Pet Talk

by Cathy Davis
www.houltonanimalshelter.com
    First of all, I would like to assure you that I don’t have any secret husbands tucked away in a closet anywhere.  Those of you who are regular Pet Talk readers might have noticed that last week’s column shows written by Cathy Davis but it was, in fact, written by Heather Miller, who, along with husband Jon, have spent their weekends at adopt-a-thons in Fort Fairfield and Presque Isle and other locations.
This kitten was found near Dow's market and we are desperately seeking the owner.
    These have been very successful events – we have also had adopt-a-thons in Houlton with Holly Henderson and Karen Stairs in attendance and another day in Presque Isle with Naomi Williams and I in attendance, and I have to agree with Heather, these are wonderful events and really do a lot to showcase our animals and help place them in good loving homes.  And they are just plain fun to host!
    Just in Fort Fairfield alone, Heather and Jon found homes for four kitties, in Presque Isle between Heather, Jon, Naomi and I, we found homes for four more and in Houlton we placed two at our adopt-a-thon in front of Wal-Mart.  It is our desire to continue this in other towns as the summer progresses.  So if you have an event that your town is hosting and could offer us space to set up, please contact the Shelter at 532-2862 and we’ll see that someone is there with animals who need new homes.
    This is also good for the critters, gets them out for the day, new surroundings, fresh air, a nice ride in the van, and lots of attention from the multitudes of people who visit during the day.  The animals really seem to enjoy these outings and contrary to what you might read about us “dragging” dogs out into the public for a walk down the street, these animals just love any change in their daily routine.  Wouldn’t you?
    Now, on another note, I wanted to bring something really important to your attention that I just learned about.  Today there is a lot of talk about identity theft and more and more people are buying paper shredders and shredding all their junk mail before throwing it away.  That’s a really great idea.  A lot of identity thieves obtain their information by stealing people’s garbage and going through it to find anything with their birthdates on it, or social security numbers, or how about those offers from credit card companies where they send you checks you can write out today!
    Here’s the thing though, there are more and more reported cases of animals being severely injured by paper shredders.  Many of these shredders are left “on” all the time and when you put paper in it, it grabs it and shreds.  I read a horrible story about a dog’s tongue being pulled into a shredder, another about a cat jumping up onto a shredder and having it’s paw pulled through.  I won’t go into any more details. I just want to caution you, if you have pets, please unplug your paper shredder when you are not using it!
    It’s something I never would have thought of in a million years so thought I’d pass the tip along.
    Have a great week, stay safe, and hug your kids, your spouses, and your pets, every single day!