Furry Friday
I've noticed several animals lately with reasons for surrender being "Cannot Afford" or "Lost Home to Foreclosure". We're not overwhelmed with animals yet, but spring season is almost upon us. It doesn't bode well for this year to see so many money-related surrenders here already.
Animals: I have two more "special needs" animals to highlight this issue. First up is Tiki, a 4-year-old neutered male. He's the typical black-and-grey striped alley cat. He's a large guy but fit. I think he's had a rough life, since he's missing the tips of his ears. My guess is that frostbite did it to him one winter, but I don't know his history. He's a transfer from another agency. When I spent some time with him, he eventually started pushing his head into my hand to solicit more petting. He is slow to warm up, but I bet he'll do great with someone who can give him gentle attention.
Another guy with ear issues is Herbie. He was abandoned early in life, as he's only about 4 months old now. The vets examining him made the determination that he is deaf, so he is recommended for homes without small children (bundles of energy that can sneak up on him and surprise him). Despite being an adorable cutiepie, he's been out on the adoption floor for a few days already.
I stayed with him for a while, and he had a very disarming way of approaching me. He bowed down and reached out with one paw to touch my hand a few times before he brought his body within touching distance. Eventually, though, he would enthusiastically push his head up against my hand. He especially enjoyed getting pet under his jaw. Near as I could tell, he might have had a small bit of hearing. He didn't seem very good at determining direction, but I think he could sometimes tell who was talking without following other visual cues from the nearby humans. If you want to meet him yourself, he's housed in the cat area because he's too small to keep in the usual dog kennel area.
Both Tiki and Herbie are currently available for adoption at the Golden Valley shelter.
Story: Our Buffalo shelter has a separate building for incoming animals. One night, one of the dogs managed to escape out of his kennel and then again out of the back room that houses the kennels. He had a long time to roam free in the front lobby of the building, managing to knock around lots of equipment during his "tour of the facility". Buffalo discovered in the morning that they had no working computer equipment to use for processing incoming animals.
So I made an early trip to take replacement equipment to them. Our Facilities people were also there to repair damaged doors and to work on ways to better secure the kennels too. At some point, both site staff and the facilities staff were out of the building and back over at the main adoption building. I was there alone working on customizing the Windows profile on the new machine. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed movement.
Another dog was wandering around the room, heading slowly towards the exam room. Yikes! He was a tiny, tiny dog. Not small enough to squeeze through chain links, but you get the idea. Really small. I picked him up and held him in the palm of one hand while I called over to the main building to get someone to take the little guy back to his kennel. Meanwhile, I continued typing with my free hand to finish up that Windows profile. Staff and facilities showed up again, and started brainingstorming ways to keep such a small tyke in the area where he needs to stay.
I overheard the staff say that they were glad they'd already tested all those incoming puppies. I'm just happy to report that I don't have ringworm. The incoming puppy had spent several minutes licking my face while I held him at the computer desk. I should be more careful, but he was just too cute to resist. :)
How to help: We're still many weeks away from our annual fundraiser, but I'll make an early notice here. The I.T. staff have formed our own little team on the webpage for online fundraising. Here are the links to my page and to our team page. Contributions benefit only my organization. I'll work in future issues on thinking of suggestions that can work for people to help their local group, wherever they happen to be.
Animals: I have two more "special needs" animals to highlight this issue. First up is Tiki, a 4-year-old neutered male. He's the typical black-and-grey striped alley cat. He's a large guy but fit. I think he's had a rough life, since he's missing the tips of his ears. My guess is that frostbite did it to him one winter, but I don't know his history. He's a transfer from another agency. When I spent some time with him, he eventually started pushing his head into my hand to solicit more petting. He is slow to warm up, but I bet he'll do great with someone who can give him gentle attention.
Another guy with ear issues is Herbie. He was abandoned early in life, as he's only about 4 months old now. The vets examining him made the determination that he is deaf, so he is recommended for homes without small children (bundles of energy that can sneak up on him and surprise him). Despite being an adorable cutiepie, he's been out on the adoption floor for a few days already.
I stayed with him for a while, and he had a very disarming way of approaching me. He bowed down and reached out with one paw to touch my hand a few times before he brought his body within touching distance. Eventually, though, he would enthusiastically push his head up against my hand. He especially enjoyed getting pet under his jaw. Near as I could tell, he might have had a small bit of hearing. He didn't seem very good at determining direction, but I think he could sometimes tell who was talking without following other visual cues from the nearby humans. If you want to meet him yourself, he's housed in the cat area because he's too small to keep in the usual dog kennel area.
Both Tiki and Herbie are currently available for adoption at the Golden Valley shelter.
Story: Our Buffalo shelter has a separate building for incoming animals. One night, one of the dogs managed to escape out of his kennel and then again out of the back room that houses the kennels. He had a long time to roam free in the front lobby of the building, managing to knock around lots of equipment during his "tour of the facility". Buffalo discovered in the morning that they had no working computer equipment to use for processing incoming animals.
So I made an early trip to take replacement equipment to them. Our Facilities people were also there to repair damaged doors and to work on ways to better secure the kennels too. At some point, both site staff and the facilities staff were out of the building and back over at the main adoption building. I was there alone working on customizing the Windows profile on the new machine. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed movement.
Another dog was wandering around the room, heading slowly towards the exam room. Yikes! He was a tiny, tiny dog. Not small enough to squeeze through chain links, but you get the idea. Really small. I picked him up and held him in the palm of one hand while I called over to the main building to get someone to take the little guy back to his kennel. Meanwhile, I continued typing with my free hand to finish up that Windows profile. Staff and facilities showed up again, and started brainingstorming ways to keep such a small tyke in the area where he needs to stay.
I overheard the staff say that they were glad they'd already tested all those incoming puppies. I'm just happy to report that I don't have ringworm. The incoming puppy had spent several minutes licking my face while I held him at the computer desk. I should be more careful, but he was just too cute to resist. :)
How to help: We're still many weeks away from our annual fundraiser, but I'll make an early notice here. The I.T. staff have formed our own little team on the webpage for online fundraising. Here are the links to my page and to our team page. Contributions benefit only my organization. I'll work in future issues on thinking of suggestions that can work for people to help their local group, wherever they happen to be.