ARTICLE: Pet Food Banks and Donating Pet Food Freely: Making a Difference for Pets in These Hard Economic Times

©IMAGE SOURCE~MELANIE NEER

PHOTO OF MY CABINET STORED WITH CAT FOOD

Article was originally published on Associated Content (Yahoo.voices) May 13, 2009 a website that no longer exists

ABSTRACT: More and more people are feeling the economic pinch, and unfortunately many have had to decide whether or not to keep their beloved pet.

CONTENT: Everyone knows that with the current economic crises that has been going on for sometime now times are tough for just about everyone. Left and right, people are losing their homes due to foreclosure, or are laid off from work and the food money budget just doesn't seem to stretch as it used to. And while, at least for now, gas prices have gone down considerably, people aren't using their cars as often as they used to, and many have given up on the idea of such luxuries as taking a vacation, and will opt for the new concept of the "staycation".

Unfortunately, it's not only people suffering in these economic times, but the family pet as well. People who have been laid off from work are finding it harder and harder to keep their beloved pet and will often give up their pet to a shelter, not because they are heartless or cruel, but they just plain cannot afford their pets anymore. Probably the hardest hit group of people are the disabled or elderly, in which quite often their pets are their only companion, yet since both groups of people live on fixed incomes they are finding it harder and harder to feed their pet.

I first heard of this story awhile ago of one person, that is Tom Wargo, who is making a difference. Eight years ago, Tom Wargo found a stray dog on a construction site where he worked and of whom he named Daffy. Being the pet lover he is, he kept Daffy, despite the high costs involved as it turned out Daffy was diabetic and not only had to have special prescription type dog food, but medications such as insulin. Being a die-hard pet lover all his life, Tom Wargo had already been donating pet food to his local church for some eleven years. Then when Daffy came along and due to the recognition of the high cost of keeping his own dog, he realized other pet owners might have been feeling the economic pinch of keeping a pet, and then expanded the idea of setting up his own pet food bank for all in need of pet food and supplies. Thus in September of 2008 in his hometown of Lawrenceville, Georgia the first pet food bank was created and called Daffy's Pet Soup Kitchen One can see a wonderful video story all about Tom Wargo and his wonderful concept in the pet food soup kitchen here Daffy's Pet Soup Kitchen became so popular he realized that one pet soup kitchen wasn't enough, and more and more pet food banks were opened up in other areas of Georgia. His pet soup kitchen concept is now expanding nationwide. One of the requirements Mr. Wargo has set up with his pet food bank program is the idea of pay it forward, that is, when a pet owner comes by for free pet food, they have to reciprocate and pay it forward, usually by donating their time several hours a month either at the food pantry by helping in distributing the pet food to people or some other worthy charitable organization.

As I began to research more and more however, I realized that Tom Wargo wasn't the only one who has had the idea of establishing pet food banks. In fact, pet food banks are quite literally springing up all over the country. Some of these pet food banks are incorporated in normal food banks designed to help people in need of extra food, such as the South County Outreach food pantry in Lake Forest, California, in which Dr. Jim Gardner started by donating pet food there. Other pet food banks are solely and only pet food banks running with the same concept as Tom Wargo's one. Even the well known Meals on Wheels Association of America, known for distributing food for needy senior citizens has also incorporated donating pet food via their We All Love Our Pets.

One of the most amazing stories about how people are helping pets is the story of a little girl, named Mimi Ausland, who lives in Bend, Oregon. At the mere age of nine, having always been a pet lover, she wanted to work at her local animal shelter, but being so young she could only volunteer her time. She witnessed first hand the hardship her local shelter had in getting pet food donations to feed the shelter's dogs, who by no fault of their own, where often given up by their pet owners due to the foreclosure crises. Wanting to do more to help out, Amy, with the help of her father, came up with the idea of developing a website called Freekibble.com This website has trivia questions about dogs and cats that people can answer on a daily basis, and for every question, even if guessed wrong, 10 pieces of dry pet food kibble is donated, by special arrangement of Castor & Pollux pet food not only toward Amy's nearby shelter, but other pet shelters as well. One can see a few videos about this remarkable girl and how she came up with her concept here. One can sign up at the Freekibble website to get daily email reminders to go to the site, answer the trivia questions of the day, and feel good that by answering the questions, right or wrong, you are helping in a worthy cause in helping pets at shelters. Lastly, I have to mention briefly another website where, by clicking on a banner one will also help out in donating pet food at shelters, and this is The Animal Rescue Site and again, as with the Freekibble website, one can sign up to get daily email reminders to click the banner.

