Happy Holidays!!!!!

If Shorty managed Christmas at our house....like father (Chris) like son (Shorty)

Welcome Home

Yesterday I was finishing up my inspections near the house, so I was able to go home straight from the restaurant. I got home early with hopes of playing Frisbee with the dogs while there was still some day light.
As I approached the house, movement caught my eye and I saw that Sidney was out and in the living room. We keep all our dogs in crates during the day while we are gone. I hurried inside anticipating piles of poop and new pee spots on the newly cleaned rug downstairs.
There was no poop, maybe some pee but I didn't look. Sidney was limping and Maynard had yet again, busted out of his crate. I chalked up Sid's limp to a little fight that might have occurred because Sid seemed fine.
Downstairs, Maynard had apparently tried to eat Sidney and Sid had attempted to escape out the window. The screen was gone again, the plant that was on the window sill was now embedded in the couch. It looked like they had knocked it over and danced on it - I guess wrestled would be more like it. Upon further scrutiny, it became apparent that Maynard really did try to eat Sidney as one leg was punctured, a foot swollen, scrapes on the head and underbelly and a nice hairless gash on the other leg.
I was horrified. This was my Sidney under attack. What if Maynard had succeeded in killing my little boy.
I have had animals hurt and while I was concerned, I have never felt actual pain and guilt at their injuries. I now know what that feels like. I can't imagine how it hurts parents to see their child get hurt.
Everyone is OK, the wounds minimal - recovery eminent. But it was scary.
Maynard is the most stubborn dog I've ever had the pleasure to know.
Sidney probably started the fight. (little dog syndrome)

In Memory

This week we morn the loss of Wilson. He was struck by a car and died. He was a good cat. A young male with a wonderful little personality. I was there when he was born - he was a screamer - the loudest kitten of the litter. We were sure he would grow up to be mean and anti-social. We were wrong, he was one of the most loving of the bunch.
He is missed.

Cat Pee

How many gallons of urine does a cat urinate in a lifetime? I wonder if anyone knows the answer to that question? I could do a study, perhaps weighing the amount of a pee ball in the litter box and could calculate the liquid amount by subtracting the total solids in each pee ball - ooh oh, I could scoop it out, weigh it, then bake the pee ball in one of those ovens in the chemistry lab at Ferrum and figure the difference in weight and determine the average amount of pee per pee ball and then determine the average amount a cat pees in a day and the average life span of a cat and WHAhLA! We can then convert grams to pounds, and then pounds to gallons.
WHY am I wondering this? Because cat urine has affected all of our lives, perhaps mine more than others... have you ever been driving to work and occasionally catch a wiff of cat pee? I have.
February 2004, Axton, VA
One morning I was in a rush to get to work. Being new and living 45minutes away, every second counts when trying to get to work on time. Dressed ready to inspect restaurants, coffee cup in hand, I grabed my purse and was out the door. Starting the car I inhale, pause, taste the air, then exhale. Is that cat pee I smell? Backing out of the drive way, Boo and Maynard barking furiously as I leave them, I smell it again. Oh god - did someone pee in the back seat? I sniff the air fiercely, big, heavy, long inhale, ssssnnnniiffff, and exhale, ahhhhh. The smell dissapears.
On my way down the road, winding through the forest and past the wildlife management area, the smell erupts again. Then dissapears just as fast. Again as I drive past the elementary school. I sniff over to the passenger seat - nothin'. Weird, where the hell is it coming from?
I arrive at work, whip into a parking space and am about to get out when, WHAM - uh, oh god - there it is again... Where the hell is it? I sniff the seats - my seat - No, the back seat - No.
Huh, I shrug and head in through the employee entrance. I slip into the kitchen to drop my lunch into the frige, spin on my heel and there it is again, but ever so faint. Oh dear.
Walking past the other's offices I try not to say hi unless they look at me - this is typical behavior in the morning for us all.
I sit down at my desk and take stock of what the morning will bring. I'm going out with John to do restaurants - where are we going? Hmm, I think he said a school cafeteria. Uh, am I smelling that piss again?
A co-worker comes into my office and sits down to talk, yet she doesn't stay long.
John pops in to make sure I am going out with him today, yep. Hey buddy, I wonder if he smells cat pee.
John leaves and the smell returns. I start sniffing again but still can't find it. So I bite the bullet and go into Amy's office, "Um, yeah, this might sound like a weird question, but uh, do you smell cat pee?"
She sits back in her chair, leaning away from me and looks at me odd, nods her head and says, "yeah. I do. I thought it was just really bad B.O. though."
Oh god - it IS me, I smell like freakin' cat piss!
Embarrassed, I trot back to my office and start smelling myself, sniff sniff sniff sniff sniff, arm - no, other arm - no, chest - no, shirt - YES! Oh god, it's my clothes!
Then I see it - my purse is hanging on a drawer knob. I snatch it up and plaster my face to the side and inhale, ssnnuufffffff - UGGH, gag, oh lord! F#!%ing CAT!
One cat - only one cat isn't neutered... yet. Sabastian.
The darn cat had backed his little butt up to my purse that was sitting on the kitchen counter and sprayed it - I mean soaked it. Then I snatched it up, throw it over my shoulder and rubbed that pee all over the side of my shirt.
So now I'm stranded at work, smelling like cat piss and am supposed to be going out telling other people that they need to clean their restaurant up!? While I smell like pee?
Yeah - so I can fully vouch for the power of Febreze - the stuff works. I re-saturated my shirt with the spray and left with John.
I returned to a scented candle burning in my office cubicle - as I had stunk up an entire end of the building!
How's that for an embarrasing day at work?
Oh, and by the way - Sabastian got neutered that Friday.

