Woo hoo NickerNews – You guys did it!
Jun 04 2010
The NickerNews site and its readers kept up the pressure until local officials took action against Alexis Ingraham and Fair Play Farm, who as readers of this blog know, had been starving horses and breeding crap since this blog began and probably longer!
I know it is frustrating when you call and call while the horses get thinner and thinner but this is a good example of how being persistent pays off – in safety for the horses and lives saved! So don’t hesitate to do it yourself if there are thin, neglected horses in your area. File the report and follow up. You have the power to save lives – please use it! Animal control can only be as good as the evidence provided to it and if you are that neighbor who has to drive by every day and see the thin horses, then tag – you’re it! Get out that zoom lens, take pictures (never, ever trespass or your evidence could be deemed inadmissible) and go down to animal control or the sheriff’s to file a report.
Here is another story where the only reason these animals are safe is that the neighbor bitched and kept bitching! Good job, folks!
Earlier blog entries on the Ingrahams and their Krazy Kolor Breeding establishment here and here
For those of you who enjoy trail riding, the HSUS is sponsoring a Ride for the Rescues on June 13th. Check it out here. I checked out some of the local sign-up pages and they’re pretty cool – some venues are having professional photographers so you can get super cool pics of yourself and your horse on the trail as opposed to the 4,261 you already have that the person riding in front of you took, where your horse looks like his head is gigantic and someone else’s head appears to be growing out of your shoulder. So, if you don’t have plans for the weekend of the 13th, check it out!
Given that it’s Friday, I thought it was appropriate to put up Cocktail! You can find her up for adoption at Shiloh Horse Rescue near Las Vegas. 
61 comments to “Woo hoo NickerNews – You guys did it!”
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Thank you for the nod toward the ACTHA national ride day!
Charm – I wish they would have waived the application to ACTHA for this ride – I am not interested in joining per se, but would have been interested in riding – but the cost of joining and the cost of the entry – heck I could just ship the $150 straight to a charity.
I know how you feel. They had a ride a couple of weeks ago near here, and I would have loved to do it, but the cost is prohibitive for me. Still, I know there are people out there who drop 2 or 3 (or more) hundred on shows every weekend, so for them this is a great opportunity to both enjoy a competitive ride and help out charities.
Maybe someday things will be more solvent for me. Until then, I get to play ‘cheerleader’ for the whole ACTHA thing.
I know this is totally OT but I don’t know where else to get informed help.
My best friend and riding partner owns a 6yr old grey stock type quarter horse. Her brother usually rides him.
Anyway, he was being ridden in a snaffle the last 4yrs -I know, started at 2- but is totally chargy, and since last summer runs right through it. He is completely impossible to rate, and usually/always jigs instead of walking. He also overflexes to avoid the bit if you try to hold him in. Since he’s hard to slow down, she switched him to a curbish type bit. It has a broken mouth piece and a 2″ shank, and can be used as a snaffle as well. I don’t know what it is called.
Last time we rode, he was constantly charging as usual, but then stopped dead, backed up and reared.
He reared 5X during the ride, dumped his rider twice, and went down, sort of sitting, once. Then I switched and rode him back in the rest of the way in the snaffle. He was much better, but jiggy and overflexed.
The rearing is totally unlike him. He is normally very honest, and is also dumber than the proverbial sack of hammers. Truly.
I am scared someone is going to be badly hurt. How can we get him to just relax, slow down, and WALK! He is buddy bound, like all of them, and won’t bolt far ahead, but he’s just never willing to slow down. We have tried serpentines, and also cantering circles along side, and it hasn’t helped appreciably.
Any good suggestions?
1. Call the vet and check for pain and check saddle fit and the mouth.
2. If clean and no problems, go back to the arena and back to the snaffle. You ride since it sounds like you have good enough hands not to make him rear, as opposed to the person he reared with. Stop trying to hold him back. Long trot (extended or “posting” trot) in circles. Never pull on both reins. Just let him trot his butt off til the edge is off. Now once the edge is off, that’s when you start asking him to walk. Walking becomes a reward because he’s actually a little tired now. I warn you, on a lot of horses it will take 20 minutes or more of trot to get them where they want to walk calmly. (This is a very simplistic outline of where to start and of course I am not seeing the horse here – the best idea is to find a good trainer and work with them. If they can’t afford full training, maybe lessons with the horse is an option)
3. Evaluate how he is being kept and fed. Lots of turnout, lots of hay and no grain will help many a hot horse calm down.
