You are invited to a VERY Furry Valentine's Party In Howell, Michigan!

You are cordially invited to attend the First Annual Livingston County Animal Control Valentine's Day Party!
Come meet the love of your life - your very own fuzzlebutt! - at Livingston County Animal Control's first ever Valentine's Day Party and Open House.

There will be refreshments, valentines for the animals, cat and kitten adoption specials, and goodie bags.

They are offering a special cat or kitten adoption  -  adopt one furbutt, get one  deal – pay full price for a cat or a kitten and get a pal for that feline for a dollar. Now how cool is that! I love that they offer these deals so cats are not put down!

Even if you can't attend how about contributing to their Kuranda Bed drive? On the floor no more!

Thousands of dogs in animal shelters across the country sleep on cold, wet, concrete floors 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Cats in cages have little alternatives to sleeping in their litter pans. Kuranda beds offer them warm, dryness and comfort.

The party is on Thursday, February 10, 2011 from  noon to 4pm. They are located at 418 S. Highlander Way in Howell, Michigan 48443

Here's just a few of the fuzzlebutts you can adopt as your Valentine!

These sad little souls need you as much as you need them. They cry for the owner that handed over the leash to strangers and left them all alone. They are confused by the unfamiliar sounds and faces that surround them. They long for the touch of a human mom or dad again and maybe some kids to play with. They long for lots of good food and water, a warm home, love and a promise to never be abandoned again no matter what. Can you make that commitment to offer love to a fuzzlebutt? Sure you can :)

Love,

Fuzzlebutts

                                                                                    

I Am Your Dog..Do you keep me chained like a thing?

I am a dog. I am a living, breathing animal. I feel pain, joy, love, fear and pleasure.



I am not a thing. If I am hit - I will bruise, I will bleed, I will break. I will feel pain. I am not a thing.


I am a dog. I enjoy playtime, walk time, but more than anything, I enjoy time with my pack - my family - my people. I want nothing more than to be by the side of my human. I want to sleep where you sleep and walk where you walk. I am a dog and I feel love...I crave companionship.


I enjoy the touch of a kind hand and the softness of a good bed. I want to be inside of the home with my family, not stuck on the end of a chain or alone in a kennel or fenced yard for hours on end. I was born to be a companion, not to live a life of solitude.


I get too cold and I get too hot. I experience hunger and thirst. I am a living creature, not a thing.


When you leave, I want to go with you. If I stay behind, I will eagerly await your return. I long for the sound of your voice. I will do most anything to please you. I live to be your treasured companion.


I am a dog. My actions are not dictated by money, greed, or hatred. I do not know prejudice. I live in the moment and am ruled by love and loyalty.


Do not mistake me for a mindless object. I can feel and I can think. I can experience more than physical pain, I can feel fear and joy. I can feel love and confusion. I have emotions. I understand perhaps more than you do. I am able to comprehend the words you speak to me, but you are not always able to understand me.


I am a dog. I am not able to care for myself without your help. If you choose to tie me up and refuse to feed me, I will starve. If you abandon me on a rural road, I will experience fear and loneliness. I will search for you and wonder why I have been left behind. I am not a piece of property to be dumped and forgotten.


If you choose to leave me at a shelter, I will be frightened and bewildered. I will watch for your return with every footfall that approaches my kennel run.


I am a dog - a living, breathing creature. If you choose to take me home, please provide me with the things that I need to keep me healthy and happy.


Provide me with good food, clean water, warm shelter and your love. Do not abandon me. Do not kick me. Do not dump me when your life gets too busy. Make a commitment to me for the entirety of my life, or do not take me home in the first place.


If you desert me, I do not have the means to care for myself. I am at the mercy of the kindness of people - if I fall into the wrong hands, my life will be ruined.


I will experience pain, fear and loneliness. If I wind up in an animal shelter, I have only my eyes to implore someone to save me, and my tail to show you that I am a friend. If that is not good enough, I will die.


