A $50 donation can buy a lot of pet kibble
GREG BEAN Coda
There are a lot of responsibilities that come with having a pet, but one of the most difficult is fulfilling the part of the implied contract that says you will make difficult decisions for the animal that the animal can't make for itself.

In our family's case, that has meant deciding when it was time for animals that had shared our lives for years to meet a humane and comfortable end.

Making that decision is never easy, and as you struggle with it, you realize that if the creator had been on his game, he would have made it so our pets live as long as we do.

Unfortunately they don't, and because of that, we lost our black lab (my friend Dave Simpson says they're the Cadillac of dogs), Nora, a couple of months ago.

She was old for a lab, 15 or maybe even 16, but she was an integral part of the family and her absence left an empty place in our home that we didn't even know if we wanted to fill.

Nora grew up with my boys. We adopted her from the Monmouth County SPCA shortly after we moved to New Jersey, and I remember the day we brought her home like it was yesterday.

Each week, the Monmouth County SPCA and other shelters and adoption agencies in our newspaper coverage area send us photos and descriptions of pets that are available and need homes.

And one week, there was a beautiful photo of a German shepherd/husky cross that I thought would make a perfect addition to our family. I'd owned a dog with that genetic mix before and knew they were usually energetic and good with kids.

But when we got to the SPCA in Eatontown that Saturday, a black lab mix in one of the crates started wagging her tail and licking our fingers like she had known us for years.

We took her outside to get acquainted and she obeyed my commands to sit, and lie down and stay. She bonded with my sons immediately and they with her. We took her home that afternoon, and she never obeyed a command from me again. I figure she was smart enough to scam us into adopting her, and I always respected her for that.

She could take me, or leave me, but we always got along. I always knew that in her heart she was the boys' dog, and my wife's dog, but not mine. And she was a wonderful dog for young boys. She would walk through the park or along a wooded trail for miles and chase balls in the water. She'd pull them and their bicycles up the hill in front of our house a thousand times, and still be ready for more. She slept at the foot of their beds to protect them through the dark of night.

But the boys left home and Nora grew old, and tired and infirm. By this spring she could no longer stand up without help. She was nearly blind, and deaf, and she couldn't get up and down the stairs. As I said, when she died, it left a hole in our hearts.

Two weeks ago, after an appropriate period of mourning, my wife and I found ourselves at the Monmouth County SPCA once again. "We won't adopt unless we know it's exactly right," she said before we left. "Let's just see what's out there."

Thirty minutes after we arrived, we'd already fallen in love.

That Saturday afternoon, we adopted a young dog (we changed her name to Molly) and she has made a remarkable transition from the timid and uncertain young critter that came home with us to the queen of her realm. I don't want to gush, because I hate it when pet owners do that, but she is the perfect dog for us, and I look forward to growing old with her.

I noticed several changes at the SPCA from our last visit, however, beyond the new building they're constructing.

The adoption counselors and staff were as professional and careful as always (my wife joked that she'd had babies in less than the nearly four hours we spent in the process of adopting Molly), but the challenges they're facing were more pronounced.

First, there are significantly more cats for adoption than I've ever seen before. This phenomenon is not unique to the Monmouth County SPCA. Recently, a story in our newspaper, the Suburban, reported that at the Sayreville Pet Adoption Center for example, there were currently 173 cats, including 43 kittens, and 17 dogs awaiting adoption. In the month of July alone, the center received 54 cats and 10 dogs to be adopted.

And in addition to the few pit bulls or pit-bull-mix dogs that are approved for adoption at the Monmouth County SPCA, there are apparently many pit bulls that the public is not even allowed to see. Those dogs may never be adopted, and because it is a no-kill facility, they may spend the remainder of their lives there.

The expense of caring for those animals, and the surge in pet abandonments, etc., resulting from the increase in foreclosures and the general economy is certainly straining the resources of the various organizations.

Like many shelters and adoption organizations in our coverage area, the Monmouth County SPCA receives no financial assistance from government and relies almost exclusively on the revenue from donations and fees.

Personally, I think that is scandalous, since these organizations provide an indispensable community service. But be that as it may, the fact is that these groups are in crisis.

You can help.

We adopted both of our dogs in New Jersey from the Monmouth County SPCA, but there are dozens of other shelters and adoption organizations in our coverage area with pressing needs. I certainly can't list all of them here. To find them, you can find simply type "New Jersey animal adoption shelters" into any search engine, or you can find a relatively comprehensive list of state organizations at:

www.saveourstrays.com/NJ.htm

It's important to remember that you don't have to adopt an animal in order to help. Since almost all of these organizations are nonprofit and receive no outside financial aid, they'll gladly accept a donation of cash, or time. At the Monmouth County SPCA, for example, volunteers do a great deal of the work, so a gift of time is as valuable as a gift of money. Many of them will also accept donations of pet food, collars, toys or anything else an animal needs to live and thrive.

But just remember: When it comes to providing kibble, $50 goes a long way.

Gregory Bean is executive editor of Greater Media Newspapers. You can reach him at gbean@gmnews.com.