Good kittie

Not exactly the Cat Whisperer, but pretty impressive.

According to the San Jose Mercury News, there's a cat that has a sixth sense about other cats that might be in trouble.

Dubbing him a "guardian angel," "wonder cat" and "miracle kitty," the staff and volunteers at the Nine Lives Foundation's Feline Well-Care Clinic say Christopher can tell when other cats need help. He will sit outside the cages of sick felines until someone lets him in, and last month, the clinic says, he saved the life of a kitten in need of a blood transfusion.

Read the entire article here.

"He'll often paw at a cage door to be let in so he can clean and comfort a cat in there," said Robert Lowery, a San Ramon resident and volunteer at Nine Lives.

He even became known as the "feral kitten tamer" last month, when he asked to be let into a cage with two feral kittens that were "untouchable, just hissing and growling," Thompson said.

Cats once abandoned, now being adopted

Ninety cats living in an abandoned Albany apartment have been rescued and are now up for adoption.

Read the story and see the video and pictures from WRGB TV Channel 6.

The effort started with a simple plea from Diane Metz of Albany: "Please help the Orange Street Cats." Lara DeLaMater was one of several dozen area residents who responded and learned that the long-abandoned apartment at 198 Orange Street was housing 90 severely neglected cats and two dogs.

The animal lovers entered the condemned apartment July 29 and took the animals.

In a previous email to CBS 6, DeLaMater said, "I personally walked through the house... there were cats in rafters trying to seek safety from the inches of feces on the floor. Thousands of flies swirled around and the stench was suffocating, even with a mask."

So far, without spaying or neutering, medical costs for each animal has been between $150 and $250, Metz said.

They have a Facebook page and a website if you'd like to help or donate. The group is looking for foster care providers.

Can somebody help here?

Here's a video showing that animals help each other.

It involves two turtles, one of which is in an awkward position.

Watch here.

An odd couple

This will make you smile, I guarantee.

Here is a video of a dog and a deer who play together.

Watch.

Dog goes above and beyond the call of duty

This has been around for a while but I just came across it.

Normally, when you see a dog grabbing a kitten, it doesn't bode well for the kitten.

But read this story from CBS News and watch the video for a real surprise about an Iowa shelter dog who takes care of a litter of kittens.

It really is remarkable, don't you think.

Dog toots its own horn — and lives

Allentown, Pa., TV station WFMZ has a story about a chocolate lab who was stuck in a car and alerting its owners by honking the horn.

Here's the story.

Max, 11, owned by Donna Gardner of Upper Macungie Township, Pa., was mistakenly left in Gardner's car after she returned home from running errands.

"I came in and started cleaning and about an hour later I heard a horn blow," she said.

Gardner went outside, but didn't see anybody.

"So, I came back in the house and I started cleaning again and the horn blew again," she said.

She went back outside and saw Max sitting in the driver's seat of the car.

Max was checked out by a veterinarian. He was a little weak but OK.

Missing cat found 250 miles away

A 9-year-old cat, missing for eight months, was reunited with his Maryland family.

Ringo hitched a ride in a U-Haul van with a neighbor who was moving to Pittsburgh, some 250 miles from his Reisterstown home.

Here's the story and video report by Ron Matz from WJZ-13 TV in Baltimore.

Of course, only Ringo knows where he's been for the past eight months. During that time the Brantley family prayed for his safe return and their prayers were answered.

"It was hard because at some points it was like, things are going to be OK, but other times it was just really, really upsetting," said Megan. "It was the fact that he was gone and not knowing what happened was upsetting the most because we've had him since he was a kitten."

Nice ending.

A cat with a special ability

A moving and interesting story about a cat that seems to be able to sense when patients in a hospice are about to die was excerpted in the Readers Digest Feb. 2010 issue.

Making the Rounds with Oscar, by Dr. David Dosa, talks about the process by which Dosa explored the relationship of the cat and his hospice patients.

Since I'm the last doctor my patients see, it's my job to take care of all their medical needs, to ease their pain, and to make them comfortable. That's a job I take seriously, which is why Oscar eventually won me over.

Dosa, skeptical at first about the anecdotes from staff and patient family members, eventually started weighing the evidence about Oscar's ability, even positing the feline could smell ketones caused by the death of the body's cells.

Maybe that's all Oscar really was: a companion, a sentient being who accompanied one person on his or her journey to the next world. Or accompanied a family member through the grief of losing someone he or she loved, a kind of underworld of its own. Wasn't that enough?

Sounds good to me.

Take the time to read, at least, the RD version of the fascinating story.

Polish pooch rescued from ice floe

Incredibly, a dog survived a 75-mile trip on an ice floe — and that included being rescued 15 miles out at sea.

Here's the Associated Press story on msnbc.com.

The pooch was first seen on an ice floe on the Vistula River, about 60 miles inland in Poland. Local firefighters in Grudziadz were unsuccessful in rescue attempts.