I am a dog. I want to give and receive love. I want to live. I am not a thing. I am not a piece of property. Please do not discard me. Please treat me with kindness, love and respect. I promise to repay you with unconditional love for as long as I live.

Joey will never be a "thing"

Love.....

The Fuzzlebutts

Puffy Paws Kitty Haven..Today's Focus on Rescues

                                                                        
Englewood, Florida’s “World’s Greatest Cathouse,“ Puffy Paws Kitty Haven is a 501(c) (3) non-profit, no-kill cat hospice specializing in providing quality and loving care to special needs cats. Owned by Rick & Chrissy & Da Kitties http://www.puffypawskittyhaven.com/index.html



“We care for kitties with feline leukemia, FIV, blind kitties, feral cats, epileptic kitties, kitties with only one eye, senior kitties, kitties that do not use their litter box, kitties with thyroid conditions and more - basically unwanted and unadoptable kitties that would be euthanized elsewhere.”


Puffy Paws Kitty Haven's mission is to provide hospice care for special needs cats. Puffy Paws Kitty Haven will provide quality healthcare, food, water, shelter and most of all, love to all the cats in its care until they cross the Rainbow Bridge. They serves a unique need as a hospice for special needs kitties, but with declining donations and increasing costs, the mighty Cathouse is in danger of eventually closing one day without an guarantee steady stream of working capital.


Dear Fans of the Kitties
Thank you all for your kind donations in keeping the kitties safe and alive this past week.
Without you we can never do what we do
We are so grateful for each and everyone of you.
We are facing another week.
* To take care of 268 kitties.
It costs around $250 dollars a day to for litter, food, and cleaning supplies
WET CAT FOOD
* Friskies - 13 oz Cans - Ocean White Fish & Tuna Dinner (Walmart) We use 4 case a day ( 96 Cans) - $67.20
DRY CAT FOOD
Publixs Dry Food- We use two 18 pound bag a day - $23.98
TIDY CAT LITTER
We use 22 bags / 660 pounds a day - $120.00
CLEANING SUPPLIES
A day - $25.00


At Puffy Paws Kitty Haven they do not put down any animals for behavior problems, space or adopt-ability issues. Yet Puffy Paws Kitty Haven never has and never will let any kitty suffer with any medical condition that only allows pain & suffering and no chance of survival.

No Kill sheltering models, based on innovative, non-lethal programs and services, have already saved the lives of tens of thousands of animals.
But instead of embracing No Kill, many shelters—and their national agency allies—cling to their failed models of the past, models that result in the killing of millions of dogs and cats in U.S. shelters every year.


Puffy Paws Kitty Haven was proud to announce that it has started up a Kitty Adoption Program in the Summer of 2007, and adopted out well over 225 kitties. Currently they have many kitties available for adoption. You may adopt their kitties at PetSmart in Port Charlotte.
Since space is limited and they are expanding their adoption program by seeking foster families. These foster families would provide a temporary home for unwanted kitties that come into Puffy Paws care until forever homes can be found.


Puffy Paws Kitty Haven takes care of the largest amount of special need kitties in the area.
They specialize in taking care of special needs kitties that would have been euthanized elsewhere simply because someone would have deemed them to be unadoptable.
They are set up to handle the different medical concerns the kitties have by separating them into their very own living quarters.
They  have the 2000 sq foot " Haven Home " which houses healthy adoptable kitties, and their permanent residence who have physical, emotional and behavioral problems.
Their  workshop is 800 sq foot which was  nicknamed the " Kitty Angel Club ".
Soon the members of the " Kitty Angel Club ", will be enjoying an out-door, free-standing, backyard fence system thanks to the folks from Purr...fect fence. This portion of the " Haven Home" will be called the Kitty Angel Park .