Do you know a pet owner or are you yourself feeling the economic pinch during these times and are having hardships and concerns about feeding a beloved pet companion and hate the idea that you may have to give up that pet ? If so, simply do a google search for a pet food bank and include the location of where you are at, and chances are you'll discover one near you. If not, go to Tom Wargo's Daffy Pet Soup Kitchen site, which does list a phone number, and while the main kitchen is based in Georgia, they might be able to help you find such a pet food soup kitchen in your area. Also, do you yourself want to help out by donating pet food, without spending a cent? Then go to the Freekibble website and answer those trivia questions, or The Animal Rescue Site and you'll have the satisfaction, that in a small way, you too are helping shelter pets in need with donated food.

Daffy's Pet Food Bank

Daffy's Pet Food Bank

Video Story About Daffy's Pet Food Bank

More articles about Pet Food Banks

Food Pantries

Articles About Free Kibble

Freekibble Website

PRAYER TO BAST FOR A SICK CAT

IMAGE SOURCE~©MELANIE NEER~MY OWN STATUE OF BAST

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Ever since childhood, I've had a great love for the Ancient Egyptian culture, quite literally grew up with it. I've also have had cats since I was five years old. I've always loved the idea of their being a feline goddess dedicated to cats. So when I came across this "prayer" I knew I had to share it. Found this particular "prayer" here:

Prayer To Bast For A Sick Cat

PRAYER TO BAST FOR A SICK CAT



“Great Lady of the Cats,

I call upon your sleek form to aid me.

Your child is ill here in my arms.

Come to us and bathe your child

with your tongue and heal her wounds,

Heal her nose and mouth,

so she may breathe and taste.

Heal her teeth and claws,

so she may hunt and eat.

Heal her eyes and ears,
so she may know the world.

Heal all those things that let her digest,

So she can grown healthy.

Heal her heart, lungs and legs,

so that she may travel on.

Heal her skin and fur,

so she may show beauty.

Heal her bones and joints,

so she can play again.

Heal her tongue,

so she can heal her sisters.”

The Disposable Mind-Set Too Often Includes Pets

The Disposable Mind-Set Too Often Includes Pets

Originally published on May 5, 2013 for Yahoo.Voices, a website that no longer exists.

IMAGE SOURCE~PERSONAL PHOTO~Me as a baby with the family dog Candy, a Beagle

We seem to be living in an age where everything seems disposable, to be gotten rid of if it doesn't serve our purpose or is useful to us anymore. Perhaps only fifteen or twenty years ago, if one's TV went on the blink for whatever reason, instead of throwing it out, one would've called a TV repairman to fix it; the same could also be said for stereo systems and appliances. Decades ago if one bought furniture, it was often considered an investment of sorts and one kept it for nearly one's lifetime; one may even have handed some of the furniture down to relatives. Now however, instead of getting an item repaired or handing it down, we dispose of it to get a new and improved version of it.

Sadly and tragically, no longer are only inanimate items tossed away like so much garbage, but pets are as well; they have become disposable. I do a lot of crossposting of urgent pets needing to be rescued over at Facebook and I'm aware of the alarmingly high rate of pets being surrendered. Each and every single day, nationwide, pets are surrendered into shelters, particularly high kill municipal shelters. High kill shelters have an open admission surrender policy; these high kill shelters are obligated to take in any and all pets for whatever reason the owner gives. Quite frankly, some of the reasons an owner gives are poor excuses and to my mind a betrayal of trust that the pet may have had with the owner particularly if that owner had the pet for many years.

Here are some of the reasons, which I find rather lame, for why people get rid of their pets:

1). "New Baby": 
I really have no idea why people think they need to "dispose" of their pet due to a new baby coming into the family. While I've had cats nearly all my life ever since I was five years old, prior to that, my folks were dog people, and consequently there was a dog, named Candy. When I came into the world, it never crossed their minds to get rid of the dog. In fact I have a rare photo of myself as a baby; I'm not even a year old, and there I am sitting on the living room floor and right next to me was Candy who was a beagle. I in fact include a photo of me as a baby with Candy here in this article.

2). "Allergies": 
Yes, people can be allergic to pets, but what I can't understand is why people surrender pets into shelters due to allergies after having the pet for eight or more years. And guess what folks? Yes I have allergies. Also, when my grandmother was still alive and living with my mother and myself, she developed asthma. Her doctor recommended getting rid of the four cats we had at the time, and what was her response? She got rid of the doctor instead. So yes, she had asthma however she was able to control it via medications.

