youthculture posted in this entry: http://youthculture.livejournal.com/307197.html

"On Sunday, I cam home from a weekend away to the distressed sounds of a lost cat. After I went outside, I found a lost cat sitting in front of my dorm, looking for food, home, attention -- anyone, really, to offer it some comfort. I sat down with it and it immediately came to me, happy that someone wasn't throwing rocks at it. After a little investigation, I discovered that it was not feral: it was just a poor house cat who had either been abandoned or lost for days on our campus, gone unfed.

On Monday, I called over forty animal control facilities, animal shelters, and humane societies in Connecticut. None of them could or would help me find a place for this cat. Some of them even went so far as to tell me to "put it back outside, its not hurting anyone." But a housecat like that will get eaten alive by feral cats or hit by a car in days. I tried to emphasize to them that I have worked in animal care and I understand how not having enough cages makes taking in cats difficult, but this cat is 100% adoptable and not a risk by any means. None of the shelters would listen to me, and when I asked them where to go, they had no answers for me. So the system failed this perfectly fine cat.

A friend graciously loaned me his apartment to let the cat temporarily stay in, but it can't be permanent. So now I am looking for a new, permanent home for this little guy to stay at.

He's an adult neutered black male made of 100% sweetheart. He's terribly affectionate, if not a little bit nervous lately, but enjoys the company of people. He's also a little chatty, especially in new places!

Please spread the word about this cat. Re-post this note or link this entry around to your friends or family. If you or anyone else knows someone that's looking for a new animal in their home, I promise this guy is a great fit. If you have any questions, please contact me!

Please contact youthculture if you can help or know anyone who can. Please consider copying or pasting or linking to this entry or youthculture's entry to help spread the word. :)

youthculture's entry: http://youthculture.livejournal.com/307197.html

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Enjoy! After that, I am going to bed. Good night!

Also, the first two prompts for Flashfiction have been posted here: July 1st prompt. IT'S NOT TOO LATE TO JOIN ME IN THIS MADNESS. Flashfiction for those who have no idea is a story between 55 and 1000 wurds.

So I caught wind of a kitty in need of help via scarletdemon who caught wind of it via tizzrah who is trying to get a lil' support. She sent this letter to scarletdemon which I am reposting here:

...I am an active volunteer/foster parent of a cat rescue (not sure if you read my journal or not). We currently have a kitty in foster care with a prolapsed rectum that needs a high-dollar surgery to make him adoptable (and, you know, not in pain anymore!). Since you seem to have quite the following of LJ-readers, I was wondering if maybe you could post something to your blog promoting our little ChipIn widget to help generate a bit of a buzz about this, so we can make some money. It all goes towards the rescue, not to line our greedy pockets (I wish!), so if you'd be willing to post it and then delete it in a few days, that would be super-lovely. :)

The webpage link to our ChipIn site is:

http://stitchwestendcatrescue.chipin.com/stitchs-surgery

Thank ya kindly.

Would you guys consider donating a dollar? Or for those of you who are suffering some tight times, would you mind pasting this widget on your live journal? Thank you so much!

Mornings in the Pence household:

JingjingjingjingjingjingJING as Shawn shuts off the shower and the cat comes running into the bathroom.

JingjingjingjingjingjingJING for a few moments in the absence of sound the once-running shower filled. And then Shawn, giggling. JingjingjingjingjingjingJING of the cat's little bell on her collar now mingled with Shawn's giggling. Then from the bathroom I hear Shawn say, "You SUCK kitty!" And he's laughing. Of course, all you can hear of Flora is JingjingjingjingjingjingJING.

"I can't put my underwear on with a cat in them!" This prompts me to finally peer about the door and into the bathroom. There's Flora, rolling all over the floor, biting Shawn's freshly washed feet. Dunno about you, but trying to put your underwear on while there's a cat chewing on your toes presents a whole different world of balance to tackle.

It's moments like these that make me happy.

It's another atypical Florida late summer weather wise. The sun is bright, bright enough to give all the dark green leaves that shimmery gleam of white where the yellow ball burns. There isn't much of a breeze, when the wind does pick up, it's as listless and hot as the people in the parking lot with us, look. The parking lot is full to the brim of people coming and going, parents with screaming toddlers or eye-rolling teenagers in tow; the sky seems unaware of the collection of humanity pouring in and out of the building below it. In contrast, it's the bluest sky I remember seeing in a long, long while.

We're on our way to the dreaded Walmart, because with Raven sick I had to convince myself and Shawn that we needed to cut costs. We went to a different Wallyworld than the usual-soul sucking one, this one is happy pink and new, trying to promise a different experience.

