walking

One of the fun things at Best Friends is that some of the cats can go on walks - either on a harness and leash or in a stroller.

Winchester from CalMar (so he is Feline Leukemia positive) loves to go on walks. Though in all honesty, those walks should be called "wanders". He is a big guy but loved to go out and hang.

Best Friends Day 3 and 4

Wednesday morning was back to CalMar at Cat World. If you want to do a sleepover, you need to volunteer in that section, so we did that first.

The kid wanted to volunteer with puppies, but there weren't any up there this time. So she and mom headed over to Old Friends. Each dog section is set up with 2 octagons with indoor and outdoor runs. Old Friends is mainly older dogs, but some with special needs (there are a pair of huskys there now with cerebellar hypoplasia that are about 1 year old). The kid had heard about Azalea so taking her out for a walk was first on their agenda.

Azalea looks like a Great Pyrenees, but she is actually a turkish breed 

of dog (that mom can't remember the name of right now). She is SUPER

sweet and recovering from ACL surgery, so it was a short walk but lots of 

love at the end of the walk.

This is Ludo. Mom and the kid were cleaning his kennel when 

he decided to see if he could "win" the new person game. Mom 

ignored his antics (he grabbed his blanket and shook it all over) 

and the caregiver finally came into his run and took him outside

for a quick training session while they cleaned. He is a very nice boy.

Marble was rescued by a staff member after she was found running

as a stray. She is VERY shy so the caregivers asked if the kid

would be willing to hand feed her and work on her people skills.

Marble came right up and was very accepting of everything going on around her.

This is Connie. She was their overnight guest on Wednesday. She

loved being in the hotel room - especially looking out the window.

She is from the CalMar house and is FeLV postitive.

Thursday morning, mom and the kid moved on to piggy paradise. They learned a lot of about the myth of teacup or mini pigs (there really is no such thing). They got to help prepare breakfast and take it out to the enclosures. Every pig is spayed or neutered and they all live in groups as they are very social animals. And then....they got to go for a walk. The pigs have learned the routine, and volunteers carry containers of treats (in this case almonds) to encourage the pigs to keep moving or get out of traffic.

And finally it was time to head home. They traveled back to Las Vegas on Thursday afternoon and got to have dinner with Miss Trish. Friday was a LONG travel day but they made it back home safely.

If you EVER get the chance to go visit, mom encourages it. If you have questions, feel free to ask.

Best Friends - day 2

Tuesday was cats all day long. CalMar in the am (their Feline Leukemia house) and Quincy's in the afternoon. Quincy's has their FIV+ rooms along with some special needs cats.

Most of the cat rooms have these cubes attached to the support columns.

This is Mesa in CalMar supervising while they did some cleaning.

What has everyone's attention??

There were a pair of doves building a nest in that tree.

The kid has skills - she charmed Gus too.

Bo is one of the kid's favorite cats. When mom and the kid were 

out there 2 years ago, Bo and his brother Barney loved on her.

Barney passed away in October 2016, but Bo is still there and 

doing well. However, he doesn't do sleepovers, so the kid had

to love on him while they were volunteering.

This is T-Rex. He is an FIV+ boy who decided the kid was HIS!

He wasn't sharing either - he dug into her jeans and swatted

any other cat that happened to pass by.

This is Viggy. He is very sweet and was our overnight guest

on Tuesday. He LOVES people, though he could learn a thing 

about not head butting them in the middle of the night. :)

Viggy is FeLV positive and is about 3 years old.

Best Friends - day 1

This is the third time that mom has taken the kid to visit Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab Utah. They have been going every other year since the kid was 10 years old. She loves going so mom makes an effort to make the trip. Travel isn't easy, but being there is an amazing experience.

Monday was bunnies and cats.

Did you know that bunnies can be meezers too? Mom had no idea. The caregiver said it is the same principle that creates the color points in cats. Not only can you work and socialize, but you learn something too.

They did some cleaning and then got bags of cilantro to give treats to the bunnies and do some socializing. The meezer bunny brothers were very friendly and loved the snacks.

After lunch it was over to cats. Jingles proved that that kid still retains her title of cat whisperer.

Maisey took mom and the kid for a walk.

They sat and did some socializing as well. It took mom a few minutes to figure out why she was being ignored. Then she got it - she was being stood up for the space heater.

No sleepover on Monday as the animal can't be left in the room alone and mom and the kid were meeting friends for dinner.