4. More bit is never the answer. Never.
He sounds like he’s a long way from being trail safe, and I probably don’t need to tell you how dangerous the rearing is. More bit and you really WILL have a flipper and a person with a broken pelvis/back.
He is overbitted. All of his behaviors point to pain in the mouth and/or being bitted beyond his training level. Check teeth, of course. If teeth are fine then proceed by either getting a professional trainer to help or by going back to the very basics with less bit. Some horses simply cannot handle a broken snaffle with a single joint. I see that with a lot of my Arabs. For a horse with a narrow face and a low palate, a typical snaffle is WAY too much bit. It pinches the bars of the mouth and pokes the roof of the mouth. Try a french link snaffle, or a wide medium port snaffle, or one of those Myler type bits that are described as providing tongue relief. Then lunge him in fairly loose side reins for a few days to see how he likes it. Any horse who is not perfect in a snaffle of some sort will have major issues in a curb. The curb will always accentuate holes in training, and never fix them. Good luck and BE SAFE.
I rode a wonderfully sweet quarab with the exact same issue for years. Finally figured out that he liked the french link or “dog bone” snaffle, with soft hands for his bit. He also needed a chiropractic adjustment, and he needed to learn to relax…not as easy as it sounds since I was usually on edge too. (Who wouldn’t be with a horse acting like a dink?!) But as usual, it wasn’t him it was me and what worked for us was just alot of riding, big circles at a trot until he tired out, learing to give and flex, learning he wasn’t going to get banged in the mouth. The one rein slow/stop was a great method for us. Any time he got chargey I utilized that to get him refocused and settled. We did alot of standing around the arena with me mounted and horses and activities all around too so that he knew he could just stand and be quiet while I was mounted as well. The bit was a huge change for him, and the adjustment. I would start there.
I hear people refer to a one rein stop quite often here, but I’m not entirely certain what you mean by that.
A bit of an explanation would be gratefully accepted…
Thanks for the advice though. I would never have guessed that he may be over-bitted in even the snaffle he started in.
Trotting lots of circles sounds both constructive and doable. Nice to have an idea that isn’t way over the top, and will probably help, at least never hurt.
I am not actually all that experienced a rider, but the green (+ green (me), thank God not to often damaged (also me)) mare that I rode at my place was a rearer, so I knew how to handle that part.
Usually I ride a Bashkir Curly Pony (14.2 1/2 hh). He’s a bit of a handfull but mostly because he gets bored of just behaving and starts looking around for something more fun to be scared of.
I’ve been trying to help a 13 year old kid with his 4 year old OTTB (now THERE’S a stooopid parent of the day combination… the kid’s nice enough but rides like a sack and is scared half to death of this horse, who is nice but, well, young and just doesn’t know anything yet.) The “trainer” put a jointed kimberwicke on this mare, reins on the curb port, of course, and the mare started stopping suddenly, nose to chest, suck back and wham! pivot. Of course leg helped but didn’t do the trick because of course you didn’t have any horse in front of your leg to push back straight.
I put a rubber full cheek (so that the bit wouldn’t slide through her mouth if she pulled to one side and I didn’t let her “go”) in her mouth and have done lots and lots of walk/halt/walk/halt transitions. I started doing some equine massage on her, too, and found some nasty knots in her back, poor dear. She’s still got a lot to learn, but I think her biggest problem was she hurt, bad, and then when she didn’t hurt anymore, she had to learn that I wasn’t going to hurt her (she had learned that riding=bit=back sore and bruised mouth; it takes time to show a scared horse otherwise.)
Fugly got to it first and already mentioned getting the vet out. A good horsey chiropractor might not be a bad idea, either, and definitely the dentist (many back problems come from teeth problems… it’s just as true in horses as it is in humans!)
Good luck and I hope things get worked out quickly. Keep us updated! I can’t talk for everyone, but I love to hear about people’s progress!
