, first day of Autumn, it was drizzly and cool and here’s the question after 3 days of fall: How can this be the same Texas I was living in two weeks ago? The sun “came out” in the afternoon Thursday — a gentler sun than last month’s.

Night before last I was walking through the living room and saw this Shadow of The Cat on the couch and, immediately, knowing the whereabouts of our felines, I began to look for a cat I didn’t know we had acquired. Nope. Not a cat. Shadow of a pillow. Might be a sign that we need another cat. I guess that shadowy image might be a cat message from beyond.
MEANWHILE, AT THE SPCA,
FAMILIAR FACES WAITING
I was checking the lineup at the SPCA of Texas Thursday to see if anyone had claimed Maggie The Cat — we told her story earlier in the week — and, son of a gun, if I didn’t run across this photo of a dog we’ve published several times in the past couple of months. That upside down dog is Apollo, a fellow who came into the SPCA because he was part of a cruelty case. 
(More later in this item.)
Check their listings on spca.org and you’ll see what comes with them when you foster or adopt. It's a positive thing.
Maggie, as you may recall, “looks different” and that is because of a non-contagious skin condition that causes her face to have odd growths. As you can see from her video, she is a cat who adores being petted by a human. [LARRY ASIDE: I know loving cats and Maggie is absolutely a loving cat.]
What Maggie and Apollo have in common is they both need homes. On Apollo’s listing you can click on his video and see just how handsomely this Earhound adapts to a life that isn’t constantly beset by cruel human behavior in his past.
Here are the links at the SPCA to ask about these two: Make dog appointments at spca.org/dogadopt and cat appointments at spca.org/catadopt.
TOOTHLESS WAS SHOT,
NOW HE’S RESCUED
This story — the cat is named Toothless but not for the expected reason — popped up in the email Thursday. Sondra York, the veteran rescuer/advocate tipped us to his plight. 
The story read that this “stray black cat … was found limping. The people who found him took him to the vet and they said he had been shot with a BB gun and it broke his leg.  The vet said there was no nerve damage. They cleaned up the wound, gave him meds and shots. He tested negative for feline leukemia and feline AIDs. They believe he's about 6 years old and is people friendly.  The person who found him cannot keep or foster him.  Her dog is aggressively not cat friendly.” 
Tell you about “Toothless” in a moment.
We got in touch with J’Anna Mann with Animal Rescue Crusaders of Texas and she sent us the photographs of Toothless — complete with his cast. He was found near the intersection of Los Rios and Park in Plano — near Bob Woodruff Park.
By the time you read this, Toothless will probably be in the care of a foster home. And ARC will have gotten a second vet exam for the boy. [Explanation of Toothless upcoming.]
“Maybe one of your readers will want to adopt him,” J’Anna suggested. “He is pitiful with his little broken leg.” 
You can’t rescue a cat and not expect a bit of expense. In case you’d like to help ARC of Texas fund the recovery of Toothless (and you can change his name when you adopt him!), the website is https://www.arc rescuetx.com. And you can donate via PayPal at arcres- [email protected] or Venmo @arcrescuetx.  J’Anna also says people can “mail us a check!”
About “Toothless.” This 6-year-old cat has a name with an entertaining origin. J’Anna says, “He’s named after the Dragon in How To Train Your Dragon. The Dragon is black with big eyes — looks a little cat-like to some people.”

MEANWHILE IN LANCASTER,
CATS, KITTENS, DOGS AND A CLOCK
The people with small shelter-focused 4-Legged Helpers started the day with a note that begins, “We have a kitten emergency at Lancaster.  Shelter is short staffed some days, so pics are not the best, our apologies, but hopefully you can see how completely adorable and how desperately in need they are..”
We picked this quartet to show some of the many “available immediately” kittens. 
To help these kittens by rescuing or adopting, call or text 4-Legged Helpers’ President Laura Macias at 214-949-2726 or email [email protected].

Use those contact points to ask about these dogs, too. We’ve mentioned them before. Colin (right), as you may recall is in the Wilmer Shelter — the ONLY DOG IN A CITY SHELTER! And, of course, the shelter is known for its lack of foot traffic -- has paw traffic, limited foot traffic. The others here are in the Lancaster shelter. There are siblings Snowball and Roo (formerly Brownie).

The black dog is a Boxer or Boxer mix known as Bucky (and sometimes Brody!). The smiling dog is Jamie. The sad-eyed dog is Sadie.