Each and every day they need your help. If you would like to make a monetary donation please click one of the donate buttons on their web site or click the ChipIn located there. If you are local you may donate goods for the Thrift Shop or kitty supplies for the Haven or food at their Pet Food Bank and or volunteer,  please do.Without your help their will be no Puffy Paws Kitty Haven. Please only give what your heart and budget can afford. If you can donate please do and also please share with all your friends on Facebook and Twitter.
http://www.puffypawskittyhaven.com/index.html



Their back is up against the wall.
Without your help they can not feed the kitties.
So please help if you can and please share with everyone you can on all the Social Networks and Bloggers.

Please feel free to leave comments! The more the better as Google will be more apt to circulate this blog!

If there is a special recue group you would like to see featured here please just let me know! http://www.sofyblu2.com/
       or  fuzzlebutts11@gmail.com
 Thank You For Your Kindness
Love,
The Fuzzlebutts!






















http://www.sofyblu2.com/

A New Year with New Beginnings!

Happy beginnings for a great New Year!  This year will find us doing more and more work on Facebook helping the shelters find home placements for those pets placed on the euthanasia lists. It's not pretty but it's a reality. After all the help we received with Lucy and her babies it's the least we can do to help pay it forward. We will also start blogging about various rescue groups so you can see what they are all about. If you have a group you'd like to see on here please let us know!

Also we look forward to opening our online pet shop..fuzzlebutts on Bonanza.com. fuzzlebutts will not be your ordinary pet store. We are working with some of the best manufacturers to bring you items for the larger dogs that are tough and durable! Cat items that are safe and fun. We offer the Toy Go Round Cat Exercise Wheel! And we will have some of THE coolest pieces of cat furniture you've ever seen. We're not quite ready to open yet but we are diligently plugging along. We will eventually offer items for the smaller dogs too! When we do open we hope you will check it out and let us know if there are items that you would like to see!

And now a short update on Lucy and the babies now known as the B5 (Bengal 5). Lucy has become quite the plump mistress of the house. She still has no desire to go near the doors back outside. Fur has yet to fill in on her nose. She is one happy girl these days :)

And the mascot for fuzzlebutts will be Bailey! One of the B5.

this will be our avatar lol

and in closing we'd like to share this with you..not to upset you but in hopes that you'll spay and neuter your pets, not to take them for granted and to realize above all else how much they depend on us, that they are not disposable!

Kitty Kisses and Doggy Hugs,

fuzzlebutts

Disposable animals..the sad truth

by Pets on Death Row on Thursday, January 20, 2011 at 2:18pm

You can't keep your pet? Really? BY A Shelter Director

I think our society needs a huge "Wake-up" call. As a shelter manager, I am going to share a little insight with you all...a view from the inside if you will.


First off, all of you people who have ever surrendered a pet to a shelter or humane society should be made to work in the "back" of an animal shelter for just one day. Maybe if you saw the life drain from a few sad, lost, confused eyes, you would stop flagging the ads on craigslist and help these animals find homes.
That puppy you just bought will most likely end up in my shelter when it's not a cute little puppy anymore. Just so you know there's a 90% chance that dog will never walk out of the shelter it’s dumped at? Purebred or not! About 25% of all of the dogs that are "owner surrenders" or "strays", that come into a shelter are purebred dogs.


The most common excuses: "We are moving and we can't take our dog (or cat)." Really? Where are you moving too that doesn't allow pets? Or they say "The dog got bigger than we thought it would". How big did you think a German Shepherd would get? "We don't have time for her". Really? I work a 10-12 hour day and still have time for my 6 dogs! "She's tearing up our yard". How about making her a part of your family? They always tell me "We just don't want to have to stress about finding a place for her we know she'll get adopted, she's a good dog".


Odds are your pet won't get adopted & how stressful do you think being in a shelter is? Well, let me tell you, your pet has 72 hours to find a new family from the moment you drop it off. Sometimes a little longer if the shelter isn't full and your dog manages to stay completely healthy. If it sniffles, it dies. Your pet will be confined to a small run/kennel in a room with other barking or crying animals. It will have to relieve itself where it eats and sleeps. It will be depressed and it will cry constantly for the family that abandoned it. If your pet is lucky, I will have enough volunteers in that day to take him/her for a walk. If I don't, your pet won't get any attention besides having a bowl of food slid under the kennel door and the waste sprayed out of its pen with a high-powered hose. If your dog is big, black or any of the "Bully" breeds (pit bull, rottie, mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door. Those dogs just don't get adopted. It doesn't matter how 'sweet' or 'well behaved' they are.


