February 02, 2007, Blissed out, By Mauri Formigoni

The dog of the day is Bliss, a delightful mix of boxer and shar-pei (yes—it is possible). She is a sunny, young adult female, golden brown and shiny, strong and handsome. It is an interesting mix, one I have never seen before, but it seems to be a breed unto itself.

Bliss yearns to be with people and sighs when we walk past her cage. She will need room to run and play, so I hope you have access to a yard or park. Bliss is house-broken, has all her shots, is spayed, and ready to go. She was found on the street by one of our volunteers and managed to get in through our waiting list.

We have many dogs that seem to have come from the same gene pool, all San Miguel Especiales, but a few stand out, and Bliss is one of them. I expect she would also be a good watchdog, though our animals always prefer to be favored pets, cuddled and spoiled. We also have some purebreds: a frightened, female, blond cocker spaniel, a great Old English sheepdog male and other surprises. Come down and see us!

Speaking of pets to spoil, we have an early group of kittens, and again we got in another new litter of Siamese kittens, six weeks old and more white that brown and tan.

Noel is a young female, a white Siamese mix, very dainty and sweet. They are quite tame and appear to enjoy being handled. They require only a warm place to sleep, maybe a small stuffed animal for comfort, a clean litter box, and kitten food and clean water. Everyone deserves a kitten at some time in their lives. You owe it as a treat to yourself.
We are grateful for those who help us either with the animals or in raising funds to care for them. We are offering another exciting new fundraiser for the SPA, a photographic safari to South Africa in May. A percentage of the costs benefit the shelter. Please call Natalie at 154-5761 for inquiries. Enrollment needs to be completed as soon as possible.
We are looking forward to another Grand Bodega Sale in February at Constitution 100, just past the car dealerships on the Salida a Querétaro. This is a fun, quality event and brings us income to help keep the shelter going. Marcia Webster is an artist who specializes in excellent cat paintings. She exhibits successfully at local galleries, which charge much more than we do at the Bodega, but for the SPA she just wants to cover her expenses. She is very generous to the Sociedad Protectora de Animales, and she has a special relationship with cats. Her signed paintings and prints will be available for our tag sales, and we are very grateful to her and to another woman supporter of the SPA: Ruth Lascoutx. Former owner of La Attica Antiques, now sadly closed, we want to give special recognition to Ruth for generously donating many treasured items for the sale, such as art objects and even a top-of-the-line Yamaha electronic organ, which will definitely pick up the tempo of the upcoming year. We look forward to this sale! Thanks to all our contributors.
Check out our website at www.spasanmiguel.org to see what animals we currently have available. There are lots of puppies and kittens, but no small-breed adult dogs. Come join us on Thursdays in the Jardín from 11:15am to 1:15pm or visit the shelter Monday through Friday between noon and 2pm to play with, pet or walk our animals. Call 152-6124 for an appointment at the clinic.

Mauri Formigoni is an Associate Professor of Visual Arts at the University of Illinois, a long-time San Miguel resident and a lifelong animal lover. She can be reached at 154-5930 to answer questions.