Summer 2012 Speaking of

Animals 4242 South 300 West • Murray, UT 84107(801) 261-2919 • www.utahhumane.org

The Humane Society of Utah is dedicated to the elimination of fear, pain, and suffering in all animals.

Better Lives for Utah’s Animals

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Cat Adoption Area Fulfi lls Feline Dreams

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Bridget and Her Babies

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Plus:She is Loved,

Thanks for the Hugs,and more!

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Craig S. Cook, PresidentDr. Eric Belnap, Vice PresidentDr. JoAnn B. Seghini, Secretary

Randy John, Treasurer

Directors:Michelle Christensen, Steve Starley,

Tim J. Williams, Susan Wood

ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF

Gene Baierschmidt, Executive DirectorPaul Chapin, DVM, Veterinarian

Shama Chapin, DVM, VeterinarianJohn Paul Fox, Chief Investigator

Pauline Edwards, Director of ClinicCarlene Wall, Director of

Operations and EducationCarl Arky, Director of Communications

Katharine Brant, Director of Publications and MembershipOliver Schmidt, IT Manager

Loraine Delgadillo, Business Manager /Human Resources

Kris Lamoreaux, Director of Outreach Adoptions and Special Events

Jamie Usry, Special Events CoordinatorLesa Essary, Volunteer Coordinator

Jessica Almeida, Animal Transfer CoordinatorBarbara Conrad, Foster Animal Coordinator

SERVICES PROVIDED� Adoption of animals to qualifi ed homes� Low-cost sterilization surgeries� Receiving of unwanted animals� Preventive immunizations� Investigation of animal abuse and neglect� Animal rescues� Humane education and pet-facilitated therapy

For further information on services provided by HSU, call (801)261-2919 during business hours.

Remember, HSU is your shelter.We are here to help the animals of Utah.

Please help maintain and support our programswith your contributions.

The Humane Society of Utah is an independent 501(C)(3) nonprofi t organization

that is not affi liated with any other group, nationally or locally. We receive no funding from taxes or any

source other than your contributions.

Incorporated 1960

4242 South 300 WestSalt Lake City, UT 84107-1415

Telephone: (801) 261-2919 Fax: (801) 261-9577

www.utahhumane.org © 2012 Humane Society of Utah. All rights reserved.

Thanks for the Hugs — from all of Us to All of You!

You’ve all seen the promotions in supermarkets where people who have donated to a charitable cause get to hang up ornaments with their names written on them. It’s a lovely idea, and a great way to let everyone know how you feel about some cause that’s close to your heart, to say nothing of providing support for the issues that matter to you. So last spring, we decided — why not do the same thing for the animals? Why not let visitors to the Humane Society of Utah see for themselves who the animals’ friends are, and at the same time give these special people a public acknowledgment of their generosity and our appreciation? That’s why, with each request for a donation that we sent out in April, we enclosed a card that members could sign and return with their gifts, each card representing a heartfelt hug for an animal waiting here for his or her own good new home.

Marvelous Response!As always happens, our wonderful HSU members came through with a

fl ood of caring responses. Within the fi rst week of the campaign, each and every kennel had a personally-endorsed “Hug Card” hanging on it, and we then started having to put multiple cards together in plastic viewing folders and hang the full folders on the kennels! By the end of the program, the entire adoption department was papered with loving wishes and messages sent by the very special friends whose caring makes possible everything we do to help animals throughout the state.

Each time we placed a new sheet of cards, the cat or dog (or rabbit or guinea pig or hamster) whose cage was being honored looked up with a bright, eager glance which, to us, plainly said without any words that they knew somebody special had just sent them some love. And the same happy streak of sunshine went across the face of every human visitor who, confronted by the panels and panels of cards, saw — and rejoiced in — the evidence of the community’s abundant caring, too.

Hugs are the simplest, easiest, most priceless things that all living beings can share with each other. Our

animals felt those hugs that you so kindly sent to them. We hope that, as you read this, you can feel all those furry arms reaching right back to you — their thankful hugs are defi nitely on the way to you at this very moment. �

The HSU adoption kennels were literally papered with the signed “Hug Cards” that caring members sent in

with their very much appreciated donations last spring.