All the advice so far is sound (as I would expect from this blog site
).
I’ll add to it by saying that once you get a walk, you will need to commit to at least a month of only walking. It might be more like three months. For him to be gradually getting worse tells me he expects to go. The only cure is to let him get confidence in believing that all you will be doing, for time unmeasured, is WALKING.
When I was young I tended to rush my training on horses a little too much. I also liked a good run when I rode trails. The combination resulted in at least three horses who were exactly as you described. I tried tie downs, lunging, turning circles, bending and flexing, blah blah blah blah….. the only real solution was to get out of their mouths and then walk them. If you keep contact on a horse like that, it lets them lean into your hands and prance. Pull to slow down and correct them, then drop your hands and expect a walk.
For a long… long… long time. I suggest an Ipod if you are an impatient person, to take your mind off of the boredom of only walking.
Another “good news” story with a super adoptable for Friday! Love days — and stories — like these.
About fucking time. I was corresponding a couple weeks ago with a girl who was considering purchasing from Fair Play Farms (she had no clue what went on there, I linked her to Nicker News). I’m going to email her, she is semi-local and may be a potential foster home. Couldn’t hurt. I hope dumbass Alexis and her asswipe husband get the book thrown at them, they have been plagueing the horse community long enough.
Well I was about to say almost the same thing, with a little less salt. Why in the world did it take them four months to put an end to this torture? Good luck on those cell phones Alexis and hubby, your goose is cooked and it’s about damn time.
The ACTHA is a great organization. You can view the rides by state here: http://www.actha.us/index.php?option=com_association&view=guest&area=rides_events&task=find_ride&cur_page=1
Are you SURE this is such a wonderful group???
FYI their representative was featured on a H”orse Show with Rick Lamb” segment which aired on RFD-TV last fall – said representative was riding roman style e.g. standing up in the saddle riding cross country even crossing a stream with of course no helmet and of course he fell off (which the camera caught) and all the while this was going on the guy was giggling hysterically as though, ah, “chemically impaired”. Then of course the ACTH website was encouraging families to join and compete at their “family friendly” events. If family friendly means ma and pa are gonna let their kid ride roman style sans helmet and cross country at that, ma and pa are gonna need a checkup from the neckup.
Be careful who you deal with. I’m sure that video is on youtube somewhere.
This shenanigan is just one of many reasons why a lot of people tend to refer to RFD-TV as Really Frickin Dumb TV.
It’s hard to say. Like any organization, I’m sure they have their losers. However, they do require helmets for ALL riders, not just the under 18′s, for their rides, and they do send their proceeds to charity. The event that took place near us was well attended and people had good things to say about it.
Is it a goldmine? Maybe not. But it beats AQHA cold.
No, only the under 18″s have to wear a helmet, adults just sign a waiver.
Also, the membership is $25/year…. really, nothing in the long run. The rides themselves are pricey- $58 bucks a pop. But they also have prizes in addition to moeny going to charities, plus setting up the obstacles, use of facilities… it makes sense, pricewise, in the end. It’s just that I can only afford a few a year.
I completely get your point and am not disagreeing, but at some point people have got to take responsibility for their own actions. These events are generally very well structured in the diverse class levels that are offered, usually there are extreme beginner classes, through the most advanced. With the more advanced classes not requiring such “stunt” type riding, but it is left at the riders discretion (which is why you do see these things).
The organization is most certainly has good intentions with the charity ride and I hope to see it go over well.
As a side note, I do think it is ridiculous that you have to join their association to ride in the charity ride, seems to me that money would be better off sent directly to the charity…
I can just see that little darling dapple grey pony (the one being led around a mud puddle in the Eatonville story) trotting merrily in a Pleasure Pony Driving class a year from now! If I weren’t on the oppisite coast, I’d be looking into that one! I hope he/she gets a great home with lots of attention and cookies!
I had the exact same thought when I saw that picture. Looks like a very pretty pony and a good size for driving too.
