Southern Pines Diaries: Harriet

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Harriet

Everyone knew Harriet was something special as soon as she came in the door. Solid black cats often get overlooked, but Harriet practically demanded attention. Even badly injured, all she wanted was a little human companionship. She stalked around the office, greeting each of us in her own peculiar way. She would stand on her back feet and bump her head against our hands, exposing her injured torso. Some well-meaning individual had put a collar on Harriet before she wandered off, but the collar was too loose and had become tangled behind one of her arms. Over time, the friction caused the collar to tear into her underarm, exposing the raw red meat and muscle underneath. But she didn’t even seem to notice. She was too excited to see friendly faces.

We cut the collar off, and she thanked us all with more imploring head bumps as we decided what to do with her. She obviously needed to be treated away from the shelter where she could relax and recuperate in peace. Thankfully, the fabulous Dorothy Ricks agreed to let her hang out at her house while she healed.

Harriet was given her own space and time to heal under Dorothy’s careful supervision. During that time, her personality really blossomed, and everyone who met her fell in love with her charisma. She gets along great with the other animals in her foster home, of both the canine and feline varieties. She does best indoors, and would be the really perfect addition to any household. This sweet, special girl is spayed and ready to go home with the perfect family today.

Because a foster gave her a chance, Harriet has a brand spanking new life ahead of her. All she needs is the generous family willing to provide it for her. In return, she will give you head bumps for life and all the affection you can handle.

Anyone interested in fostering and saving the lives of other sweet babies like Harriet can fill out a foster application during business hours Monday through Saturday 10-6 at the Southern Pines Animal Shelter. The shelter takes in more animals at this time of year than any other, and, as a result, they are always in need of willing, capable fosters. It only takes a little bit of work to change the course of an animal's life for the better.

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Introducing…Southern Pines Diaries

If you are interested in contributing a series of diary entries, please read the information below and e-mail spasvettech@yahoo.com or call 601-954-0789 to work out the details.

Some things to keep in mind if you are interested in contributing to the blog:

Our hope is that each contributor will write a series of entries for each animal, so please make sure you are willing to commit the small amount of time it will take to do their story justice. It doesn’t take a lot because the entries can be as long or as short as you want them to be.

The entries can be written from your perspective or from the perspective of the animal. Feel free to check out what other people have done on the blog and put your own spin on it. You can check out examples from other sites as well, for example (from Friends of Fulton County Animal Services Facebook Page):

“Goodmorning! Maid service just dropped us our breakfast. They will be back around to clean our room soon. They make us leave while they do it, and when we get back in it's fresh and clean. So they finally came and got some better photos of me and my buddies. Mac has been here for 9 days. He came in with his brother. He got excited because he saw his person. But his person only came and got his brother and left him here. He knows now that he isn't getting out unless he finds a new person. I try to help him, we all stand up front and wave our tails and smile but everyone seems to walk right past. Zack is on Day 6. He knows no one is coming for him. He said the last thing he remembers was hanging out in the living room and then the police came. The police came in and had trouble walking because there were feces all on the floor. He was so embarrassed he wanted to use the bathroom outside but his people wouldn't let him. He wanted to tell them he was a good dog, and he didn't want to do that. They took his owner away and then some one else came and got him. That's how he got here. So many dogs here. We heard it is still raining out there. So glad we stay nice and dry in here. My lady is still here. I think I am going to ask her to be my valentine later. I hope she says yes.”

Remember, this is just an example! This format makes it possible to tackle some pretty heavy subject matter without getting bogged down in an emotional quagmire.