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For the past year, a tremendous amount of our attention has been focused on the remodeling and expansions going on here at the HSU facility, and sometimes we feel as though maybe we’ve permanently pushed the “repeat” button on this topic; but throughout all the changes and planning and hard work, we’ve never lost sight of the single basic reason why we undertook this major project: It’s so that, by becoming the premier animal welfare agency in the state, we can make this part of our world a different — and better — place for Utah’s animals.

“Dedicated to the Elimination of Fear, Pain, and Suffering”Since the Humane Society’s inception 52 years ago, everything we’ve done has been for the purpose of fulfi lling our motto —

“Dedicated to the elimination of fear, pain, and suffering in all animals.” And, humble though our beginnings were, we’ve never gone anywhere but forward throughout this entire half century of effort. What we’re engaged in now is a continuation of that progressive attitude. Just as we’ve always promoted control of pet overpopulation, fi ghting cruelty and ignorance with regard to humans’ interactions with animals, and ensuring that every animal born becomes a member of a loving, responsible home, we’re still doing the same things — but on a much more infl uential scale.

With our newly enlarged clinic, we can perform more vaccinations and sterilization surgeries than ever, and our excellent, state-of-the art new kennel designs for cats and dogs will make the animals’ time with us more comfortable and attractive than ever.

We Did it for People, TooBut may I please remind everyone that we’re doing this for you as well as the animals, and we’re relying on you to make all of

our labors worthwhile. We need you to rely on our superb veterinary staff and clinic facilities when your pets need shots, microchip implants, blood testing, and spaying or neutering. We’re making the new adoption areas so welcoming and pleasant that they’ll be the fi rst places the public will think of going when they want to add a new member to the family and want to be sure of getting a happy, socialized, healthy animal. Our sophisticated new foster department will guarantee that more and more “special-needs” animals get the extra care and attention they need to make them ready to be adopted by caring individuals like all of you.

And you can help in other ways, too: Even if you don’t already have or aren’t looking for a companion animal of your own right now, we’re always in desperate need of volunteers and foster parents! Both during the time of construction and after everything is shining new and beautifully fi nished, any spare time you can share with us would be received with enormous gratitude. You can walk dogs, brush and cuddle cats, feed veggies to the rabbits and other small animals, or give an exhausted staff member a hand with light maintenance and clerical work.

The bottom line is that this is the animals’ wonderful new shelter, and it’s yours, too. We invite you to visit us at any time during our operation hours just to take a look around, investigate our many programs, and talk with our dedicated employees. We promise that you’ll love what you see, and we hope that you’ll also see, and love, enough of our great animals that you’ll want to make them part of your own homes. We’re easy to fi nd and defi nitely “the price is right,” so please — as they say on television, COME ON DOWN! We look forward to seeing you soon! �

— by Gene BaierschmidtHSU Executive Director

As I see thingsOur One Great Goal:

Better Lives for Utah’s Animals!

Every day the Humane Society of Utah takes in cats and dogs with special needs of all kinds, and our Foster Department can always use help in providing the extra care and love that these “challenged” animals require to make them ready to be adopted to good new homes of their own. Temporary homes are in great demand in the following areas:

• Mother dogs or cats with litters that are still too young to be placed for adoption

• Kittens and puppies who have no mothers and require regular bottle feeding

• Motherless puppies and kittens who are old enough to have been weaned, but who are nevertheless still too young to be put up for adoption

• Adult animals with physical or emotional handicaps who must be given conscientious, one-on-one care and attention to help them learn to blend into a real family

Please make sure that, if you wish to foster, your own animals are current on their vaccinations, including bordetella to ward off kennel cough.

Time spent by animals in foster homes usually ranges from approximately ten days to two months; we ask that you be able to make a commitment to keep an animal for as long as it takes to ensure his or her good health and adoptability.

Fostering is fun, rewarding, and you’re helping to save lives! If you’d like to be a genuine miracle worker, please call 801-261-2919, ext. 215, or e-mail bconrad@utahhumane.org �

Would you like to be a Miracle Worker?Would you like to be a Miracle Worker?

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Saturday, August 25th, 2012 will be a very special occasion for the Humane Society of Utah — it will be the day when a decades-long dream finally comes true for everyone affiliated with HSU who loves cats! This is the Grand Opening of our wonderful new feline adoption center, a place designed not only to increase the number of kitties going to good new homes from our shelter, but also to make their stay with us until they get adopted a paws-itive paradise.