Me too. “She would make such a cute harness pony!” If I was anywhere closer then Manitoba, Canada…
Also she doesn’t look horrifically (sp?) in need of a lot of physical rehab. Mental of course you can’t tell but…
Good news about Fair Play. But can I just say that I, for one, am glad that the police don’t step in instantly without investigating whenever there’s a complaint? The ability to seize someone’s horses before there is a trial or even a hearing is a powerful one, which doesn’t need to be misused. Not every complaint is valid, and not every complainer knows what he or she is talking about. Sure, we all want the horses safe and cared for – but not at the expense of the process of review. Right? Any of you out there could have neighbors who decided they didn’t want to live next to horses so they would make up a complaint about the welfare of yours. There have been suggestions that another seizure ended with valuable horses being kept by the person who had ordered the seizure. The potential for abuse of power here is alarming. Let the process work, even if it works more slowly than you’d like.
I agree with you, in the case of the SPCA taking forever. Yes I understand that majority of cases that the SPCA take forever to get to and then just leave alone desperately do need help, but I’m on the bad end of a personal feud right now, so I’m glad that they don’t strut in and take horses right away at every complaint with out any checking, or I wouldn’t have a horse.
Just to clear it all up, I was reported to the SPCA for my horse being to skinny, by a lady who had problem with the trainer I was working for. Everything we did she would criticize, for example, tying a horse is not safe and will not teach patience and is cruel apparently. She teaches patience by holding the horse back and trying to distract it with treats. She knew nothing about our horses, where they were from, what the story was, she just went straight to climbing aboard her high horse and went about messing with our horses feed and our horses without telling us(we saw her feed an immune-compromised horse on a strict diet something that was not his, he was pulled out of training and taken home instantly). Her horse is an out of shape clydeX. Mine is a TBxQH who is very long and lanky. Yeah, mine looks skinny next hers, but my horse is shinier, happier and in the best shape of her life. Our local SPCA officer/vet even says so.
So she’ll be an annoyance to you. I really haven’t ever heard of well cared for horses being seized. I’ve heard of people who THINK their horses are well cared being seized, but those horses were always ones where if you asked 10 horsepeople, at least 9 would have seen the problem right away.
I’ve told this story before — a local rescue needed fosters and a friend down the way (set back from a fairly busy highway) took a couple of the skinniest ones. She had animal control stopping by regularly, checking on calls “from concerned citizens passing by.” Finally traded the skinniest ones for a couple not quite so bad.
I would have just put up a sign on the fence near the road explaining the situation… “These horses were recently rescued by the Humane Society, and we have volunteered to nurse them back to health. They’re skinny now, but watch ‘em fill out!”
I don’t know about horses, but in my 40 years of experience, I’d say that any complaint I’ve heard regarding multiple dogs is deserved.
I’ve had up to 4 dogs at a time–even in cities with a 2 or 3 dog limit–and nobody has ever complained. Why? My dogs are all trained not to bark under any circumstances. (I use positive training with food to teach this–and a citronella collar for one dog). They are outdoors for only a few minutes at a time, or otherwise outside only under supervision for frisbee and ball games. I bathe my dogs weekly, vacuum and dust several times a week, and have pooper-scooped every poop since 1982. In houses–even rentals–I have excellent fences put up. Not only did nobody ever complain, but I frequently had neighbors hand me beautifully written and unsolicited “letters of recommendation” when they knew I was moving and would need to find a dog-friendly apartment.
Conversely, I’ve lived next to people with just one dog that barks non-stop, chases people along the fence, attacks the mailman, and is never pooper-scooped for. I’d give them free advice (I was a full-time dog behaviorist), gift certificates for training classes, and links to purchase citronella collars. But if things didn’t change in a few weeks, *I* was on the phone making complaints.
In my experience, nobody complains about multiple dogs unless those dogs are causing problems–barking, being aggressive, fence fighting with the neighbor’s dogs, etc. I’ve never heard of anybody reporting multiple animals unless there really was a serious issue.
Cathy~ OT i know, but I was tickled to read that it looks like the cow beater is going down. i dont have ur email.
I just read this:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100527/ap_on_re_us/us_cow_beating_video
check out the responses!! people are furious!!!!!!!
And
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100529/ap_on_re_us/us_wild_horses_investigation_3
83 mustangs died after round up?? seems extreme.