On Monday, the dog was spotted 15 miles from shore on the Baltic Sea. Crew members of the Baltica saved him.

The rescue was difficult because the dog kept falling into the water. Fearing he could drown, the crew lowered a pontoon to the water and the mechanic, Adam Buczynski, managed to grab the dog by the scruff of the neck and pull him to safety.

In port, the 44-pound (20-kilogram) dog was taken to a veterinarian, who found him in surprisingly good condition and estimated he was 5 or 6 years old.

Now named Baltic, the dog is staying on the ship, which is a Polish research vessel.

So far, four people have claimed to be his owner, but the article said he wouldn't go near two of them and the other "owners" did not show up at meetings with the crew and dog.

Be sure and watch the video of the rescue.

Pretty lucky dog, don't you think?

Update to Petsmart firing story

See an update to the story of the Petsmart employee who was fired for bringing his dog to the stor while he was working an overnight shift when no one else was there.

A new day for guide dogs and their owners

From our sister paper down in Westchester comes an article about a graduation ceremony.

Noreen O'Donnell of the Journal News wrote about Guiding Eyes for the Blind in Yorktown Heights ceremony Saturday that had 11 people receiving new guide dogs.

They came from across the United States and as far as Sao Paulo, Brazil, to which Rodrigo Galvao, a 32-year-old lawyer, will return with one of only 60 guide dogs in that country. He has already had several canes broken in the bustle of Sao Paulo, he said.

Like other graduations, this one featured well-wishers and speeches and whoops and cheers. But these graduates came paired with their dogs, whose noses stuck out from under the seats. And in the audience were the volunteers who had raised and trained the dogs as puppies, couples such as Mike and Raina Napolitano of West Warwick, R.I.

The Napolitanos took in a dog named Orion who was going to Oakland, Calif., lawyer Michael Moore.

Moore aptly described the difference between using a cane and having a guide dog.

"It's the difference between riding a bike and flying," he said. "The cane is like a bicycle. You feel every bump. And with a dog you don't feel that. I also tell people with a cane, you have to find the obstacle, figure out what it is. And with a dog, you just avoid the obstacle entirely."

Congratulations to the new recipients of the guide dogs, and thanks to volunteers who cared for them.

Love and care at the end in Denver

USA Today had an extremely moving article by Sharon L. Peters about a hospice program for pets.

Located in Denver, MaxFund, a no-kill shelter fosters out pets who are at the end of their lives.

Cooper, a lab/shepherd mix, went home with Tami Tanoue and Roger McKenzie. The pooch had inoperable prostate cancer.

And for two sunny months he lived the life he deserved. He settled in with the couple's other pets, adapting quickly to the various rhythms and routines of the household. His big tail was a constant-motion metronome, thrubbing against the wall whenever a human approached, flinging everything at big-dog height to the nether reaches of the room (his nickname became Slappy because of all that tail action). He took long walks around the neighborhood and snacked on grilled steak.

And then Copper died.

Tanoue and McKenzie's home is one of about 15 foster homes the shelter uses for terminally ill animals abandoned by their owners.

Copper got a final summer of happiness. He took long walks, ate boiled chicken and lay on Tanoue's feet every night while the rest of the pets clustered around. When he died it was at the place he'd known as home, with the people who loved him holding his head and telling him so.

Here's my thanks, as inconsequential as it is, to Tanoue and McKenzie and all the others in Denver.

Do any of you know of other programs like this around the country?

Dog saves man's life

The video is from KARE-11 in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minn.

Latest on Sally

I got an e-mail from Paula Clausi-Van Steenburgh, the Highland woman, who adopted little Sally.

You will recall that Sally was abandoned in a clothing donation bin in September. She was rescued by the Dutchess County SPCA, and Clausi-Van Steenburgh adopted her in November.

Here are the blog entries I've done on the pooch.

Clausi-Van Steenburgh writes:

As you know, the DCSPCA Petwalk is coming up on September 12th. I got a mail from (Executive Director) Joyce Garrity this past Friday saying she was thinking of us. People have been asking about Sally a lot lately, so I thought I would send an update in case any of your readers are interested.

In a nutshell, Sally continues to do well. Since my last e-mail in January, Sally and Monica have completed obedience and beginning agility classes. They have continued with second level agility, but have taken a break for the summer due to our vacation schedule. We have set up a small agility course in our back yard for practice when Sally and her brother Pluto are not in classes. Monica works with Sally on the course every day! I have attached a video taken with our cell phone of Sally and Monica running the course. The quality isn’t so great, but you will get the idea.



Oh yeah, if you post it for your readers, make a note that we moved the tunnel and forgot to replace the stakes to keep it from rolling. You can see after she goes through, the tunnel rolls and she turns and looks at it like “what was THAT all about?”

