Tales from the Oakdale Animal Shelter

We thought that since a couple of dogs were redeemed by their owners, one went to the vet for his neuter, and 3 kittens were adopted and went to their new homes, there would be a few empty spaces.  But there is no reprieve.  No sooner than there was an empty kennel, Officer Jim got a call to go out and pick up another stray. 

We recognized the big red dog as he got her out of the truck.  She was a beautiful French Mastiff (dogue de Bordeaux) just like the dog in the movie, Turner and Hooch.  If you saw the movie you will remember that Hooch slobbered a lot and our new boarder did the same.  Since it was a female and we didn't know her real name, we call her either Hoocherina, or Hoochette.  Officer Jim knew who the owner was and called and left a message right away.  Since Hoocherina has been in before, isn't spayed, and is a second offender, her bail will likely be about $150.00.  Yikes--That ought to be a good reason to have your dog spayed or neutered.  It's a whole lot less expensive to bail them out if they get lost and picked up by animal control.

 I had picked up 4 kittens from the vet who had been spay/neutered.  I put together all their adoption paperwork so that if they were adopted over the weekend, they were all set and ready to go.  Since they hadn't eaten since the previous afternoon, they did some serious chowing down as soon as they were put in their kennel.  Pudge the little male seemed to be feeling pretty perky and was already climbing up the kennel door like a little monkey.

I took pictures of some new cats and will post them all on www.petfinder.com. There is a very nice mama orange tabby with 4 kittens who are already weaned. She is quite tame, but the little  ones are pretty hissy, spitty.  But they settle down once you pick them up.  They are only about 6 weeks old and young enough to tame down with lots of handling and socializing.  Tracy, our Cat Whisperer, will whip them into shape in no time.

We have several dogs in limbo.  One 7 year old Llasa Apso has an owner, but there is some question as to whether he wants him back or wants to surrender him.  Until that gets sorted out, he stays at the shelter and can't get adopted.  Darn.  He is a very cute guy.

The 9 maltese are still there and there is no telling if/when their neglect case will move forward. Today Ann and I brushed them all and cut out more of the matts and they are starting to look like real dogs and no longer smell so badly.  They were all loaded with fleas when they first came in and  now their hair is starting to grow back since we've gotten rid of the fleas.  We all feel so sorry for them.

 The mama pit bull and her 3 puppies have a known owner, but Officer Jim needs to wait until the registered letter is unclaimed before they are available for adopted.  The mama is pretty growly with strangers, and very protective of her puppies.   Her chances of making it out of the shelter are slim to none, but her puppies have a good chance.  We did notice that the little tan male has what must be a birth defect. His penis is not quite normal and he doesn't appear to have any testicles.  I'll see what I can find out online, and then take him to the vet for a check up next week.  Officer Jim says he's never seen anything like it and he's been doing this job for almost 20  years.

Higgins, the beautiful parti-colored tan/white cocker, didn't yet get adopted as we expected, so we postponed his neuter appointment until next week.  Maybe he will get adopted this weekend.

We got all the dogs walked even the little Maltese.  A couple of them don't seem to know how to walk on a leash, but they are getting better.  Don Juan, our bite quarantine, is out of quarantine and gets to go home today.  We all still think he got a bad rap, and never was really a "bite case", but we have to follow the procedures.  Today at least Don Juan got to go out on a real walk. He was happy, happy, happy.

I went back to the shelter after hours to pull the food for Maxwell, the little brown terrier. He got adopted and will be neutered tomorrow.  He has to fast before his surgery.

When I went back to the shelter, Hoocherina was gone, but a beautiful German Shepherd puppy was in the same kennel.  I vaccinated the pup for Parvo/distemper and  emailed German Shepherd rescue to give them a heads up in case she isn't claimed by anyone. 

 A long weekend is coming up so we'll all have a few days off until Tuesday.

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Thursday--What a day! 

Ann, and Edith were both there so we started out walking dogs right away.   When we walk the dogs, it's a good time to discuss things.

I'd been thinking of ways to increase the spay/neuter surgeries with a couple of local vets so we wouldn't have to take them to the one who seemed to have more infections and complications after surgeries.  I ran my idea by Ann and Edith and they liked it.

