The End of the Day...

It was a hard day today. Media interviews, meetings and e-mails about policy and politics took up way too much of the day. But it's how the day ends that carries into the evening at home.

We had closed for the night and as I was about to leave the shelter CC, one of the field officers, said Dr. P was looking for me. I walked into the clinic to find a cute, well-fed, well-taken-care-of Yorkie in a carrier on the exam table. CC had gone out out on a call for an injured animal and found this little guy lying on the side of the road, probably hit by a car. He was drooling, couldn't stand, had head injuries and appeared to be in extreme pain. Dr. P was on the phone trying to track down the owner through a microchip detected in the dog. We hoped to find the owners and get their pet back home to them so they could get him to their vet. Instead, after three phone calls ending with an answering machine at the corporate offices of a huge breeder corporation, we have a severely injured animal which we believe has an owner somewhere and no clue as to who they are. So now we have to decide whether to keep him as comfortable as possible in the hope an owner will appear tomorrow or to euthanize him to put him out of pain and distress. We do not have the resources to provide the kind of care a dog that has been hit by a vehicle needs to successfully recover.

Finding microchips that lead to no contact information, breeder information, previous owner information, disconnected telephone numbers is a daily occurrence at our shelter. Why would someone who supposedly loves their pet not update their information when they move or not even register the chip? It makes our job of uniting lost pets so much harder.

We were working on the Yorkie when LH brought us a tote (like the ones you buy at Target to store your Christmas ornaments) with five kittens about four weeks old. Someone had driven up to the front door, left the tote and driven away. Coward didn't even have the *%$# t bring them to us when we are open. They were so sweet, eyes wide open looking up at us crying, but the mom to continue nursing them, we just couldn't keep them.

Our little Yorkie is now in a kennel in the clinic, hopefully asleep on pain medication and steroids. Maybe tomorrow will bring a successful resolution.

I got home about 7:30 this evening feeling very discouraged - I hope tomorrow is a better day.

Where has ten months gone!!?!!

Yes, it's been 10 months since I posted here and good changes have been taking place. Among the most obvious are the new outdoor play yards and the outdoor dog runs. Now our dogs get more time to play outside. Law students painted the public areas of the shelter last month in blues, green and yellow, a huge improvement for both the staff and our visitors. I know it's made a big difference in my mood when I go in.

The most exciting change is to come - we've opened bids to build a new surgical suite, surgery prep and surgery holding area. We are going to upgrade the clinic space and improve all the interior animal spaces with solotubes (skylights) to bring in natural light. It's not the $8.6 million upgrade/renovation I'd like to be undertaking but that will come, someday.

Since my last post we've had a change in our city's elected officials and unfortunately, the shelter and animal welfare challenges are not of the same importance to the new regime. Maybe it is better to ignored than on the firing line but I miss the support from the top I used to have.

I have missed writing here and hope to be much more regular as we move into fall.

Time flys when .......

More than two months since I was here, again. And like the rest of life, both good things and bad things have happened at the shelter.

We have lost another kennel position and they aren't letting me fill four others. The five new positions and the people who filled them are working out better than I could have expected. A supervisor is out ill for an extended time. We have added another location to receive dogs in our transfer program. Two steps forward, one step back.

It's so hard to live with how the economy has affected our city and therefore, our budget. We have made so many strides over the past 18 months and there is so much more I want to do. But it's hard to argue with so many people out of work and children going hungry. We must remember that our job is to take care of our animals and to keep the challenges of the shelter in your face!

I have become the kitty nursery lately as well as the favored location for our more unusual residents. I have four tiny little kittens that have the run of the office and of me! The tiny gray one is still suckling so crawls up my arm to my neck and tries to nurse. Then she gets mad when she doesn't get any milk and starts to bite me. It's a good thing she is so cute! Then there is BatCat - a little tabby with a scrawny neck and huge ears. She is very loving and crawls up my leg to sit in my lap. The other two play and play and all four fall asleep about 3pm. The two gerbils that have just arrived in my office are the best kitty tv ever.

Midnight, the front office cat, has decided that she wants to be an outside cat and takes to sneaking to the outer lobby and then outside. She will then wait by the front door demanding to be let in whenever she wants. Her hair is finally growing out after her tangle with the pest strip in the volunteer office.

Thanks for the push LM!!

It's been way too long

Yes, waaay too long since I was here. But while it's been more than two months since I blogged, it's been on my mind almost every day. I don't know how many times I've thought "I should get a photo of that to post" or " I need to tell that story". It's been Napoleon, Hershey, Toffer and Jack. It's been Georgie and now he has become even more a part of the family at home and how Midnight has become such a fixture at the office. It's been the success of the new software and new staff and the loss of other staff due to circumstances beyond my control.