Kiss a Ginger Day

We have a ginger cat who lives here.....but there will be NO kissing Junior....

However, we have had some adorable gingers in the past year that were VERY kissable.

two of the flower kittens were gingers

Barney and Fanta from Best Friends

3 of the 6 tree kittens (the boys) were gingers

Hey - did we tell you about Alder?? He was fostered by another volunteer when he went to the adoption center and then got a cold. Well....Miss K fell in love and adopted him. She and mom are friends on facebook so mom gets to see him (now Jojo) from time to time. Miss K fosters and Jojo is helping to raise foster kittens with her. aww.....

Monroe

Waffles the rescue

And hey - speaking of Waffles the rescue....mom saw a post on Colony Cats facebook page from the end of December from the family that adopted him and he is doing great!!! Woohoo!!!

random Fridays

We hope you all have a great weekend and STAY WARM!!!

Mom has a hound transport on Saturday and an adoption event on Sunday. She is going to take Chambord, who is currently scheduled for surgery on the 14th.
~~~~~~~~~

This is the carrier mom had been using for the patriot girls. She put it in the living room as a familiar place for them to hide if they wanted to. They ignored it, but for a week or so there was usually a resident cat sleeping in the dumb thing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mom found some sad news on Facebook yesterday.....her buddy Barney from Best Friends passed away due to complications from FeLV. He was 5 years old. Both times she took the kid out there, he came with them for a sleepover. The post stated he was a wonderful ambassador for cats with FeLV and went on the most sleepovers of every cat there. While it is sad that he never found a home of his own, he was so very loved and will be missed by many.....  now all mom has to do is tell the kid. sigh
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

measure of character

**a post by the mom

The Friday that I left Best Friends, I stopped by the medical clinic (Hope House) in Cat World where a friend of mine now works (she volunteered with me, took her family back out and now she and her husband both live and work out there). She grabbed a chair and took me back to her desk. Another chair was back there with two cats curled up asleep - both evident from their appearance to be pretty old.

I sat down and the black cat heaved himself to his feet, walked between the arm and the back of the chair and on to my lap. From there he wiggled his way up to my shoulder and then made himself quite comfortable as I crossed my arms to give him a place to lay down. He rumbled a deep throaty purr and sighed. My friend and I chatted for about 40 minutes - he lay curled on my arms the entire time. She got called away to do something and another employee walked in and saw Darius lounging in my arms. She told me thank you for loving on their boy. I just nodded as I really hadn't thought anything about letting him climb up on me and snooze.

My friend and I continued to talk and she told me about Darius and his friend (whose name escapes me). Come to find out the sanctuary pulled them both from a kill shelter. They had been living in Hope House for about 3 months as the vet staff tried to give them some quality of life....Darius was about 16 years old and his friend a year younger. Darius wasn't doing any better and had begun to decline....the staff had made the decision to help him cross Rainbow Bridge - and in fact were going to do it that afternoon. I didn't know that when I sat down and honestly, it wouldn't have made any difference to me.

I had to get going, hugged my friend and put Darius back with his buddy - kissing his head and wishing him a safe and gentle journey over the Bridge. I got packed, got a shower and headed south on the freeway back to Las Vegas. As I glanced at the clock in the car, I realized Darius had left this world, and I admit I shed a few tears for him and the people who loved him at Hope House.

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

As I drove, I got to thinking about things. I have heard some version of the quote above several times. But what if a measure of character isn't just how people react in times of adversity but how they react when others are in need of comfort? What if a measure of character happens in those quiet between moments when nothing is expected of us but "being"?

Darius was old....he was so very thin....he had patches of missing fur....he had scabs on his ears.

I thought through the people I know. Would everyone have been willing to sit with him curled up in their arms? If I am completely honest, the answer is no. There are people I know that would have taken one look at him and made sure he didn't get any where near them. In my mind, I was just sitting there, why not let him snooze on me if that is what he wanted.

I'm not writing this for applause or self congratulations. But it made me give serious thought to the people I have in my life.

It isn't that hard to sit quietly and allow an animal some comfort in a warm lap. And yet not everyone would have been open to the experience. Now...some may have changed their minds when they found out the additional information about him, but I think that disregards the original premise - that comfort should not have requirements or restrictions. It should be freely given regardless of circumstance.

Sometimes we have people in our lives that give voice to their opinions about what WE should be doing with our OWN lives. The thing I want this to make you...and me...think about is how we let those outside voices affect our decisions. And maybe start to limit the effect those voices have on how WE choose to live our lives.

Random Fridays

Our friend from Glogirly visited Best Friends as an ambassador a few days before mom went out there. They just missed each other, but the posts and pictures she got are pretty amazing.

ours aren't quite as good as Glogirly, but the flowers are pretty

