Pet Projectz

Life is never dull when you live in an Idea Factory. I was working in the garden last weekend and saw two grown dogs and a puppy running along the other side of the street. The Idea Factory is on a pretty busy street, so I was concerned when I saw them decide to cross the street. The two older ones made it, but the puppy wasn’t fast enough and got stuck in the middle of the street with cars whizzing past her on both sides. She finally gave up and just sat in the middle of the street and cried. The two older dogs kept going, and I knew she wasn’t going to make it if she stayed there so I picked her up and brought her in.

She had a small wound but seemed more scared than anything, and she was just a baby. With two older dogs who had both shown up here pretty much the same way I knew we couldn’t have another dog so I set about trying to find her owner or someone who would adopt her with no luck. So it looks like Rosebud is going to be the newest member of our family.

I’ve always been a cat person, and when the other two dogs came to live with us they had some age on them, so being around a puppy is a new experience. Puppies may be cute, but they are an incredible amount of work! I swear Ms. Rosie has Great Dane in her – her paws are huge, and she has this long skinny tail which feels like a whip when she’s wagging it. I don’t even know where to begin to start housebreaking her, so for now she has limited inside privledges.

The holiday and gift giving season is coming up quickly, and I beg any of you that think giving a pet as a gift will remember that it is a life long commitment for someone, and that every shelter and rescue group that I’ve contacted has more animals than they can possibly take care of – please consider and older, loving animal that is trained and needs a loving home.

Sometimes there can be a happy ending, and today was one of those days. Thanks to a wonderful support group of animal lovers who spread the word (and photos) about Tobias, the perfect Mom has been found! After many tears of joy, one precious baby has gone from being an outdoor cat with not much hope of a very long life to a loved and pampered indoor cat with a Mom who understands how important it is to spay and neuter. Now if I can find a home for the puppy…

This has been a tough week. One of our many feral kittens that lives outside our doors finally found a home. Being an urban dweller that has a reputation for taking in stray and hurt animals, it seems like every week we have a new mouth to feed and I
just can’t turn any of them away.

We have tried to spay and neuter all of the feral ones that we can catch, but still we end up with babies. It’s amazing how hard it is to find homes for perfectly loving animals these days, so when I find someone that is looking for a pet to adopt I’m overjoyed.

Sadly this adoption didn’t take, but we always offer to take any of them back that someone decides isn’t a good fit for them. Tobias is back, but I’m hoping we will be able to find the right family for him.

There are two ways to break the cycle of unwanted pets – aggressively spay and neuter, and encourage everyone that you know to visit a shelter and find the loves of their lives. Sadly the shelters and rescue organizations have more animals than they can find homes for, and any help of homes, fostering or financial can make all the difference.

And if you can provide a loving home for Tobias, please let me know.

They say that you are either a dog or cat person – up until a year ago I would have fallen into the cat category. That was before Daisy jumped into my life – the perfect example of a homeless, abused, junkyard (and I say that lovingly) dog. When she came charging at me I thought my life was over – she has Boxer and a few other breeds in her and I thought she was coming to attack. But not my Daisy – I guess there was a sign in “Dog language” outside my home saying animal lovers live here, and she knew a good deal when she saw one.

I will have to admit I threw things at her, hosed her and did everything I could to make her leave but she had decided this was her new home and now no one is happier about her decision than I am. She is the perfect dog- she stays on the back porch and guards us fearlessly every day and night. All she asks is to be fed and taken for a walk around the block every evening. But I noticed that she was getting slower and slower on our walks so I called our vet – the only one that I know of that makes house calls. He did some tests and confirmed that Daisy has heartworms – a disease that is easily preventable. It is much more common in dogs than cats, and now I’m kicking myself that when I did bring a dog into my home I didn’t contact my vet immediately and learn what I needed to do to take care of my new family member.

We started her treatments on Monday – they inject asrsenic into the dog which kills the worms and allows them to be absorbed into the system. It’s very painful and dangerous for the animal, but the only other option is imminenet death. She’s going to have to have 3 injections to totally take care of the problem.

The good news is that Daisy is doing well, and seems to be handling the treatments without too many side effects. I’m hoping that she’ll be living with us for a long time to come.

First there was Lucy – a tiny kitten we found on a freezing day outside our favorite restaurant begging for scraps. Even though I swore I didn’t want any animals because of my travel schedule and because I was living in a tiny condo we took her home and 6 years later she is the resident diva of the Idea Factory. I never would have anticipated how much joy and love she has brought into my home, and there isn’t anything I would trade her for.

Pets truly are a lifestyle, and when you bring them into your home you had better be prepared that there will be changes that come with them and their “baggage”.

Being the founder of Lifestylist Design, I’m looking forward to sharing my lessons learned, design ideas to help you breathe easy with your pets, and unique products for the pet lover.

I’m also going to talk about the different rescue organizations out there. The ones that I’ve been involved with truly do miracles on very small budgets.

Please visit often!