Tuesdays with Tigris - A Helpful Lady

Reader,

I think the Lady may be a bit crazy

Lady saw on social media that a local cat rescue TRN Lapeche needed a driver to take a carload of cats 1.5 hours away to a spay and neuter clinic. So she took the day off and drove 14 cats about 150km/90 miles (one way, return that is twice the distance).

The clinic is an all spay and neuter clinic (they vaccine and microchip too and do a few other things). The rescue works to send a few car loads a month there. They first send cats from their rescue (a combination of feral from colonies who they support and rescued who have a chance of becoming house cats) and then open it up to the public, as the cost is about half of what Lady paid to get garbage cat fixed. 

Then a volunteer picks up the cats in 2 locations and drives to the clinic. The clinic is all drive through. You drive up, you give them your dog/cat and everyone comes back at the same time that day. For Lady, she dropped all the cats off at 9 and picked them up at 2:15.

When loading the cats back into the car, the guy in line behind her yelled "who's the crazy cat lady" and Lady laughed and said "cat rescue" and he said "I figured" but they both laughed.

Then Lady drove the 14 cats back tot he 2 drop off locations and home.

She was rewarded with a $50 gas card for her time.

She said it was easy. She had to make sure the crates were labeled and zip tied. She had to Tetris them all into the car. They were very good. Only 2 complained a little on the way there. The feral ones (who had been taken from the colony the night before) stunk a bit. She had to do the same thing on the way home, where no one said anything.

She is doing it again in July. She can imagine doing it a few times in the good weather. She will not be doing this in the winter as winter driving is not her scene.

I guess it is good she is helping other cats out of our house. I made sure she knew I was still in charge and could kill her in her sleep. 

Tigris, Queen of the house

Tuesdays with Tigris - New Things

 Dear reader,

I am not sure that you are aware that the Lady here is addicted to supporting animal rescues and animal charities. One way she does this is to get involved with online silent auctions. She loves the ones in the fall where she starts to buy her Christmas gifts.

She got a little crazy with one for the Hollibell Foundation,  an organization who provides free and low cost spay and neuter to pet owners and strays. 

I guess I shouldn't complain because besides some gifts for people, she got us lots of new things in a couple gift baskets for us.

Here I am enjoying a new nip toy. 

Here I am under a nip blanket playing with a new feather toy. 

I am a very good hunter.

Checking out one of the two new beds. Our first cat beds. Lady is guessing we won't use them.

The new things are nice and fun, and we are glad our Lady is able to help other animals. 

Tigris

Thankful Thursday - Giving Back

I am excited to share that I am now the driver manager for the Ottawa Paw Pantry.

The Ottawa Paw Pantry (which I have spoken about before) has several community pantries throughout the city as well as offering in home delivery up to 4 times per year for those who can't access a community pantry. In my role, I am given a list of deliveries for the week, and I then coordinate volunteer drivers to complete the deliveries. I also get to coordinate pick up of donations from community drop off locations.  

While I struggle to find the right combination of food that makes my dogs want to eat, I do not struggle to feed them. I can't even imagine what is is like to be worried about not being able to fed them.

This weeks trick is to only eat each other's food . . . so both dishes need to be the same!

I am new to this role, (we are on week 3) but so far am really enjoying it. I feel my few hours a week on my computer, is making a meaningful difference for people. It is nice to be part of the pet community in another way. 

I am sure I will find other ways to work within the organization as well. I am a sucker for the underdog, literally and figuratively!

This is one way I am finding to give back and use my place of privilege (because it is so great), for good. 

And I would be remiss to not just say - American friends, I love you.  I am not loving the regime in your country and I have some serious concerns about the state of the world in general, but my feelings don't trickle down to the people who aren't making the decisions. May we find a way to get along. That is all I am going to say about this. 

The Lady

Grateful - by Lady

Recently, I have been less hopeful and more frustrated with humanity. It seems like general kindness and patience with our fellow humans has decreased. However, the small act of one of my readers helped give me a little faith recently. 

