Writing Bios for #Cat #Rescue ~ My New #Volunteer Job! #pets #adopt #adoptdontshop #cats #catlife #catsrule #love #catrescue #amwriting

My two rescue cats, Max and Jinx,
taking over my writing space
to alert me they're in need
of some treats!

I've been taking a break from writing novels, so I'm putting my creative writing energy into a cause I feel strongly about ~ pet adoption!  I found a position that is a great fit for me at Forever Fortunate Felines, through a site called Volunteer Match.  I'll be writing biographies for cats needing forever homes, and these bios feed to the FFF website as well as Petfinder and other rescue sites, along with pictures, videos, and medical info I'll be in charge of organizing and posting.

My 3 furbabies, Jinx, Max, & Otis

I'm thrilled that the bios make it to Petfinder, because I found my two cats - Max and Jinx - there, as well as a number of dogs over the years, including my current border collie mix, Otis.

Forever Fortunate Felines has rescued over 5,000 cats since its formation in 2019.  FFF rescues cats in urgent need (often from high-kill shelters) and brings them into foster care until they are healthy, socialized, and ready for adoption.  This amazing organization currently works with shelters in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky, and is a 501c3 not-for-profit that vaccinates, spays and neuters, and microchips each cat during their time in foster care. 

Please consider pet adoption, and if you'd like to learn more about Forever Fortunate Felines, click here.  There are links for volunteering and donating as well - any and all support is very much appreciated!  Each cat adopted from FFF makes room for another cat to transition from a cage in a shelter to foster care and a forever home!  

My #Furbabies ~ #cats #dogs #rescue #pets

Cats Are Family is trending on Twitter, so I thought I'd repost my blog about my two sweet kitties...and my dog, because he's family too! 

I come from a long line of animal lovers, and growing up, we never had less than three pets at a time.  Generally, in my adult home, that’s how many we still have, although we’ve occasionally had four.  I’m passionate about rescuing shelter animals, so I try to balance my desire to “save them all” versus the reality of the size of our house, but right now we have two cats and one dog, and everyone gets along well.

A pet triangle on the couch.  Don't worry, guys,
I'll find another place to sit...

Otis came to us via PetFinder, a wonderful website that connects people looking to adopt a pet with animals available either in their area or even farther away, if transportation is available.  When we found Otis, I was looking for a younger dog, since we already had an older dog at home.  With two teenage boys and a husband who loves to jog long distances, we thought we would be a good fit for a more active dog that needed plenty of exercise.  Otis at the time was a 6-week-old puppy, likely a Border collie mix, who was found by the side of a highway in Alabama, along with his brother and mother.  A kind person brought them to a vet before they could get hit by a car, and from there, they made their way to foster care and were put up for adoption.  Once our application was approved, Otis (and his brother, Milo) were transported to New England via an amazing tag team of volunteers who take turns driving animals from states with overpopulated shelters to states with room to spare or new families already waiting. 

This was a tough case to crack

As a puppy, Otis would nap under the stool I sit on at the kitchen island that serves as my writing desk.  Knowing my tendency to lose myself in my fictional world, I would make sure a leash connected him to the stool’s leg so I would know he wasn’t sneaking off and getting into trouble.  Apparently he’s smarter than I am, because he quietly chewed though three leashes to sneak off without me knowing.  For the most part, socks, gloves, and papers were the only losses, but those were the puppy days of mischief and teething.  Now, Otis is a well-mannered and beloved part of our household.

Otis and Jinx

Our cats came to us via a local shelter.  About a year after Otis joined us, our beloved 17-year-old cat passed away, 4 years after his brother.  I was devastated.  But I knew it was an opportunity to provide a forever home to some cats in need.  I like to adopt cats who are already in bonded pairs, as they can sometimes be more difficult to place.  And I particularly love black cats, which might be related to my affinity for all things considered spooky and mysterious.  After all, I do write stories set in haunted houses.

Jinx and Max are another set of brothers, littermates who shelter volunteers hoped could be adopted together.  They keep each other entertained with their sneak attacks and their wrestling matches, and one thing they can agree on is that they’re always hungry.  They know how to bring that to my attention, too—they take over my writing space if they feel I’m not getting the message.

