Fresh Loaf

As manager of PAWS Atlanta, one of the city’s largest no-kill animal shelters, Philip Smith knows how much work it takes to turn abused and abandoned animals back into man’s best friends.

How do most animals find their way to PAWS?

For the most part, we try to get our animals from kill facilities. These places end up with a lot of injured animals, and unless we can bring them in, they’re just sitting there waiting for their time to be killed. We try to do what we can to give them the life they deserve.  All together, that probably makes up 75 percent of our animals. Others are dire cases, like the dog we found that was hit by a lawn mower. And about 20 percent are animals that people surrender to us.

We try to help as many people as we can — but unfortunately there are limits to how many animals we can take in, which is why we won’t take in litters of kittens whose owner hasn’t had their mother spayed. We know that the owner will be back here a year later with the same problem.

What condition are most animals in when they first arrive at PAWS?

We get a lot of abused animals. Ninety-nine percent of them are scared out of their minds, and it takes a lot to get them to where they can trust humans again.

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Kelly Goff knows what your pets are thinking.

Interview by Mary Moore.

How did you become a pet psychic?

Well, I read cards for people, and pets started showing up in their readings. From time to time they would ask me questions about their pet. It just kind of grew into a side thing from that.

Describe how you communicate with them.

Animals communicate in picture form. I’m intuitive. I’ll get an impression of a situation, and I just have to put together what I’m picking up until it makes sense. Sometimes it won’t make sense to me, but it will make sense to the owner. If I can work with a pet, that’s good. But I can also communicate through pictures or a pet’s name. I work off of energy — reading their energy and their connection with their owners.

Has anything really strange happened in a session?

I was working with a client one day, and I kept seeing this little poodle. I told her, “I keep getting the impression of this little poodle lying right at your feet.” And she said, “I was just having the same sensation. I was feeling pressure on my foot.” I started describing it a bit more, like its personality.  She said, “Oh, yes, that’s my little duchess. She passed away a year ago yesterday.”

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CL photographer Joeff Davis stopped by the CFA International Cat Show today. He returned to the office with a stellar collection of photographs that manage to be simultaneously adorable and creepy.

Visit our Sideshow blog for more.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Enough already! Senators McCain and Obama are playing coy this Memorial Day weekend about their vice presidential selection process.

I’m not going to play that game; I’m going to level with the American people: Yes, I’ve been entertaining political leaders this weekend with the express purpose of vetting them as possible running mates.

We’re checking into geographical, ethnic and regional balance, as well as chemistry, and so far I have two frontrunners. One is an aggressive, white male with a strong instinct to go on the attack, no matter what the situation. The other would be a more revolutionary choice: She comes from a mixed background and likes to chew on leather. Both are southerners with natural charisma.

Please let me know if you’d like to be considered as well.

Below is a photograph of the two. The one on the left is Coconut. The one on the right is Peanut. Please let me know your preference or if you have a pet who’d like to be considered as well.

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Tony & Socks: I don’t know. But I’ll tell you about Cats — it’s no Sweeney Todd. You’re never going to see a movie about Cats starring Johnny Depp as a cat. It’s the longest Broadway show in history because nobody knows what’s happening so nobody says it’s bad. That’s the crux of it. I couldn’t understand a word they said. I saw it years ago. I’m not going to see that thing again. I have a cat, but I’ve never liked Cats. It has no plot. Give me West Side Story or Oklahoma! or Sweeney Todd.

Cliff & Pilot: I hope not. So many of us love animals, love music, love dance, and all of these are incorporated into the final product. It’s incredible. We’ve always seen in dogs and cats reflections of ourselves. I’ve seen cats do things incredibly human that freaked me out. And that play vocalizes and visualizes those things. There’s a parallel between animals and humans, and they just nail it. Plus, if you have children, there’s not a better play in the world. And what better place than the Fox.

Cassie & Snapper: All I know, it’s about slinking around in leotards. That doesn’t sound very catlike to me. If it was about cats, it would be a lot of sleeping, eating and getting petted. Most people who like cats like them because they hate people, so who wants to be surrounded by a bunch of people. I would never see Cats because I love cats. I don’t want to demean them by watching humans act like cats. And now I’ll make it a point never to see it just because you’re asking me.

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