I love a good romantic movie – ESPECIALLY an older movie. And one with singing in it – that takes place in a French seaside town – with sailor costumes and big hats and colorful dresses — EEEEEK!
If you have not seen the utter joy of a movie that is “Les Desmoiselles de Rochefort” or “The Young Girls of Rochefort”, and you like some of the above (and Gene Kelly, who I discovered was fluent in French), go and rent it pronto!
The young hero of this film is Maxence, a French naval officer who is also a painter.
He sees his dream girl and paints her, and the painting is in the gallery of the loser she’s dating. 
Realizing that there is something better for her (namely the person who painted her picture), she thankfully dumps him. This is just one part of the film, and I won’t give anything away, except that this movie has ONE OF MY FAVORITE ENDINGS OF ALL TIME.
The purpose of my film review is to introduce Maxence, my newest death row save rescue from Florida. Called Ructare at the shelter, which apparently means “to belch” in Latin, he was sentenced to die because he is 8, FIV+ and had a cold. I saw his picture (where he was flopped on his side waiting for a belly rub, and I couldn’t let him die.
Through an FIV+ advocate that I “met” on my cat Tom Applehead’s Instagram, I connected with a rescue who helped save his life, and through my Instagram stories, a friend found a local foster, which was key to saving him.
It took about 20 amazing people to drive him North to me, and, honestly, the timing isn’t ideal. My beloved Louis Philippe is in hospice with end stage kidney disease, and I am paying off more than $5000 in vet expenses for three of my babies (including one who isn’t with me anymore). But if I hadn’t agreed to adopt Maxence, he wouldn’t be alive.
Max is going to need, at minimum, a dental and possibly some eye surgery. I have set up a Go Fund Me page to help raise money for his upcoming expenses.
https://www.gofundme.com/maxence-needs-vet-care
It takes a certain special person to understand the importance of rescuing senior and medical needs pets. Many of my friends, family and my boyfriend question my choices. You either get it, or you don’t.
My mom always says that you can’t save them all. True! None of us can. But I have saved a few, almost all who have been adopted to amazing homes.
I saved Maxence. But probably around 30 cats in his shelter died just that day. And that is just one shelter of thousands to kill shelters. I have to remind myself that one is better than none. Otherwise, I couldn’t live with the sadness that so many animals that were once someone’s pets and loved people got their hearts broken and met that end.
Special thanks to Taking the Fear Out of FIV and Urgent Cats of Tampa Bay for posting him on Facebook, to Deny of Support FIV who helped me find a rescue, to United Paws and the amazing Valerie who pulled him for me, to Wendy for seeing my story and finding a wonderful friend to foster, to Susannah and her sweet children who provided his life saving foster home and phenomenal care for almost a month while I got it together and helped Louis get more stable (you can’t rescue from death row unless you have a local foster for them to go), to the sweet and selfless volunteers who took time out of their weekends and transported Max to me and to my boyfriend, who says no more, but opens up his heart too every time.
Thank you to you if you read this post. If you would like to donate, there is no amount too small. If you can’t, I understand. We all have our expenses. If this touched you, please share this story or the Go Fund Me link.
And, if you are looking to adopt or if you have a spare bedroom or bathroom to foster, even for a short period of time (a few days or weeks can save a life!), please reach out to me any time or to your local rescue.
Xxoo, PF
