Category: Pets

More Autumn Color Changes From our Back Yard

What a difference a week makes. Last week this tree was dropping walnuts all over. It seemed like it was throwing them at me. It was hard to keep up with throwing them out of the fenced area where the dogs play. One of my friends mentioned that walnuts are toxic to dogs so I researched it and according to PetMD and several other sources, black walnuts, which these are, cause several health risks in dogs.

By yesterday the leaves had all turned colors. Last night it rained pretty hard and this morning most of those leaves are on the ground. The leaves of all the different trees change color and drop their leaves at different times, this time of year we have quite a variety of colors. Soon there will be no more green leaves and a month from now almost all the leaves will be on the ground.

Too Many Cats and Not Enough Forever Homes

If you can’t rescue a cat, please think about fostering.

From the time we moved here 29 years ago, this neighborhood has been a dumping ground for unwanted cats. It is just sad to see so many cats who must have had a home at one time and just get dumped. There are also the cats that get left behind. Two rental homes have had people move in and when they move out, they leave their cat or cats behind. One of these homes was finally bought a few years back and they have been some of the best neighbors.

We had a neighbor that helped feed them, but they moved away this summer. Our next door neighbors keep an eye on the cats, so they know which are strays and which belong to someone and just snuck out. She is allergic to cats so she can’t have one in the house. We have three places on our property that cats can use for shelter to get out of the rain or windy winter nights. The woman that runs the local Action for Animals lives a couple blocks 0r so away and has helped to get some of these unwanted cats spayed or neutered so we don’t end up overrun with kittens every spring. She also tries to find homes for many of them and finds foster homes for the kittens who need extra care who are often dumped before they are old enough to be weaned or the mom has been hit by a car. That is how we ended up with Hope. We now have three rescued cats, so we can’t take any more, but I still look for homes to help place these cats.

I have another friend that owns a pet sitting, and more business and she takes care of all kind of animals. She also fosters cats and kittens and tries to find homes or takes them to Pet Smart to help get them adopted. Our local animal shelter is so full that they are not taking anymore cats or kittens and all the people that foster are full. It really is an example why people should get their cats spayed or neutered. There are so many starving kittens and cats that freeze to death in the winter. It’s so unnecessary and no way to die alone and unloved. If you can’t rescue a cat, please think about fostering. I am sure there are opportunities for fostering in every community.