I'm going to try to catch up, try to tell these stories that make up every day at the shelter and in the field. Because each animal important, and tells the big story of how our community regards its animals.

Ovens

That's what cars are - ovens. When it's 101 degrees outside they're really hot ovens. Why can't people understand that.

A few days ago we had a women come to the shelter to surrender a dog that a "friend" had left at her home. We needed an id which she didn't have so she was going to go home and get it.

A short time later we learned there was a dog in a car in the parking lot. We immediately began searching for the car owner. We located her in the play yard - it was the woman who had come to surrender the dog and she had decided before she left that she would just "look" at the puppies.

She had left the dog in her car - at 1:30 in the afternoon - in full sun - with no water - for half an hour!

It was 101 outside that afternoon. The animal was in great distress. When we got him out of the car he was confused and barely able to walk. We carried him into the clinic and AK took his temp - just over 108! Normal is around 102. AK immediately began cooling him down, but not too quickly. Ice packs and cool water brought his temp down. We'll just have to see if there is any brain damage or other side effects.

The woman didn't seem to understand when I told her how quickly a car heats up. The conditions had probably taken the temperature in her car up to 120 degrees. She just didn't get it and was unconcerned, stating the dog was used to being left in the vehicle. I took the animal from her. And now I'm discussing bringing felony cruelty charges against her.

A week ago a woman in another town left her dog in the car while she went out boating. The dog died. Why don't people get the message??

http://www.mydogiscool.com/

Help - a Fox!

The phone rings in dispatch and it's another fox call. A citizen is reporting a fox in the neighborhood. I wish we could say SO, AND YOUR POINT IS?

Why is the appearance of a fox in a neighborhood so alarming? I love have foxes in my neighborhood, they appear in the early morning or the late evening. It's usually just a glimpse and they're gone. We tell them that foxes are not considered a dangerous animal and they should welcome their presence. In other words, we are not coming to get the fox. The one pictured here is a bit unusual. Appearing in daylight and obviously at home in the 'hood.

Chameleons and X-rays

It's been a great week at the shelter - one we've looked forward to for over a year.
We are halfway through our week-long training on our new software. This is going to be such a huge step for our facility - one that will not only improve our efficiency but give me instant access to so much information we don't have now. So many statistics that will help us make better decisions (average length of stay) and be more proactive in the city (reason for owner surrenders). We will escape from the little things (KF - is that a 1 or a 7 or a 9?) as well as the huge things (how did this dog check himself into the shelter in kennel 236A?). Now to get the ENTIRE staff excited about this change!! (Change is good, Change is good, Change is good - you shall be assimilated)

And we took our first x-rays yesterday!! As we continue to move from control to welfare, it becomes more important to improve our diagnostic capabilities. Having the ability to diagnose orthopedic and other problems without having to move the animal to a vet in town we've begged for an x-ray is HUGE! It is also an important tool in our cruelty investigations, giving us more information and ammunition for court cases.

It's a used analog machine that actually uses film that has to be developed but it still takes beautiful pictures. Dr. P and AK x-rayed two dogs with were limping when they came in this week. We found that both have a rear leg that is dislocated from the pelvis. Both of these are serious problems but they can be resolved and we can give a potential adopter much better information. No more guessing. It also allows us to look at options other than immediate euthanasia.

The rest of the week should be fun - just click on the little yellow dog icon!

Last on the agenda

After spending 1 1/2 hours waiting to make a four minute report as the last one on a very long agenda this morning I spent some time with the animals in my office. This is Midnight II, sitting on timecards while I attempt to do payroll. While the same color as Midnight who was with me earlier this year, II is a long hair version. She has the run of the office and whenever she can will head across the hall to JW's office.

Here are the kittens with a curious Hershey. They are very curious whenever he sticks his nose up there to find out what's going on. The kittens spilled a full bowl of water at the end of the day so I let them have the run of the office while I cleaned up the spill, fed them and changed out the litter box. It was hilarious - all four were running all over my desk, darting around the floor. Hershey was totally confused, not knowing what to do. Midnight watched the chaos from my desk, above it all as an adult cat should be.

