Hello and an update

My posting has been somewhat erratic and for that I apologize. Sometimes life throws us curve balls that need to be honored. In this case...the curve ball was Norm.

I met Norm through my volunteer work in the cattery at the Arizona Animal Welfare League. All spring I've been seeing cats we've rescued from homes abandoned due to foreclosure. Every single one of these cases has been horribly sad...but I wasn't sure what simple me could do about it. Then I met Norm. Norm was left in a home here in Phoenix on June 1--no air conditioning, no food, only toilet water. Someone finally found him in that home on June 26, about as close to death as any living being can get and still breathe. He was so weak, he could not even stand on his own. He's needed two surgeries because his dehydration was so bad his intestines started to stick to each other and cause blockages that prevented him from keeping food down.

I was so upset when I learned of this case I couldn't sleep. I looked online and learned that in my county alone, there are currently over 30,000 foreclosed homes. All I could think about was how many other animals were out there in need of rescue? I didn't care about the overwhelming number. I just cared that someone try to do something.

Then, out of the blue, I found a small link online about a group of real estate professionals who had started a 501(c)(3) organization designed to rescue animals in just these kinds of situations. Long story short, I am now on the board and we're completely focused on lining up foster homes and donations so we can start to do the difficult work of rounding up animals who need us.

If you're interested in helping or donating, our website is soon to go live. You'll find it if you go to Lost Our Home Pet Foundation. In the meantime, you can send donations to 8105 E. Rita Drive, Scottsdale, AZ, or call Jodi Polanski at 480-688-7899 if you have a home to open as a foster.

And Norm? Well, he's been with us for about 3 weeks now, and the clinic staff say when he's completely renourished he's going to weigh about 10 pounds. Right now, after food and IV for 3 weeks, he's only just over 5 pounds. That gives you an idea of just how sick he was when he came into our lives. The main issue right now is that Norm is so playful he's not sitting still the way he ideally would in order to gain all that weight back. But the important thing is, his spirit is back, alive and well, and he's inspired a whole lot of people to step up and work together to prevent such future tragedies.

Now I can get back to the work of posting more information on this blog!