My friend arranged for four of my rescue girls to get spayed through a free community program, including the full Monty of treatments for a dog–even a microchip. We took three of them yesterday. They were taken away in a van in their own little kennels looking very sad. I have a philosophy that doesn’t allow animals to be caged so maybe it was just me projecting.

When she brought them back to me they were wearing those plastic gizmos to keep them from licking their wounds & were all disoriented, doped up with pain meds, & miserable. It was an up-close & personal reminder of why I oppose testing of any kind on living animals, including mice.

When we got home I removed the collars & have been comforting them for the past several hours while they moan–& also, being dogs, milk it for the extra attention. They’re probably not so much in pain as confused. But it’s just me trying to assure them that I’m not responsible for their misery. If they understood a word I said, I’d blame it all on my friend who so generously & kindly provided this for their care.

The last one to get spayed is my big galoot who is divinely sweet & also slightly psychotic. She must have escaped a rope because if I try to leash her for a walk she goes nuts. But she’s smart enough to go to college & continually gets past my barricades–including taking them all with her into the street. One little guy had to get a leg amputated after apparently getting hit by a car in one of her escapes. She also constantly menaces my birds & killed one. When she’s fixed & chipped, I’ll get her on a caravan to Denver where they foster them, not kennel them, until they’re adopted into a forever loving family.