Our "When Will the Snow Be Gone" contest winner, asked for a donation to be made to charity instead of a prize. I sent her 2 animal charities I support, and let her pick. After the selection, she let me know, she and her husband had decided to also make a donation to the Ottawa Paw Pantry in our honour. My silly little blog contest, that helps us pass the last long days of winter, has filled my heart as it has filled animals bellies. Who could ask for anything more? For this I am truly grateful and send my sincerest thank you to Fay, for reminding me, good is still out there,.

*The Ottawa Paw Pantry is a food bank for families in need, that hopes to allow struggling families to keep their fur members. 

Help Our Lady - by Phod

Hi, everyone's favourite Phody is here, with my sidekick Precious, to share some important news.

If you don't know our Lady well, she is organized, dedicated, headstrong and independent, which makes her current endeavour sort of her personal hell. She told me she feels about it like I feel about having to have my ears cleaned every day, twice a day (so that is terrible).

Lady is on a fundraising mission. If you don't know, she works with individuals with autism. She has volunteered her time to abandon us forever travel to Tanzania in February of 2020 with the Global Autism Project. The Global Autism Project is on a mission to create sustainable treatment for autism worldwide using a train the trainer method. Lady is going to use the skills and talents she has obtained during her career and her love of  travel to help others (and maybe see a giraffe too. I don't know what that is, but Lee says it is something I would love to chase - I think she would love chasing it more). One of the requirements is for her to fundraise a minimum of $5000 USD. This covers some of her expenses while she is away. She will be paying for her flight, food and non-work related travel. We will be stuck here with the Man for like 2.5 weeks, while she is living her dream. (She told me the only thing that would make it better would be for her to be able to take us).

If you happen to have any extra treat money laying around that you could spare, please consider making a donation to her CrowdRise page  HERE. If you do go, please click on Kristen's (that is her name - it isn't actually Lady) Tanzania so the money goes to her account and the charity sees she has raised it and let her go on the trip.

For those of you who saw it on Facebook etc. and have been able to make a donation, Lady gives her most heartfelt thanks. She is humbled by the generosity of others.

Thanks for considering this, even if it means she is not spending time with us. She made our dreams come true when she rescued us, so we can repay the kindness by helping her have hers come true too.

Your pal, Phod (and Precious and probably Hailey if she wasn't so medicated, and Emma who is being pretty good this trip).

A Gala and Gifts For The Dogs

Saturday was SafePet Ottawa's 3rd Annual Gala and the 3rd we have attended. While I have spoken about them before, their work is very important so I am going to recap who they are and what they do. SafePet is an organization that fosters animals for people fleeing domestic abuse. They have fostered dogs, cats, birds, hamsters, a horse, lizards etc. They will try and find a safe place for any animal.  People fleeing are put in touch with local vet clinics who will hold the pet until a volunteer can pick it up and take it to the foster. To maintain privacy the vet remains the contact between the organization and the fosters. This year so far they have helped 65 animals from over 40 families.  This is double the animals they helped last year. While it is heartbreaking that there is a need for such an organization, it is heartwarming that people (mainly women) are finding the courage to leave. One of the speakers was a survivor who only had the courage to leave knowing her best friend, a dog called Jasmine, would be safe and loved while she put her life back together. Two lives saved. They are now living their happily ever after. (For the record, each table had a box of Kleenex on it as the stories shared by those involved made you laugh and made you cry. It is a very honest and emotional fundraiser followed by a party!). 

I had learned about this charity as one of my coworkers is heavily involved. She has repeatedly asked me to foster animals, but I know (and she understands) that it isn't the time for that for us. I think it would be too hard on Lee and Phod. So while I can't open my home to a foster at this time, I can open my wallet and help out.

Besides buying our tickets, and drinking my fair share of the champagne cocktail where a $1 from each went to the charity (the Man was our DD), the Man and I participated in the silent auction. While we didn't win every item we bid on (we did help drive up the prices and raise more money for the organization), we each won one. The Man won a pair of hockey tickets to a game later this month. I won the 'surprise' dog treat box. (So while Lee was freaking out and licking her nose - see yesterday's post - I was trying to win her treats!)

The box

The contents of the box

While there are a few items (grooming and a collar) we will be donating back to SafePet (this is where we are giving all our extra things because I know if they can't use them they pass them on to another rescue or shelter), I was very happy with all the treats. The one brush is the first brush I have ever used on Lee that she did not freak out, so we are keeping this. 

Further, our gift bags for the night each contained a ticket to Pet Expo this coming weekend. Uncle Chris and I will be attending as it is not the Man's thing. We will have even more spoiled dogs! And we will be helping SafePet more as they are the charity of choice for the event.

No Tricks Just Treats For Shelters

Today we are joining our wonderful friends Dory, Arty, Jakey and Bilbo for No Tricks Just Treats for Shelters. Be sure to pop over to their blog for wonderful ideas on how to help local shelters and make sure to leave a comment for their comment-a-thon!

We both did time in shelters. Hailey was taken from a shelter at about 3 weeks old and after Phod was found hitchhiking, he spent a couple weeks in one. We admit that after reading all the wonderful things our pals are doing for local shelters we need to do more. The most consistent thing we do is that every time Lady buys us supplies at PetSmart and they ask if she wants to make a donation, she does. This year they were doing a shelter food drive and she bought a bunch of food for the shelter. That is how we help. 

This is our 2015 picture - Lady was too busy with Maggie yesterday to get a 2016 year one yet

Thanks to Dory and the Boyz for organizing this great event! 

Helping A Wonderful Cause

Lady has mentioned her new favourite charity here before, Safe Pet Ottawa. This charity provides foster homes for pets for women fleeing domestic abuse. On the weekend, Lady and Man went to the inaugural Safe Pet Masquerade Ball. Lady heard about this because one of her coworkers is a member of the Safe Pet Board.

We were left home alone for hours, in the wind. We were very good and the house was fine when our people came back.  We would like to be annoyed with them, but they brought home a basket of goodies for us. They bought it in the silent auction. We even got a treat right away, in the middle of the night.  That never happens.

The first wonderful treats, little cupcakes, with paper

While we don't like to be left alone, we are glad our people were able to help out such a wonderful cause.

Big Sky Ranch Animal Sanctuary

I don't talk about my job much here, but today I am going to say a little because it led me to one of my new favourite places. I work with individuals with autism. My job is to supervise programs based on the principles of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA). I am currently working with a young man who we are transitioning from the school system to the adult world. While this young man may never have paid employment, I do believe he can contribute to society.  One of his support workers, came up with this awesome place for him to volunteer.  The place the she found was Big Sky Ranch Animal Sanctuary.

This sanctuary takes in a host of unwanted animals and when possible finds them loving homes, and when not, provides them loving homes. 

I had the pleasure of accompanying my team there to see how it worked etc. etc. (If anyone I work with is reading this, it was a really tough shift, it was hard!). Our jobs for the day were to help water the pigs and then to sweep out stalls. (Yes, I helped do this, this princess can do hard work). The people working/volunteering there were wonderful with my client and as wonderful with all the animals. It is a place that you feel the love and respect. After our work was done, we had some time to go around and feed the animals. I took some pictures (I only had my phone as I was actually working), so they aren't the best quality, but they give you an idea.

There are llamas,

chickens, roosters, ducks, geese, 

a buffalo named Dakota,

sheep,

more llamas,

I love the colour of this one

dogs, this one Sasha is Phod's twin,

pigs, 

biggest pig I ever saw

cats, 

 ponies,

This one kept chasing the others off for the carrots

goats,

a deer,

emu, 

and not pictured, cows and rabbits and I am sure I am missing something. I fell in love and I am excited that I will get to go probably once a month at least through to Christmas (and maybe past) as my client will be volunteering there 2 mornings a week. I think it is an amazing way, for a young man who loves, loves, loves animals, to contribute to society. 

Walking For Charity

I had heard of, but never done anything to learn about ResQwalk, until a coworker asked me to a couple weeks ago.  If you don't know about it, it is an app you put on your device. When you are out walking or biking (any movement under something like 14 mph that is not stationary), it tracks your km/miles. You assign you distance to one of the many approved charities. At the end of the month each charity receives a portion of the money based on the portion of miles walked for them.

