The other night, I walked into my bedroom to see Animal Cops: Houston on television. A dog had such a bad case of fleas he was severely anemic and had to have a blood transfusion. I nearly cried.

Seriously, I don’t know how the humane society and ASPCA workers do it. I would spend about half my time crying and about half my time furious. If you’re a worker at one of these sorts of places, please leave a comment and let me know how you manage to get by without hitting someone or crying all the time.

And thank you for what you do. It is much appreciated.

Shak and Jill’s own dear Kathy T lost her kitty Pootster this morning. He was 20 years old, so at least he had a long and happy life. But it’s still hard to say goodbye.

My sincerest condolences, Kathy.

Anyone who knits, sews, or crochets can attest to the fact that cats love to get all up in your projects. Every single time I have fabric laid out for cutting out, my dog likes to run through the fabric, messing it up. He thinks it’s funny, but it makes my cat Simon mad.

So mad, in fact, that yesterday when I had some fabric laid out for cutting and my dog came running through the fabric for the ten millionth time, Simon took action. He went ant sat on the fabric. Any time Tiny tried to come through, Simon hissed at him. Tiny finally gave up and took a nap, but Simon sat there the entire time I was cutting to "guard" the fabric, I suppose.

There’s nothing better than a cat who loves crafting so much that he helps guard against crazy dogs running through to mess things up.

Having pets has been one of the most valuable parenting tools ever. They’ve taught my kids responsibility, they’ve taught my kids respect for personal space, they’ve taught my kids about unconditional love and trust, they’ve taught my kids about taking care of those who can’t take care of themselves. Every day that the kids spend with the pets is another day, another lesson learned.

It’s also given them a sense of compassion that sometimes surprises me. Yesterday I was reading Little House On The Prairie to my daughter, and when we got to the part where they cross the creek and lose their dog Jack (temporarily, but we read a chapter at a time, and Jack coming back is in the next chapter), my daughter cried bitterly about the loss of Jack. It was all I could do not to tell her Jack comes back in the next chapter, but I can’t wait for her surprise when I read her the next part tonight!

I was pleased and very honored to receive the Thinking Blogger Award from Saving Lives, One At A Time. Thank you so very much, it was a great way to start my day, finding out about this.

There are rules attached to this award
1. You must write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think
2. Acknowledge this post
3. Proudly display the Thinking Blogger Award with a link to the post that you wrote
**Of course all of these things are optional…it’s just a nice way to recognize your favorite blogs.

So, here are the blogs that Animal Shak picks for the Thinking Blogger Award:

Moncks Corner Moments Heather is the proud owner of a basset hound and three little monkeys. Wait, those monkeys are kids?

GingerSnaps Ginger recently rescued an adorable kitty named Milkshake. I am proud of her for taking on the Agent of Chaos, as her kitty has been called.

Shak & Jill Kathy T has a regular menagerie of pets at her house. I’m enthralled with her ancient kitty.

The Ride Home Megan has an adorable kitty cat that I would love to steal from her.  There’s nothing I adore more than a big, floofy kitty. 

For Lack Of A Better Word Holly has a kitty named Dorian (is that not the most awesome kitty name?) who once ate a Q-tip, but it all came out okay. Well, maybe not, Holly hasn’t written about him in awhile. Is he okay, Holly?

Head on over to these sites, they all make me think (and laugh, and cry, and all that).

This cartoon comes from Past Expiry Cartoon by Johnny Ancich where you can find a cartoon on almost anything! "The most fearsome Fifi?"

When I wrote yesterday about Julie Pippert’s dog, there was a bit more I wanted to say, but I didn’t feel that writing about it in that post was appropriate. She had a very rude commenter that wrote in response to  her post:

When there are 40 million people — lots and lots of them children –
in this country who can’t afford to get near a doctor it’s a huge waste
of resources to operate on a dog for cancer.

While I totally agree that all Americans- actually, all people regardless of where they live- need access to affordable medical care, this was a post about Julie’s dog. Not a place to proselytize about politics. But all handslapping aside, let’s take a look at the commenter’s statement.

Animals are important members of most people’s families. Heck, I know people whose animals are far better than their own family. Treating an animal for a disease, regardless of expense, is just the right thing to do. If, of course, you can afford it.

We had a beloved cat that developed cancer. Unlike Julie’s case, we did not realize that she was sick or hurting until it was really too late. Our veterinarian said we could try to treat her, but likely she would die anyway. It was the most heartbreaking decision I have ever had to make. Do I try to treat her, at expense we really could not afford in hopes that she has a miracle recovery? Or do we put her down, knowing she is in pain and the pain would be relieved by her death?

We opted to put her down. If I had had unlimited money, I still probably would have put her down because the vet was so discouraging about her chances, and I hated to see her in pain. But what if it had been treatable? I don’t know, we were just so poor at that time. We had some money put away, but not that kind of money.

No matter what, though, I don’t think it is ever a waste of resources to seek medical care for your animal, even if they are very costly treatments. Not  providing your animals with medical care is just irresponsible.

Recently, I wrote a post Puppies That Need Homes Up For Adoption. I just discovered that one of the ads was posted by a scammer. The ad I am referring to is the second one in that post. As far as I know, the first ad is legitimate. Flugpo has taken the proper measures to prevent this person from further exploitation on their site.

Apparently this person is posting these ads absolutely everywhere.The scam is in the shipping costs. Although the ad says that the puppies are free, you still have to pay for the pup to be shipped from its location. You never get the puppy and you lose the money you paid for shipping. 

If you see an ad with either of these email addresses involved, it is a scam:

xninajoyce2000@yahoo,com or xnina4real@yahoo,com

More than likely, there are also variations of the email address out there. I am sorry that an ad I put before you was from a scammer. I am just happy to have found out and to let everyone know what this person is really up to.

Have a history of sales? Like to work from your home? Love our site? Well then, Shakadoo may need you.

We are looking for experienced and motivated individuals to add to our sales staff. If you think you might be a good fit or know someone who who would be, email your resume to us here at  sales@shakadoo.com. 

We all know that elephants are know for their memory. But who knew LIONS were not quick to forget either! A friend sent this video to me and the story behind it is so heart stirring.

Apparently this woman in the video found this lion injured in the forest ready to die. She took the lion with her and nursed him back to health. When the lion was better she made arrangements with a zoo to take the lion and find him a new and happy home.

Sometime later, the woman went to go visit the lion to see how he was doing. This video captures that reunion; beautiful.