3). "Moving": 
People move for a variety of reasons: perhaps to upgrade to a better living space, foreclosure, or even eviction, yet why does one feel it necessary to surrender a pet or leave it behind due to "moving"? Often I hear that the excuse is that the new place a person is moving to won't allow pets. Well, like duh? If a person truly views their pet as a family member, shouldn't they go out of their way to find a place that does accept pets?

In most cases with moving there is a known time factor involved, and yes even in cases of foreclosure or eviction, it's usually not like one has to move pronto overnight. Some of the saddest cases are the "foreclosure" pets…pets abandoned and left behind. I came across one such case while crossposting urgent cats on Facebook. The former owners left their orange tabby cat behind, the cat mind you was 18 years old! The new tenants upon moving in found the cat and took it to a shelter, a high kill shelter I might add. Diligent crossposting between us all over at Facebook began for "Ginger". In Ginger's case she was lucky as someone was willing to adopt her for the remainder of her "senior" years. But not all stories end happily ever after and in many cases the cat (or dog) will be "euthanized". Would people "abandon" their human children for the moving excuse if children weren't allowed in a new place? I don't think so, they would go out of their way to find a place that did accept children, so why do people feel it's all right to abandon their pet(s)?

4). No Pets Allowed: 
Yes many landlords will have a no pet clause in their lease or he/she may all of a sudden decide no pets allowed even if previously pets were allowed, however there are some loopholes people need to know about. In many cases, despite a no pet clause, if the pet owner has had the pet for at least three months, the landlord can't take legal action or demand the pet owner to give up their pet, so it's wise for people to know the specific pet laws that are in a pet owner's favor and not the landlords.

5). "No Time": 
Are people so busy in their lives that they don't have time for their pet? If they can make time for their human children, and other family obligations, then in my opinion so should they for their pets.

6). "Too Old": 
I can't think of a bigger sense of betrayal to a pet than when a pet owner surrenders their pet to a shelter due to the pet being old, and especially if that pet owner then wants to get a new puppy or kitten since the "old" pet is no longer cute and cuddly. I came across one such a case only the other night while doing my crossposting over at Facebook. The cat's name was Lola and was two years old, but the owner had only adopted the cat five months ago. Now the owner was surrendering Lola to a high kill shelter. In the "evaluation/questionnaire" asked of the owner why he was surrendering Lola, the person stated, "too big getting a kitten". The cat was only two years old and the person thought it too big and old? Two years old is still practically a kitten in itself! Thankfully since I was tracking to see the fate of Lola, I found out that she was rescued. Of course, there's the other extreme where the pet is say ten, fifteen, or more years old and the owner wants a "new and improved" version. It's when I come across cases like this, I'm sorry, but I hope karma bites the person in the butt and when that person is old gets "dumped" somewhere and abandoned.

7). "Personal Problems" 
While there can be many types of personal problems involved, one of the biggest personal problems excuse cited is this scenario. A person has a pet, and may have had the pet for many years, but then a new "love" interest comes into their life. This new love interest pulls a either it's me or the pet threat. Since the idiot, and yes, I'm thinking the person is an idiot to be so blinded by love for the person, that person will stupidly give up the pet, and yes, it is stupid. Sorry, but if a new love interest came into my life, I would practically do a police interrogation and one of the first questions I would ask, "Do you like animals/pets?" If that person said no, well, let's put it this way, I would show the person to the door and say au revoir. (Update from original article: There actually was one case that still comes to mind to this day. I was busy coming across the urgent cats needing to be rescued from a high kill shelter. One such cat was listed that the reason for the surrender of his girlfriend's cat was due to the fact that he didn't like the color of the cat...a black cat. SAY WHAT? Is love so "blind"? I sure wouldn't put up with that crap.)

8). "Owner Sick, Hospitalized, or Death" 
Here is were careful planning needs to be done in the event a pet owner becomes sick, hospitalized or passes away and needs to make some kind of arrangements before something happens. Many of the pets that are dumped into shelters due to the pet owner getting sick, needing extended hospitalization or perhaps even placed in a hospice or nursing home, and/or possible death, and the main problem may lie when the pet owner's relatives, friends or other family members don't want to be burdened with the pet(s), so they dump it in a shelter. Pet owners should find a person willing to take care of their pet in the event of their getting sick and/or hospitalized, and in the case of the owner's death have very clear instructions about the fate of their pet(s).