~~~~~~~~~~

maniacal laughter (Orchid)

*while being sniffed by her brother Dandelion

Dandelion telling secrets to Muscari

(he looks stunned doesn't he? or maybe just confused)

synchronizing kittening

with Muscari and Dandelion

pow - right in the kisser (Orchid)

The kittens are scheduled for surgery next Tuesday and then off for adoptions. The rescue doesn't have a ton of ready to go adoptable kittens right now, so we suspect they will be adopted pretty quickly. Amaryllis needs a chance to dry up her milk and then she will go as well. Mom is hoping that a spot will open up at the remote location where she cleans and Amaryllis can go there.

the cats of CalMar

**a post by the mom

Casa de CalMar was funded by a wonderful couple named Cal and Martha. They wanted to make sure that the Feline Leukemia cats at Best Friends had a home of their own and started the funding to make it happen.

Feline Leukemia can be a heartbreaker. It can be spread through common contact, so these cats cannot be housed with cats that test negative. For most cats, this is a death sentence. Fortunately, Best Friends is able to house some of these cats and give them the best life possible. Unfortunately, they can only be adopted by those with no other cats or other positive cats....and FeLV will shorten their lives.

When my niece and I went to Best Friends two years ago, I made it a point of making sure we volunteered in CalMar. I had been there before, and despite everything that most people think, these cats live wonderful lives. I wanted my niece to be exposed to that. We had long talks about FeLV and what that meant for the cats. And every cat we took on sleepovers that time and this past week were all from CalMar. When we got to Best Friends this trip, our first stop was Cats....I asked her where she wanted to go to volunteer and without any hesitation, she said CalMar.

Swanson (born 2012)

He is super sweet and is a lap is available, he is on it. 

Unless Pearlene is around....then he is gone. 

Pearlene (born 2014)

She is the queen of the room - and the smallest cat in it.

But if there is an available lap, she would much rather snuggle.

Fanta (born 2015)

She was great on the sleep over and so playful.

Bo (Barney's brother) (born 2011)

He isn't as brave as his brother, but if you sit down, 

he will haul his very large self all over you.

On our last trip, we did two sleep overs with Harper (here) and one with Foley. About 4 days after we got home from our last trip, my friend who works there called to let me know that Harper had crossed Rainbow Bridge. Telling my niece was one of the hardest things I have done. When we got to CalMar this trip, we learned that in the year following our trip in 2014, Harper's sister Bronte crossed, Foley crossed, and the four kittens (Hewy, Dewy, Louie and Murray) that came in to CalMar on our last day there all crossed as well. FeLV is a heart breaking disease....and yet my niece embraced loving these cats with no hesitation.

All animals that cross at Best Friends at buried at Angel's Rest or Angel's Crossing. I knew on this trip that I wanted to make a stop to find Harper's marker. On Sunday, we checked in as volunteers and got my parents off on the tour. And to my surprise, the kid point blank asked me if we could find out where Harper was buried and visit the spot. I had never once mentioned to her that I was going to do that very thing - this was completely her idea. We spoke to an employee, got the information and a map and set off. To keep things from getting too serious, the map wasn't overly helpful and we ended up wandering aimlessly trying to figure out the system.

We finally found the right spot. Each site has a stone and a nameplate. Someone (I'm not sure if it is staff or a volunteer) has been making stones with their names. And the colored stones are left by those who visit as a remembrance that these lives will not be forgotten.

As you look around Angel's Rest and Angel's Crossing, there are windchimes every where. It is said that as an animal crosses, the chimes ring to announce it. I've heard stories of days when it is completely calm with no wind and as an animal is remembered, chimes will start to ring. That happened for me on that Sunday. There was no breeze as all, but as my niece and I stood and took a picture, the chimes started to softly ring.

Best Friends - part 2

Wednesday morning was puppy class for mom and the kid (grandma and grandpa were walking dogs). All puppies go through several socialization classes to help them learn to listen and be more comfortable with people and objects in a home.

