Glad to Have a Glass

Somebody thanked us yesterday. She said "Thank you for rescuing my babies!" She posted a video, and there they are in a happy home with someone who loves them, rather than all alone, trying desperately to survive. I remember them there on that long dark night in the exclusion zone, and I remember the one that we were not able to catch. We never saw that one again. I worried about how fearful they were, but then a very special person came along, who wanted to give them a chance. 


Sometimes just trying to get through each difficult day, it's easy to forget about all of the good. But can you imagine...more than 400 furry (or feathered!) little lives have passed through our hands over the last year. Every one of you out there, who has leant JCN a hand or given a donation has helped to save these lives and to get them into good homes like Kumi and Naoki's. We have so much to be grateful for! 

Speaking of which, we had more than a dozen volunteers stop in over the last week...it seemed like every time I looked out at the dogs, they had somebody new brushing them. Lucky dogs!

2 of the puppies went out for a homestay, with a volunteer who comes out regularly to help. She has a heart of gold and the puppies always seem to know it!

Our volunteer vet techs were able to do the monthly treatment for filaria and other parasites on the dogs. The kitties also got their monthly parasite treatment. What we would love is some Revolution, which would make the treatment much easier, especially for the less friendly ones. I think both of our vet techs went home with a few new scratches! Of course some of the kitties are more relaxed than others. Why someone has not snapped up our soft cuddly Stanley, I do not know. What cat lover wouldn't want to sleep with this? Just one of the joys I have, in living at a shelter!

Takumi and I have been hanging in there together on our own here, for a couple of days now. He is so good with all of the animals, and he has the tough job of sleeping in the clinic/quarantine room, with 10 noisy cats and 4 noisy puppies. He is the best sport ever :-) Check out his blog (in Japanese)! 

     

I have been worried about a few things this week, one of which is a kitty that managed to escape the shelter. He has not come back. We have taken steps to help solve the problem that allowed him to get out, but that won't do anything for him. I am so hoping that Claude finds his way back to us.

We went out to the evacuated area to fill the bins this past Saturday. Most still had a bit of food in them, but a disappointing number were completely empty. Again. The system is not perfect...we know that some wild animals gain access to the food. However we also know that we are feeding a large number of cats, many of which we have spayed/neutered and released, and many others which we are hoping to eventually bring in. An imperfect system is better than no system at all, because for the left behind it simply means survival. The bins are the best idea that we could come up with to address a very difficult situation. We saw so many cats waiting by the side of the road, for someone to stop and feed them...it was heartbreaking to think about how long they may have had to wait and hope there, for someone to come by. With the bins, they at least don't have to wait in the cold or along a dangerously fast traveled road.

Many still come out to see us. They seem to miss human interaction! I wish...that we had more cat food...that we had more shelter space...that we had more volunteers...that we had more money for gas...that we had more cooperation from the government...but we have what we have, and we do what we can with what we have. I am glad that we are still managing to get out there and feed, and that we are still able to rescue, despite the fact that we are often running on empty. Somehow we make it through another day. Whether it is half full or half empty, I'm just glad to have a glass.

Finally, I have been meaning to get a snap of this...

The kitties may not know what to think, but I do. Yay!! No more hands and knees floor cleaning :-) Thanks, to the kind soul who sent this along, and seriously, EVERYONE should have one of these. 

(More pictures in my June album on Facebook)