The Cat Colony in the old adoption lobby was certainly a comfy and attractive enough place, with its many individual beds, toys, and climbing pillars; but it just didn’t have the atmosphere of the kind of quiet, secluded hidey-holes that are so dear to the feline heart.

Big Plans, a Long WaitHSU had long been hoping to create an

area of the shelter specifically designed to meet those needs, and in 1978 it seemed that suddenly it might be possible to do so when a wealthy St. George lady, Mary Miles Kleinman, left a generous bequest to the Humane Society as a tribute to her own cherished cat, Troy. However, Mrs. Kleinman’s numerous nieces and nephews contested that portion of her will, and it took HSU President and General Counsel Craig S. Cook seventeen years of legal wrangling to at last reach a settlement that granted almost $100,000 from Mrs. Kleinman’s estate to the Humane Society. (Please see the Spring 2011 issue of Speaking of Animals for a complete account of the intricate and complex litigation that occurred over nearly two decades, for which Mr. Cook donated his services free of charge to the Society.)

When we finally received the hard-won check in December of 2010, it was clear that the funding would be spent on a totally new, state-of-the-art cat adoption wing of our facility. “This was Mary Kleinman’s wish,” said HSU Executive Director Gene Baierschmidt. “She adored Troy specifically and loved all cats in general. I think she would be very pleased that we’re using her gift to see that so many other cats will be given the best possible chances for going to loving, caring homes like the one she gave Troy.”

And Away We Go!Our complete renovation and expansion

project, which was made possible by not only Mrs. Kleinman’s gift but also by generous bequests from Ronald and Darlene Boyce, Drs. George and Esther Gross, Robert, Teresa, and Linzi Kay, and Patrick Wiggins, got started when we held a groundbreaking ceremony on May 1st, 2011. In order to keep all aspects of our programs continually operative, we’re doing one section at a time so that each individual area can function without interruption. First to be completed was the roomy new clinic, which officially opened on February 25th (see Speaking of Animals Spring 2012).

The next phase of the project will be the long-awaited cat adoptions area. Staff and volunteers engaged in a brisk competition suggesting names for it; some of the entries included “Catopia,” “Cats’ Cradle,” “Whisker-ville,” and “Puddycat Junction,” but the winner turned out to be “Kitty City,” and so it will be christened. In April the construction crew shifted its efforts to what had once been the administrative offices in the former building, demolishing the old structure and creating an entirely new, enlarged and redesigned layout to make Kitty City the best cat adoption facility in the state.

See it for Yourselves — and Fall in Love

Here cats are to be housed in homelike “apartments” with soft furniture, soothing music, and natural lighting, a setting which studies across the country have shown to make cats more relaxed and friendly, and therefore much more likely to bond with potential adopters and be taken to good new homes of their own. To keep them fit, happy, and alert, they’ll also have the magnificent, custom-built play towers that were made and donated to us by a talented local Eagle scout. They’ll get lots of love and TLC from everyone on the staff all through the day. And when the public comes to visit, it will be hard to tell who gets the most delight from the meetings! As soon as a guest

“Kitty City” — Lookin’ Pretty!New Cat Adoption Area Fulfills Feline Dreams

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enters one of the pleasant, welcoming rooms and sinks onto a comfortable sofa, it’s only a matter of moments before an inquisitive nose will appear over the edge of a carpeted shelf or a sleek ball of fur uncoils itself and prowls over to investigate. By the time a cat has warmed up enough to snuggle into a lap, start purring, and “making biscuits” with the paws, the hapless hu-man is usually hooked — and another successful adoption is about to happen.

All of us are especially proud and excited about this wonderful addition to our new facili-ties, and tremendously hopeful for the bright future it means for thousands of homeless cats in our area. That future, of course, ultimately depends on you — so please make plans to visit Kitty City at its Grand Opening on August 25th, and fi nd out for yourselves how easy it is to fall hopelessly in love when the atmosphere is simply purr-fect. �

This is what the beautiful lobby of our new “Kitty City” cat adoption center will look like when it opens next month. There will be numerous luxury suites for the cats,

as well as “greeting rooms” where people can interact one-on-one with any particular feline who catches their fancy.

Next on the Agenda...“The Wait is Over, Rover!”

