We finally had a dry day and I went to the
dog shelter after work. After being sick for over 10 days, then constant rain and a couple of annoying days at work I couldn't wait to go to! Walking the dogs is my cure for (almost) everything. When I was frustrated with the studying for the state exam, when I feel blue, when I lost my grandmother, when I just feel overwhelmed I know where to go. It works every time. And when I am in a good mood, I come home in an even better one! It's not just the walking, it's the cuddling, too:). I was over stressed, with a headache, tense, ... but I came home happy, energized and relaxed!
Our local dog shelter is home to approximately 70 dogs and around 10 kittens and cats. It's a no kill shelter and they try their best to find homes for every dog and cat that lives there. I've been a regular volunteer for 4 years now and I try to go weekly to walk, brush and pet the dogs, to help with the preparing the food and the feeding. My husband does not want to have a dog so walking the shelter dogs is the second best thing. It really is. I know that if I had a dog, I wouldn't be so regular there and those dogs need love and cuddling even more. Just after a few months after I started going there I chose to adopt a dog on distance. That means that the dog still lives at the shelter, but you pay monthly a certain amount of money for his/her food and vet care. The money really goes towards all the dogs, the dog you choose is just to make it more personal. After my first day there I fell in love with PETKA. She was taken from her owner as she was bones only and she was living on a short chain (which is against the law in Slovenia, but a lot of dogs still live on the chain:( ). That's why she kept having puppies and she ate rocks (her teeth are the proof of that) because she obviously wasn't fed enough. One of the puppies was taken away, too. He looked like a St. Bernard mix and he was huge! But adorable and he found a new home in a heartbeat. Petka was immediately sterilized and was very shy at the beginning and she would (and still does) do just anything for food. She was also very playful when she started to relax and she loved to cuddle. She was very thin.
With time she started to forget about her past and she was a bit of a star of the shelter. She also gained weight and became more cheerful. She would check my pockets (where I had the dog biscuits) all the time.
She was adopted 5 months later by a great family. I wanted to know where she ended up and I contacted her new family and we became friends, so I can still visit her!! She is the queen of the house and she is teaching her human family new tricks every day :). They renamed her Iena and discovered, she was a pure bread Dutch Sheppard (not that it matters).
Iena in her new home:
Can you tell she is happy now? We met at the park where she loves to run. She was the first on distance adopted dog, but not the last... but I'll tell you about "my" other dogs in another post.
It would be a lie if I said I didn't have favorites. Apart from my new on distance adopted dog Misha
I love walking Dik, an older German Sheppard.
There's a lot of nice walking ground:
Like every weekend, no matter how sick I am, I went to feed "my" stray cats. I've been feeding them for a long time now but they still don't let me pet them and I am not forcing it on them as I don't want them to trust the humans too much. Bad things can happen to trusty cats, I've seen it. I spotted a black cat (there are a few black cats there) lying in the grass. The cat seemed huge and I thought it might be a pregnant female. But it was a he (discovered later). He didn't come when I called at him. So I went to check if something was wrong. The cat just meowed at me and didn't run away. Since this is near a road, I thought he might have been hit by a car. He let me pet him, he even started to purr even if it was obvious he was in discomfort, so I don't think he was one of "my" strays. I gave him some food, but he couldn't eat. He drank some water. I called the vet and he said I could bring him in. I grabbed him gently and I put him into a box and in the back of my car. He meowed from time to time just to let me know he was still alive. The vet gave him a thorough check up and said that fluids and blood have invaded his stomach cavity (that is why it looked like he was pregnant) and part of the lungs. He only had 20-30% lungs capability. When the vet listened to his heart, the cat started to purr! He was also suffering from hypothermia. The vet said it would be best for the cat to be put to sleep. And this was a good and sympathetic vet. I had to trust his judgment although it broke my heart. He first gave him an injection so he would fall asleep. I sat besides him and I petted him until he was in the world of dreams. Unfortunately this wasn't my first failed rescue and I promised to myself that I would always stay with the cat till the end. The vet was really very nice, which is more unique than rare. He talked me through everything. And than that time came... I thanked him, left the room, cried. It was probably the first time I've seen the cat, but this is how mushy I am when it comes to animals. He is in cat heaven now.. I just wanted to remember him. 
