Caturday Supplement: Berkeley Humane Society Kitten Nursery Preview, Part 1

Today I attended a little party in honor of the Berkeley/East Bay Humane Society’s new kitten nursery. They take kittens that would normally be euthanized because they’re too young to survive away from their mom without constant care, and none of the shelters have the staff to care for animals 24/7/365. Including feedings every two hours. And some of the feedings can take upwards of an hour.

They brought a bunch of the older kittens (and a few of the young-but-not-super-young kittens) to the party, and they were super-sweet and playful. Apparently being fed every two hours for a week by human beings convinces them that we might be worth something after all. If you’re looking for a kitten, believe me, these are something special. And if you have a little extra money, they have a big wish list of stuff that they need, which is linked to from the page I link to above.

This is just a preview because the woman I talked to told me that Autumn and I could visit the nursery itself and take some pictures for the blog. So expect some more ridiculously adorable kitten pictures in the near future! And this is just part 1 because I just finished taking these, and I need to get some up for Caturday, but I also have a lot more and the WiFi where I currently am is so bad that it’s taken me almost an hour to upload two pictures. So stay tuned for more kittens soon!

Kitten

Berkeley Human Society representative demonstrates the proper way to fold a kitten for shipping.

Kitten

(Put away the pitchforks, no kittens were folded in the making of this film.)

 

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Dog of the Day: Pimp-My-Ride German Shepherd

Leftover pictures (I have a bunch more) from Bay to Barkers. This pup is a German shepherd with, I think, inflammatory myopathy. Poor pup. but for all that, she seems delighted with life, and with her mobility device. And it works wonders for her… she can get around great.

German Shepherd with Wheels

She absolutely adored playing with other dogs. And none of them seemed to see anything too odd, except for the difficulty with butt-sniffing.

German Shepherd with Wheels

Another instance of 'awesome dog made more awesome by bandana'.

German Shepherd

Look at that happy face. I hope my equanimity holds up 1/10 this well if I ever end up with problems like hers.

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No Dog Day

A minor personal crisis stepped on my dog-posting time today. Tomorrow as usual, though, with any luck.

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Dog of the Day: Cocker Spaniel

This is from way back in August, at the Swiss Dog Day celebration. And no, that’s not a Swiss dog.

Cocker Spaniel

I think she was picked up because she was a little intimidated by all the huge dogs.

Cocker Spaniel

But hey, once you're up there, might as well get a little snooze in, so you're awake enough to tear around the house excitedly for two hours once mom gets you home, right?

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Dog of the Day: Ginger the Shar-Pei

Ginger’s 2 years old, and maybe a little less saggy than the average shar-pei.

I started taking pictures out in the sun, but, as you’ll see, the sunlight was brutal. I got her to sneak into a little alcove, which was shaded, and got a couple of pictures that came out much better.

Shar Pei

She's 2 years old, but we mistook her for a puppy. She was very playful, and quite excited.

Shar Pei

Shadows. Blah.

Shar Pei

Much better. Now you can see the full extent of this breed's goofiness.

Shar Pei

And this is what happens when a shar-pei shakes off. Wish I'd managed to get this from the front.

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Dog of the Day: Rolo the Leonberger

I can’t believe I’ve been doing this for nearly two years, and I’m still running into new breeds. (Heck, I can’t believe I’ve been doing this for nearly two years, period!) This is our first Leonberger, a truly outrageous breed.

Supposedly Leonbergers were bred to look like the lion on the official town seal of Leonberg, Germany. He does look a little bit leonine, doesn’t he?

Leonberger

We found Rolo outside of Real Foods on Polk Street, a great place for dog-watching.

Leonberger

The employees kept coming out to say hello to him. He liked that well enough, although I think he was hoping for treats.

Leonberger

Closeup of the last picture. So ridiculous.

Leonberger

I think mom and/or dad was coming out when I snapped this last one. Shadows are a bit awful, but it definitely shows his attitude toward life.

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Double Dog Day: Loki the Newfie and a Dubious Pug

It’s okay, little guy. I’d be a little nervous too, but Loki’s a big softie.

(Also, adjusted the logo a bit, based on the comments of two of my pickier readers.) đŸ™‚

Pug and Newfoundland Dog

It's hard to believe that they're the same genus, let alone the same species.

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Dog of the Day: Loki the Newfoundland

Here she is, the princess herself!

Newfoundland Dog

Funny, I don't think I've ever seen those 'elf locks' on the ears on any dog breed aside from golden retrievers before.

Newfie

Such a goofy way of standing, too. Dachshunds and basset hounds do that, but I rarely see big dogs doing it.

Newfoundland Dog

Loki was excited (and therefore distracted) by everyone and everything. Total puppy attitude.

Newfoundland Dog

A beagle can fetch slippers or a paper. I wonder if I could train Loki to fetch my bicycle.

Newfoundland Dog

Nice clean puppy-teeth.

Newfoundland Dog

The Lab in the background was being SO well-behaved. Loki clearly wanted to go over there and tempt him into doing something naughty.

Newfoundland Dog

Kinda looks like she's taking a bow. As opposed to a bow-wow... although I guess that would make it a bow-wow bow.

Newfie

At this point I gave up taking pictures so I could get some serious petting in before I had to finish my walk to work.

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Dog of the Day: Diggity the Bull Mastiff/American Bulldog

Still don’t have time to finish up Loki, so here’s Diggity, the Bull Mastiff/Bulldog. Should we call him a bullbull? I know I’d call him a-door-a-bull.

Also, the name. “Hot diggity dog, ziggity boom!”

American Bulldog/Bull Mastiff Mix

He was just chillin' out. Super-patient happy dog.

Bull Mastiff/American Bulldog Mix

Of course, just because he was patient didn't mean he wasn't keeping an eye out for opportunities.

American Bulldog/Bull Mastiff Mix

And he definitely knows a sucker when he sees one.

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Site News: New Logo

Look, we’ve got a new logo! And it’s only taken maybe three to four hours for me to learn enough CSS to figure out how to add the damn thing. Grr.

Anyway, many thanks to the lovely and multi-talented Ms. Patricia Ross, for said logo. And even more thanks to her for humoring me when I sent her back to the drawing board and  said I wanted something between Pablo Picasso’s “The Dog” and this wiener dog. I think you’ll agree that she came through with flying colors. (And a great deal of politeness, especially given what artists should probably respond with when asked to ‘just draw something like a Picasso.’)

By the way, it’s an Italian Greyhound. I’m an expert, we know these things. đŸ™‚

(Image is © Patricia Ross, used by permission. Please don’t copy it without permission.)

Italian Greyhound Line Art

Chillin' on his little dog bed.

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