May, 2006

Dear friends,

As you can see in the above picture, life at Charley’s Strays is lots of fun – at least for our pit bull Titan. This New Orleans guy, seems to think so. What a difference in the quality of his life compared to the 24/7 hanging on a chain in the back yard of his previous life, before the airlines messed up and he accidentally landed in Bangor Maine.

One of our old-timers, Yukon, who has been with us for several years, also seems to think Charley’s is heaven. He had a chance at a family life with a long-time supporter, Michael Kane. But Yukon decided he preferred our Shelter. In a way we all thought this was hilarious. Michael took Yukon home to give the old guy a couple of more years of lots of TLC. But Yukon lost his appetite, forgot how to wag his tail, and just laid around feeling sorry for himself. I guess he thought we had abandoned him. So after a week of trying to feed Yukon with the best morsels, cheese, hamburger meat and anything else Michael could think of, and Yukon just getting more and more disinterested, he brought Yukon back to the Shelter. And in that case we did not feel like we were trading one car in for another when we let Michael adopt our black lab Seamus. This dog had not been with us too long. A couple of years only -- imagine? I call that “not too long”. He seems to appreciate Michael very much.

A happy end for two more dogs: Maryann Glover, the lady from Massachusetts who fostered one of our New Orleans dogs, Louis, last year, and who placed him and another one of our dogs, also got in touch with us again. She adopted our new Shepherd girl, Molly, the one who came to us last month. Molly was supposed to be euthanized for digging her way out of the yard and chasing her owners' horse. While in touch with Maryann, I also told her about our other new dog, Ruby, whom I fell in love with when I saw her at the Shelter. Ruby had been abused, but still being very gentle and lovable, but oh so afraid of people. Anyway, Maryann knew an older lady who was interested in Ruby. So Ruthann and Maryann met halfway somewhere in New Hampshire, and two more dogs have a loving home.

So much for the good news. The bad news – well, another young dog found her way to our Shelter. A couple who have been volunteering at our Shelter for several month now, Stan and Cindy, happened to look out of their window. Cindy saw a neighbor heading to his back yard with a gun. Before that Cindy had watched a kid kick their dog. She run over there and witnessed the man taking the dog out of a tiny crate, kicking her again, and getting ready to shoot her. She pleaded with the man to let her have “Princess”, and brought her to Charley’s. Of course there are no shot records, and naturally the dog is not spayed.

Yep, first people name a dog “Princess”, than they beat and kick her, and to shoot her in the end. What an amazing species we humans are.  As I am writing this, I just received a note from Ruthann about a Chocolate lab, friend and traveling companion to a local man, who had a lady with two kids move in with him. The Lab was being ignored, the kids started messing with him; the lab didn’t go for that, and supposedly bit a kid. End of story: The Lab has to be “put down” unless we would take him. The shelters around here are filled to the top, so what to do now? Well, at least the dog was up to date with shots. Ruthann told the people to bring him out and she would check out the dog, since he was supposed to be “woman-aggressive”.  He seems like a very lovable animal, so he will stay with us. Because the nights are warmer, most of our dogs are now outside in their “summer-residences”, and we do have some empty runs inside. But we will have to find many homes for our dogs before next winter, or all of us volunteers will have to take some home with us.

A couple of weeks ago when Jim and I went to the Shelter, I noticed that another one of our old-timers, the much-feared Davy, didn’t look too happy. Davy was banned many years ago from the state of Massachusetts, because he bit people. Michael Kane brought him to us, and it has been a pretty normal thing that new people at our shelter had to be bit once by Davy in order to let them know the hierarchy of our Shelter. Here lately Davy didn’t bite “newcomers” anymore. That had me a bit worried. Was Davy getting too old to bite, or was he sick? Ruthann made a vet appointment. Imagine, taking a dog to the vet because he DOES NOT bite? Are we all going crazy? Besides that, Davy never had a checkup, mainly because of the biting problem. So I figured it was about time. He does get his yearly vaccinations from our Caribou vet Terry McQuade, who he knows and likes, but had no general check up. Anyway, when Ruthann had Davy in the exam room, Dr. Slack came in, and she warned him that Davy was a biter.