With our foster, clinic, and cat adoption departments now fully renovated and opera-tive, there’s really only one more big project to complete before the updates of the HSU facility that began in May of 2011 will be all fi nished — the superior new quarters for canines. This area, made possible by a generous gift from Robert and Teresa Kay, is scheduled to open in the fall and will feature state-of-the-art kenneling for the dogs, as well as a number of features de-signed to make the entire adoption experience a pleasure for people and pooches alike.

One of the most engaging aspects of the new area — to be called “The Wait is Over, Rover” HSU Dog Adoption Center at the Kays’ sug-gestion — will be the beautiful outdoor plaza where potential adopters can spend time social-izing with shelter dogs and getting to know their personalities. In addition to the comfortable benches and beautiful landscaping, the plaza will be enhanced by a paved brick walkway, each brick bearing the name of a donor whose support was instrumental in fi nishing the Cen-ter, and the crowning touch will be a wonderful, bigger-than-life bronze sculpture of two dogs enjoying a carefree game of Frisbee.

The individual responsible for creating the piece is Dennis Smith, one of several highly skilled artists comprising the staff of the Alpine

Arts Center, a 14-acre retreat in Utah County where amazingly crafted works are conceived, executed, and displayed in the gallery there. Some objects are specially commissioned, like the two frolicking spaniels that will eventually grace the plaza in front of the Humane Society’s new dog adoption wing.

Mr. Smith’s fi ne creation perfectly captures the mood of fun-loving camaraderie that is so characteristic of happy, healthy, well-loved dogs — the kind of dogs that will be available for adoption at HSU’s “The Wait is Over, Rover!” center. �

Talented Utah artist Dennis Smith, shown here working in his magnifi cent studio at the Alpine Arts Center, puts the fi nal touches on the original clay model

for the bronze sculpture of two Frisbee-chasing dogs that will stand in the plaza in front of our new canine adoption center.

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In early April, a young kitten was brought to our shelter as part of an unwanted litter — nothing unusual about that, unfortunately — but this particular kitten, in addition to needing to fi nd a new home in a world already fi lled with too many homeless animals, had an extra obstacle to overcome: her right eye showed symptoms of a particularly persistent type of infection, which might make her less adoptable to some visitors to the shelter. So two of our staff members, who also volunteer their time as foster parents, promptly offered to take “Frankie” home with them and try to treat the problem before making her available to the public.

Giving it Their BestOur veterinarians examined

the eye and prescribed several different antibiotic drops, which were dutifully administered on a regular basis. After a couple of weeks of one-on-one care Frankie appeared to have healed enough to be taken out of foster care; she was brought back to the shelter, spayed, given her shots, and put up for adoption, and almost at once was adopted by a lovely couple named Ben and Kara Boulden.

After Frankie had been with her new family for only a few days, though, the Bouldens (who had been fully informed about her earlier problem before taking her) returned with the little cat, saying that the condition of her infected eye seemed to have deteriorated alarmingly since she left the shelter. Dr. Paul Chapin examined the troubled tissues carefully and fi nally concluded, regretfully, that the eye could not be saved. We offered to take Frankie back and let the Bouldens exchange her for another kitten, but, to our surprise (and great admiration), they refused to exercise that option. “Frankie is our baby now,” they said. “We’ve cared for her, worried over her. Nobody else could take her place with us after that.”

A SolutionThe diffi culty now, of course, was the fact that the

procedure of surgically removing the eye and closely monitoring Frankie’s subsequent recovery was a time-consuming and costly undertaking. The Bouldens didn’t have the money to have the operation done by a private vet, and our clinic doesn’t do those types of things for the general public. However, the Bouldens’ earnest desire to keep Frankie, imperfect or otherwise, was so powerfully touching that Dr. Paul fi nally came up with a one-time solution to the dilemma: Ben and Kara would surrender ownership of Frankie back to HSU, we would perform the surgery on her as if she were a shelter animal, and then the Bouldens could offi cially re-adopt her.

