This Week Sucked

A very heartfelt post from Director and Founder of DCIN, Venita Wood.  I share with you, our DCIN friends, fans and supporters and hope that she knows how deeply and truly we do care about DCIN but more importantly about her.  ~Jennifer J.


It is 7:30 am and I have been working on DCIN since 4am. I haven't made a dent in today's "to do" list. DCIN's accounting is only updated through mid-December. I have 940 emails in my inbox, 296 of them are unread.

I have a burr under my saddle from a DCIN client who emailed me that I was not showing enough concern for her cat's health condition. I agree that I likely wasn't, but I received that email the day I made an appointment with my vet to come to the house to euthanize Ennis. So I never responded to it.

I spent the past weekend holding and helping Ennis physically move from Point A to Point B. Ennis could not walk without falling. Most of the time, Point A was the seat of my recliner, where I was holding and petting him. Sometimes Point B was the litter box. Sometimes, Point B was my bed where Ennis was accustomed to having his food. Going up to and down off the bed, Ennis had steps at the end--steps that I built from a footstool and two different heights of Rubbermaid containers. I put child rails on the sides of the bed so that Ennis could not jump down from the sides. The past couple weeks, when Ennis had tried to jump from the sides of the bed he would "thump" to the floor and look at me as though I had betrayed him.

On Monday, I held Ennis gently on my lap while his vet caringly sent him to the Rainbow Bridge. I had a padded box ready for his body, and Dr. R took Ennis away in that.

On Wednesday when I returned to DCIN work, there were two cats with emergent medical conditions that I took on as cases. They both died--Kale from plural effusion and Puma from DKA. There was another communication from the burr-under-the-saddle client. DCIN friends Ann, Gayle, and Steve lost Gustav, Shadoe, and Rorschach. This week has been a major train wreck for me.

There have been times that I have asked myself and asked others whether I should shut DCIN down. DCIN has awesome case managers and significant support from its friends. But this week I received criticism from someone saying that DCIN is not appropriately managing its mission and wasting its precious resources in various ways (with details given). When critical commentary comes from those who help DCIN with projects or money, I respond with reasoning or corrective action. But when it comes from a person who stands at the border and casts stones, I wonder why her ego and the ego of her friends who stand behind her and shout "YES!" are so threatened by DCIN's work.

It has been a suck-ass week. My life would have been so much better off if I hadn't experienced the past seven days. I would gladly give them back to the universe as a mulligan. Just strike the third week of March, 2012, off my life calendar.

~Venita, the sometimes reluctant Founder and Director of DCIN.

In sickness and in health???

Fluffy

There should be a clause on all adoption contracts, as well as for those animals purchased through stores or from breeders. It should be similar to a marriage clause. Do you promise to love and cherish ... even in sickness? Many adoption contracts I've seen ask how much would you be willing to spend if your pet got sick. The best answer - "whatever it takes."

But a sick cat is more than just a price tag. Maybe the question should be "would you be willing to treat your pet if they get sick even if that means administering medication daily and devoting more time to ensure your pet's well being?" I wonder if there would be so many surrendered diabetic kitties if people knew in advance that yes, some cats do get sick and not the type of sick where you can drop Fluffy off at the vet and pick him up when he's all better. Here's a lollipop, a bandage and a bill for my time.

Not all heroes get the glory

Last night, very quietly and without a lot of fanfare, a hero in my life passed away. She was someone whom I'd always hoped I could be more like. She was the nicest person I've known, a woman who always saw only the good in people, never the bad. She was smart as a whip, a world traveler, a photographer, a quilter, a lover of tennis, an avid reader who worked in publishing long before it was the norm to have women in roles like that. She was a loyal and devoted wife, even after her soul mate passed away. No one in her family or her large circle of friends ever found fault in her. Neighbors weren't neighbors, they were family and they were loved. She looked upon strangers as friends she hadn't made yet. She was also a conversationalist, if someone can actually be called that. Anyone could sit and talk with her for hours and never be bored. The stories she had to share and the way she listened to everything that was spoken, you could get wrapped up in that for hours.

Me, my Aunt and Topsy - one of many kitty parties

Who Came First?

This post is written by DCIN's fantastic transport coordinator, Claudia Keating and I can't thank her enough for such an honest piece about something that is heart breaking in rescue.

I have an amazing job.  It doesn't pay the bills, or put food on the table (aside from the fact that I am the one cooking it), but it is a job that nourishes my heart.  I am a mama.  I am raising empathic, compassionate, loving children.  My cats are helping me do that.

Charlie and Lorelei 

I have 2 beautiful babies and 2 wonderful cats.  The cats came first.  My husband adopted Charlie when we started dating 11 years ago.  Darla came along the following year.  For 9 years it was just us and the cats, and then we began adding humans to the brood.  While I was pregnant with my daughter I worried about how the transition would be for the cats.  They already disliked each other, how would they feel about a baby?  Many mainstream parenting books touch on the topic of bringing babies into a home with pets, and boy was I shocked to learn that apparently people still believe the old wives’ tale that “cats steal the breath from babies”!  People actually think that a cat will want to sleep on top of a baby for their warmth….never mind the fact that babies cry, snort, flail, and fuss!  I’ve met very few loyal dogs who were tolerant enough to willingly spend time close to a newborn, much less cats!  

Is This Microphone On?

Sam

Seriously, can anyone hear me?  That's what I feel like sometimes.  I'm on stage, I'm talking away and I hear nothing from the audience except for some crickets chirping, maybe someone's cell phone just rang, a few throats being cleared and that's it, a silence that is louder than my voice.  Of course I'm not really on stage, I'm not giving a lecture or telling some fascinating story to an audience. I'm just here; working to try to make a difference for diabetic cats and their people.

Am I making a difference?   Any difference?

Getting Past the Inhumanity

Lilly Grace, CH Kitty

Getting Past the Inhumanity, What One Special Cat Taught Me. That's the title of a note I published on my Facebook page after my sweet diabetic kitty Tucker left this world. The amazing folks who run the CH Kitty Club site published it in the monthly newsletter also (you can read it by clicking on the link to the newsletter). I love the CH Kitty Club folks and what they stand for. I have written for their newsletter several times. Mostly I write about things I've learned being owned by a severe CH kitty, but that time the article was about how I would honor Tucker by living the way he did; choosing to move past the bad and enjoy the good.

Give me - give me - give me!!!!

It may seem like a no brainer, there’s a kitty in need and a person who wants the cat so why doesn't DCIN simply send the kitty?  If you've been owned by a diabetic kitty or a specially-abled kitty you already know the answer to that question.  When an adopter or foster application comes to me I look at everything and we all know what first impressions can do.  But my first impression is only part of it; I then go further and check references.  I listen to what the reference told me and I listen to how they said it.  A long pregnant pause can be interpreted in different ways; what was said after the pause?  It’s not a scientific approach, it’s an instinct and I am human, sometimes I could be wrong.  But the deal is, if I’m wrong, that could be very harmful to the kitty.

All animals are precious and deserve the best possible home.  Just because a DCIN kitty has diabetes and is much harder to place does not mean they can be shuffled from spot to spot and sent to any house that has a corner available.  A DCIN kitty needs so much more than just an open spot.  They need a home that is willing to alter their lifestyle a little to accommodate the needs of a diabetic kitty.  Do they have to give up their season tickets to the local sports arena? Heck no, but they do need to have the ability to give their new kitty shots on a good schedule and feed appropriate food.  They also need to have a home that is appropriate to the kitty in question.  If the current caretaker says this kitty cannot live with dogs, or is terrified of children we need to take that into consideration when looking at the prospective home.