I know you focus on horse primarily and we all love you for it. Have you seen what is going on in Sacramento County? The county is planning on closing all the county animal shelters. No plans on what to do with the animals (cats dogs, rabbits, goats, ducks, random horse etc) as of yet. They totally expect the SPCA to pick up all the slack. Decisions to be made by June 15 (budget hearing and deadline to solve budget crisis) Iwont get into what is planned for the mental health program here. Makes me tooooooo mad.
jessie
PS. I wonder what happens to the convicted animal abuser when they serve time. I know the outlook isnt good for a child molester. Most people feel strongly about animals as they do children. Just an errant thought/wishful thinking to all the jerks in jail for cruelity. <–(i totally spelled that wrong. I think)
The same thing almost happened in King County in Washington. Dow Constantine though Animal Control was eeeeeevil until he was actually IN office and realized, oh shit, we don’t have any other place to put the animals. So that was the end of HIS stupid campaign promise to shut down animal control. Hopefully Sacto will wise up next.
And rumor has it Billy Bob whatever has already been physically attacked in jail. Lots of inmates love animals!
Soooooooo Glad “Billy Bob” got what he deserved! That video was so horrific, I couldn’t sleep
that night I saw it. I am sure he will get what he deserves in jail. Its true, many inmates are animal
lovers, too. I hope he isn’t allowed to own a pet fly after this!
Oh and have you heard anything about The Grace Foundation of Northern California? http://www.thegracefoundationofnorcal.org/id70.html
They took some of the 3strikes mustangs! website looks good, but anyone can do that.
Im looking for something to do with my time on the weekends, and would love to volunteer. I live in sacramento. I know of Joes, but it doesnt seem like he is open to volunteers. I had email contact with another “rescue” north of sacramento, and just for giggles googled the address and discovered an animal abuse conviction from a few years ago (starving horses). I just want to make sure I find a nice place.
BTW I am planning on driving by the “rescue” to check out the horses they were begging for help with on Craigslist. we will see.
happy friday!!
I haven’t been there but I’ve met them and they seem to be incredibly professional and well-organized. I will be very surprised if you find anything OTHER than a very well run rescue.
Just wanted to bring this to your attention Fugly, sincy you get so much traffic here.
Comedian Ricky Gervais is helping with the campaign to stop Catalonian Bullfighting.
Petition is here.
http://e-activist.com/ea-campaign/clientcampaign.do?ea.client.id=24&ea.campaign.id=3861&ea.param.extras=Source:Rickyvideo
Excellent! Two thumbs up to him!
Hi Cathy, I’ve noticed that you don’t often mention (good or bad) horse rescues in Oregon. Are there any in this state that you’d recommend? Any details would be appreciated; my family is looking for a new horse and would like to consider adopting, if we can find the right one. There are a couple rescues in WA that I’d consider, but they don’t adopt to Oregon homes. Thanks!
Off hand, the only one that I know for sure is excellent is Strawberry Mountain Mustangs. http://www.strawberrymountainmustangs.com/ Don’t let the name fool you – she has a variety of breeds. I know she has a SUPER cute APHA gelding right now with professional WP training.
If you’re in Portland, I have a friend who privately rescues and she has a nice Standardbred she’d rehome to the right home. He has trail experience and is now learning dressage.
Pretty sure SAFE still adopts to the Portland area too, as they have a director down there.
Thanks! I hadn’t heard of that rescue. I read on SAFE’s site that they only do WA, so that’s good to hear that they sometimes adopt to OR. Unfortunately, I’m not in the Portland area, but am willing to travel.
Your friend’s standardbred may be a great possibility, although I don’t know how close she wants to keep the horse; anyways, I’ll send you an email shortly for more info on him/her. I’d been interested in adopting one after reading your thread on the off-track Standardbreds, but I couldn’t find any racing farms, much less rescues for the breed in the area.
If anyone else has any rescue recommendations in Oregon, I’d love to hear about them!
Not related to the post, but check this out:
http://community.livejournal.com/customers_suck/28719442.html#cutid1
Sounds like it’s a lot of fun boarding horses…. not.