And this is Waldo who is already in his new home in Colorado. His personality just as sweet as his face. Knowing he is happy warms my heart and makes me smile. We were able to send two animals home with their family today. One had been with us for ten days for rabies observation after biting a meter reader. He was just defending his property and his owner was so excited to get him home. The other was a dog that came to us after the death of his owner. Luckily the owner's family wanted the little pug and came today to get him. I always worry most about the cats and dogs that come to us from loving homes - I worry that the stress of the shelter environment on top of the sudden loss of their person/people must be absolutely crushing.

A group of my friends on FB have been taking the Do animals go to heaven? quiz. The answer of course is YES!!

Blogger slacker

It's been three and half weeks and now I'm being called a blogger slacker on FB! My only excuse is the usual - it's been so busy, both with the good and the bad.

I'm truly worried about what the budget cuts are going to mean to animals in town. Not being called out for Priority One calls is going to have consequences I don't think many people have contemplated. The entire City budget has been slammed, I'm glad I don't have to make the choices our Mayor has to make - what do you do when the money just isn't there? Meanwhile
animals in the field won't be getting the care they need. I'm not worried about those already in our care, once they are in the building we can do what's necessary, but what about our citizens, our animals and their needs? A dilemma I can't see the answer to.

We're climbing kitten mountain these days - that time of year when the graph of kitten intakes climbs fast and furious. So many litters are being brought to us by the public. Kittens under the porch, in the barn, in a box on the side of the road. Some with Mom, most without. Some too young to make it without bottle feeding, others just big enough to make it on their own. Mostly they come in as strays which means we have to hold them for three days in case someone comes in to claim them. But let's be real, you don't "lose" an entire litter of kittens. So many and not enough homes to adopt them all.

Fiona was back in the office last week for the last of her heartworm treatments and she looked great. She came right to my door and practically wagged her tail off when she saw me. She looked wonderful and her family loves her. She'll always be special to me.

We continue sending dogs to Colorado for adoption. We've sent another plane load up as well as another van full. Another volunteer with a SUV was headed up there for another reason and offered to take a few dogs with her. We sent four and all were adopted within hours. A favorite, Waldo, went on the trip - he was a 3 month old black lab with hound ears and the most laid back young lab I've ever seen. He would sleep on a quilt under my desk for hours at a time, was happy to just lay in my lap and would tolerate any other animal in the office - amazing.

The office is getting so full! I have another, yes another, chocolate lab. He came to me with the name Hershey and is a mostly choc lab with some cattle dog mixed in. He has faint white markings on his face and of merled choc and white stockings. He's housebroken and very sweet. Another cat named Midnight, a black (duh) long haired domestic, is living happily with the run of the office. That's because of had four kittens living in the big cage. They were very tiny when they came to me and I've had them about three weeks now. They greet me every morning with a chorus of meows and entertain me no end. As I've said before the cat world is a new one to me and I love to sit back just watch them. They aren't named but I have two black ones and two grey ones with white stockings.

So along with the chattering parakeets, the meowing kittens, Midnight sitting on whatever I'm working on and Hershey demanding a pat on the head, it's a wonder I get any work done at all. And tomorrow is the 16th, that means payroll.

One of my officers who's been out for more than two months is back today, YEAH! Dr. P will back from vacation soon, YEAH! We start training with the new software next week, YEAH!
See, it's not all bad, it's not all bad, it's not all bad. (Just repeat after me!!!)

Points of light

Even with the difficulties of money and staff, small points of light keep shining through.

• We're sending another 12 dogs to Denver tomorrow morning.
  
• After ten days out sick, AK is back and we're glad to have her.
• After three months missing, a ferret was reunited with his owner by LM. She checks Craig's List almost every morning to see if she can match up any of our animals and get them back home.
• The new software is installed and we are just waiting on training. It only took a year!
  
• I got to see several women graduate from a dog grooming program in which the shelter participates. They have overcome challenges in their lives and are ready to start new chapters. It was very moving and there were many hugs and some tears.
  
• JW and his wife have a new baby girl.
• And for the past few days space has not been a deciding factor in the hard decisions.

But the best light of all is that Georgie is officially mine. After deluding myself into believing that I was only fostering him while he received heartworm treatment, I paid the $$ and his status was changed to "adopted" in the computer. Dr. P said they knew all along that he was mine. Everyone else just said "finally!".

Which one is the beanie baby?

Take a quick glance at this photo - can you tell which one is real?

The beanie baby lion on the right is the favorite toy of Frank, a two week old Boston Terrier puppy that came into the shelter a few days ago. He came in with an owner surrender dachshund Mom and her puppies. It was so obviously not a member of Mom's litter!

LM has taken on Frank's care. She brings him in every morning and takes him home every night. Frank has a special spot in the clinic and he loves sleeping with his lion.

