I am so angry I can't see straight.

[Bertha Venation]

I'm taking a late dinner. Lean Cuisine Pizza. Which sucks, so I only eat about a third of the dough, and none of the "bones" -- the crusts.

I'm sitting here fighting Daddy the Cat off, because he's trying to eat the pizza bones, when it hits me: his former people, who treated him like shit -- so that when he came to us starving, ribs showing, flea & tick & ear mite ridden, beaten up with his ears torn & bloody -- made sure he got his weekly ration of pizza bones.

And our feral cats are eating on the porch right now, crouched and ready to run because some fucking loser asswipe new to the neighborhood is allowing his or her two large dogs to run free. Last night they chased away my Charley, one of the ferals, and now these poor kittens & their mama are eating while on extreme guard.

People who don't fucking care for their animals FUCKING SUCK.

[Jon8503]

1. Hang In There Bertha

It is extremely hard to keep your cool with the inconsiderate idiots around you sometime but don't let them drag you and your cats down. Catch your breath and you will figure something out.

Take care.

[Bertha Venation]

8. Thank you, Jon.

I appreciate your thoughts.

I already have something figured out, but I have to win the lotto first. A cat haven/no kill shelter (and one for dogs, too) in every community that wants or needs one. With paid staff -- living-wage paid staff. With benefits. Including dental.

[underseasurveyor]

9. That is what I would like to have.

An animal haven for all critters, not just dogs and cats. Any critter, including unwanted reptiles (i love them too) that needs care, rehab and to be a kind of way-station paradise until they find a loving home or can be released back into the wild. And if they don't find a new home, well darn they'll just have to stay with me ;-)

But like you winning the lotto would make my life long dream come true sooner and easier, but even if I do not ever win a lottery I will have my animal haven someday. Even if it has to be a scaled down version of the grand scale I really want it to be and envision.

We are eying a nice 13 acre place right now that is close to perfect and a nice start for what I want to do.

May you win the lotto very soon :-)

[MikeG]

2. How do you feel about a guy who forgets to water his plant?

[RebelOne]

4. I'm guilty of that. All my plants usually die.

[Bertha Venation]

5. You're okay, Mike. I do that too.

And a plant, while a living being, isn't a sentient being. It doesn't feel loyalty, love, hunger or fear. You're okay. :)

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

3. Okay, see if this helps...

since adopting our puppy from the no-kill shelter near us, I have decided to volunteer there at least two days a week.

Maybe more since I don't have a job right now, and need something to keep me from thinking about money concerns.

I am going to do all I can to make things better.

[Bertha Venation]

7. You're one of the Good Guys.

The Good Guys' good deeds always help, WJ. And you know what? Your puppy is hands down the sweetest dog I have ever seen in my life.

Every minute you put in at the no-kill shelter counts. It seriously counts, to the animals and the people who work there -- but mostly, most importantly, to the animals. And yes, hearing this does help me. Thank you, thank you.

[Philostopher]

6. Oddly enough, the times I start to feel like that

are the times somebody gives me that 'what are you, nuts?' look when I tell them we have five animals. 'They're all somebody else's throwaways,' I usually explain. 'Call it recycling.' When what I really want to do is growl at them, 'do you have pets? Do you let them run loose? Are they neutered?' But that doesn't convince anybody, as good as it would feel at the moment to say.

Three of the animals -- the dog and two of the cats -- I know were outright dumps. We found the two cats on the street, and the foster from the dog's shelter told us he, too was found running loose.

One of our cats came through a shelter Mr. Nownow and I are involved with, and the other was brought to a kill shelter down where we used to live, with her two siblings and mother. I credit the person who took mother and kittens to a shelter, because the more common way of dealing with stray cats and their offspring in the place we adopted them is a bag and a rock. Somebody cared enough to take a cat and kittens to a shelter where they'd at least have a snowflake's chance.

I know our orange boy, Gord, knows plenty about starving just watching the attitude he has about food. He cries before you feed him, and five minutes after he's done, he has to walk around and cry a little more, as if he's had his last meal. I know he must have been hungry plenty of times. I can't let him eat all he wants, because when I do that he balloons up to 17 pounds. If he becomes diabetic, he'll have to be on a restricted diet anyway -- he's better off being restricted and not having to have an insulin shot once or twice a day. He doesn't know that, though -- he just knows no matter how much he eats, it's never enough.

[Bertha Venation]

12. you lost me at "the more common way of dealing with" -- I couldn't read

after that. But I hope your life is wonderful. It should be for the good karma you put out.

[DemWitch]

10. My real Mom volunteers at an animal shelter

that takes in unwanted, old, sick, or crippled animals, outside of Santa Fe. The lady who owns the place is phenominal. It never ceases to amaze me the dpeth of human compassion, and the depth of human cruelty.

[Bertha Venation]

16. your real mom rocks

I couldn't work at a shelter, because I can't see them suffer. So I give what thanks I can to everyone who does. (Maybe that doesn't make sense; they're not helping me, after all . . . ) Tell her I said she rocks, DemWitch.

[daligirrl]

11. My rich-ass cousin

bought two expensive shar pei puppies for his kids, but his "delicate" wife decided that she didn't like pets. They kept these dogs locked up in the garage almost 24/7 for 6 months. They were going to take them to the shelter when my mom and I finally stepped in and found a family willing to take both. Guess what? He wanted the family to pay him $200 per dog. Just two weeks prior to this he was ready to toss them away. I was finally able to shame him into giving them away. I have intense anger for people who treat animals like trash. Almost every animal I meet is immediately like one of my children.

[underseasurveyor]

13. For you daligirrl

:thumbsup: :hug: :loveya: :toast:

For your brother and his delicate wife
:grr: :spank: :mad: :thumbsdown:

:hi:

[daligirrl]

15. Thank you, sweetie. . .

Good to meet another kindred spirit! Animals keep us grounded, I'm convinced. I don't know what I would do without my two big boy cats.

[Bertha Venation]

14. "my children" -- tonight I met Skeeter

at least I think his name is Skeeter. He's a mutt. He's skinny and he's got wiry black hair, and all around his face & muzzle his hair is white. I'd've sworn that dog was 15 years old, but his ma told me he's only 2. I fell in love with him instantly and felt he was my dog. I've never had a dog and with six indoor cats and no fence around the house we can't have one. But if Skeeter needed a place to stay, we'd find a way.

DU is just crammed full of the Good Guys.

[daligirrl]

17. I'm constantly falling in love

with animals. I continued a relationship with some people that I really disliked because I loved their animals. Everyone calls me first when they find a stray dog or cat.

[underseasurveyor]

18. heh heh that would be me

ha ha oh man that's great. I feel just slightly less wierd all of the sudden :+

:bounce: