Courage and friends

Courage is one of seven kittens rescued from the pound two days ago. Her foster immediately noticed that her tail was "crunchy" and there was a red lump at the base on the underside. Foster mom was unable to take the kitten to the vet, so as the driver of my rescue group's van, I provided transportation.

Rather than take her into the vet's office in her carrier, I decided to hold her against my chest to give her some comfort, as she had been crawling around the carrier looking for her mama and littermates, mewing pitifully. She quieted immediately once I picked her up, and the staff in the vet clinic enjoyed seeing her. I took her picture with the camera in my outstretched hand while we waited for the vet in the examination room. A minute after the picture was taken, she looked up into my face, then leaned backward until she was laying on her back in my hand and started batting at me with her tiny paws. She wanted to play! I tickled her with one finger, and she grabbed it and licked it. I've never seen anything more cute.

The vet says that Courage's tail was broken approximately a week ago (when she was only about 3 days old) and now the tail is dead. It will have to be removed, but she is too tiny for anesthesia right now; she only weighs half a pound. She's on antibiotics and will have surgery when she's big enough.

The second picture is Mr. Big, the German Shepherd I wrote about in my last entry. Today I transported him to his new foster with GSD Rescue, and handing him over was extremely hard. I wish I was in a position to keep him, but the timing just isn't right. Some day I hope to own a GSD very much like him. He's an amazing boy.

The third picture is Andie the semi-feral Chihuahua from a few entries back in the crate with my dog Darby. If we crate Andie by herself, she will wake us up at the crack of dawn crying; if we crate her with Darby, she'll happily sleep late. Darby is the kindest, gentlest dog you'd ever like to meet, and happily shares her crate with the occasional small foster dog.