If your dog doesn't get adopted within its 72 hours and the shelter is full, it will be destroyed. If the shelter isn't full and your dog is good enough, and of a desirable enough breed it may get a stay of execution, but not for long . Most dogs get very kennel protective after about a week and are destroyed for showing aggression. Even the sweetest dogs will turn in this environment. If your pet makes it over all of those hurdles chances are it will get kennel cough or an upper respiratory infection and will be destroyed because the shelter gets paid a fee to euthanize each animal and making money is better than spending money to take this animal to the vet.


Here's a little euthanasia 101 for those of you that have never witnessed a perfectly healthy, scared animal being "put-down". First, your pet will be taken from its kennel on a leash. They always look like they think they are going for a walk happy, wagging their tails. Until they get to "The Room", every one of them freaks out and puts on the brakes when we get to the door. It must smell like death or they can feel the sad souls that are left in there, it's strange, but it happens with every one of them. Your dog or cat will be restrained, held down by 1 or 2 shelter workers depending on the size and how freaked out they are. Then a shelter worker who we call a euthanasia tech (not a vet) find a vein in the front leg and inject a lethal dose of the "pink stuff". Hopefully your pet doesn't panic from being restrained and jerk. I've seen the needles tear out of a leg and been covered with the resulting blood and been deafened by the yelps and screams. They all don't just "go to sleep", sometimes they spasm for a while, gasp for air and defecate on themselves. You see shelters are trying to make money to pay employee pay checks and don’t forget the board of directors needs to be paid too, so we don’t spend our funds to tranquilize the animal before injecting them with the lethal drug, we just put the burning lethal drug in the vein and let them suffer until dead. If it were not a “making money issue” and we had to have a licensed vet do this procedure, the animal would be sedated or tranquilized and then euthanized, but to do this procedure correctly would cost more money so we do not follow what is right for the animal, we just follow what is the fastest way we can make a dollar. Shelters do not have to have a vet perform their euthanasia’s so even if it takes our employee 50 pokes with a needle and 3 hours to get the vein that is what we do. Making money is the issue here not loosing money.


Then it all ends, your pets corpse will be stacked like firewood in a large freezer in the back with all of the other animals that were killed waiting to be picked up like garbage. What happens next? Cremated? Taken to the dump? Rendered into pet food? Or used for the schools to dissect and experiment on? You'll never know and it probably won't even cross your mind. It was just an animal and you can always buy another one, right!


I hope that those of you who still have a beating heart and have read this are bawling your eyes out and can't get the pictures out of your head, I deal with this everyday. I hate my job, I hate that it exists & I hate that it will always be there unless you people make some changes and start educating the public. Do research, do your homework, and know exactly what you are getting into before getting a pet. These shelters and humane societies exist because people just do not care about animals anymore. Animals were not intended to be disposable but somehow that is what they are these days. Animal shelters are an easy way out when you get tired of your dog (or cat), and breeders are the ones blamed for this. Animal shelters and rescue organizations are making a hefty profit by keeping this misconception going.


Between 9 and 11 MILLION animals die every year in shelters and only you can stop it. I just hope I maybe changed one persons mind about taking their dog to a shelter, a humane society, or buying a dog. For those of you that care--- please repost this to at least one other craiglist in another city/state. Let's see if we can get this all around the US and have an impact.


Now you see why fuzzlebutts wants to get involved.....this could have been any of our 11 kids :(

Merry Christmas from the Fuzzlebutts!

Merry Christmas to all our friends! It has been a shamefully long time since I updated our blog. Lucy has become an adorable plumped up lady now who has no desire to step foot outside. Her babies are now 6 months old. How fast time flies by. We wanted to make sure to tell you THANK YOU for giving us our first Christmas together as a family! Santa brought lots of homegrown catnip!