We interrupt this scene for a hungry alert 

Because I love pets so much, I tend to create characters that also have animals.  The heroine of Haunted Souls is actually a vet tech, and she and her son have a rescued tabby cat named Terrance.  And when a ghost follows them home from a haunted tour of an old jail, Terrance is immediately aware that an otherworldly presence is in the house…

A damaged soldier, a secret baby, and a
haunting mystery collide in HAUNTED SOULS
Steamy Romance spiked with Spooky Suspense

Thanks for stopping by, and share your furbaby stories below, I love comments :)

My Sick Kitty :( #cats #pets #cat emergency

Jinx (sitting) and Max (lying down)

Writing is my outlet, and it often helps me to deal with emotional situations.  So instead of the happy post I thought I'd be writing today, detailing our recent trip to Punta Cana, instead I'm sharing my anxiety over finding my cat extremely ill this morning, and then having to leave him at the Emergency Animal Hospital, in the hopes organizing my thoughts will help calm me down.

First off, I'm blaming myself, because the stress of being left with an unfamiliar pet sitter may have led to this, according to the vet.  But it's unrealistic to never take a family vacation, and we've certainly gone away before in the two years since we adopted a pair of brothers named Max and Jinx.  This isn't the first time we've had someone stay at the house, either, since we also have a high-maintenance (read: timid/fear-aggressive/high energy part-border collie) rescue dog.  But this time, I guess a combination of factors led to Max's illness, which has been diagnosed as FLUTD, Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease.

We arrived home late Friday night, around midnight, and the cats seemed fine...although I didn't spend a lot of time with them since I was exhausted. The next morning all seemed basically okay, and the cats were excited to go out in the yard for the first time in a week, since the pet sitter did not want to let them outside while she was responsible (understandable...I wish the two cats were happy indoors all the time, but they are not, and we compromise by allowing them out for a few hours a day.  Somehow this actually works and they don't go far).

But when Max came in, he didn't want any food, which is very unusual. Both of them usually eat quite a bit.  As the night wore on, I noticed he still wasn't eating much, although with two cats, it's sometimes hard to tell who is doing what--especially in terms of litter box activity.  But Max did let out a few plaintive meows, when normally he's much less vocal than his brother.

In the morning, I couldn't find him, and my husband just assumed he was sleeping in one of our sons' rooms.  But at that point I had pet-mom's intuition, and I absolutely knew something wasn't right.  I raced around the house, looking in all the regular hiding spots, terrified I would find a worst-case scenario.  I finally found him someplace he never is, lying against a wall behind a table in the basement, and when I touched his abdomen, he mewled in pain.

Of course this would happen on a Sunday, when our beloved regular vet is not in, so I raced Max to the closest 24-hour Animal Hospital, which was still a half-hour away.  It was $500 to even get in the door, but my gut was telling me this was an emergency, and I was right.  I told the front desk I felt like he might have a bladder infection, since I remember one of our childhood cats having similar symptoms.  They said that absolutely is an emergency and whisked him away.  But it was even more serious than an infection--he had a complete blockage, which meant he was unable to urinate at all.  Left untreated, he would die.

The first line of treatment was to prepare him to be catheterized, so they sedated him and also administered medication for the pain.  I was able to see him after that, and he appeared very calm for a cat who is usually quite skittish.  But I think he knew he was getting help, and certainly the drugs already flowing into his legs were helping.  I gave him a kiss and said goodbye.

Max and Jinx - Jinx and I and the rest of the family
can't wait for him to get home

The vet will work to eliminate the blockage and drain his bladder tonight, while also checking blood work and urine for infections.  Best case scenario is that Max will be able to urinate on his own tomorrow, after the catheter is removed, and I can bring him home in the afternoon.  A diet change may help to keep this from happening again, but apparently he will always be susceptible.

I don't want to think about anything beyond best case right now, but worst-case involves kidney damage, which would be awful.  From the initial tests, his levels are off-the-charts (bad), but that could come down with time if there's no permanent damage.  I also can't think about the already enormous bill, because I love my pets and there's no question I have to do whatever I can to help him, even if it causes some hardship in other areas for a while.

So all I can do at the moment is wait to hear, and say some prayers, and ask for prayers or good thoughts from anyone stopping by.  I'll post updates at the bottom once I get any.  And now I'm off to scour the internet for more information and the best ways to keep this from happening again.  Thanks for any healing prayers you can send!  