Well, it seems that Dr. Slack, who is a great vet, really does not listen well to people. He ignored Ruthann, and you guessed it, Davy bit him in his leg. The back part, of course, Davy never bites someone face-to-face. So Ruthann followed Dr. Slack’s instructions on how to examine Davy – and did it herself. He did however listen to the heart. I guess Ruthann did not make it clear to Dr. Slack that Davy never bites the same person twice – he just needs to show once whom the TOP DOG is. Dr. Slack would have been perfectly safe to stick his head down Davy’s throat, or something like that. Anyway, Davy is healthy, and that made me feel better. And Dr. Slack does not seem to hold the injury against us either.     

From the critters-news to the people-news: Several years back one of our longtime supporters, Russ McGaugh, took ill and had to go to the hospital. He called me from there, telling me that he had bought a computer for Charley’s Strays –that was at a time I didn’t even know what a computer was, and really didn’t want to know. But Russ, who was an expert in this field, said Charley’s had to have one, and as soon as he would leave the hospital, he would mail or bring it up to our Shelter. Poor Russ never made it out of the hospital alive. I called his relatives and told them about the computer-deal, they knew about it, however, they kept the computer for themselves.

Another case – Jane Harwood, also long time supporter, was a bit of a pen pal to me. She loved animals dearly, and always wrote in her notes: don’t worry, when I am gone, my children will pick up right where I left off, we will always support the Shelter. After she passed away, I was not surprised at all that we never heard from a family member again.

The same happens here or there when a spouse dies and the other part of the couple is supposed to keep it up , but rarely does it ever happen. However, everything has two sides; there is always an up and a down.

Another one of Charley’s Strays supporters, Bette Beebe, has to deal now with age-related health issues and near-blindness. Even though Bette is still very much alive, active and happy, her daughter Martha took it upon herself to keep up Bette’s support – doubling and tripling Bette’s “usual” donation. I talked to Martha on the phone today, and she said: “Well, I hope I am doing the right thing, what she [Bette] would want me to do, but since she really can’t tell me, I just do it.” Martha is not only helping the Shelter, but helping to restore my belief in the goodness in humanity. Thank you, Martha!

And all of you made “my month”, too – I guess many of our supporters didn’t only feel sorry for the animals, but for me too. Donations were up last month, so much so, that I was able to pay off a large part of the vet bill!

CAT REPORT – May 2006

This has been a month when many people have been good to our cats. Karen gave them a nice cat bed and some fancy soft blankets. Teresa’s son Brian donated part of his pay from his summer job mowing lawns (even though he has another couple months of high school, he’s had to start work already, in this warm damp weather).  Karen’s neighbor’s Brownie Scout troop stuffed a big bagful of socks with catnip, added some blankets just the right size to go in baskets, and brought everything out one evening.  Jo, another rescuer I foster cats for, placed a cat and declined the adoption donation, so Donna, who took the cat, made out her generous check to Charley’s Strays. Olivia Charles continues to send cat food every week; her human and I met at the supermarket one day, both taking advantage of a sale to stock up on the cats’ favorite flavors. And, as always, I’m grateful to all of you who help us in many ways.

It’s also been a vet month. Mr. Tom was included in the spring house call, though he was more admired than treated, being in obvious good health. In mid-month, Alison stopped eating. Since Brook did the same thing in April, I thought maybe hairballs, as with Brook, and asked Dr. Balboni to do the X-ray before the blood work instead of after. The X-ray showed fluid in one lung; blood work indicated an infection.  Ali’s been on antibiotics and is doing fine as I write. He goes in for a follow-up X-ray next week to see if there are clues to what caused the fluid.