Oh my. I definitely understand where this rant is coming from, but it really is very unprofessional. There is nothing odd about breeding after May, at least not here in the Northeast, for one thing. A more professional solution than ranting on the internet would be to give a discount for paying on time. As in: If your board/ training is $700.00 a month, then increase the price to $750.00 a month. Then offer a $50.00 discount for anyone who pays by the 5th. Problem solved in most cases. People love a deal.
Our boarding barn started having a “Boarder of the Month” at the beginning of 2010. I am happy to say I was the first chosen! I received half off my board for the month, preferred parking nearest the barn my horse is kept in and a certificate stating that I am boarder of the month for January 2010. The criteria to be chosen is pay your board on time, show good horsemanship (pick hooves and groom before riding, groom and pick hooves after riding, warm up and cool down horse, check equipment on both sides of horse) follow barn rules and directives, clean manure out of arena and off wash rack when finished using them and keeping all personal items picked up and put away. I also received a free t-shirt and a twenty-five dollar gift certificate to our local tack store. The owners didn’t announce they were doing this until I received the certificate. It was surprising how many of the other boarders began picking up after themselves better, picking the manure from the arena etc. when they found out I got half off my board.
What a GREAT idea!
I just watched the Cocktail video and realized that this is not the first time I’ve seen a Shiloh video that doesn’t show transitions. Why? They do have cute horses for adoption but that is a major valid question, I think.
They actually have more videos of her on the page, including showing transitions.
Hello Jessie5299–FYI:
A very well run, legitimate 501(c)(3) rescue a little north of Sacramento is NorCal Equine Rescue–NER. It is located in Oroville. Jason & Tawnee Preisner, the founders, just completed training as Animal Control Officers. Their rescue is being developed into a Humane Society.
website: http://www.norcalequinerescue.com/index.php
They write daily updates (they keep past posts online), take horses to the veterinarian as needed in a timely way, don’t take on more than they can properly care for, and do many other things most people would agree are in the best interests of their rescued horses. They place many horses into pre-approved homes every month. They offer low-cost gelding clinics and may be the first rescue to ever offer free euthanasia clinics.
Hard-working volunteers would be welcome, I’m sure!
Recently there was a different rescue just north of Sacramento in trouble, doing quite a bit of advertising on Craigslist–this was NOT NorCal Equine Rescue. This other rescue even ended up in court; I am not sure about their current status.
Trolling around Craigslist… Found this:
http://lexington.craigslist.org/grd/1775951047.html
‘Case anyone needs their own done nothing stud… Since this one can’t even be ridden.
Not as bad as this one, though. http://lexington.craigslist.org/grd/1771490006.html XD
Oh man, I feel bad for the second person. At least they know what’s wrong and they’re trying to fix things. Poor pony.
I gotta ask the question, where do all these horses come from, someone is dumping/breeding them. I saw a post on horsecity this morning where someone was all excited about the birth of their brand new 1/4 appaloosa, 1/4 paint, 1/2 standardbred foal. I admit I’m not an expert by any means, but why would you breed such a critter? I’m so tired of hearing people on these boards that breed these animals say that the foal will have a forever home. One such person on that board had a foal two years ago with the same statements and has lately lamented about money and selling the horses and being unable to sell this colt because he is grade and hasn’t had shit done with him. I have to repeat fugly here and say breed a quality animal so that if you suffer from some life changing event that necessitates the sale of your horses, they have a fighting chance, and won’t end up on farm like this starving to death.
Somewhat OT but I just wanted to thank you for your blog and wish that more people would read it! I’ve been looking for horses for sale and found a very cute little AQHA mare, but in looking in her bloodlines she has Impressive breeding, when I asked the owners what her HYPP status was, they asked me what HYPP was… and they have bred/have been breeding her… so I will not be getting the mare on the sheer fact that they haven’t had her tested and would only consider her if they did get her tested, which doesn’t seem likely… Its so hard to find the right horse! The search continues!
From Alexis’ MySpace page:
“I have horses…you either deal or you dont…my hobby/business may dig me into a hole more often than not but guess what??…im alot happier with it than working somewhere 9-5 and searching for a way out…at least I have excitement and each day is different!!!”
A hole, indeed.