For real? Santa Paws is coming? Shut up! No way!

Move your spotted butt over!

Tubby Bailey

Don't hog it all..share

Mine

Better if I hold it in my paws...Lucy

Nom Nom Nom...Lucy

Bailey and Gabby

Lucy

Bailey kicking Gabby

Itty bitty Chelsey..one third the size of all the others...but is the biggest troublemaker

Zoey and Bailey

Lucy has gained weight lol

And obviously happy :)

Poor Joey wasn't sure if Santa would find him for his 1st Christmas

YEAH! Santa did find me and brought lots of frozen noms for me and Sofy

We will end with a beautiful poem we found . Merry Christmas our friends!
Love,
the fuzzlebutts


On the night before Christmas all the homeless animals prayed



“Give us a voice Lord on this Christmas day”


Let us speak to the world


That turns a blind eye


To our misfortune, our pain, and our sad lives






We live in the streets, in the woods, and out in the cold


With no shelter, no food, and no one to hold us tight


Alone in this world as we grow old


We give up sometimes; many of us have lost the fight






Our dreams fill our minds with visions so bright


Of food, soft beds, and a safe place for the night


Of a family to love us and keep us safe


Someone please pick up this small waif






Our fur may be matted, our eyes filled with fear


Thin and ragged to the world we appear


Many people only want us to disappear






We have no home to go to


No family to care


No one to love us


No one no where






No soft voice do we hear


No loving pats


No one to calm our fear


As days turn weeks, to months, and to years






We ask only that people open their heart


To give us a chance, a fresh new start


We promise to love them


And guard them through the night


If only they will give us a chance at a new life






The Lord gave them a patron, a saint, and a cause


Rescue groups worldwide heard their sad calls


They came to their aid and found homes for them all






The animals’ prayers were answered that day


A voice they were given


Their fears swept away






They were given new homes


And families’ to love


Lots of toys, soft blankets, and hugs






The animals have only one final wish


To share with one and all


Please remember that love is the greatest gift of them all

Bonanzle, Blogs and NOT Censored!!! All is well

We are back and unsuspended on Bonanzle. Someone jumped the gun and reported this blog as soliciting charity only. Now if we had been directly asking for funds on the forums that would be a violation. However that was not the case.

Here's the final word on blogs from Bill Harding himself :  "There is no rule against posting links to blog, even if they have donation buttons. What we specifically don't allow is for users to solicit donations on Bonanzle, regardless of where they are soliciting them from. Saying "I have this great blog where you can learn more about my kitty" is fine. Saying "I have this great blog where you can donate money for X cause" is not.
The reason we have this policy is that, prior to it, we were inundated with spammers and scammers that would try to use our forums for various nefarious causes. Obviously we like Mary a lot more than those people, but we need to apply our rules consistently for them to be fair & meaningful."

Of great importance to many of us is the issue of shipping calculators that work properly. Bill suggested that we look for a third party provider that he could possibly use. Several of us found Auctioninc. When asked yesterday Bill stated : "AuctionInc looks like it will be possible. The tech lead there has been in communication with me, just a matter of finishing up my tasks in progress before I can delve into it more deeply. Stay tuned." We're counting on you guys to make this happen sooner than later :)

And back to Lucy and her band of maniacs. Either the weather change to cool or someone spiked their water..it's turned these somewhat mellow kittens into wild cats. LOL They go beyond the normal kitten play. They are body slamming each other, running and jumping off of everything, shredding every little piece of paper they can find, jumping into garbage cans, dragging around shoes, socks or even tools from the basement. About the only thing they haven't done is grab the ceiling fan and swing. I suspect that will happen any time soon.

Who would have thought such sick little kitties would rebound so fast! And growing like weeds!

 

This is Lucy and one of her boys, he looks so much like her, all the spots and almost her size. Funny to see Lucy with a bit of a tummy considering how emaciated she was!

