Urgent--contact Fema

FEMA is deciding whether to allow evacuees from Katrina to rescue their own and others' pets. Please call and pressure them into allowing this! How can that screwed up agency even debate such a thing! Call or email here:

The Honorable Michael Brown
Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Emergency Preparedness and Response
500 C St. S.W.
Washington, DC 20472
202-646-3900
202-646-3930 (fax)

Email:
FEMAOPA@dhs.gov

Urgent--contact Fema

FEMA is deciding whether to allow evacuees to rescue their own and others' pets. Please call and pressure them into allowing this! How can that screwed up agency even debate such a thing! Call or email here:

The Honorable Michael Brown
Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Emergency Preparedness and Response
500 C St. S.W.
Washington, DC 20472
202-646-3900
202-646-3930 (fax)

Email:
FEMAOPA@dhs.gov

New Lease On Life

I just wanted to share this story to all my fellow grieving pet guardians, to let you know that while the grief doesn't go away, it does get better.

Two weeks ago I was sitting at my desk at work, thinking of the precious cat, Ashley, (a stray who had been badly abused) that I lost to cancer. I was feeling extreme guilt, because I didn't take him to the vet on time, and because I suspect the flea powder I used on him played a role in his sickness. I said a prayer: "Lord, my life no longer has purpose. I can't live with the guit, so please take the time I have left and give it to some human or animal who needs it."

I trudged home, crying, feeling like my grief and guilt would never end. But the first thing I saw when I arrived was a little kitten on the front porch. She looked around 8 weeks old. It was so adorably cute, with freckles all over her nose, and comically oversized front paws. She ran away when she saw me but as soon as my back was turned she would return. My neighbors said they thought she had been dropped off on this street and had been on her own for several days.

We captured her and took her to the vet. It turned out she was malnourished and had a parasite that had burrowed into her side. I fixed her a bed, then went to the corner store to get her food and cat litter. The song playing on the store's radio was "Try to Love Again."! (It sounds incredible but I swear it is true).

We named her Freckles, and she has brightened up the lives of everyone around her.

I still feel terrible about Ashley's hard life and his untimely death. But I can tell you that it is possible to move on and, yes, love again.

The Pope Said: They Have Souls

Pope John Paul II taught love for animals more than any other pope in recent memory.
Interesting thoughts on animals from the late Pope John Paul:

In 1990, His Holiness proclaimed that “the animals possess a soul and men must love and feel solidarity with our smaller brethren.” He went on to say that all animals are “fruit of the creative action of the Holy Spirit and merit respect” and that they are “as near to God as men are.” Animal lovers everywhere were overjoyed!

The Holy Father reminded people that all living beings, including animals, came into being because of the “breath” of God. Animals possess the divine spark of life—the living quality that is the soul—and they are not inferior beings, as factory farmers, fur farmers, and others who exploit animals for profit would have us believe.

After he became Pope John Paul II, His Holiness went to Assisi, the birthplace of St. Francis, and spoke of the saint’s love for animals. He declared, “We, too, are called to a similar attitude.”

Well who am I to argue with the Pope?

Second Guessing

All I ever do anymore is second guess my decision to have my cat Ashley put to sleep. The vet told me his liver and spleen were eaten up with tumors, which sounded so scary to me. He said with chemo he might conceivably have another 6 months or more. I thought it would't be worth the unpleasantness of the chemo. But now I think, damn, I could have had another 6 months with him! Maybe I didn't give him enough credit, maybe he could have come through it all right.

I would choose life for him next time. I can't shake the feeling that my decision was too hasty and panicky.