Meet My New #Kittens! #ShelterPets #Adopt #Rescue #Cats

Spazzy & Shadow when they
were kittens

Last month, I wrote about losing a cat I'd had for 17 years. That was so very hard for me - we adopted Spazzy and his brother, Shadow, when my oldest son was only six months old.  Now that kid is driving!  I miss both cats every day--Shadow died at 13--but I'm glad we were able to enjoy their company and share their lives for so long.

I'm a big proponent of pet adoption, so I decided since we have room in our home and our hearts, the best way to honor Spaz and Shadow would be to rescue two brothers from a shelter.  While I often try to go for the older animals that have a harder time finding new homes, our situation right now made younger animals the best fit.  A few years ago, we rescued a border collie puppy who was found on the side of the road in Alabama.  He rode a doggie train north to come to us, and adjusted very quickly.  But at three years old he is still a very energetic pup.  I decided a pair of older cats might not be as willing to adjust to his rambunctious behavior.  At best, they might be annoyed--at worst, they might not want to come out from under the bed.

I have an affinity for black cats--maybe that has something to do with my preference for writing suspenseful ghost stories and watching spooky movies.  I did a very popular post on why some people think black cats are unlucky.  Obviously, I don't - but this old superstition does hinder black cat adoption.  So when I found a shelter on PetFinder (a fantastic site!) with a newly surrendered pregnant black cat, I filled out paperwork for two male kittens (males are often less popular as well, but throughout my life, all my animals have been male except for one female cat, so I figured it's worked out well so far!).

At their Foster Mom's - what
wonderful people fosters are!

My application was approved, and once the litter was weaned, two of the boy kittens who seemed very attached to each other went to a foster home to stay until they weighed the required three pounds.  It was hard to wait! The foster mom put pictures up on Facebook in the meantime, and I got to see them grow.

Meanwhile, I made kitty preparations--new toys, fresh scratching pads, vet appointments, etc.  And I needed to name them!  I did a google search, and wow, there really isn't anything you can't find on the internet!  Lists of hundreds of suggestions for black cat names came up.  I knew I might change my mind when I met them, based on their personalities, but initially I liked Jinx and Jet.

On the shelter FB page, the foster mom later asked me if I had picked out names yet.  She said in the same comment that she'd been calling them Jinx and Max.  What a coincidence!  Of ALL the possible cat names out there, we'd chosen one in common.  Jinx was clearly meant to be.

Inspiration for GULL HARBOR's Max :)

And the name Max has significance for me as well.  My second novel, GULL HARBOR, has a special place in my heart.  This second-chance romance + ghostly mystery is everyone's favorite, it's been a #1 Amazon Bestseller on several occasions, and it is set where I live, on beautiful Cape Cod.  The male main character's name?  Max.

So, both names seemed meant to be.  And my kitties arrived here two weeks ago, and they are settling in nicely. They are even getting along with Otis (tuna fish is the best olive branch there is).  And they are just precious.  There's something so soothing about lying down to read with a pair of kitties curled up on your lap. Hopefully one of these days I'll be able to tell them apart without looking for the telltale tiny patch of white on Jinx's chin!

Max and Jinx at home!  Jinx is on the right (I think)...he has
a little white patch under his chin.  But his face is a bit more
angular too.  Max has a rounder face and is a bit more
outgoing while Jinx is more cautious but more affectionate.
They are both purr machines!

Saying Goodbye to a Beloved #Pet - #Petloss #Pets #RainbowBridge

Spazzy's picture for the 2014
Christmas card...isn't he
handsome for 17?

It's taken me a few weeks to be able to write about this.  My cat of 17 years, Spazzy, died in my arms on Sunday, April 12th.  He was very old, but still enjoying life, and while I knew he couldn't live forever, I also knew I would never be ready.  In a way, I'm somewhat glad I didn't have to make a painful decision about when it was time...that was taken out of my hands.  He began panting and stumbling, and it was over within the hour...he died in the car on the way to the emergency vet.

So I'm dedicating this post to Spaz and his brother, Shadow. I've always loved animals, and I grew up with a house full of pets and a horse that resided in our friend's barn.  That stable in Maryland was the site of many wonderful childhood memories, and it became the inspiration for the setting in my novel DIVINE FALL.