 

and the rest of the babies

We'll end here for today. Thanks again to all our friends for the unreal support shown in the past few days. You are the best!

Kitty Kisses,

Lucy and the Babies



Bonanzle, Blogs and Censorship... A word to the wise

Well I guess the Lucy and her babies blog has now fallen to an all time low. As many of you know there was a chip in page created for Lucy and her Kittens, upon the advice of many well intentioned people. I was so very careful not to post it on Bonanzle as it is a violation of their forum policies. Throughout time, a very well meaning friend who did not know it was a violation posted it on a forum thread. The posts suddenly began being deleted. My husband not knowing the exact rules re-posted the thread. I immediately notified support at Bonanzle and I thought they might have the common sense to realize the mistakes. I am not a newbie to the rules but my husband is.

On Bonanzle we have had a lot of fun posting pictures of Joey and Lucy and all the kids. We shared so many antics all in the spirit of giving back to all those pet lovers and especially to those that showed us so much support. There is one thread that I will assume will be pulled shortly that has nothing but discussed and showed pictures of Lucy http://www.bonanzle.com/forums/10/topics/128289 it alone has had almost 6700 views and is on the 24th page. It is now in the drama section of the forums

I now find out that our blogs are censored by Bonanzle. The night before last, I responded to a new seller that I was following her and stated :

I'm following! I need something for beyond dry sensitive skin! here's my blog http://lucyslovesong.blogspot.com/

This resulted in my being dmv'd for solicitation of charity. I'm assuming there's a witch hunt of non-pet lovers that have decided to make it their mission to follow my every move. Management has decided to censor my blog citing :

"The reason why your most recent post was disemvoweled is because the link to your blog which has a donation which ties in with the thread in Drama that we have discussed before. I know that from our earlier emails about this that that was not your intent but we need to be consistent with our forum guidelines so that we can remain fair to all. "

So be advised to pick and chose your words ever so wisely. A link to my blog has cost me a one month suspension on Bonanzle.com. Granted it is only a suspension to the forums however I suspect that this will not be the end of it. I can live without a forum..it was cute and it was fun. We were some of the first people to ever join Bonanzle and have stuck by them thru thick and thru thin. Defended and offered excuses when things did not seem right. When they said they wouldn't be doing advertising, a group got to together to try and do some advertising at our own expense..my contribution was to do 7 videos advertising Bonanzle. When the shipping calculators have not worked I have stuck my neck out as an advocate of those who's sales depended on them. I could go on and on but why bother. Bonanzle wants to be the friendliest and most social e-commerce site out there..but only at their discretion as to what you can say or think even outside the walls of their site, which is so disheartening.. So that you know, this is the Bonanzle policy that in is not listed anywhere until it hits you:

"Please keep in mind that, per the Bonanzle forum policies, your forum privileges may be temporarily or permanently disabled for repeated forum violations. Number of violations in 3-month time window Consequence

1 Warning email

2 Warning email

3 Forum posting privileges removed for 24 hours*

4 Forum posting privileges removed for one week*

5+ Forum posting privileges removed for one month*

Your current count of violations in the last three months is 6. This translates to your account being disabled from forum posting through 10/13/10."

We never received an email warning, much less a 24 hour suspension or even for a week. We got slammed for a month yet they cite they are being fair? Do they read everyone's blog's? Or have we been singled out? 

I encourage any comments on this. Feel free to sign in as anonymous as I know many are afraid of voicing their feelings out of fear. I now know how that really feels. I expect this blog will only get me in further trouble with Bonanzle and will probably be told I might be happier elsewhere.

To all the special Aunts and Uncles on Bonanzle, our Facebook followers/supporters and those on Pet Finders, again we thank you from the very bottom of our hearts. You helped to give Lucy and her babies the care they so desperately needed and without you they would have been going to a shelter with a very uncertain future. We will be continuing with this blog as it has become so popular. Bonanzle doesn't want it..so be it, it's their loss.