 After walking the dogs, I asked Officer Jim if we could pre-schedule neuters on a couple of highly adoptable dogs so that  they could be fixed and ready to go to a new home right away.  I'd done some price comparisons with other vets and our local favorite was pretty competitive with neuter prices, but much more expensive with spay prices.  However they usually needed more lead time for appointments that the vet we had been using.  I introduce the idea that we might consider subsidizing the cost of the spays since we had plenty of money in the City's spay/neuter fund.  Once we've developed a track record of a spay/neuter program, we might be able to get a grant to keep the subsidizing program going.  It's got possibilities that we can explore further.

 Officer Jim approved the pre-scheduling and we picked out the 2 dogs to send first--Shiloh the mellow yellow lab, and Higgins, the easygoing cocker spaniel.  We figured they were the most adoptable and would go before anyone else.  Boy, were we wrong.

Tracy came by and took the Wishes and Magic to her house. She will foster them until they are big enough to spay/neuter and get adopted.  Tracy brought one of her other foster kittens, Flash, by.  He had a couple of suspicious spots and we used the Woods Lamp (black light) on the spots.  The spot on Flash's nose flouresced green which indicates ringworm. Darn.  I'm new at using the Woods Lamp so we'll confirm at the vet on Monday. We'll also need to have one of her other foster kittnes checked over because she and Flash are playmates.  Trinket hasn't shown any symptoms, but she has been exposed.  We want to nip and problems in the bud.  Ringworm isn't life threatening like Panleuk (feline dystemper) but it is contagious to other animals including humans.  both kittens will need to be kept separate.  We'll investigate more on how to treat and keep the risk of infection to a minimum.

It was another non-stop day.  A young man came out to look at Little Charlie, the rottie/shepherd mix who is recovering from a severe allergy and will need a few weeks for his hair to grow back before he looks like the handsome dog he really is.  The young man took Little Charlie out for a walk and loved him.  He also said he would be willing to continue giving him his antibiotics if he could take him home now.  Called the vet again, and squeezed L. Charlie in for a neuter on Wednesday.  What a nice surprise.

 While the young man was still making arrangements for his new best friend, a family came by looking for a small dog.  They were immediately attracted to Smarty, a yippy but darling fluffy white terrier mix.  Smarty had a couple of strikes against him:  He was an older dog at least 8 years old.  He needed his teeth cleaned.  He had a lump in the corner of his eye, that might be "cherry eye" and could mean surgery.  It didn't take long for them to decide that Smarty was the dog for them.  Their vet was our local vet, and they were prepared to pay the extra cost for whatever it was going to take to get Smarty all fixed up.  Woo hoo!  Oh happy day.  The woman said, "We want to adopt a dog that might not have as much chance as a younger dog."  I love that attitude.

The family wanted to get Smarty home as soon a possible and the next available appointment was Thursday.  Oh dear, what can we do about that?  Let's let Smarty take Higgins' spot on Tuesday and we'll delay Higgins until Thursday.

 We're on an adoption roll now, but Shiloh were not the first to go as we expected. 

Time to wrap up at the shelter ,and get home so we can clean up and then come back down to get ready for Farmers' Market.  But no, wait---Nancy, the woman who adopted Chica, the little shy chihuahua, stopped by with 7-Ups on ice for our refreshments, and to get more acquainted with Chica. 

Edith needed to leave, and so did Ann.  Once Nancy left, I finished up a few minutes later and zipped home.

At 4PM we were all back at the shelter to load up crates, adoption supplies, water, kittie litter and animals.  I took Higgins, the cocker and the 2 five month old brothers, Jason and Marmalade.  Ann had the tables and chairs in the back of her Blazer, so she said she would let Shiloh ride up front in the passenger seat.  Shilow wasn't too keen on hopping up into the car, so Ann and I did some lifting and shoving to get him in.  Edith took the crate containing the 4 two month old black/gray tabbies. 

When we got to 3rd Avenue, there had been some juggling around of the spaces so we were now in another spot which was 2 doors down from the Elegant Pantry.  It just meant I had to walk a few steps further to get my Cherry Italian Soda when I got thirsty.  No big deal. 

 As soon as we pulled up, the kids started gathering.  Who did we bring tonight?  Where are the dogs?  Do you have any puppies?  Are the kittens here yet?  We've got a system now for setting  up so we can do it now in about 15 minutes. 