This month's total pool is $3850.

We are currently walking for SafePet Ottawa. This is a wonderful organization that provided foster homes for people fleeing domestic violence.

I did some research and found:
-52% of those fleeing domestic violence are forced to leave pets with the abuser (and often the pets are also victims up to 71% of them)
-up to 65% of people won't flee out of fear what will happen to their pets

Loving an animal is not a reason to continue to get hurt. Leaving an abuser is hard enough, worrying about the safety of a dog or cat will not make it easier. I love that SafePet Ottawa is helping protect animals and hopefully helping to encourage people to leave abusers.

Note: This charity is particularly near and dear to my heart as I have one brave friend who was able to leave (in her case the pet was not in danger, just her), and in another, an acquaintance was murdered by her husband because she could not leave. He is currently serving life in prison for her death.

There are a lot of great charities out there to help. Find one and get walking! (Oh and remember to turn the app on, that is something I keep forgetting to do!)

PSA - Phod's Birthday Bash

April 1st will be Zaphod's 5th birthday, or rather the day we celebrate it. For those of you who are newer to the blog, Zaphod was picked up as a stray when he was about 1.5 years old. He was severally underweight (he was about 40lbs when he should have been closer to 70) and had behaviour that suggested he had been mistreated/abused. He was taken from the animal shelter into a loving foster home  by Catahoula Rescue Ontario. After a few weeks made his way to our family. (FYI: His cool name is from his foster mom Jenn who thought of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy when she found out he was walking down the highway when he was picked up).

The first night Phod was with his. He was nervous. This is still one of his favourite spots to sleep! 

We wanted to keep his adoption/gotcha day separate from his birthday so we could celebrate him twice a year. We picked April 1st as his birthday. We picked this day because it is fun and it is his Aunt K's birthday.

This year, it is estimated that Zaphod will be turning 5. To celebrate his birthday we have decided to do a fundraising event to help other abused and mistreated animals. We have selected the Ontario SPCA as the charity we will support for this fundraiser.

Here is what you need to know to participate:

- Send a picture of your pet(s) "fooling around" and having fun (the sillier the better), by March 27th, 2016 to leeandphodATbellDOTnet
- Grab our badge or find other ways to spread the word that this event is happening

What the Lady will do:

-For every submission she will donate $1.
-For every comment made within 48 hours of the post going up (Friday April 1st, 6 am EST to Sunday April 3rd, 6 am EST), she will donate .50 cents


If you have any questions feel free to contact us at leeandphodATbellDOTnet.

Thank you in advance for joining us in celebrating Phod's birthday and helping mistreated animals.

Feline Friday - Helping with Chores

Baggy making sure the clean laundry has just the right amount of cat hair!

Nin checking to see if the towels are folded right while supervising the making of dinner!

It is really nice to have such great household supervisors!

A non-pet related favour - The Lady. A charity I know very well (maybe because I work there:), Spectrum Intervention Group, has entered a contest late. The contest (and I am not sure the prize - but anything is good for a charity) is to get the most likes for your video by mid-night tonight. So if you could find the time today (Friday the 16th) to go and like this video (you don't have to watch it) - that would be amazing! I think the leading video has like 100 likes and while this video is coming late to the party, I am sure we can get 100+ likes in a day!  Thanks! Spectrum Video

About Spectrum Intervention Group www.spectrumig.com, they are a not for profit organization that provides treatment to individuals with autism using the science of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA). Autism is a disorder that effects about 1:88 children in North America (with similar numbers world wide - some experts say as many as 1 in 55 boys!). There is no known cause or cure. The only proven treatment is education using ABA. In Ontario Canada, there is very little government funding for this service. It is very expensive and parents need to pay out of pocket. Spectrum works really hard to find grants etc that allow for high quality services at an affordable rate. Thanks again for listening to me blab about my second love! 

Gemi's twin lives

I was looking at Genesis Dog Rescue Site the other day and found this dog named Ace who looks just like Gemi.  I can't figure out how to copy his picture, but I suggest taking the time to go to http://www.genesisdogrescue.com/adoptables, look at Ace.

