On the bright side: our volunteers are very happy with the new caretaker, Rebecca. Everything is nice and clean; the dogs get to go out a lot for playtime, and when they are not chewing on their stitches they seem to be very happy and content. And for the future, dogs which will be spayed and neutered I have just ordered several cones –(these weird head things) at the vet - more expenses, but we will not be having any chewing any more.

Bridget, our Besenji mix, found herself a wonderful home. The couple who adopted her had taken one of Charley’s dogs in the 1990s; five years ago he died. Now they were ready to give another dog a nice home. Bridget and her new people are doing very well, thank God.

And to be sure that no runs stay empty for to long, we took in two small 15-pounders. Very cute two year-old boys who had been living with many other dogs at a “collectors” home. As soon as I have pictures they will be put on the website. I imagine they will find a home fairly fast.

More bad news: the couple who had adopted Chief, the dachshund mix, and had kept him about four months brought him back: He tried to bite every stranger who came to visit and did bit the woman too. Chief had turned their family life into a nightmare. It was very understandable that they could not handle him any longer. So that means Chief will be with us for the rest of his life.

One funny little story to share with you: Jim had to go to the Shelter last week to winterize things. In the evening he and Ted went to Applebee’s restaurant in Waterville to have a good meal. Jim had ordered a steak which was not cooked to his liking. So the waitress brought him a new one and was going to take the overcooked one back. Jim told her he would like to keep it as a treat for shelter dogs. The lady wanted to know about it, and Jim and Ted filled her in on Charley’s animals. The lady then went into the kitchen and collected all the overdone, underdone, and whatever else done meat, Alfredo chicken and Pasta and filled up a huge tray for our dogs! When Jim got back at 11 that night, he went to give each one a special treat, consisting of goooood people food. And there was plenty to go around the next day to. So much thanks to a wonderful caring person at Applebee’s!

Since our food source is non-existent now, we made many calls, trying to find a store who would be willing to donate their outdated foods or torn bags of food to us. We finally came across Petco in Augusta - Ted picked up enough food for at least a couple of weeks, for the dogs and cats. Hopefully this was not a one-time thing. Thank you much to Petco!

I also had two very nice calls: Dorothy Watkins, long-time supporter of Charley’s Strays, who had won the first prize, told me to void the $300.00 check! Jenny Bering who had won the 2nd prize of $50.00 also gave the money back to our Shelter, and so did Joseph Kogut who won the 3rd prize, also $50.00. So, once again, we lucked out with our fund raiser! A huge Thank you to Dorothy, Joseph and Jenny!

Cat Report – November 2008

I was caught by surprise when I looked ahead in the calendar and realized this year is almost over. Hope it’s been a good one for all of you; and while I think of it, Merry Christmas! - since you probably won’t get the December newsletter until after the holiday.  

As usual, in my household the year brought some losses and some gains. A week ago I took in two kittens – not the responsibility of Charley’s Strays. They’re cuties, of course (aren’t all kittens?), and I’m fond of them, but I’ve learned that new ones succeed the ones you’ve lost, they don’t replace them. Anyway, I think I have a home for these two; kittens are easier to place than adult cats, as you may have noticed.

November has been fairly uneventful. Only one vet trip, for Randall to see why he wasn’t eating as well as usual. An antibiotic helped temporarily, and tomorrow he goes in to have his teeth cleaned and maybe some pulled. Kennebec, my little guy who needs such careful handling, had an ingrown toenail on a front foot that I consulted the vets about.  Dr. Balboni’s advice was to catch him off guard and just clip it. I thought I couldn’t do it without one or both of us getting damaged, but by gosh, I did! I wore a heavy protective glove on the hand I held him with, having previously petted him with it so he’d be used to it, but he didn’t give me a hard time at all. In fact, he was purring when I finished. Such a pleasant surprise!

Thanks, again, to all of you who help with our vet and other bills, and especially to Karen and her neighbor Melissa and the Charles’ cat for cat food and to Teresa, Suzanne and the rest of the coupon-clippers. One of our supporters e-mailed me a reminder about another way all of us who use computers can help animals, at no cost to ourselves: go to theanimalrescuesite.com and click in the box, and you donate food to animals in shelters. That site’s been bookmarked on my computer for a couple years now, and I try especially to remember to click on Saturdays and Sundays, when donations are lower than on weekdays.