Every day is not going to be very different when she is in a cell after being convicted of cruelty charges…
OT, but we put my cat down yesterday at around 5:30. She had literally been here my e n t i r e childhood. The house feels so fucking empty without her. xxx
Do you know how to stop grieving? Or at least move on?
*Sorry fugs.. i just need advice and yahooanswers isnt giving me any.
Bye Mrs. Kitty, best friend and destroyer of crickets. 199? – June 4th 2010. I love you so, so much, and I wish it happened differently. I’ll see you someday. ♥
First of all, I’m very sorry for your loss. The worst thing about pets is that we typically outlive them.
Everybody grieves differently but personally I am a huge fan of going out and rescuing a new cat. You’re replacing death with life that way. You can easily go get a cat today from a high-kill shelter and, especially if you adopt an adult, and absolutely if you adopt a black or black/white one, be pretty much 100% sure that you just changed a death into a life. It doesn’t replace the one you lost – but it reminds you that sometimes it is within your power to choose life instead of death for an animal, and it gives you something to snuggle with.
So sorry for your loss. I still have a little sob every few days, 16 mo after losing my mare. Sometimes you just miss them SO MUCH. When I lost my kitty I waited a month then went down and rescued another. I’ve always waited at least a month to replace an animal. I guess it’s my mourning period. I want my heart and head in a better place before bringing a new friend in.
Oh, I’m sorry… we just lost our kitty last week too. I agree with Cathy- we are looking into rescuing another kitty, I just contacted a rescue through Petfinder anout one named “fat louie” LOL. We (half)jokingly call it a consolation kitty… we can’t stop moping about our boy, who, BTW, I spent about $1000 rescuing a few years ago and getting him a leg amputation surgery…
Anyway, good luck, hope you feel better soon.
I’m so sorry for your loss! The only way I made it through putting one of my cats down was that I had his brother, who didn’t let me get too depressed. ((hugs))
I feel your pain, Dotgunner. I’ve been there many times before and it never gets any easier. Our last one was a kitty I’d had for 18 years.
Do a Google search for “pet loss support” and your state. There are quite a few out there, either hotlines you can call and chat with someone or groups that meet in person to offer support to those who need it. I called one of the hotlines and rambled on to the lady on the other end for a good 45 minutes. The lady (I never even got her name) was caring and sympathetic. She allowed me to talk and blubber while offering some thoughtful and insightful comments. I felt sooo much better after I hung up. If you can find something similar near you, I highly recommend it.
It’s nice that society is beginning to realize that pets are not just animals to many people and that grieving for them is ok.
Dotgunner, so sorry to hear about your loss. Putting a loved furbaby down is one of the hardest decisions made out of love.
There is a site called Rainbow Bridge…It helps with the grieving process – you’ll cry but crying does help (this is from a person who hates to cry)
http://www.indigo.org/rainbowbridge_ver2.html
http://www.rainbowsbridge.com/Grief_Support_Center/Grief_Support_Home.htm
I hope the above sites help you with your grief but, again, it will take time.
(((Dotgunner)))
Back OT, YEAH for the horses!!!! Hope they find new friends to love and spoil them.
Thanks guys.
It’s just she had mouth cancer, which took over the entire right side of her face. She would’ve died of starvation/dehydration anyway, and there was absolutely nothing the vets could do, so our parents made the decision to let her go. They told us the truth instead of lying to us [[ something I'm glad they did... ]].
But the form of cancer she had is *incredibly* common with cats and is very aggressive and typically there’s nothing you could do about it other then to let them go. I don’t want to go through that again with another cat. And trust me, she would be one helluva act to follow, ya know?
And I’ve already told my mom we’re not getting another cat. Like, I don’t like cats. I like my cat, and it’d be unfair to get another one and expect it to be as amazing as she was.
I guess I should’ve mentioned that in my first post, but oh well.
*crap, I just realized I posted this as another conversation. >.<
Dotgunner…if you are meant to have a cat in your life…one will show up when you least expect it. I know how you feel about no other cat being as great as your girl, I felt/feel the same about my Grey but, ya know, I had another one come to me one frigid February night…not like my Grey but still a fun cat to have. Black Bart the Fart