Five days after Ali’s visit I took Evita in. Now that I can handle her some, I’m aware how thin she is, despite eating enthusiastically, and I started wondering if she’s hyperthyroid.  Dr. B. didn’t want to try to draw blood, since she was already so stressed from being in a strange place with strange people, but he thinks her thyroid is overactive. We’re about to start a month of medication and see if it moves her toward a better coat and more flesh on her bones. Dr. B. also found her mouth and teeth in bad shape and prescribed antibiotics for her, too.  So far – knock on wood – I’m getting her to eat half a tablet a day crushed in her canned food. The medication means she needs to eat in a dining cage apart from Tiny and Purina/Meg, who live with her. Separating them turns out to be a good thing: the other two get to finish their meals in peace without Evita snitching from their dishes.

Brook has been feeling fine. She still gets her laxative daily (she thinks it’s a special treat, eagerly licking it off my finger), and now that her appetite is back I often give her an extra meal or two. Alison also gets extra feedings to make up for weight she lost, and since Randall comes out of their living quarters to eat with her, he’s on three or four a meals a day, too – he doesn’t mind a bit. I’ve always had a “lunch bunch,” cats who are old enough or young enough or for some other reason deserve to eat at least three times a day, so a few more dishes are no big deal.

Shy-High gave me a nice surprise the other day. He’s the handsome tan cat who’s been with me since he was a yearling and has consistently lived up to his name, shy and aloof and carrying his tail proudly high. I was brushing the loose fur off the bed Linda Voss gave Randy, who’s one of his roommates, when Shy jumped onto the bed, lay down and invited me to pet him, and purred when I did!

Another piece of good news: I’ve heard again from the couple who adopted Baby, and she and the younger cat who went with her are doing very well. I’m always pleased when a cat gets a real home, with the attention most of them want and can’t get in a crowd. Of course, I miss them, too, even with enough left to keep me busy.

Bette Beebe, Talcottville

Betty Sawyer, Jonesport

Beverly Maheu, China Village

Carole Parker, Stoughton

Christel Friedow, Plymouth

Cindy Houston, Woburn

Cristine Cardello, Melrose

Donna Bering, Lynn

Donna Miodowski, Windsor

Doris Lary, Hartland

Dorothy D’Alessandro, Ossipee

Dorothy Eckstein, Medford

Dorothy Watkins, Amesbury

Elizabeth Johnson, Sanford

Emile Jorgensen, East Boston

Enid Hayes, Halifax

Florence Mason, Lexington

G & R Welch, Stonington

Grace Kiley, Boston

Harriet Snyder, Brockton

Inge Maiellano, Marblehead

Iris Martinello, Tewksbury

Irma Simon, S. China

Jackie Lowney, New Bedford

Jean Catignani, Conway

Jim Lavita, DennisJoan Ryan, New Bedford

Joe D’Alessandro, Tuftonboro

John Caswell, Newport

Jon & Barb Anderson, Augusta

Joseph Arouca, Ormond Beach

Joseph Blake, New Bedford

Josephine Ford, Holden

Josephine Smith, Woburn

Judy & Al Smith, Belmont

Karen Rapallo, Wakefield

Kathleen Hillman, Chelmsford

Laureen Alden, Stoughton

Lesley Tucker, Reading

Linda Merriam, Dresden

Lisa Montmarquet, Raymond

Lorena & Harry Clark, Beverly

Marcia Smith, Bucksport

Marian Delarue, Woburn

Marlene Kaplan, Melrose

Mary Klada, Winchester

Mildred Walker, Presque Isle

Nancy Brown, Waltham

Naomi Teixeira, Jay

P.A.Lenk, China Village

Pat Thain, N. Billerica

R.D.Bournival, Nashua

Richard Lizotte, Newton

Robert Hull, Lawrence

Roberta Chaves, Westport

Rust Pappathanasi, Swampscott

Ruth Willis, Braintree

Sandra Nicholson, Beverly

Sylvia Cohen, NewtonWilla Rockett, Belmont

Gabriele, Mary, Karen, Ruthann, Mike, Ted and Jim

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