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Having Friends In High Kitty Places
It was supposed to be a routine dental. Bugsy had one suspect tooth, but more importantly, keeping on top of mouth and gum care is essential for a former street cat who’s FIV+. It had been three years since his last one so we quickly scheduled a date and then prepared for a grumpy little
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8000 Pounds Of Salvation
“The shipment is at our warehouse in Federalsburg, Maryland. Can you arrange pick up?” The question came from one of our Softies, Chris Hughes – known throughout the animal rescue world along with his wife Mariesa as co-founders of the Mr. Mo Project – a NY-based rescue that saves senior pups, many with debilitating illnesses
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Ignorance Is No Longer An Excuse
Surely, you’ve come across one or two of them in your travels. Kitties that peer out from behind a bush or a dumpster, that scurry to the nearest gutter when you park your car or streak across the alley behind your home. You probably think, oh well, it’s just another feral and you go on
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I Tried Not To Cry, But Failed.
The noose of our coronavirus-imposed isolation was tightening and I skipped my usual errands this past Saturday. Yet, a pleasant tranquility had settled into our home, as I went about chores and meal preparation for the week. Our cats were watching the birds at the feeder and friends were calling to check in, when I
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Mission Impossible
I received a call last week from Peggy, my surrogate mother and childhood ballet teacher, moments after Governor Hogan issued a sweeping executive order temporarily closing restaurants, bars, and gyms to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus. As it turned out, Peggy’s 94-year old friend Shirley had died of an aneurysm, leaving 2 adult
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Catching A Killer
After the first year of doing Show Your Soft Side’s social media, I learned to turn off notifications. If not, life would just be one long series of dings. Fortunately, I had forgotten to do that for Twitter so, on March 30, 2018 while lying on a beach in the Turks & Caicos, the dreaded
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A Soft Side Christmas Story
His eyes were constantly sore and irritated, because his fur scratched his corneas each time he blinked. His eyelids curved unnaturally inward and he needed surgery to correct the condition. There is little hope for injured street cats and those with medical conditions. Yet, “Big Daddy” was one of the lucky ones, for a kind
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Prison Cats
The brochure caught our attention. “Help! Rescued Cats Sent to Prison. What are you in for?” We immediately set out to learn what the cats needed at the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women (MCIW) in Jessup. As it turns out, the prison’s 3-year old Rescue Cat Program has been a lifesaver for older and less
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The Road To Oxford & Back
I recently returned from a humane education conference at the Oxford Centre on Animal Ethics with our colleagues from the Institute for Human-Animal Connection (IHAC), who crafted a humane education curriculum specifically for our campaign. We presented to an international audience of educators and scholars about Soft Side’s efforts to stop animal cruelty and IHAC’s
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Another Throw Away Cat
The message from Dawn popped up on my phone at 5:19 PM. “I was just feeding one of my colonies and I came across a cat that has apparently been hit by a car. It was under a parked vehicle and the poor thing was crying and can barely move. There is an injury to
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