I managed somehow to have a dog, Bailey, throughout grad school, even though I had to live in a very undesirable apartment complex in order to have a dog with me.  He became my husband's dog too when we married, and he moved with us to Cape Cod when I was pregnant.  Once we had settled in to our new location and I'd had our son, I decided it was time to adopt more pets from the local shelter.

Spazzy and Shadow on their
first day in their forever home

My husband is not a cat person, but I convinced him, despite the fact that we had a 6-month-old child.  He came with me to the shelter, and a little black kitten came up to us quickly with a sort of "get me out of here" rush of affection.  I have an affinity for black cats, and I fell in love with this 6-month old black kitten (same age as our son!).  Then I promptly scooped up that cat's littermate, a black and white kitten, and explained to my husband that we couldn't possibly separate them...and two isn't much more work than one!

Their personalities dictated their names.  Shadow was loving but cautious, and it took him a little while longer to establish a friendship with Bailey.  Spazzy was...spastic.  He had no fear.  He would jump right in my son's little play yard and gently play with the baby.  In that instinctual way of animals, he seemed to understand he was dealing with another infant, and the claws never came out.  Spazzy was also obsessed with straws, and he learned to fetch them when we threw them.

Buddies

I had every intention of keeping them inside, but they were curious cats who found their way out time and again.  We installed cat doors and it worked perfectly.  My second son was born three years later.  I would put one child in a jogging stroller, strap the baby to my chest in a carrier, put the dog on the leash, and walk around the block every day.  And two cats would follow me.  People stopped their cars to stare at our bizarre parade.  When the kids got older, the cats would follow us to the bus stop on the corner.


As they got older, though, they spent the majority of their time indoors...mostly on our laps or on our beds.  Sadly, Shadow died at the age of 13.  By that time we'd said goodbye to Bailey and rescued Winston and Sweetie, two dogs, via the Petfinder website.

Otis and Spazzy,
hoping for a treat

Saying goodbye to a cat I've had since my oldest son was a baby was incredibly painful.  I miss him terribly, especially when I lay down to read.  He'd often settle right on my chest, fighting with my book for attention.  He'd plant himself on my lap when I was at my computer writing.  At dinner time, he and our newest rescue, a border collie named Otis, would wait patiently in hopes some tasty morsel of food would drop.

Spazzy and Shadow had wonderful kitty lives, and I take comfort in that.  I can't even imagine all the adventures they had.  And when I'm ready, I'll return to the shelter and pick out my new companion--and his or her companion--because two is better than one :)

Traveling with a #Dog Who Gets Car Sick - Motion Sickness in Pets

Otis's picture on Petfinder -
How could I resist?

Whenever we're able to add a new pet to our family, we adopt--often, via the website Petfinder, which does a great job of allowing you to search for homeless animals that would be a good fit in terms of age, breed, and personality.  I often try to rescue the older dogs, since they have more trouble getting adopted, but a few years ago a search for a Border Collie mix turned up Otis, a puppy who'd been found on the side of the road in Alabama.  For more on his story, click here.


As his foster mom nursed him back to health, it became clear the car trips to the vet were a bit of a problem...he usually got nauseated and vomited.  We hoped it was a puppy thing that he would outgrow, especially since we are a family that loves to travel with our dogs.  Short trips to hiking trails, beaches, and lakes, as well as seriously long trips to visit family and friends.

Both his foster mom and I fretted about his long trip up north on the doggie rescue transport, but he did okay.  He was probably too keyed up to eat much, with so many other excited dogs headed to forever homes.  Once my husband picked him up (still two hours from home), he collapsed on his lap and slept that way the entire ride to our house.

But he didn't outgrow this affliction, which was a shame.  He wanted to drive to school with me to pick up the kids, but he'd throw up.  He loved the dog park, but I'd have a big mess to clean up from just a 15 minute ride.  At least twice a year, we drive eight hours to where I grew up, and dogs are always welcome on our visits.  But we had to leave him behind, which he didn't like--he's part of our "pack", and he prefers to be with us.  Not to mention, it's expensive.  We'd rather only go through all that when there's no other solution.

I talked to the vet.  I asked the women who come to my fitness classes who have dogs.  I got lots of thoughts on how to make it work, and last spring, we decided to bring him along on our semi-annual trip.