Aside from agility, Sally loves chasing her Frisbee and butterflies. She has also discovered the joy of rolling in poop, much to our dismay. The smellier the better. She and the garden hose have become close friends. LOVES the water, but soap she despises. I can always tell when Monica has had to give Sally a bath when I am at work. When I come home, Pluto has tried to make himself small in an even smaller spot. He hates clean even more than Sally, but at least he doesn’t share her passion for odious piles of slime.

We have also found out that Sally hates thunderstorms. She is better than any weather forecaster around. She will plaster herself to our sides before the first rumble and will stick like glue until the storm passes.

Monica is Clausi-Van Steenburgh's daughter. They are planning on attending the Petwalk Sept. 12 at Bowdoin Park in the Town of Poughkeepsie. I'll have more on the Petwalk soon.

It's certainly good news that Sally has found a terrific home and a loving, supportive environment.

You go, girl! And leave those butterflies alone.

Muffy, come home

Here's a story that will surely make you smile.

Lost dog Muffy was reunited with her owners.

After nine years.

She was found 1,200 miles away.

This is the complete story from the Associated Press.

Inspectors with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals were investigating a possible animal cruelty case at a home in the southern city of Melbourne (Australia) two weeks ago when they found the fluffy white mutt sleeping outside on a scrap of cardboard, Victoria state RSPCA spokesman Tim Pilgrim said.

A microchip in Muffy's neck identified her owners, and, after a few days of searching for a current phone number, officials tracked down Natalie Lampard, who hadn't seen Muffy since the pooch disappeared from her backyard in the eastern city of Brisbane nine years ago.

The owners of the house were the dog was found said Muffy was wandering around when they took her in almost a decade ago.

If Muffy could talk, she might have some travel and survival tips we all could learn from.

Sally's tormentor sentenced

I was off yesterday, but my colleague Larry Hertz reported on the sentencing of the man who tossed a 2-year-old terrier mix into a clothing donation bin and left her to die.

See the article here. NOTE: Since the link is no longer working, Garry Lee Rhodes got eight months in jail.

And if you want to read the previous blog entries I did about Sally, including the update after New Year's, with Sally in a party hat, click here.

Good news for Joey

I just got this e-mail and wanted to share it with you.

Dear Michael and Kate,

As I write this I have tears in my eyes ... Joey the Sheltie has a home ... I can not thank you enough for your time and efforts in getting the word out for this incredible dog.

Since we last spoke Joey has gained weight and with the extra attention he is getting around a little better than when he first came to us.

The other day he actually lifted one of his rear legs to do a big boy pee. OK, that's probably too much info, but it's a big deal if all of your legs are deformed.

Thank you again!

Joan Vercruse
Vice President, Animal Rescue League

Here's the original story.

Update on Sally, the abandoned dog

I got an e-mail from Paula Clausi-Van Steenburgh, the Highland woman who adopted Sally.

Sally, as you will recall, is the terrier mix who was abandoned, starved, in a clothing donation bin in Hyde Park.

Clausi-Van Steenburgh thought we might like an update on the dog's progress, as well as wish everyone a Happy New Year (Can't you tell from the picture she sent of the cutie, left, and her new brother, Pluto?).

According to her, Sally has been attending obedience classes on Monday nights and has learned sit, down, wait/stay and come and is starting to heel.

Clausi-Van Steenburgh's daughter wants to work Sally in agility and K-9 freestyle dance. I'd pay good money to watch that.

The other dog in Clausi-Van Steenburgh's family is Pluto, and he and Sally are getting along well, with the exception of an occasional squabble. She said that is typical of a brother/sister relationship. "Although he is very patient with her, she does get on his nerves sometimes," she said.

And here's the part of Clausi-Van Steenburgh's e-mail that gave me pause.

"Sally now LOVES to play Frisbee. She will even bring it back and drop it at your feet! It took us several weekends outside with her watching Pluto play. It was very sad that she didn’t have a concept of what play was all about. Seriously – no exaggeration. Kind of an insight into her past life, considering we had to teach her what it is to play…"

Sally, you go girl!

So where have you been?

A dachshund, missing for five years, has been reunited with its owners.

Here's the story from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Feel good story of the week

Fourteen months after taking off to chase a cat, a microchipped dog has been reunited with his owner.

The story, from the Mercury News in San Jose, Calif., can been seen here.

Owner Cheryl Chaudhary's dog Sai took off after a cat in Watsonville and looked back.

The Jack Russell had stayed in the area, but Chaudhary had moved away.

Because of the microchip, Chaudhary said she never gave up hope. And that's the only reason she got Sai back, said [Santa Cruz County Animal Services Tricia] Geisreiter. Sai had a collar but no tags when he was found. The device costs $15 including a registration fee and is easily injected under the skin with a syringe.

Speaks well for microchipping, but also about the importance of having tags on the collar.

While living in Shekomeko, I was walking to the mailbox and found a woman putting a missing dog flier in it. The dog had gotten out of the fenced in yard by accident and was lost.

I asked her if the dog had tags on it, and she said no. "He never gets out," the woman said.

Guess he did.