They are all on the clock in a shelter that, 4-Legged Helper says, doesn’t have a lot of room for additional animals.
WAITING IN MESQUITE —
NEEDING THE RIGHT HUMAN
Fate has a way of making life uncertain for dogs. Consider the case of Brownie (#45584151), a Retriever mix — maybe Lab or maybe Chesapeake Bay. He’s 5 months old and weighs 37 pounds. Brownie was surrendered to the shelter on September 23 “because of the death of his owner,” the volunteer Mesquite Animal Shelter biographer Judi Brown reports. 
She and her volunteer colleague Debra Chisholm meet the dogs they write about. 
Judi say Brownie “is a delightful boy with a happy, easy-going disposition. He’s friendly, fun loving, exuberant, curious, alert, and very loving. To meet him is to love  him! He gives wet sloppy kisses and happy tail wags. He even gives bear hugs! He sometimes gets over excited and jumps on you but then he’s still a puppy.” He’s got a case of cherry eye, but that can be fixed. Judi suggests, “Come meet this delightful boy and you will see why I fell in love with him.”
Bruno (#45525968), this jaunty multi-directional Earhound, came in on 9/15 as a stray, reports Debra. She says he’s a “happy-go-lucky” mixed breed fellow, about 2 and underweight at 39 pounds. “She also says the “lively, high-energy fellow… has a spunky, outgoing and confident personality.  He knows the sit command and likes treats but does not take them gently.  … He is very friendly and sweet-natured.  The one-ear-up/one-ear-down and his beautiful eyes make him a standout.”
And that brings us to Mista (#45546619), a 7-month-old, un-spayed mixed breed in those photos. She was surrendered on the 17th with her sibling (We’re working on finding out about the sibling).
 Debra’s report says “adorable Mista…walks OK on a leash and when taken through the bay, she was intimidated by the dogs who barked at her.” She’d lived as an outdoor dog at the home that dumped her. Still, she’s got “lots of puppy energy” and is “spunky and frisky.” 
Remember how we cited the hands-on approaches of Judi and Debra? In the case of Mista, Debra writes, “She is sweet-natured and friendly. She is especially fond of belly rubs.” And, like so many wanting-to-please yard dogs who wind up in shelters, “She chases balls but does not know what to do with them.” That’s up to the human to help her learn.
To rescue or adopt any of these dogs, call the shelter at 972-216-6283 or email rescues@ cityofmesquite.com. Use the numbers to help ID the dogs.
You can see more Mesquite adorable adoptables at the shelter’s website HERE. Among them you’ll find a litter of car-named kittens, including this girl Lexus (#45299947), approaching 2 months old now. [LARRY ASIDE: Our theory is this photo was snapped just after Lexus read the story about California planning to ban internal combustion engine cars by 2035 — all kittens have internal combustion at some point, right? “They’re gonna what?” yowled Lexus. “But by 2035 I’ll be old enough to get a driver’s license!”]
CONTEMPLATIONS
CARS AND OTHER STUFF
I use the word “stuff” with a sense of rebellion — in my school days the word "stuff" was regarded as so lazily indefinite that it was a sign that you should find a better way to say stuff, so to speak. Anyway, California decides to go forbid the purchase of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035. Protect the environment, they say. Wouldn’t it make more sense to ban used cars? I’ve never had a new one that smoked and leaked oil, but I’ve had used cars that would have made ocean travel slippery for miles if you dropped the thing into the Atlantic — and when you started the engine, birds couldn’t fly through the cloud of smoke! … Did you see the story about the hunter in Alaska who was killed by a grizzly bear? Puzzling how things evolve — The cleveland.com story HERE said the man was “field-dressing” a moose he’d just killed when the bear attacked. I’m not in favor of anyone or any beast dying. But this story seems to have some lessons. …. Did you see the story about the branch manager of a bank who found a 9-carat diamond on Labor Day at the the Arkansas Crater of Diamonds State Park at Murfreesboro? No known connection to parks and wildlife in Alaska, of course. Anybody can hunt for diamonds in Arkansas — here’s the LINK. There are bears in the Ozark and Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas, but the diamonds are in soil well south of the mountain ranges. A bear would have to catch a ride to get to the park to catch you while you were field-dressing a diamond. Not sure it’s legal for a bear to ride a bus in the State of Arkansas.

—- Offer opinions or diamond advice by clicking on ‘comments’ below or by emailing [email protected] and put “tasteless commentary” in the subject line. —-