Then it was time for walks. Mom and the kid took Arizona. She is a wonderful loving puppy - with some dog issues. The caregivers are working with her and will give her all the time she needs, but it is hard to get a puppy adopted when they have dog issues (they were passed on the walking trail and Arizona clearly growled at the other puppy - they aren't sure what sets her off but are hoping to figure it out for her sake).

 

Arizona

These puppies were part of the puppy class. There was a group of 9 puppies plus their mom that a group took from a local reservation and they are all ready for homes. The black and tan one up front is the one mom and the kid worked with in class.

Wednesday afternoon mom and the kid worked in another cat house called Vinnie's. Mostly going on walks and socializing.

 

tough job but someone has to do it

Thursday the kid and mom spent all day in CalMar again. Cleaning, walking, strolling and socializing. Grandma was with them in the morning as there was one spot in horses and mom put grandpa in there to break up his routine.

Sunkist (Fanta's sister)

 

Trinket (another of the NJ kitten sisters)

 

Sunkist again

Thursday night was another sleepover. Mom left it up to the kid and she chose to bring home Clarisse, the fourth of the NJ sisters. Clarisse was a little more unsure of herself. Mom found out later that she actually spent part of the night sleeping on the between grandma and grandpa (we are sure glad grandpa didn't find her - he isn't a cat guy). About 4am Clarisse was awake and pretty restless. Mom tried to calm her but no real luck. Out of ideas, mom stuck her under the covers. And that worked like a charm.....Clarisse crawled under the covers and fell asleep against mom's legs.

hiding in the dresser

Friday morning, mom worked in cats with grandma, while grandpa and the kid got a session with the pigs. No pictures since mom wasn't there, but the kid said she had a great time, met lots of pigs and gave lots of belly rubs.

Mom headed back to Las Vegas on Friday afternoon since she had an early flight home on Saturday.

If you have been to Best Friends, tell us about your trip. If you haven't, give some serious thought to making the trip....it is a magical place.

Best Friends - part 1

Last week mom took off for another trip to Best Friends Animal Society. This is her fifth trip and if you have never gone and get the chance, she certainly recommends you go out to visit. It may not be easy to get to, but is certainly worth the trip.

Two years ago mom took her niece (aka the kid) out to Best Friends. They both had a great time and the kid let it be known she wanted to go again. They made plans to go this year and mom's parents went along too. Mom came back before everyone else (due to that job thing) and the kid and the grandparents are spending this week seeing the west and some national parks.

Monday morning mom and the kid went to cats. Mom left it up to the kid as to which house and she once again chose CalMar (more on that Thursday). Some of the cats will walk on leashes and others like stroller rides. Mom and the kid took Gus for a walk...which ended up being more of a stroll. As you can see from the coats, in the shade it was a little chilly.

 

taking a break from walking 

Monday afternoon all four of them worked in bunnies. Mom tried to get pictures but her camera was not cooperating. They cleaned pens, fed the bunnies some greens and cut apple sticks for the bunnies to chew on for their teeth.

Monday night was sleepover night. Mom and the kid decided to bring home two cats from CalMar. They knew grandpa wouldn't enjoy it, but whatever.....

 

Barney (left) and Fanta (right)

Barney (and his brother Beau) have been at the sanctuary for a few years. They are 5 years old now and pretty healthy. Barney is Mr. Social - making friends and being very sure his job includes escaping his room for the lobby at CalMar. He is a sleepover expert and they pair him up with other cats all the time. He did great.

Fanta is one of 4 juvenile kittens that came from a rescue in New Jersey due to their FeLV status. The kittens are all doing well and are almost a year old. Fanta did well on the sleepover too.

Mom and the kid agree the sleepover would have been much more enjoyable if they didn't spend most of the night worrying about the cats going over to grandpa's side of the bed though. MOL

 

Barney

 

hotel life is tough

Tuesday was Bryce Canyon National Park. Since it was an all employee meeting day at Best Friends, mom and her family took the day to go see this national park near the sanctuary. Pictures don't nearly do it justice....it was pretty amazing. There is lots of hiking for those that do that sort of thing, and for others, you can catch a park bus and get off at several different stops along a circular route and see the main sights.

 

 

taking a picture of grandpa taking a picture of the kid and grandma  haha

The whole canyon was under water at one time. At most of the lookouts, there is a pretty steep drop off right beyond the railings.