Animal Friends and Rescuers

Above is a photo of our friend and Azrael's "uncle" Dr. David Shepherd. He has taken special care of Azrael over the years and now also Phoebe. He and his wife, Dr. Jan Laketa (below with Azrael) are excellent examples of Animal Friends and Rescuers. As veterinarians, they have dedicated their lives to the care of animals. They go beyond this, however, by rescuing and providing homes for animals considered "unadoptable" by others. In fact, a few of the four-legged members of their family are animals whose owners brought them into Dave or Jan's clinic to be euthanized because they had behavior problems or were otherwise "undesirable." Whereas, Dave and Jan are naturally willing to euthanize an animal when necessary to end its suffering, thank goodness they are not willing to do so just to please the whims of their customers. One such pet was a cat who was brought in to be put to sleep because she had the bad habit of using the bathroom sink as her litterbox. Of course, this kitty had been kept solely in a small bathroom and as a result still (to the best of my knowledge) considers the bathroom "her room." She's a real sweet kitty and this "habit" was brought on by neglect and mistreatment by her owner. Dave and Jan go out of their way to help animals such as this kitty live as normal a life as possible -- even when it means adding to their already full household.** For this reason, as well as for the great personal care Azrael & Phoebe have obtained from these two fine veterinarians (they even made housecalls to check on Azrael at Tony's mom's while Tony and I were in Germany) they are our first recipients of Phoebe's Helping Paw Award.

**We do not encourage people to "drop-off" unwanted pets at their doorstep. These are great, generous people and I want to applaud them for taking in these animals, not encourage others to bring them more!

Azrael doesn't seem to appreciate the fine care she is getting here in this photo, but I assure that she appreciated Dave and Jan making a special trip just to check her out and vaccinate her before we left for Germany (1993). This was the first time that we vaccinated Azrael for feline leukemia and FIP virus and we sleep much better knowing that she is protected from these horrible viruses.

As I mentioned previously, Dave is Azrael's "uncle" in that one of his kitties, Momar, is Azrael's sister and litter-mate. Momar is now living with Dave's mom (where she grew up), since she got tired of dealing with all the other animals.

Dave and Jan also have two adorable children Morgan is 2 and Quinton will be one in December.

Here are some other folks who've won

Phoebe's Helping Paw Award:

Do you know someone who deserves Phoebe's Helping Paw award?

(awardees don't have to be veterinarians - but people who go out of their way to be an animal friend and/or rescuer)

If so, please send us their name, achievement, a photo if you have one and e-mail/URL (if possible).