My usual response to an animal in crisis is to take it home and see what I can do about the situation myself: we’re three to four hours from a vet so it’s kind of necessary to be self sufficient! Some years ago I heard a cat yowling that particular plaintive noise that means real distress. Took me two days to coax her out from under an abandoned trailer. Scrawny, obviously in real trouble, she was a Manx with badly crippled back legs. Brought her home, warmed her up, fed her…called her Crip. Of course she proved to be pregnant. Abandoned when the owners left town. How they thought she could hunt or cope when she was almost dragging her back legs is a mystery to me. Well, she had her kitties but I think it “did something” to her, the back legs got less useful, she couldn’t get into her litter box by herself, and pretty soon she couldn’t stop the bowel drainage, I was bathing her rear end several times a day and she still stank…I was making arrangements to get her to a vet when by raw luck a vet came to town to do “shots”. Took Crip in. News was not good, I was told she was just going to get more and more paralyzed, I guess it’s something that crops up in Manx breeds. She was still nursing kitties but…long and short, she was put down that day. The boxer dog and I subbed as fosters.

I haven’t seen the people who abandoned this poor little soul to a slow death by starvation, and I hope I never do meet them because I don’t really like the idea of standing in court charged with assault. She was a sweet and loving little thing and she deserved much better than those arstles gave her.

Two of my dogs are rescue dogs. My daughter’s dog is an SPCA special. If I had a million dollars we’d have more rescue critters.

I saw a BBC special on purebred animals, particularly the ones in the show ring and what a cut-throat nasty business that is. The genetic flaws are increasing at horrible rate because of inbreeding and breeding for “beauty”.

There’s nothing more beautiful than a healthy animal of whatever parentage living a life where it is treasured. My grandbaby Lilli has “Chumiss”, he was a feral and saved mere hours before his mom and sibs were destroyed. He’s so big and so heavy now she can no longer lug him around so she sits with him across her lap and they talk to each other. So help me gawd, she talks, he answers with soft mews! He’s certainly not purebred but he is gorgeous, every tattered inch of him.

Beijing, as you mention that I remember what happened to one of the barn kittens I adopted out to somebody nearby (actually, it was a twosome). I later learned that it had been killed in a similar accident. When my son learned of that, he wouldn’t let me give any more kittens away (everyone got spayed as a more or less direct result of that…)

And by the way, welcome to the blogging world!

We need socialized medicine for animals too, but we are facing a government that may be determined to destroy that system for people, that is certainly determined to move the propaganda goalposts far away from your and my notions of what is humane and should be universally available.

Hard times. The best way to cope with them is with hard information, the facts. You can do that, and I am so happy to see you speaking truth to the world with this blog.

With every good wish,
skdadl