In keeping with all the New Years 'gonna do betters'....I updated my virus software on my computer.....and its been playing havoc with my blog and website updates!!!! I finally got everything 'fixed' today.....I think!
This afternoon, we took several of the young horses to a nice indoor just down the road to work them. Even though we could've just as easily worked them here, we feel that it is great experience for them to trailer to a 'strange' arena. There is always lots of new things for them to see, hear and smell. Normally, there is also a good number of really 'spooky horse eatting monsters' at every different arena.
Today, even though it was really warm, there was a very nice breeze which caused some plastic wrapping on the baled shavings that are stored in an area adjacent to the arena to blow....the 'monster' of the day! Every one of the 'kidz' had to take several good looks before they would pass by. Dont you just love working with the youngsters....they are so enthusiastic about everything!!!
Anyway, we got home late and hurried thru chores....just as we were turning off all the lights to come inside...a horrible scream was heard. It was Velcro one of our many cats! First I need to give some background on why we have 8 cats living with us.......Several months ago, some jerk dumped a whole litter of 5 pathetic little kittens just up the road from us. Velcro, who thinks he is the neighborhood 'welcome wagon', apparently invited them to come to the 'buffet' that is served twice daily at our place - and strangely 2 other adult cats also appeared at this same time (no, they werent the parents...totally unrelated as far as I could tell).
The kittens were thrilled about the food, but not so crazy about me....until they figured out that the food appeared shortly after I did. After a couple of months, they began to tolerate me very well and would even allow me to pat them and sometimes pick them up. My husband wasnt too happy about all these new barn creatures, but they were doing a great job eliminating the mouse population in our barn!!! Two of the cats (one adult and one kitten) developed a 'game' of attacking my dog (a one eyed border collie)...so my husband ended up taking them to the pound. I hated it, but I had my hands full trying to 'save' the 'nice, mannerly' ones!
I'm not a 'cat' person, but for some reason these sad little pathetic kittens 'touched' me....they were so pitiful and soooo thankful for the food and shelter. I thought I'd be able to find homes for them...NOT! As they got older, we realized they were going to have to be spayed and neutered or they would become part of the problem. I found a wonderful discount spay and neuter clinic in Lebanon and made an appointment to take them all in. It was quite the production carrying 5 semi-feral cats in, but they did great! My husband was quite the trooper through all of this, not even complaining about the cost...which at $200 was really reasonable....but then again, thats still alot of cats that we didnt want!
Okay, back to tonite....Since the kittens are older and bigger, Velcro has made a new sport of chasing them....I guess he needs to show them 'whose boss'.....but tonites scream was unlike any I've heard! I went running to the feed room and there was yet ANOTHER cat!!!
I suppose tonites post is simply to vent...but WHY do people think its okay to dump their unwanted animals on someone else???? The past 15 months we have had 9 cats and 1 dog dumped on us and our neighbors have had 3 cats and 3 dogs dumped on them. This is just crazy!!! When my husband spoke to the fella at the county pound about the problems we are seeing, he was told that people are bringing their pets to the pound and leaving them because they cant afford to feed them any longer!! These are dogs that have been pets for years!! Amazing times we are living in....wish I had a good answer, which I dont other than to be a spay/neuter advocate, but I do know that dumping your unwanted pets on someone else is NOT the right thing to do!
This afternoon, we took several of the young horses to a nice indoor just down the road to work them. Even though we could've just as easily worked them here, we feel that it is great experience for them to trailer to a 'strange' arena. There is always lots of new things for them to see, hear and smell. Normally, there is also a good number of really 'spooky horse eatting monsters' at every different arena.
Today, even though it was really warm, there was a very nice breeze which caused some plastic wrapping on the baled shavings that are stored in an area adjacent to the arena to blow....the 'monster' of the day! Every one of the 'kidz' had to take several good looks before they would pass by. Dont you just love working with the youngsters....they are so enthusiastic about everything!!!
Anyway, we got home late and hurried thru chores....just as we were turning off all the lights to come inside...a horrible scream was heard. It was Velcro one of our many cats! First I need to give some background on why we have 8 cats living with us.......Several months ago, some jerk dumped a whole litter of 5 pathetic little kittens just up the road from us. Velcro, who thinks he is the neighborhood 'welcome wagon', apparently invited them to come to the 'buffet' that is served twice daily at our place - and strangely 2 other adult cats also appeared at this same time (no, they werent the parents...totally unrelated as far as I could tell).
The kittens were thrilled about the food, but not so crazy about me....until they figured out that the food appeared shortly after I did. After a couple of months, they began to tolerate me very well and would even allow me to pat them and sometimes pick them up. My husband wasnt too happy about all these new barn creatures, but they were doing a great job eliminating the mouse population in our barn!!! Two of the cats (one adult and one kitten) developed a 'game' of attacking my dog (a one eyed border collie)...so my husband ended up taking them to the pound. I hated it, but I had my hands full trying to 'save' the 'nice, mannerly' ones!
I'm not a 'cat' person, but for some reason these sad little pathetic kittens 'touched' me....they were so pitiful and soooo thankful for the food and shelter. I thought I'd be able to find homes for them...NOT! As they got older, we realized they were going to have to be spayed and neutered or they would become part of the problem. I found a wonderful discount spay and neuter clinic in Lebanon and made an appointment to take them all in. It was quite the production carrying 5 semi-feral cats in, but they did great! My husband was quite the trooper through all of this, not even complaining about the cost...which at $200 was really reasonable....but then again, thats still alot of cats that we didnt want!
Okay, back to tonite....Since the kittens are older and bigger, Velcro has made a new sport of chasing them....I guess he needs to show them 'whose boss'.....but tonites scream was unlike any I've heard! I went running to the feed room and there was yet ANOTHER cat!!!
I suppose tonites post is simply to vent...but WHY do people think its okay to dump their unwanted animals on someone else???? The past 15 months we have had 9 cats and 1 dog dumped on us and our neighbors have had 3 cats and 3 dogs dumped on them. This is just crazy!!! When my husband spoke to the fella at the county pound about the problems we are seeing, he was told that people are bringing their pets to the pound and leaving them because they cant afford to feed them any longer!! These are dogs that have been pets for years!! Amazing times we are living in....wish I had a good answer, which I dont other than to be a spay/neuter advocate, but I do know that dumping your unwanted pets on someone else is NOT the right thing to do!
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