How many pounds of cat food does it take?

One, two, three, four, ten, twelve cats... it's bad when one shows up at the back porch, purring and slinking between my legs and I say to myself, "Oh yeah, Nora, I forgot about you." Granted she comes and goes, and stays gone for weeks at a time... but I still feel guilty having forgotten about her.
I got a comment on my last post from a good friend whom I haven't seen in ages - but never will forget - as her photos do adorn my abode (rift valley, blue-footed boobie (I know I didn't spell that right - that bird with the blue feet - ha ha.)) Any way - she addressed their current battle with cats and their reproductive abilities.
Ahhh, cats and kittens. I can't keep track as to how many of those guys we have - or I should say, 'how many of those girls we have." Finally we are getting everyone spayed ... finally.
But first ~ CATS: A Brief History:
Lets see - We have, the Great Beendeenie, aka, Beenie, aka, Sabastian - the blind indoor cat. Then there is Moe, aka, Mighty Morphin MoJoe the Jammin Juju Jelly Bean (a name that came from not being able to think of a name) - he goes by "Moe", or for the more affectionate, "Moe Moe." Chloe remains our beautiful calico - the purrfect cat. Then there is Uni, Star and Diamond. They are 3 sisters whom we found while walking the dogs. They were abandoned by a pond and were dehydrated, even with water 20 feet away, they didn't know to drink it. So we took them home, and unable to give them away, we kept them. Then grew into fairly healthy (except for ear and eye yuck) attractive female cats. Each of which then gave birth to 3 kittens of their own. Some we were able to give away, the others are Wilson, Smiles, Beenette (she looks just like Beenie), and Furball. But wait - that's not all, there is also Gotee - the new resident TomCat, who has claimed us for his own. Little does he know, he's on the "list." One day he's gonna wake up in a strange steril room and not have his testicles anymore! Adopting us as a family has it's drawbacks.
So that makes 11. I think. We lost one over the summer - KitKat. She just dissapeared.
There are several other transient cats - and some of the kittens have strange resemblances to them!!
It is a financial battle to spay and neuter everyone - but it's what we do, when we can. Luckily, there is a wonderful place in Franklin County called Planned Pethood, and they do reduced cost spay and neutering with basic services - like rabies, distemper and front line, micro-chipping, etc. Without them, FC would be lost - it already ranks pretty bad on the animal rights scale with the pound and enforcement - but it takes the power of the people to evoke that kind of change and they are fighting for it!
I guess I will have to address each cat on its own - as some stories are too good to loose in the midst of this giant paragraph. Lets just say that they have the ability (or had) to seriously embarrass me at work, make me almost puke and wish I had a machine gun...
All for now~!

Despair

Without a doubt, we have to have the all-time record for worst neighbors. The 1st neighbor drug me to court twice for dog barking. The second neighbor attacked Chris on our front porch. The other neighbor ignored his dog so much we adopted it. Another neighbor was so sorry that we had to remind him to feed and water his dogs. Another neighbor would park in front of our house at 2 or 4 am and just sit there. And now our current neighbors lock their great dane mix in a crate - outside - in the rain - it can't even stand up or move around in the crate and it cries - litterally weeps. I don't know what to do. They are horrible. I hate them.

Yesterday Maynard decided he did not want to be in his crate, nor did he feel like staying in the house. So, he broke the door open on his crate and took a flying leap through the basement window screen.
I have lost count how many windows this dog has lept through. Mind you - for those that do not know Maynard, he is very sick. He has heart worm and we discovered during an attempt to treat him for the heart worm (have them removed) - he also has a heart condition, that does not allow him to go through heart worm therapy. At times he is very weak and out to lunch, other times - he does what he wants, regardless of who or what is in the way...obviously.
Maynard was adopted when we lived in the ghetto. He belonged to our neighbor and was neglected - not mistreated persay, just ignored. He was frightening, such a big dog. He's a Pitbull Rott mix - a beast, a gentle giant (most of the time). He came to live with us and did enjoy the inside life - once we got him used to the idea that we do not pee on wall corners...
While in the ghetto, we were forced to tie him to the front porch column. Maynard hates motorcycles and he would bark furiously at them and lunge at them as they drove by. One day he pulled the porch column out from the porch! He broke several windows snarling at those darn bikes.
When we moved out to the county, he often jumped out of those windows - busting screens all the time. One day, in a fit - Maynard ran into a tree; he did that occasionally. He would get all worked up barking and leaping around, and then - SMACK, he'd bump right into trees, whatever was in the way. This particular day, the tree he rammed lodged a piece of bark in his eye. It did not puncture it, it simply lay sideways on the eye, so that it covered the eye like a contact. From our point of view, it looked like the eye had exploded and were afraid it had, as our cat Sabastian's eye had done (you'll hear about the Great Beandeenie, aka, Sabastian, later). The vet (whom is our very favorite vet in the whole wide world) removed the bark easily and there was his eye - intact, but scratched. On went the Elizabethan Collar - ha ha ha - Maynard the Satellite dish. Did that dish stop him from jumping out the window? No, he jumped out the downstairs window - collar and all.
Another day he jumped out the upstairs window, which luckily had a roof just below it that served as the roof over the porch. I came home to find Maynard and Mia hanging out on the roof, surrounded by pieces of screen.
You gotta love 'em ... right!?

Welcome Friends

Welcome Friends to DirtDogsCatSplat, the home of the animal fanatics.
We have quite a story to tell. Many dogs and cats have come into our lives, some gone - each one unique and special.
Look for stories and photos of each and every special four legged friend.
Comming soon - Maynard, the marvel, the myth, the legend - the Pitbull Rottwieler.