To help with making such arrangements, there are two forms one can download. One is a Pet Guardian Form where it can be filled out and one can clearly state who is to take charge of their pet upon their demise. The other form is a Pet Profile, this is a form where one can fill out all the particulars of the pet involved, such as stating whether the pet is spayed/neutered, microchipped, age, breed, etc.

I have links to these forms below:

Pet Guardian Form

http://www.gotcats.org/guardian.html

Pet Profile Form

http://www.gotcats.org/PetProfile.html

What I have personally done is I have several copies of each form and was able to print photos of each cat directly on each form…one copy I have right in full view on my computer desk, while another is on my hallway bookcase shelf, also in plain view. With each set of forms I also have contact info of people to contact/call in case something happens to me. I also carry around on my person when I go out that contact listing.

There are several other "excuses" people will often give for surrendering or abandoning their pets, but the above that I mention are the seemingly more common reasons.

Day in and day out as I spend hour upon hour crossposting the urgent pets that need to be saved and rescued over at Facebook, especially from high kill shelters, I have to admit to being puzzled as to why people have gotten the mind set that pets are disposable, to be gotten rid of as if they were so much garbage. Animals do have feelings just as we humans do, they are living, breathing souls just as we are. They can and do demonstrate many of the emotions we humans feel. They can feel pain, can demonstrate sadness or grief (as in cases where their owner or fellow companion animal dies), they can also demonstrate joy as well.

If a person does decide to adopt a pet, that person needs to realize that they are obligated and responsible to take care of that pet for its entire life. People must wake up to the fact that pets are not disposable commodities. What's really pathetic is that many pet owners probably don't even realize what fate may be in store for that pet they now no longer want and dumped off at a shelter; if people think that their former pet is going to have a happily ever after story, and their pet will be adopted again, they must realize that isn't always the case.

Yes, while many of these surrendered pets particularly in high kill shelters are saved and rescued, the vast majority aren't and are euthanized, a nice way of saying killed, worse yet, not all shelter pets in high kill shelters are killed off by lethal injection, but by shoving these unwanted pets into a gas chamber where they die a slow and agonizing death. Everyday thousands, yes thousands of shelter pets are killed nationwide. In order to stop the needless killing of healthy pets that wind up in shelters, pet owners must view their pet as a family member and take care of that pet forever.

ARTICLE: I Really Need To Get Back In Exercising

Originally published on May 4, 2013 for Bubblews, a website that no longer exists

For awhile now I've been realizing the need to get back into some form of exercise. Now in years past I was never a fanatical exerciser, that is I never jogged, never did calisthenics, nor weight lifting, I certainly didn't do any of those grueling DVD exercise programs like Tae Bo, yet I had kept myself trim by doing yoga.

Up until maybe four years ago, I was extremely flexible and limber, and I guess due to my childhood years where I studied ballet. I also was introduced to the world of yoga way back in the middle 1960s via my mother who used to watch the Richard Hittleman yoga show on PBS. I would watch her attempts to do the various yoga postures and copied what she was doing. It wasn't until say maybe my high school years that I did a regular regiment of exercise doing a combo of both yoga and various ballet barre exercises, and I kept up this routine almost religiously all through my college years and beyond. Somewhere along the line though I stopped, yet was still in a sense active as I would take long, long walks. That changed however, some four years ago when I started getting severe symptoms of RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis) and ironically it was triggered off by the antibiotic "Cipro" (Ciprofloxacin), which when I took it had no dire warnings about. Not long after I took it, I began noticing arthritic type symptoms, joint pain, swelling of my joints, I also lost my flexible and limber qualities. I didn't connect the dots until sometime later I was doing research about something else, and came across "Cipro" again. Now that medication had dire warnings about it and was one of the medications with class action law suits against it. Gee, thanks pharmaceutical and FDA land.

My RA issues have gotten progressively worse, but if you think I'm going to take a medication again, forget it. Do you think I would trust a medication again? Instead, I have been trying to find more natural alternative means to help my symptoms. But yes, I'm also realizing I do need to exercise again. I've read tons of material suggesting anyone with RA or even Fibromyalgia needs to do some form of exercise, to get moving again, the irony is how can one with RA or Fibromyalgia even think of exercise when it can be so painful to do.