Otis got to play with our friends'
boxer, Zoe - fast friends!

Success!  My dog who usually can't tolerate 10 minutes in the car made an eight hour trip without getting sick!  He was fine on the way home as well.  And we just did the trip again, for Thanksgiving, with equal success.  So I'm going to share what worked for us, with the giant reminder that I AM NOT A VET. I'm a romance author.  And a fitness instructor.  But I'm also an animal lover, and maybe this info can help someone having the same problem.  Just remember to ask your vet, as I did, since giving medication to animals is serious business.

Dramamine never worked for us.  Our vet suggested Bonine, which I'd never heard of.  It's another medication for motion sickness, the active ingredient being Meclizine, as opposed to Dimenhydrinate.  Otis weighs about 30 pounds, I gave him one 25 mg. tab an hour before we left, and again halfway through the trip.

We gave him a dose of Benadryl at the same times.  While most people recognize this as an allergy medicine for people, it can be used for motion sickness in pets.  The usual dosage is 1 mg per pound. So Otis received a 25 mg. tablet.

Then, we built a large perch in the back of the SUV for him to sit on.  He does better when he can sit forward, looking out the window.  We stacked luggage, secured it with bungee cords, and covered it with a blanket to make it comfortable and to protect the bags.

More fun!  Otis with my father's
rescue dog, Fiona

I expected the Benadryl to make him tired, but he stayed awake the entire time.  But he's a pretty energetic dog.  When I had him neutered, the vet told me to "keep him quiet" for a few days.  An hour later, he was tearing around the yard, ignoring my demands to calm down.

However, he was relaxed for the entire trip, and each time we gave him a little walk during our stops, he hopped right back in the car willingly.  After all, he wants to be with his pack...and I'm grateful we found a way to make that happen.

Personally, I love car trips...I can read in the car without feeling sick, so for me, the longer the ride, the better!  Once you've got your luggage packed and your four-legged family members ready, make sure you have a good book for your travels!  Try steamy romance mixed with haunting mysteries in SILVER LAKE or GULL HARBOR, or check out my new Young Adult Paranormal Romance DIVINE FALL for forbidden love and supernatural secrets.  Have a safe & enjoyable ride :)

Building A #Soccer Goal - Friday #Fitness 9

Maybe we shouldn't be doing this, considering this year our older son broke his leg playing soccer, and then six months later, our younger son broke his thumb playing soccer.  Both breaks were bad enough to require surgery--our insurance is all but ready to drop us.  But my kids love soccer, and I'm a big believer in fitness.  And finding fitness you enjoy makes all the difference.  In addition to writing paranormal romance, I teach classes every morning; both jobs combine my passions with a small paycheck, which is fantastic.  My husband competes in triathlons, which is a special form of torture I'm still trying to understand.  But it works for him, and our rescue dog Otis loves the running part of training.

So, inspired by our neighbors, who had built one on their own for their kids, we (and by we, I mostly mean my husband and sons...my role was essentially looking stuff up on Pinterest) took on the challenge.  Sure, we could buy one, but they cost a lot of money.  Plus, where's the fun in that?  My husband and youngest son got to use the Pythagorean theorem as they calculated the measurements!  Who says we never use math anymore?

Lots of math & measurements

It was a cloudy Saturday anyway, so a great time for a big project.  There was PVC pipe, yardsticks, a hack saw, scribbled measurements, PVC primer and glue.  Once they got the base formed, they had to pull out stepladders to hold the final pieces together as the glue dried.  By the end of the day, the PVC frame was complete.







I got to watch my hubby flex
while holding the pieces to dry...
Also note my son's cast...he helped
anyway!

The final piece was locating a net that would fit the rather large frame correctly.  After an internet search, my husband chose one from Net World Sports   Thankfully, it fit just fine, both length and depth-wise as well, and we didn't have to go through returns and more searches.

The total cost after all this came to  than $150.  It would have been less if we used a more narrow PVC pipe, but we wanted it to be as sturdy as possible.

The finished product is a big hit!  Even Otis approves:

We're not a particularly handy group, so
the success of this project was very satisfying!