On the appointed day, the Bouldens “surrendered” Frankie to the shelter and she was transferred to the clinic. That evening I took her to my own home to keep her while she recuperated, making sure that she was eating and drinking well and receiving her post-operative medications

on schedule. And every single day Kara and Ben called me to get a progress report! It was obvious that they deeply cared about their little friend and wanted to make sure that things were going well for her, so one day I invited them to come and visit her. I told them in advance that she would be wearing a plastic fl are collar to keep her from pawing at the surgery site, and that they might be startled by the large stitches sealing the empty eye socket, which would have to remain undisturbed for at least fourteen days. But I shouldn’t have worried about these two being “put off” by her appearance — they were so overjoyed just to be able to hold Frankie and see how excellently she was recovering that they hardly noticed anything besides how sleek and plump she had grown since they last saw her. Somehow, I wasn’t surprised that Frankie evidently remembered

Ben and Kara, too, even though she had actually lived with them for only a brief time, and I was delighted to watch all three of them spending a full hour of absolute sweetness and happiness together.

continued on page 8 (She is Loved)

HSU adoptee Frankie had to have an infected eye removed, but she has adapted beautifully in her loving new home. Her very special parents,

Ben and Kara Boulden, explain her handicap to friends by telling them that “Frankie is really just a little pirate — who stole our hearts!” Frankie

snuggles more deeply into her soft bed and obligingly agrees with them: “Arr,” she says, in her most authentic “talk-like-a-pirate” voice.

One-Eyed Cat Can Clearly See an Important Truth:

She is Loved!— By Barbara Conrad

HSU Foster Coordinator

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When it was all over, everyone said how amazing it was that such a tiny dog could have had such a big story to tell.

The silky little brown Yorkshire terrier was brought to the HSU shelter by a family who had adopted her on the Internet, where she had been advertised as being “spayed and seven years old.” The fi rst part of that description was soon proved to be untrue when, within only a few days of her adoption, the family noticed that “Bridget” was exhibiting classic symptoms of pregnancy — and a very advanced pregnancy, at that. They hadn’t counted on this. The family didn’t want to deal with the problems of getting a dog through labor and delivery and then having a litter of puppies on their hands afterwards, and so they promptly turned her in to us.

ComplicationsEven for a Yorkie, Bridget was unusually petite. When we

fi rst weighed her, for example, she checked in at only 6.6 pounds, and this included the obviously large load she was carrying in her tummy. Of course no one knew what kind of dog had fathered the puppies, but it seemed clear just from looking at her frail structure and her very extended abdomen that the birth process would be diffi cult for her under any circumstances.

Our apprehensions were well-founded; Bridget started having contractions only a little later that same day. Staff members immediately set up a close watch over her, and within minutes they realized that she was defi nitely going to need help. Just as they prepared to transfer her to the clinic, a large puppy emerged — stillborn.

Our veterinarians quickly anesthetized Bridget and performed an emergency Caesarian-section operation on her, surgically removing the only other fetus present. This second puppy was also much too large to have been delivered normally, and it, too, was lifeless; there was now nothing more that could be done as far as dealing with Bridget’s pregnancy was concerned. The doctors closed up her incision, and the still-sedated dog was taken to the Foster department and placed in a soft bed there to recuperate from her ordeal.

Medicine Alone Can’t Heal Everything

When she woke up the next morning, Bridget displayed encouraging indications of having recovered remarkably well, at least

physically, from all she had been through the previous day. She ate, drank, and used her potty pads appropriately; but when she returned to her bed, she appeared to be confused and increasingly distressed. Whimpering and snuffl ing, she rooted among the blankets, looked behind piles of towels and into baskets, and even stood up on her hind legs to sniff and paw at the surfaces of chairs. With heavy hearts, we plainly understood what the problem was: Bridget was looking for her puppies.

She was of course also producing a fair amount of milk, and the doctors had advised us that the lactation process would simply dry up by itself in a while. That was all well and good enough, but what about her emotional trauma? That wasn’t just going to go away, and the spectacle of Bridget’s pitiful, fruitless searching was almost more than our Foster coordinators, Lisa and Barbara, could bear. Then suddenly they looked into each other’s eyes as a brilliant idea fl ashed into both of their minds at the same time.

Miracles for EverybodyOnly a few days before, a litter of fi ve motherless kittens

had been brought into the department. The Fostering staff and volunteers had been giving the orphans round-the-clock bottle feedings and spending as much time with them as possible, but the most dedicated efforts just aren’t the same as the Absolutely Real Thing. The kittens needed the continual warmth and closeness of a mother, someone to wash them, keep them in line, and teach them to walk, play games, and keep their balance. And here was Bridget, a brand-new mama overfl owing with love, affection, and

continued on page 8 (Bridget)

Bridget and Her Babies

Bridget, an adorable little Yorkshire terrier, had lost both her puppies at birth, and we already had fi ve motherless kittens in our Foster department. The solution to all their problems

was obvious. Here the “instant family” shares a meaningful moment together.

