Re: Pet Ownership - Killing Through Kindness

Hi Les,
Concerning the specific topic of ferile dogs and cats in the country, I
do have experience on that one. Many dog and cat owners do drop offs
and the animals become shy from being abandoned. So trying to give them
food and shelter does not often work. So over time I do get to know
these animals. One dog around here who hangs out with the wolves and
comes down to the small town of 223 people comes to take the at large
dogs out for a wild run around the area and play. I call her Bower. She
will go swimming in the coldest iciest snowiest winter and shake and
smile. Then she will brush up against my coat to get her smell on me.
Since I walk way into the woods other dogs that are at large will come
and sniff me where Bower left her sent mark.
After a year of knowing her she once did come with much coaxing to my
door where I gave her a piece of whole wheat toast, she took it and ran
off with it and I followed her. She gave it to a pup that was on a
tether. Then she went to see an old dog that is arthritic and got him
to run with her around the park, when they were done she ran back to
his house to make sure he made it back home.
There are many cats around here who have been abandoned or dropped of
by owners who are ferile. They hide out in different places every night
and hunt mice and birds. When given food some will take it others not
preferring the wild food they gather themselves. Some are starving and
mangy and those ones people catch and find homes for. Usually the
starving ones are kittens, interestingly enough we had one in our
garage that we could not catch as she would take off at the sound of
footsteps. Every night however a big tom cat would go in and see her
and bring her some food even though she was not in heat. We finally did
catch her and went to the local hardware store to find out where the
S.P.C.A. was and a man who had lost his cat to old age said I will take
her and she is the most happy well loved little princess.
There was a border collie in a town I lived in that was ferile. She was
known to take dogs at large and have them disappear into the forest.
When the forest ranger checked this out he found the collars of the
dogs near bones. It was concluded that the dog was taking up stray dogs
to the wolves and coyotes and sharing the kill with them. She would
come down and hang around and run as if she was having fun with the
dogs and as soon as a person turned their back there would go the dog
with the missing border collie also. The S.P.C.A. got a hold of her
with much trouble in catching her and found her a home in the country.
I hear she stays home some of the time and the rest of the time she
takes off to be with her wild friends she made in the forest there. Now
this is unusual as wolves would normally eat the border collie yet she
knew how to live with them in lean times by bringing them dogs and
sharing the food.
She was always soaking wet from the rain and snow but did not mind. Her
coat was very thick as she never was indoors so she did not shed her
winter coat as most indoor dogs do.
Now it takes allot of cunning to not be eaten by the coyotes that come
into small towns and so it was with a cat some friends had. She was
ferile and would not make contact with them for a couple of years. She
would sleep under their house now and then. Slowly she would come and
see them and over time accepted their food. Well she almost died from
the cat food. Many trips to the vet later he recommended they let her
stay in the house if she wanted as she had started doing that but to
only feed her raw meat as she was not used to commercial cat food. They
did not do this and so the cat was so sick she was on deaths door when
a neighbor said they would bring over raw meat for the cat. The people
were vegetarians and did not wish to handle raw meat.
Well this cat became a philanthropist. Nijma was her name and she would
eat her food in the morning and then head off for her daily rounds. She
went to see every old person in the small town where they moved to from
the wild where they had been living when they first came across Nijma.
She went first to see John Greenan a man who was 95 years old and loved
to walk with her. By the way he lived till he was a hundred and one,
why-- because he walked four times a day and would declare to any one
who would listen and we all did " Why am I so lucky to live here and be
blessed with such beauty to walk in every day"
Then after John she would go and see old Molly who was house bound from
arthritis and she would visit there for a few hours and made Molly's
day be full of love and company. After that she finished the rest of
her rounds of the elderly and disabled and then go home for the night
to more raw meat and a sleep near the wood heater.
When she became old herself, Nijma decided to go back to the wild after
her friends John and Molly died. We would see her here and there but no
one could catch her. She had gone back to her own and that would be
mother nature and the wild of the forest. The owners were heart broken
and had everyone who saw here try and catch her, but to no avail Nijma
had made up her mind that she would spend her old age in the wild like
she had started by most likely a drop off of some unwanted kittens and
against all odds she made it in the wild as a kitten and as a grand old
lady cat.
I agree with you Les. Peace begins within a person and then it spills
out of us into the rest of the world. Hopefully there will be a
Hundredth Monkey affect and the rest of the world will take the gift of
life and treat it as that, like John Greenan made people fall in love
with life and it had a ripple affect even on a cat.
Many ferile dogs and cats are eaten by the coyotes and wolves and so I
would not know how they fare in the country as most dogs are not like
Bower who I do not know what she eats, as she is too wild to keep up
with. But she shares and socializes with the dogs who are left lonely
in their yards. When I am really lucky Bower will run with my and
disappear and come back during one of my daily walks. It feels like I
have been with an angel when Bower graces me with her leap into the
freezing cold lake in the middle of December and then smiles and takes
off again.
The ducks get a kick out of her as we have many ducks and geese that
stay for the winter.
Well Les, it is time for one of my twice a day or more walks out in the
wild so I am off to see what birds , ducks or dogs and cats will be my
companions on my walk. Did I mention the deer come out at nights in the
winter and they let me come as close as a few feet from them There is a
family of 7 who come into town late in the winter and spring. I follow
their footprints and they will play with me and come around to where I
have followed them and come near me and we stand there and look at each
other, soul to soul. I would not recommend this to people who do not
get to know the deer as they can take their front feet and do serious
harm by trampling. They know the difference between friend and foe, It
does take time however.
As I said before the first Nations really knew and still do the wisdom
of animals.
Nice talking with you Les. I like your gentle nature.
Show Dog Bark
Be Good Do Good Be One

.

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