Another case of taking our work home.

Home in purple

Fiona went home today. Her new people brought a beautiful new purple collar and leash and she looked wonderful. I'm going to miss her.

Fiona's people arrive

It is a day to celebrate - Fiona has been adopted! I dropped her at the office to be spayed this morning and start her heartworm treatment. I was at a seminar all day and when I got back to the office late this afternoon she was being visited by her new family. She had been pouting all afternoon but seemed happy to see me. I brought her home tonight to rest and recover from surgery and we'll see how she is doing tomorrow. I know a new family is the best thing for her but I'm going to miss her alot. Adopting her and then leaving her home with my two all day is not what she needs. I'm also seeing some stress in my two labs. They are not used to having to share!

A welcome break from the office today, attending a day-long seminar on social networking. Trying to determine the best ways to use Twitter, Facebook and all the other social media opportunities can be mindboggling.

Some hard weeks

Budget cuts, staff changes, and difficult animal decisions have conspired to make the last two weeks very difficult.

We found out last week that Fiona is heartworm positive. Her last puppy was adopted last Saturday and so SH brought her to me at the end of the day. I just couldn't stand the thought of her alone in my office over the rest of the weekend without her babies. So I had four chocolate labs at my house - on a very wet, rainy weekend. Fiona and Georgie played and played and played. In fact it was hard to keep Georgie as quiet as he needs to be during heartworm treatment. So I've been taking her back to the office during the day so that he's not too stressed.

With the heartworm diagnosis comes the tough decision. Treat or not - spend high dollars on one animal or a few dollars on several animals. I've already committed to treating Georgie, a young male, and fostering him until he is cured and ready for adoption. Fiona is an older, female lab who has had many litters. Her chances of adoption at the shelter are fairly slim and the local breed rescue has as many heartworm positive animals as they can handle. Can we dedicate the space to hold her for an extended length of time when we are getting more than twenty animals every day, healthy puppies and young adults who are very cute and not sick?

Yesterday the veterinary staff and I made the decision that we should euthanize Fiona. I asked only that we wait till the end of the day and that I hold her while she was euthanized. I had a series of difficult personnel meetings to get through first. I took Fiona to the clinic late yesterday and sat on the floor to talk with her and hold her. Living with her for six weeks and watching her care for her puppies had created a close bond. For the first time I had tears running down my face while at the office. It felt like we had just used her until she had done her job nursing the pups and was now expendable. I looked at Dr. P and she looked at me. AK, LM and JS were there ... and we couldn't do it. We had gotten too close - she had become a fixture in the building and a favorite of the staff. Several of them had taken turns walking her several times each day.

So I took Fiona home last night. She walked out the front door and ran for my car. She trotted in front of me this morning on our way in and she is now sitting at my feet along with Georgie and my own two chocolate labs. There are more hard decisions to come - some will be as difficult to face as yesterday's. All I can hope for is the instinct and the courage to make the right ones.

His tail is always wagging

We see such horrible things and such beautiful things, sometimes at the same time. When you look at this face the first thing you see are those beautiful eyes. Behind that gaze is a wonderful soul, he's so happy to see people and his tail is always wagging. We've named him Trip.

Trip has had a difficult few days. We don't know the whole story and probably never will. Sometime this weekend his left front leg was badly injured. His people tried to take care of him but they just couldn't afford vet care so they brought him to us. He was taken to the clinic immediately. His injury was quit severe and so Dr. K, AK and LM decided to amputate his leg. They reassured me he was young and would adapt to three legs quickly.

This photo of Trip was taken late this afternoon. He had just been taken outside by NC to make his first run. He was alert and happy to have his ears scratched. When you take a second look at the photo you can see the sutures at his left shoulder. A beautiful face, a horrible situation. He will continue to heal, and he will get lots of love in the process - from the clinic staff, the kennel staff and by me.

And his tail continues wagging.

Georgie

Each of us has a breed of animal that has a special place in our heart. It might be the type we grew up with, that a friend has or that we have always just liked the look of. No matter where it came from, it is part of us and we bring it with us to our work. For me it's chocolate labs - I have two. They have privileges the dogs in my parent's home never had - full access to the house, sleeping on my bed, trips to the creek to swim. They are both from rescue and I love them dearly.

This is Georgie, a three year old male chocolate lab. He was brought in stray and was terrified in the shelter. I was walking through the kennels when our vet tech was trying to take him to the clinic. He wouldn't walk, cowered and wouldn't take a single step. I fell in love. It turns out he is also heartworm positive. So I took him home.