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Who says tax corporations have no heart? Corelogic employees Lynn Hernandez, left, and Jeff Young, right, present an HSU staff member with their generous donation,

which the company raised through a yard sale. Thanks so much to Corelogic for choosing the animals to benefi t from this year’s charity fund drive!

She is Loved... continued from page 6

That visit must have done everybody a great deal of good, because soon afterwards I could see that, although Frankie still needed to keep the stitches in for a few more days, she was feeling so much better that she really didn’t need my round-the-clock supervision any more. I asked Kara if she would like to take Frankie home over the weekend, and she and Ben were of course both thrilled to have her back. They told me later that she had snooped all over the house, getting re-acquainted with the sites she had become familiar with earlier — her private bed, her food-and-water station, her secluded litter box, her scratching post and stash of toys — and then promptly settled in as if her routine had never been interrupted.

Home for AlwaysThe following Monday the family returned to the clinic

for the removal of the sutures, for which Frankie didn’t even require a sedative because she really is, as her proud parents said, “the best kitten in the world.” Then they headed straight for the shelter, where they formally “re-adopted” her (we waived the fee the second time), and off they went to begin a wonderful new life together.

The Bouldens gave us an update after a while, informing us that Frankie is a completely healthy, happy, contented, indoors-only cat who loves to sit on her people’s laps while they read or watch television, and especially enjoys sitting on her special pad on their broad living room windowsill to gaze out at the birds in the yard or supervise pedestrian traffi c going by. She can only view her world with a single eye, but she takes in every detail of it and derives tremendous pleasure from what she sees.

Most of all, this is one animal who very clearly sees one very important thing — that she’s the absolute darling of her loving parents, and that alone more than makes up for any physical defi ciency that fate may have handed her. �

Bridget... continued from page 7

built-in nurturing instincts, and no one to lavish these wonderful gifts upon, unless...

Very carefully, Barbara and Lisa tucked the kittens into the doggie bed that Bridget had slept in the night before while Bridget stood stock-still, watching with bright, shining eyes — then she rushed to the bed, climbed in and lay down on her side. Instantly, like iron fi lings drawn to a magnet, fi ve little balls of fur attached themselves to her, and an atmosphere of utter contentment settled over the entire group.

From that moment on, the bond was cemented. All day, every day, Bridget bathed the kittens with her tongue, gently picked them up in her mouth by the scruff of the neck and carried them around when they needed to be moved, cuddled them close to her while they slept, and happily provided an endless supply of meals. (We did continue to supplement the nursing with kitten formula from bottles to make sure that the babies were getting suffi cient, and appropriate, nutrition, but they seemed to regard these artifi cial feedings as little more than snacks to tide them over between the main courses.)

Briefl y Famous — and Now Members of their Own Families

Our Communications Director, Carl Arky, couldn’t pass up this once-in-a-lifetime photo opportunity. With video camera in hand, he went over to the Foster nursery, taped several sessions of Bridget interacting with the kittens, and sent clips to local media outlets. The next day we were fl ooded with calls from delighted observers, most of whom wanted to know when the members of this little family would be available for adoption.

We kept Bridget and the kittens together for fi ve weeks. At the end of that period, the young cats were independent and eating solid food, and Bridget herself was outgrowing her “broody” feelings. She was no longer producing milk, the incision from her surgery had healed beautifully, and now she wanted to get out of the nest and have some playtime and exercise — not with kittens, but with people and other dogs. When she was transferred to the dog adoptions area, and her former “babies” were put into the cat colony, everyone blended in perfectly with their own species.

Next, we notifi ed our members that all six animals were at last both ready and eager to go to good homes of their own, and by the end of the day Bridget and the entire litter of kittens had been chosen by special, loving people to be individual members of their very own new families.

When all is said and done, the entire episode was a classic Humane Society success story: We were there for animals who needed that extra special touch of TLC, and we were fortunate enough to be able to bring together a bereft mother and some abandoned infants at exactly the right time. So what if one barked and the others purred? There’s only one real language of love. �

Thanks for an unexpected gift!