Companions

Here is the radiant BeautifulLife with Prise, her companion and life-assistant. We met this afternoon for a short walk and a catch-up on news of each other's lives, and she kindly let me take this shot of the two of them on a trail in Forest Park because I want to talk about companion animals tonight.

First I want to announce that there is a charity in the USA that helps many people who cannot afford vet costs for their companion animals. I was recently afraid that I was not going to be allowed to adopt the cat I had chosen because my income is so low. Many people on Blip offered to help me financially so that I could adopt that cat, but fortunately I didn't need help because I was approved to adopt her. However I worry about other people who might be in situations similar to mine, with fewer resources. So I've been doing research, and with the help of Klaus001, I can report that such an organization already exists. Ta-daaaaaaa!

It is The Pet Fund, and if you would like to do for others what you offered to do for me, you can send them a contribution.

I had a talk today with their Executive Director, Karen Leslie, who told me that they serve people anywhere in the USA, as much as they can, but they are not able to do as much as they would like because the need is so vast and they just don't have the funds. She said that in order to fund $200 in vet bills for each person who contacts them needing help, they would need an income of $10 million a year, and they're not there. They make referrals, they do what they can, they have a very helpful website, and they do help people with vet bills. Sometimes they pay more than $200 in vet costs, but they also help people find other ways to pay for their animals' care, including crowd funding via the internet. They also make referrals to a network of vets and vet schools that offer reduced-fee care.

Those of you in the UK have a number of very excellent organizations you can support: PDSA and The Cinnamon Trust among others, but Karen Leslie explained that for a number of complex reasons, similar organizations have not developed in the USA. You might bookmark The Pet Fund's website so you can refer others to it--either to make donations or to apply for help from them.

So now that's taken care of.

Meanwhile, Kismet, the cat I chose and have adopted, is a wreck, bless her heart. She's afraid of everything that moves, including me. She's absolutely terrified of young children, and all Bella has ever seen of her is two glittering eyes at the very back of under-the-couch. After ten days in my loving care, she still panics and runs under the couch if I take a big breath, cross my legs, stretch, or otherwise demonstrate signs of life. Since she came to live with me, I haven't vacuumed the house, and I quit making juices because the juicer stresses her out. I've even avoided playing anything but the slowest, calmest music, but she's still a jittery neurotic mess. Now and then Kismet submits to a little cuddling, never more than a minute or two, but mostly she runs from me as if she is certain I'm going to torture her. I've plugged in a bottle of animal-calming pheromone stuff. I am a calm and loving, stable presence. I feed her well, I reassure her, and when she consents to be touched I give her Tellington Touch rubs. But I'm not sure she and I are ever going to be able to bond. I'll give it another month, but I'm not yet committed. This might not work. If she doesn't make the adjustment, the agency from which I got her will take her back.

She charges my little apartment with tension and anxiety, she jangles my nerves by racing madly for cover when I come in the door, stand up, turn on the tea kettle, or flush the toilet. Maybe she'll calm down and we'll bond, but the bonding hasn't happened yet. Sometimes love is not all you need. Not all animal-relationship stories have happy endings. I'm abiding and will see how it goes....