Some months ago I did actually go back into trying my attempts with yoga, but got frustrated. The same yoga postures I did years ago without a thought and could manage easily proved difficult, or and yes, that yoga posture in the photo was one of many postures I could do with ease. If I tried that now, heck, I'd probably fall over.

Still, I do need to get back into yoga/exercise again, not so much for weight loss as thankfully that has never been a problem for me, I've always been rail thin all my life, if anything I wouldn't mind gaining some weight! (Dons helmet to ward off wet noodles being flung at me…with take those noodles with Alfredo Sauce please).

I do have the realization of needing to do exercise to keep my joints flexible and to build up muscle tone. Anyway, if any of you also experience RA or Fibromyalgia, and if you do some form of exercise I would gladly welcome suggestions how you manage and cope.

ARTICLE: I Have To Confess I'm A Loner Who Feels Comfortable With My Aloneness

Originally published May 12, 2013 for Bubblews, a website that no longer exists

IMAGE SOURCE~©MELANIE NEER~A Graphics design I did and have used on products I made over at the Zazzle website.

I came across a great article by my fellow bubbler, &Denmarkguy where he discusses about the concepts of the Highly Sensitive Person and Loneliness. I thought I would write up my own experiences of "loneliness" and "aloneness".

My parents got divorced when I was only 18 months old, therefore I was an only child and my mother never remarried. I'm guessing that in many ways one of the reasons she adopted our first cat "Babette" when I was five years old, so that I would in a sense have company, since I lacked siblings. By the time I was about seven or eight, I was a latch-key kid. By that age both my grandmother and mother had to work, so yes, I would be alone until they came home from work. Funny how things have changed when you think of it, since if I were a kid in today's society and a latch-key kid at such an early age, my mother probably would have been charged with child negligence or something.

There were actually pluses though when I think of it. Yes, it was a kind of "lonely" childhood for me, however, I developed skills in being responsible at an early age that would remain for my life, and thus developed "coping" skills whenever some problem came up. Also, since I was alone so much, it sparked my creativity and at a much earlier age than most kids, and was considered one of those "gifted" children. With all this "bubbling" creativity I never felt lonely though as I always would have some creative project to do to fill my time with. Now that my mother has passed away nearly seven years ago (my grandmother passed away in 1986), I truly am alone save for my two cats for "company". But so I feel lonely? Nope. I still have tons of creative things and projects to do to fill my time with, so time actually seems to whiz by each day.

To date I still consider myself a "loner" and am actually very comfortable with being alone. I mention this, since I know a person down the block who also lives alone. One thing I would notice though when I would visit her, I got the sense that she really didn't like living alone and perhaps needed to fill the void somehow. Upon entering her apartment, one enters her kitchen area and she would have a small little TV blasting away…go into her living room and that TV would be turned onto full volume…go into her bedroom and the radio would be on. My sense of it she had TVs and radio on all at the same time to give her a sense of "connection" to the outside world, to hear human voices.

I'm almost the opposite and no haven't taken a vow of silence and live in a cloister, yet I'm very comfortable with quiet, though I might have some music going on but at a very low volume while I'm puttering around in front of my computer. When I do my cleaning chores yes, I blast out music at high volume, but otherwise I enjoy quiet.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm also a people person however. When I'm out and about on my errands, I'm one of those people that will strike a conversation with someone while I'm waiting on a long line at the Post Office, then I'll also chat with the postal worker as she or he is taking care of my postal needs. When I do my grocery shopping and am having my items checked out, I'll yak and chat with the cashier. And having always been an "observer" of sorts, one of the things I observe is how glad in a sense the postal worker or cashier are to have someone to talk to. Have you ever noticed that most people when they are being taken care of by that postal worker or casher, don't interact at all with the person, not even to say hello to the person? They just expect their business to be taken care of and out they go.

Do I feel lonely? No, not in the least. Do I appreciate my aloneness? Yes, and perhaps due to having learned just how to deal with aloneness from an early age. Ironically, I can often feel MORE lonely in a crowd than by being alone.

How about you? Do you feel lonely? Alone?

UPDATE: As of this reposting it's now nearly eleven years since my mother passed on as she passed on August 27, 2006. Also sadly my other cat Kissy who was fifteen years old passed on September 1, 2015. I picked that graphics image that I had done, since, yes, I do often talk a lot to my current cat Ouija, and I swear, sometimes talking to one's pet is more worthwhile than talking to most "humans" LOL

ARTICLE: I Do So Hope Rainbow Bridge Really Exists

IMAGE SOURCE~lovecats.com

Originally published May 10, 2013 Bubblews, a website that no longer exists

For those of you who are pet lovers, and who have had pets and perhaps still do, there probably is nothing more gut-wrenching than when one of our pets passes on. To we pet owners, they aren't "just" pets, they are part of our family, our "children", and it doesn't matter what kind of pet you have, be it cat, dog, bird, mice, gerbil, hamster, we still feel grief, perhaps in some cases one may experience more grief over a pet's loss than family or relatives. I only say that latter part, since in most cases, with the passing of a family member or relative, we might be prepared for it.