We plunge into the great massive overhang atop the electronic doors. Just before entering my mind notices two things: there's some dude working for some charity attempting to ask for money and a small crowd milling around a plastic coated wire cage to my left. What's in the cage? Kittens.

I walk on by fast, for obvious reasons. I try not to look, Shawn follows.

We shopped, it was fucking horrendous inside. Far more crowded than the last Walmart we went to over six months ago, and far more crowded than our beloved Publix on its busiest day. We were pushed and shoved and nearly ran over more times than I can count. What should have been a half-hour deal turned into at least an hour an a half with a 20 minute wait in line.

When we wheeled our cart out the same shaded front doors I noticed that the man sitting in the middle of the doors asking for donations to charity is gone, but the man with cage of kittens? Still there. There isn't anyone milling about the tiny cats anymore and I finally approach. There's a man standing off to the side, he's actually shorter than I am and is smiling wide. His hair is a dark brown easily mistaken for black with brown eyes and the grin is making his brow, eyes and cheeks wrinkle. He has a single chair with him, the cage proped up on an empty Walmart grocery cart, and his child. His son is sitting in the collapsable chair with a nice cold drink.

There are three kittens in the cage, one kitten as I approached groggily lifted its tiny head to look in my direction. His or her second eyelids remained drawn over it's eyes as it blearily and with great disinterest looked my way. She/He is lethargic, wobbly, and frightened half to death. So too are his/her brothers or sisters. One is huddled in the corner and cries at anyone who moves, the one opposite the kitten in the middle who can't seem to close her/his inner lids is silent. They have been in 90 degree Florida humidity for at least an hour and a half, as he was there when we walked in the store. There is no food, no water, and nothing in the cage but the three cats.

"Hi!" And I cannot help be instantly irritated with his cheerfulness.

"This kitten," I start, pointing to the middle one, "isn't blinking back her inner eye lids and seems generally unresponsive. That's a common sign of sickness."

"Oh, yeah," he laughs, almost dismissively. "Probably an eye infection." --Clue #1 this guy has no idea what the shit he is talking about. There's no evidence for any sort of cold or infection, but I'm not going to argue. I'm not a Vet actually nor 100% in the ability to argue the point.

"Did you bring water for them?" I am blunt, harsh, to the point. I don't care at all however. I look from the cage of kittens to the chair his son is sitting in, with it's giant styrofoam cup with straw, condensation beading down the side. When I look back at him, he is still smiling and the urge to say something to wipe it from his face is strong.

"Oh--no, we didn't."
"You need to give them water if they're going to be outside in this heat for any lengthy periods of time."

Here's the kicker. He looked off into the parking lot and then looked back at me with that smile still on his face before saying, "We've only been here for --what?--" He looks at his son like he'd be any help. His son looks off into space. "About ten minutes."

I didn't even wait to reply. "Ten minutes? Really? I find that funny, as we walked right past you and this crate of kittens on our way in, an hour and a half ago."

His witty reply was, "Really?! Has it been that long?"

I have no reply, and lean down to inspect the three kittens again. The one in the corner brushes his or her cheek against my finger. The one in the middle still stares off and through me with what little she/he might be able to see through her eyelids.

He dared ask me, "So...do you want a kitten?"

"I can't," and it takes me a few seconds to reluctantly say that. "I have two cats, a dog, two birds and two hamsters already."

"Ah--"

I run over whatever he was about to say. "Get these kittens some water, before you end up with all three either very sick, or worse, dead."

I walked away because I knew if I didn't, I'd do something stupid. Like, sure, we'll take all three and at least we'll do our best to try and find them a home, or at least take them to a shelter where, while overcrowded and probably not a good chance they'll find a home? At least they'll have a chance at being cool, fed, watered and loved.

On the way back to the car Shawn said: "We could go back. We could go back and tell him we'll take all three, then we can find homes for them in better ways." I admit I agreed at first, but then I remembered that we can't afford any more animals. We really can't--and what if we can't place them? We can't keep 5 cats, let alone afford their medical care, food bill, litter. And that's when Shawn snapped his fingers and brought out his cell phone.

We contacted Animal Control. We told them what we found and were told they were sending someone out immediately to investigate.

I hope that they found those animals and took them. They deserve better than a Wal-mart parking lot and a smiling man who cannot even tell the truth about time.

Test results from Raven's last check up at the vet have returned. There's sugar in her urine--Raven's diabetic.

We'll be learning how to inject our cat with needles full of insulin very soon.

She also has a urinary tract infection we'll be needing to get antibiotics for.

( Emo Mel is emo. )