A friend to the friendless

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM--It's three o'clock on a Friday afternoon and Jill Tostenrud is just finishing up a trim on a small, white Maltese named Lambie. Lambie shakes and refuses to hold still. Tostenrud calms him down with some gentle words and a few strokes of his curly white fur.

Inside her house are the children she's adopted. All of them come from broken homes and all of them have four legs, long ears, tails, claws and fur. And when you visit Tostenrud's home, the whole family comes out to greet you.

The first ones to introduce themselves are the dogs. There are three of them, but on this particular weekend, Tostenrud is babysitting for her sister and for a couple of customers. There is a golden retriever named Mickey, a yellow lab mixed-breed named Pooh Bear, a cocker spaniel mixed-breed called Brandy and Sophie, a nine-year old mixed-breed looking to be the descendant of a golden retriever. All of the dogs currently staying in the house are golden brown, so much that they match the woodwork in the kitchen. Additionally, there are two others, a pair of terrier-poodle mixes named Molly and Daisy, that are visiting today. Their owner, a local doctor, is out of town.

Once you've made it past the dogs, you have the cats to contend with. There are four lurking around the house. The first to introduce itself is Midnight, a black, male domestic shorthair with wide, mysterious yellow eyes. Soon after, Midnight's pal, Fritz, a nine-month old blue-grey tabby kitten, jumps up on the table. The two immediately begin playing. A while later, Maggie Mae, a one-year-old grey and white spotted shorthair, jumps up on the table, quietly walks across it and leaves again. There's another cat, a female named Velcro, who earned her name for her ability to stick to whatever she grabbed a hold of.

Tostenrud also has fish, but they don't interrupt at all and do not have a fraction of the curiosity that their other family members do. A conversation in Tostenrud's kitchen is not without a dog begging for affection or a cat curiously playing with whatever happens to be on the table at the time.

"It's never a dull moment around here, that's for sure," she laughs. "It's a zoo... What else can I say?"

Tostenrud knows animals, particularly dogs and cats. She's grown up with them and her life still revolves around them. She owns a grooming service, Pampered Pets, on Highway 14 just south of New Ulm and volunteers much of her time with the Brown County Humane Society. Recently, that dedication earned Tostenrud a nomination for the 2001 American Veterinary Medicine Association (AVMA) Humane Award. She was also given a Jefferson Award by the American Institute of Public Service. She has two certificates and a heavy copper medal to prove it. The certificates will certainly go in her shop, but Tostenrud is still unsure of where to put the medal.

"I don't do this volunteering to win awards, but I'm real honored to get these awards," she said.

Said Dr. Roger Nelson, of the Minnesota Valley Veterinary Hospital in Mankato, who nominated Tostenrud for the AVMA award, "She's a fun lady that cares for animals. She has a really good attitude towards it."

Tostenrud began volunteering with the Brown County Humane Society about 11 years ago. She learned of it through a veterinary hospital where she was working as a groomer at the time. When the hospital merged, Tostenrud went out on her own and started Pampered Pets, but still kept volunteering at the society. In the last year, Tostenrud has provided foster homes for about 40 animals. Her small menagerie of dogs and cats began with Brandy, who is now 12 year old, and gradually increased over time.

"I got the ones no one wanted to adopt," she said.

Each of the animals Tostenrud keeps has a personality and a history. All of the pets were strays, runaways or pets whose owners gave up on them at one point. In some cases, the dogs were facing euthanasia. Sophie, for example, is deaf and has an enlarged heart and lungs. Tostenrud's husband found her at the gravel pit where he worked. Likewise, Midnight was found underneath his truck. Tostenrud said she received a call from her husband at work saying he found a "little black urchin" and was concerned Midnight wouldn't survive. Pooh Bear has weak knees and is allergic to wool and cotton. Tostenrud said a veterinarian can twist one of Pooh Bear's rear legs completely sideways. Pooh Bear also has a patch of hair near her rear legs that she scratched raw from itching caused by her allergies.

"There are some that just fit the family so well, you just can't imagine living without them, I guess," she said.

One sensitive spot Tostenrud has is animal euthanasia. She says the Humane Society tries to save as many lives as it can, but in some cases, an animal is simply too aggressive or too ill to be released into society. Tears roll down her face when she thinks about how some of the animals she's seen have reached that point. Many people, Tostenrud said, should not have pets if they are not willing to take care of them properly. Tostenrud says the fact that many of the animals did not choose where they ended up is one of the hardest parts about working at the Humane Society.

"It's amazing that stuff even happens around here," she said.

Most of the animals in Brown County facilities are dogs and cats. Tostenrud says she sees rabbits occasionally and has handled rats too. Many of the animals that come to the Humane Society are found on city streets by police and the Brown County Sheriff's Department, who bring the animals to city shelters. They are advertised as "lost and found" for 10 days before they are turned over to the Humane Society where they are kept for adoption or euthanized. Those that stay on with the society are given regular checkups and medication. Tostenrud said the Brown County Humane Society has no limit on how long an animal can stay. Because the Humane Society has no shelter of its own, it uses city facilities and veterinarians' offices to board its animals. There are a few families in the area that will provide foster homes.

"When you volunteer, you get back so much more than you give," Tostenrud said. "The unconditional love is what you get back."