From the SPA
Double your pleasure, double your fun
Mauri Formigoni

Bonnie and Betty are identical twin female kittens, and it is hard to tell them apart. They play constantly. We often advise people to take two, they’re easier! It really is true.

They constantly amuse each other and learn good and bad habits at the same time. It does not mean that they do not bond with you. After all, we feed them, right? No one matters more than Mom or Dad who prepares the food. Doubles are darling and though you do compare them, they become a matched set and constantly entertain you. They can also be a point of pride. Try a couple!

Two of our other sweetest friends are not old-timers, but fairly new. They have been together since they arrived: Kandi and Kara, both young females, about 4 months old.

They play hard but love each other. It is fun to watch them interact. They do not yet have much training and would benefit from it. But they are happy, free and have never been abused nor had to live on the streets, so they are fairly unmarked by bad human behavior.

Do you remember Savannah, our oldest resident? (4 ½ years) I watched her recently in her new adopted house with a small puppy, and she was offering her ears to the pup as if instructing her how to play. That adoption fills me with such satisfaction. It is so successful. She now sleeps in the bed with her new mom and the other dogs, though it took months for Savannah to give herself permission to make such an audacious presumption. It also pleases me because many shelters euthanize dogs who have been in the shelter too long and are considered institutionalized. What happened to Savannah? She had friends who loved her in the shelter and so some part of her stayed hopeful and alive. We have living proof. Kind of like a chrysalis mode.

Did you ever realize what your animals do as you prepare for a trip? They do know what suitcases mean, the ironing board, notes and keys (I swear!). They may decide to chew on shoes which they would never otherwise do. Cats love to nest in clean folded clothes or inside the suitcase. (Maybe she won’t notice…) But they also hope and pray that you will come back. I keep telling my first and oldest dog, as I did my children when they were small, “I always come back.” But as fearful and anxious as they become when we leave, some small amount of anxiety remains for the duration. Some will not eat. Others will eat anything. We have dogs and cats who were starving earlier in life, and fear that there will never again be enough food to survive. One of my dogs who is small and deaf follows the new dog who nightly eats her bed. Lacey, the little dog, scampers behind swallowing the bits of bed stuffing to fill herself up, then wonders why it is so hard to poop! No amount of loving care will convince them that there will always have food. You never know.

Please come visit us and see the changes in the facility and in the behavior of our animals. Believe it or not, life is better than it was. Ask any old-timers (people) who have visited before. Check us out at www.spasanmiguel.org  or at the Jardín on Thursday, 11am–1pm. Our address is SPA at Los Pinos 7, just off Calzada de la Estación (near the central bus station).