Happy weekend....

I hope that you have a nice weekend planned! It is supposed to be nice weather where I am - I hope that it is for you as well!

A happy way to end the week - Buffy & Cujo - the awesome kitties that have been fostered in the main office for almost 9 months now have gone to their new home today - yipee!!!
Fingers (and toes and everything else!) crossed that the single resident kitty likes having these new friends!

And we may have a place for Bailey cat so fingers crossed that works out as well.

Bijoux continues well (you can see her above lounging about with her friend Rootbeer)
and the beagle-y pups are now 5 weeks so I am starting to look for potential adopters for them. (You can see them on the website http://www.projectjessie.ca/) They are so darned cute!

On the down side, in the last few days I have been asked to take:
- a cockateil and 2 budgies
- a friendly, but very pregnant cat who is currently living outdoors
- a momma dog and her 2 week old pups
- "some" of the cats living in this woman's house (she *thinks* there are about 30)...

This is on top of the pounds that we normally work with.
It just never ends..

Anyway, onward we plod! ;o)
Have a good one!
Shelly and crew

Oh boy - where does the time go!?!

I am SO sorry!!!
Things have been crazy and I do apologize for not posting!

(A few of you have emailed to comment - sorry!!!!!)

Things have been fine but busy...

Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who came to the Project Jessie Reunion last weekend. We didn't have as many people attend as in years past, but those who came had a great time. It was wonderful to see all the people and pups and we raised about $1000 in the process.

To those who didn't come - so - why not? Please let me know if you think it would be better to maybe have the next reunion at a different time of year - maybe the spring? Is there something you think we should do differently? I really would appreciate your feedback - thanks!

Bijoux is doing well - although now that she is feeling so good, she has turned into a very naughty cat!!! Seriously though, it is wonderful to see her having so much fun. She spends her days climbing and jumping and chasing the other cats. She has so much energy and life to her that I smile to see how far she has come.

Thank you all for helping to make that possible!

The handsome fellows at the top of this post are Luna's pups. They are 4 weeks old now and just becoming real little dogs. By that I mean they are now exploring, and wagging their little butts, snuffling and trying to learn how to howl... They are so darn cute!

But it is a lot of work: Feeding them and cleaning up after them, making sure they have new things to see and do and just keeping them happy. I am sure that Luna will be happy when they start eating more solid food and stop bugging her for milk all the time!

So that is how things are in my part of the world - how about yours?

Happy Tuesday everyone!

Hi all!

Okay - Is there anything better than leftover pumpkin pie for breakfast?!?!? I think not! ;o)

I hope you had a wonderful long weekend. Where I am, the fall colours are near their peak and there is a bit of crispness in the morning and evening air (even though it is still very warm during the day for this time of year!)

This weekend my family and I took our dogs on a lovely hike along part of the Bruce Trail and it was wonderful to be outdoors. I hope that you had some nice times too.

The weekend started off well. On Friday, Maple and one of her kittens Birch, were adopted together - hurray! Her other kitten Willow was a bit upset for a day but doing well now, and cuddling up to the other foster kitties...

Bijoux is still doing well - in fact she is racing around the house as I type - chasing the other cats and getting into lots of lovely mischief. I think she is really enjoying life at the moment and I am so grateful that she has been given the chance to have fun...

Luna the mama beagle and here babes are doing well...

The rest of the foster kitties are fine...

One tiny crisis this morning with some foster dogs that arrived that are very undersocialized - but hey - it can't be all good news or it wouldn't be my life right???

I am looking for a foster place for a young yellow lab, a 10 month newfoundland cross, and an anxious terrier... Anyone want to foster? Adopt?

I hope all is well in your world!
Shelly and the crew

Monday morning...

Don't you love this picture - this is exactly how I feel today!

Actually it isn't really me - but it is one of the wee pups (as yet unnamed).

He is exactly one week old in this pic and life is composed pretty much of eating and sleeping - sounds lovely to me!

I hope you had a great weekend! The weather here was gorgeous - clear and warm and crisp! Not that I got out much...

Bijoux continues to do well - thank you all for your kind thoughts! She has fit right in with the other cats and is really making herself comfortable. She is on antibiotics because last week I thought I could hear a bit of odd noise to her breathing and the vet agreed that it sounded like the start of something. (She is at high risk for aspiration pneumonia because of her condition). But better safe than sorry and we did catch it early!

She doesn't have to wear a full t-shirt really, (just enough to keep the feeding tube in place) so last week I took the black shirt off and now she is fashionably dressed in half of a slightly fuzzy, nice pink sock. I will post pics here soon - she looks so cute and she is not fussing with the shirt or tube at all. I guess the concept of the feeding tube was bothering me much more than it seems to be bothering her...

We had a "yipee!" moment on Saturday - Larry and Wonka were adopted together! These two kittens had been with me since early spring, and although they were from different litters they are fast friends. They have been adopted by a really nice family and I am so happy for them!

I also had a very nice family come on Sunday to meet Luna - the mama beagle - and they would love to adopt her when she is ready to go! The mom of this family has a brother who has adopted 2 dogs through Project Jessie - one a beagle who was used in research and an large husky/shep/mix??? who was to be sent. It is SO nice that Luna will have a permanent place to go once she is done raising her babies and is ready for a new home of her own, and WONDERFUL that this family is so compassionate!

Although I try to stay non-political here, I thought I would mention that on October 10, election day, there is also a referendum on changing our voting system to a new citizen-designed voting system called MMP. One of the benefits of the new system is that it would make the Ontario legislature composition more closely match the popular support for each party across the province. This means that all voices would be heard, and parties would have to work together, and be much more responsive to the public. Given that public support for anti-cruelty legislation and for ending the Animals for Research practices is high, but the parties are not receptive currently, I think that the new voting system MMP would give us a much better chance of success. You can find more info at www.voteformmp.ca. Let me know if you have any questions or would like more info!

One example of why I think this is a good idea is illustrated by the scary (but true) story that can be read about here:

http://wagthedog.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2007/9/25/3253427.html

The DOLA (more commonly known as "the Pitbull Legislation") has made it very scary to have a black or brindle mixed breed dog in this province - even if your dog is very sweet.

Hopefully we can convince a new government to readdress the issue but I am not holding my breath!

And a big also, please don't forget about the Project Jessie reunion! October 14th is only 2 weeks away - yikes! For more info you can visit the website (http://www.projectjessie.ca/) and check under "Events" or stay tuned because I will definitely be bugging you about it tomorrow!

ttys, Shelly