Georgie is now happily playing, eating and sleeping at my home. He has conquered his fear of ceiling fans, stairs and traveling in car over the past week. He loves rolling in the grass and following my two everywhere. When they bark, he barks. When they sleep, he sleeps. He is a totally different animal out of the shelter. I took him back last Tuesday to be neutered and to start his heartworm treatment. Now a month of keeping him fairly quiet while the medicine kills those nasty worms. Will he become a permanent resident?? I don't know yet.

I'm taking work home again.

Shiner

Shiner is a 12 year old female Vizla who has been missing from the mid-town area since March 24. I had received a phone call and several e-mails with photos of her, there was a whole community looking for her. Her owner had been by the shelter to see if we had her with no success and with her advanced age had given up thinking they would find her.

I returned this afternoon from a meeting downtown, parked in back of the shelter and walked through the kennels to get to my office. I passed by a run that had a beautiful dog that reminded me of the missing Vizla. Dr. P walked by and I asked her if the animal had been correctly identified as a greyhound as I knew about a missing Vizla. She said it was indeed a greyhound but that there was a young Vizla in the shelter. She then mentioned another dog, one that I had talked to on my out of the building earlier. We went back to her kennel and found an older female with a white face who was scared to death. She backed away from both of us and didn't respond to the name but I was sure it was Shiner.

I went back up to the front office but the lost poster was not on the bulletin board anymore. I remembered that I still had the phone number of the person who first told me about Shiner but all I got was a message machine. He had given me the address from which the Vizla had gone missing so I used an internet reverse directory to get a name - which of course had an unlisted number. Going to a regular phone book gave me a business address and phone number. I talked with an assistant who confirmed that the owner had indeed been missing their dog for more than three weeks. She agreed to call the home and give them my phone number. Two minutes later my phone rang and I was talking with the woman who had been at the shelter. She said she would be at the shelter in 15 minutes. I had Shiner brought up front where I fed her blueberry goodies and calmed her down. Just after 5pm this evening there was a tearful, happy reunion of Shiner and her people. It was a good Monday.

The clinic cat

Here is Fiona with her only chocolate baby, check out the blue eyes. The pups are all over the office these days and they are so funny. Since I got both of my labs when they were about 2 years old I missed the whole puppy phase. The chocolate puppy has been wonderfully fun to watch over the past three weeks. I love to listen to them growl as they play with each other and last Friday the black female walked over and tried out her new teeth on my foot!

This is Wilbur, the clinic cat. Dr. P and the girls thought they could keep him a secret but it quickly became apparent that he was going to be around for a while. He is not phased by the craziness of the clinic and the many animals that are there for a short time.

Philosophy

I had an interesting discussion yesterday with a volunteer about the animals we are sending west in our transfer program. Tuesday night more than 40 dogs and puppies went to Denver. As our shelter is at capacity right now this was a big help in opening up space in the kennels. Some of those animals had been in foster homes including one litter of 10 and one litter of 5. The next morning the volunteer was disappointed that there weren't more empty kennels since so many of the puppies had been in foster. She felt that somehow the fostered puppies had bumped animals that were in the shelter from making the trip.

I tried to explain that the ones that had gone to foster homes would stay healthy until the trip - that by going into foster we had simply opened the kennels up as we went along rather than all at once. By sending those 44 animals to new homes in another state, our shelter will be able to hold other animals for a longer period of time giving them a better chance at adoption. She didn't agree and seemed to think the shelter had somehow made a "change in philosophy".

After she left I thought about it - and had to agree. I've been here one year now and I would hope we've changed our philosophy. Save the lives of these animals by every means we can possibly think of. Make everyone a part of the solution to our problem - too many unwanted pets. I'm sure it's the right thing to do.

Cats and Me?

A certain member of my staff is gloating over my new found affection for cats. She laughs when she walks by my office and I have one hand on my keyboard and the other rubbing the head of the latest feline living in my office. She's been trying to convert me since I started at the shelter and while she hasn't succeeded in getting me to leave my dogs behind, she has introduced a new appreciation for these creatures. Thanks Donna!

Leona, who became fond of sleeping the day away in a file box under my desk, went home last week. On the right is my new kitty, Midnight. She is very loving and is happy to curl up on my desk for the day. She is not afraid of Fiona or the puppies but will head into her cage and the cat box inside if knew people walk into the room.

We had another parakeet come in today, and a very chatty one at that. We placed his cage right next to Leo and I think both will be happier for it. I now have two birds, one cat, one dog and five puppies living in my office. It makes for a great welcome as I walk in each morning.