Then look at these pictures of Gemi. Also,  Gemi would have been 7 this year. She had bad teeth. She loved everyone (in her understated way!) I wonder if they are related! 

I wish Ace all the best! 

Lee's Doppelganger

Bear

This is Bear. Bear was recently rescued by Hopeful Hearts from Lebanon. With the exception of a little extra white on her feet and mouth (and of course the missing leg), does she not look so much like Lee? It is creepy! My mutt has a doppelganger

To find our more about Bear and the other great dogs that Hopeful Hearts has rescued visit them at: http://www.hopefulhearts.ca/

Show us your heart!

Last Day of 1!

Tomorrow Lee turns 2! I can't believe it.

Today she got a great early birthday gift from Aunt C's cat, Lemew.

While it is not something she can eat or play with, Lee is very happy with this gift.

To Hailey, For your birthday, a donation has been made to Hopeful Hearts Rescue to help other dogs find their forever homes. Love Lemew

Holiday Destruction

I haven't written about destruction for a long time, because someone has been good. However, on Christmas Eve, we ran out to do a couple errands. I had left this item, one of the 3 I got from the Hopeful Hearts online charity auction, on the counter. It was to be a gift. We came home and it was on the floor chewed up. She had taken it off the counter (something she has never done with non-food items before) to chew it. Needless to say, it did not get given as a gift.

Do you think she was trying to say something when she chewed this?

Lee and Santa

Today Hailey, the Lady and the Man went out to support a local rescue, Hopeful Hearts (http://www.hopefulhearts.ca, the rescue focuses on senior and dogs with special needs), by having Lee's picture taken with Santa. I think the picture clearly communicates how Lee felt about it. 

"Why do my people make me do these things?"

Nosey Dog Scent Class

The scene: Ottawa Canine School on a Friday night
The participants: 8 very different dogs
The goal: To try out having your dogs sniff out treats in identical pizza boxes
Our reason for going: To see if Lee liked this or was good at it before considering putting her in a class; to expose her to new things; to tire her out.

Here is our story:

Lee: We were going in the car and I didn't recognize at first where we were going, I was looking out the window and then I saw it and I was sooooooo excited. I remembered it. School! I get lots of treats there.

Lady: I could tell you remembered, you did your I know where we are singing.

Lee: It was so exciting and I had to wait a little and then I went first and I got so many treats. It was great, but then, then I wasn't so happy. The other dogs were going and getting treats. Some of them took a long time to find their treats. I tried to tell them where they were by calling to them. I could have found them faster. I am a horrible waiter.

Lee - standing up to look over the barrier to see what the other dogs were doing. 

Lady: I can't judge you for being a horrible waiter, I am also a horrible waiter.  But I didn't love it when you were crying and barking and trying to chew your leash off to try and get free to get the cookies. You were the only dog who was behaving like that.

Lee: I think that is because the other dogs didn't understand what was going on, they were missing the fact that there were cookies that needed to be hunted quickly. It was almost as exciting as squirrels.

Lady: I have to say that on your turn you were rather amazing at this. You were very systematic about it and fast and determined. I was impressed with your ability to focus and work. You were a very good sniffer hunter. I really liked how you only tried to open the box with the cookie inside.

Lee: Thank you, I try. I had fun, I just hated waiting Lady. I didn't get enough turns, 6 was not enough. I should have done all the turns . . . . . . .

Lady: I know Lee. But it is important to learn to wait. We can work on this more together.  Hopefully a scent class will fit into our crazy schedule soon.

Lee: I will like it best if it is a private lesson. Oh and I didn't like the drive home in the dark. I couldn't see where I was going. I didn't like it.

Lady: I know. Can you tell me how you managed to get out of the new harness? You have never done that before.

Lee: I am a magician. I will not share my secrets!


Please consider making a donation to Humane Society International at http://www.hsi.org/world/canada/ to help the 527 recently rescued dogs (and the 90 puppies that have already been born and the 30 or so dogs expecting litters) have the opportunity for a loving life. No amount is too small!