Our pets on the other hand don't live as long as we do, perhaps only a fraction of our own lives and years. Also is the case where a pet might be diagnosed with some illness we may feel completely helpless…are we doing enough for them, did we do enough for them, and then of course there is that agonizing decision we may face to put our pet down to end their suffering. Then there maybe the complete shock of a pet dying suddenly and out of the blue that had no health problems, as what happened to my black cat Pyewacket.

I've had cats since I was five years old, I've also have had pet mice and birds... I'm now 57. As you can imagine I've had a lot of "deaths" in the family. Many of us who are pet owners hope that when it comes time for our own passing that we will be re-united with our animal "children" again.

Some years ago, I came across the now very famous Rainbow Bridge poem which many are familiar with which speaks of a special place where all pets go to, sort of an animal heaven. All the pets are happy there, they have no more pain from illness, and play with one another. But all the pets anxiously wait and wait, and wait. They wait for the time that their beloved owner comes and join them there at the Bridge.

I do so hope when my time comes and I pass on that I will meet up with all my pets, and I can assure you, I'll be mobbed!

If you've never read the poem, I share it here. Have tissues handy, it's a tearjerker.

The Rainbow Bridge Poem:

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.

When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.

There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together.

There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor.

Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by.

The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.

They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance.

His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers.

Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again.

The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet,

so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together.... 

Author unknown...

https://rainbowsbridge.com/poem.htm

Article: Happy Mother's Day To All You Who Are "Moms" Of Furkids

IMAGE SOURCE~©MELANIE NEER~PERSONAL PHOTO

Sachiko at 17 days old

I realize it's a little "early" to be posting this now, but thought I'd get a head start before Mother's Day

Originally published May 12, 2013 Bubblews, a webs tie that no longer exists

Okay people looking at the title of this might scratch their heads and go. HUH? In my opinion though, one doesn't necessarily need to be a mother to a human child, but yes indeed, we can be "moms" of the furry or even winged "child".

Those of us who have pets often think of them as our children, and believe me I'm no exception. We have to nurture them, take care of them, provide for them, from the moment we get our furry child every much as one would for a human child. In my case, I've had a few "bottle babies" that I've taken care of in the past. The first bottle baby was a newborn kitten that the neighborhood kids found in the garbage, yes, the garbage back in 1987. I'm guessing that this newborn kitten was born that very day as she still had her umbilical cord attached. The kids knew I had cats already and couldn't think of anyone else who could take care of this innocent life that had been tossed away in the garbage save for me of course.

Raising such a young infant animal takes every bit of effort and patience as raising a human child. One has to bottle fed the young newborn animal every two hours with a special formula. Also, one has to encourage the young newborn animal to "do it's business" by rubbing it's bottom to make it "go"…I used to use a warm moistened paper towel to accomplish this; normally it's the mother animal that licks the newborn baby's bottom.

I decided to name the kitten Sachiko. Such a young animal, like a newborn kitten is born with their eyes shut, thus can't see, nor can they hear until about two weeks later. But they can sure smell and sense their presence of their "mom". I used to keep Sachiko in a box with a towel, and kept the box in a large pet traveling case in the bedroom to keep her safe from the older cats I had at the time. While Sachiko would be sleeping I would sneak in the bedroom where I kept the case to get something. Well like I said, she couldn't see nor hear, but she could smell my scent and the moment I was in the bedroom started meowing like crazy….eats time! Yes she would wake up then wanting to be "fed" her bottle again. Yup folks, I was definitely "mom".

Sachiko became one of my velcro cats, being completely attached to me in a way that my other cats didn't, not of course that they didn't attach themselves to me, but it was different with Sachiko…The bond was much stronger since in a sense I really had been her "mom" since only hours after her birth.

So if any of you are "moms" to your furkids….I'm wishing you a Happy Mother's Day as we deserve recognition as being "moms" also.

I include a watermarked photo of Sachiko when she was only 17 days old. By then she could hear and see.