Our Rescue Pup's First Week - Kathryn Knight

Tomorrow (Friday) will mark one week since Otis arrived (his initial story here).  Last Friday morning my husband met the transport van in a parking lot in Vermont, and Otis began the last leg of his 24+ hour ride to his forever home.  He had experienced car sickness on short trips with his foster mom, but he did remarkably well on his long journey.  After some get-acquainted play time, I gave him a bath.  Then he curled up with my husband for a rest.

We started out the first night with crate training, something I've never done before but now can't imagine why not.  He was a bit nervous at first, but I had the crate in our bedroom, and he could see my husband and myself, along with our older dog Winston.  He did really well and slept through the night.

The crate is invaluable in terms of keeping Otis (and our house) safe while we're not at home.  Now he will go right in and lie down without a sound.  Dogs do not like to make a mess in their "den" and he has had no accidents in his crate.

Potty training has been a bit of a struggle this first week, but we are getting in the grove.  He absolutely understands peeing outside (he's a mix of some smart breeds).  The other part is a little more complicated, but he's getting it. 

Winston & Otis

So far he is very attached to our senior dog Winston (another rescue, Winston came to us when he was about 2 years old and is now about 11 or 12).  Unfortunately for Winston, Otis enjoys trying to rough house with him.  But Winston is making out well for himself...more walks, extra treats, lots of attention. 

The cat is not quite ready to make friends.  But when Winston arrived 9 years ago, he chased our cat everywhere.  Another older adopted dog did the same.  And eventually our cat put them both in their place.  So I'm confident the two of them will work out a truce soon.  Right now they are about the same size - which is actually not always a good thing, as Otis can crawl under a bed or fit through a cat door!  The cat is mostly taking refuge up on beds...Otis can't jump that high.  Yet.

Our #Rescue Pup's Journey - Kathryn Knight

Otis's Petfinder Profile Pic

Meet Otis, the puppy we are rescuing!  It's been a long time since we adopted a puppy - usually I try to adopt older dogs, as they have a tougher time finding forever homes.  But when I saw this guy on Petfinder.com, I fell in love.  As of Thursday night, the time of this post, he is riding the rescue transport from Alabama to New England.

He and his brother, Milo, were found running down an interstate with their mother.  A kind soul stopped and herded all 3 dogs into her car before they could get hit and took them to a vet's office.  Otis and Milo (lol) were estimated to be about 8 weeks.  Their poor mamma was in very bad shape, extremely malnourished and sick.  But the puppies had been nursing, so they were faring OK.  The mother stayed at the vet's to recover, and the puppies had to deal with an immediate weaning as they went off to a foster house to await adoption.

The guess is that Otis and Milo are part Border Collie, part Retriever, and possibly something else.  I've always wanted a Border Collie--I've heard they are super smart.  And since right now I have a senior dog and an older cat in the house, I know my 2 sons are anxious for an animal that will play with them.  The timing seemed right.

The puppies at their Foster Mom's house

Otis is the smaller dog and was getting picked on a bit by Milo.  We had already completed the paperwork and were anticipating his arrival when we got some bad news.  Milo got a very high fever and was diagnosed with parvovirus, which is very contagious in dogs.  It is dangerously fatal if untreated, but Milo was immediately put into the vet's care.  Now we had to wait to see if Otis would come down with it too.  As they spent all their time together, I feared the worst.

He spent an additional 2 weeks with his foster mom, and amazingly, he did not catch parvo.  Thankfully, Milo recovered and went to another foster house until Otis was cleared for transport.  On Monday he got his clean bill of health, and early Friday morning, we meet the rescue van in Vermont to pick up our new sweet boy. 

I'm so grateful to Sheryl, the foster mom who took such great care of Otis, and continues to love and care for Milo and the 13 other dogs at her house awaiting adoption.  I imagine it must be very hard to love, feed, and sometimes nurse dogs back to health, and then let them go.  People who do this kind of thing to keep animals out of high-kill shelters and increase their chance of adoption are truly special and selfless.

I envision a lot of moments in the next few months where I question my sanity, but mostly I anticipate all the laughter, joy, and happiness Otis will bring.  And I'm already trying to come up with ways to gain forgiveness from both my calm senior dog and my domineering cat.  Wish me luck.

(See "Our Rescue Pup's First Week") for an update!)



Otis's foster mom sent me pictures and videos while we waited