Minus Two & Plus One -- Welcome Dusty!

This morning my day off started with taking the five kittens to the vet for exams and vaccines.  I also said good-bye to two of them that will be going to a new foster home.  It's time.  They are now about 4 months old, weighing around 4 pounds each, and are active and mischievous as all kittens are.

While the kittens leaving has been planned for a couple of weeks, a new arrival wasn't.  With Carl out of town, I have welcomed to Golden Pines, a new 12 year old boy named Dusty.

He comes to us from someone who adopted him from a shelter this past March.  Dusty was originally given up in February by a elderly couple who were no longer able to care for him after a car accident. *She* was dealing with family losses, and saw Dusty at the shelter and adopted him. When I met her *She* told me that Dusty helped her through those losses, but now *She* was no longer able to care for him, and *She* felt that *She* needed to focus on herself now, saying to me in an e-mail today, "I know I made the right decision for both of us as yesterday I felt a bit lighter in spirit and was able to get a good workout at the gym. Not worrying about Dusty is such a blessing."  This is the part where I don't openly pass judgment on someone....

Dusty is what's important, and I think that by nature he is a nervous dog.  With all the changes he's had in the past several months, it hasn't helped for him to be that way, and it's totally understandable.  I asked our dog walker to come over to help me with the intros to our gang, that didn't go so well.  Dusty was really feeling the stress of the day, and so I decided to forgo the meetings which included Todd. Until then, he's got his own space in the house where he can relax and get used to his new life.

I'll do the rest of the one-on-one meetings in a day or so when Carl returns.  I've not told him about Dusty and until then I'll be practicing the look in the photo below for when Carl sees him.

I hope your week is off to a good start!