Today we have a special treat! Okay, maybe it’s not so special, but I’m happy about it. Today’s Shelter Sketch is by yours truly: ME! I’m trying to get in more drawing apart from my design work, and I thought this was the perfect opportunity. I chose an extremely personal subject too – meet one of our current fosters!

Meet Storm

Storm was a scrawny little thing when she was first brought to us by Ash’s dad, who found her wandering around his neighborhood for weeks before she started exploring his porch. She was so hungry that she didn’t care how close she got to people, she just wanted food. And shelter. And love. Ash and I couldn’t say no to her sweet, pleading face, and because she was more of a stray than a feral, we took her in as a foster in hopes of finding a home for her.

This is Storm

Her story doesn’t end there. When we did a combo test on her, we discovered she was positive for FIV. There are some vets out there, and some groups, who wouldn’t think twice about putting her down because of it (and often times, that’s the default thing to do for TNR cats), but fortunately for her, we wouldn’t allow that. Cats with FIV, it has been discovered, can live a long and happy and healthy life with the right family, the right diet, and enough TLC. Obviously she will need to be an indoor only cat. FIV can only be transferred between cats through the body fluids which means the only way she could really transfer it to another cat is through a deep, penetrating bite wound. This is highly unlikely in a well settled household of cats but to be safe, we are trying to find her a home where she will be an only cat, or have siblings who are also FIV+.

To learn more about FIV, please take the time to read this great article from BFAS: “FIV: Catching a Bad Case of Rumors”

Storm is incredibly sweet and very playful. She loves playing with string and chasing balls of paper across the room. She goes crazy for catnip toys. She LOVES to headbutt and cuddle against you, and she’s a full-grown cat but she’s absolutely tiny. A perpetual kitten. Storm is already spayed and up to date on her rabies and FVRCP.

This cat lived her life on the street – she used to belong to someone and they threw her out. Who knows how long she wandered around before Ash’s dad finally found her. So we have taken up her cause. She’s had several people interested in her, but because she’s a special needs kitty, nobody has come forward yet and she sits and waits patiently for that one person to come take her to her forever home. Are you that person?

Meet Storm

Contact Info
I Love Rescue Animals
iloverescueanimalsATgmailDOTcom
Round Rock, TX 78681
Please use the contact form at the bottom of the site if you’re interested in Storm.

Filed under: Animals in Need, Art, Shelter Sketches on July 25th, 2010 | 11 Comments »

Greenies Pill Pockets is a great product for pet parents who have to give pills to picky pets or for those who have pets on lifelong medication. They are incredibly convenient and easy to use. You just pull out a pill pocket, pop one or more pills into it, close it up and your pet will scramble to eat it. Seriously, check out the video to see our kids scarfing them down. They love them – they think they’re getting treats! In fact, the next day we had to start giving ALL the cats a piece of pill pocket because they would beg for some! Try them out, I bet you’ll love them as much as we do!

Disclaimer: We bought our Greenies Pill Pockets at our vet and were not asked to do this product review nor were we compensated in any way.

Filed under: Product Review on July 22nd, 2010 | 5 Comments »

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am excited to announce that DogTime Media is holding their very first Pet Blog Awards: The Petties!

Vote for ILRA!

So here’s what DogTime says about the contest: “You can choose as many categories as you like and nominate as many bloggers as you like. You can even nominate yourself! Once nominations are closed DogTime will select the four most popular bloggers in each category. Then you and your readers, friends, family and anyone else can vote for their favorites! The blogs with the most votes will win! Nominations close on July 30th, 2010.”

That’s right, you have until July 30, 2010! We would love if you would vote for I Love Rescue Animals in the Best Cause Related Blog category. We have been working super hard to bring quality content to our readers and to make aware all the great things that we can do for animals. We feel we’ve been doing an awesome job, and we hope that you do too! Show us some love and vote for us!

You can find out more about The Petties at the BlogPaws page, and we hope to see you all at our favorite conference: BlogPaws 2010 West!

Filed under: BlogPaws, Causes, Events, Website Related on July 21st, 2010 | 3 Comments »

Hey everyone! This week’s Pet Parent Files gives a few quick tips on how to give liquid dewormer, specifically Panacur, to dogs. Nothing fancy, but a nice how-to nonetheless. Please forgive the poor video and sound quality. This is an old video taken before we got our new camera. Also, that “rescue” in the background is our very own Snarf. Yeah, as if he would stay a foster for long. ^_^ We hope you enjoy and please comment with tips of your own!

Filed under: Pet Parent Files on July 20th, 2010 | 1 Comment »

Hey everyone! Be the Change and BlogPaws are at it again, asking bloggers to be the change they want to see for animals. This latest call to action involves raising donations for shelters, rescues & pet food banks to help animals in need. It’s called the “Dog Days of Summer Food & Supplies Drive” and starting today (July 19th), with your help, we in the pet blog community are going to be collecting cat and dog food for shelters all over the country. Here’s what you can do to take part!

How to Participate

• Find a shelter or pet food bank near you and call to find out whether they accept food donations. (For people in the US and Canada you can search for a local shelter and pet food bank here.)
• Print out the BTC4Pets flier then head over to your local pet supplies store to pick up a bag of food.
• Drop off the bag of food at your local shelter or food bank and have someone take a picture of you with the bag and flier.
• Write a blog post, tweet (with #BTC4Pets) and share on Facebook your pawsome achievement to inspire your friends to do the same. (Of course you can always write two blog posts — one calling your friends to join you in the food drive and the second talking about your group’s trip to the shelter!)
• Post the picture of yourself donating the food and a link to your blog/twitter account/Facebook post to the Be The Change for Pets Facebook wall along with the pounds of food donated. We’ll add this amount to the total food/supplies donated so we can all see our impact!
• Want to take the campaign to the next level? Find out how to start a pet food bank on a shoestring budget.

To help out in our town, I Love Rescue Animals is going to be starting a drive to collect food for a few local animal groups, including our favorite cat group Central Texas Feline Rescue. We are personally trying to gather donations from several different area businesses – our main being at Camp Bow Wow Austin. If you’re in town, stop by! What plans do you have for the Dog Days of Summer Food Drive and who are you going to help?

Filed under: Animals in Need, BlogPaws, Causes, Donations on July 19th, 2010 | 1 Comment »