The Farmers Market is new for Oakdale and this is the 5th week.  Vendors have been increasing and foot traffic is also increasing.  Shiloh, the mellow yellow lab, got plenty of attention. No surprise there since labrador retrievers are the most popular breed in the US.  It wasn't long before he got adopted by a nice lady who had a high energy female lab at home who could use a companion and playmate. 

The 4 tabbies provided entertainment by climbing like monkeys all over the crate sides and hanging upside down.  Smudge would "attack" Pudge's waving tail, and Hillary and Ashley wrestled each other.  I lost count of how many times we heard, "Oooooh, aren't they soooooo cute." and "Mom, can we get one?"  Marmalade would lie with his head resting across the back of his brother Jason's neck.  More, "Oooooh, isn't that so cute?"  Sooooo cute, is what attracted one family to adopt both brothers.  After all, you just couldn't separate those two, who were obviously so fond of each other, right?

As usual at Farmers, we see lots of people we know.  I met a nice woman from Southern California who was in Oakdale visiting relatives.  She is a huge animal lover and big proponent of adopting animals from a shelter rather than buying pets from a breeder. She also helps small businesses build their websites.  I told her about our website under construction, and my blog.  She thought it was a great idea.

So I've lost count of all the adoption today.  Let's see--Little Charlie, Smarty, Shiloh, Marmalade, and Jason.  What a great day.

Farmers Market is really a great thing for us.  It allows us to showcase the animals in a more festive, friendly environment. 

When it was time to go back to the shelter we counted the money in our donation jar. Only 11.00 tonight but that's okay.  Every little bit helps.  We just spent $115.00 on more vaccines.  Donation amounts have varied from a high of $39.00 to tonight's $11.00.  Next Thursday starts the big Oakdale Centennial Celebration.  It might be a very big night for us.

Save a life.  Adopt your next pet from a shelter. 

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The other volunteers and I all agreed to meet at the shelter after 9am to avoid being there during any euthanzasias. We all understand the reality of a Municipal "pound" but prefer to have it happen out of our presence.

 From the time we all arrived, it was a frenzied pace.  One sick kitty was gone, but another was in it's place and all 8 cages were full with some kittens doubled up.  No room at the inn for any more cats for now.

Ann and I decided to walk dogs first while it was still cool.  Today we started with the big dogs.  I took Shiloh the gorgeous yellow lab, Ann took Little Charlie who seems to look better each day now that he is flea free, and Edith took the little Shih Tzu who pooped out half way and she ended up carrying him part of the way.  Two more rounds of walks and all the walkable dogs got their exercise. 

 Just as I started gathering all  the supplies and paperwork for doing dog vaccinations, a woman from Pug Rescue showed up for the Pug. I had just posted him on Petfinder about 7am and here she was.  She obviously wasn't going to take a chance that someone would beat her to the punch. There was some tricky phone call juggling, with Pug Rescue calling her director to fax over the 501C non profit paperwork, and Officer Jim on his phone calling over to the PD to see if the fax was coming through. 

Meanwhile the woman who was adopting Lillie, my little senior doxie, showed up to make the arranements and take her home.  I excused myself and went to bring Lillie's new mom up to date on her meds and remaining treatment for her ear infection.  Her new mom was worried that Lillie had really bonded to me, but when the car door opened, Lillie hopped right in. I thing she will make the transition, no problem.  Her new mom also gave a generous donation to Shelter Pet Alliance to help with Lillie's vet expenses.  Woo hoo!

Just as I was saying goodbye to Pug Rescue and Lillie's mom, Dr. Lindsay showed up with a stray lab in the back of her truck to be scanned for a microchip.  She found him running down the road near Modesto a few days earlier, and had checked the lost listings in the paper.  Scanned him, no chip. She'll get him into Lab Rescue and he will find a good home.  Lindsay also dropped off a big supply of wormer to help the dogs and cats.   I took her over to the office to introduce our friend and supporter to Officer Jim, and Ann came to the door with blood running down her arm.  Uh oh, trouble.

The handsome 7 year old neutered male cat that we planned on taking to Farmer's Market tomorrow attacked Ann without warning as she was trying to replace his water bowl.  No warning hiss, just jumped on her arm--Whammo! He nailed her pretty good.  A serious cat bite means a trip to the PD for an accident report, then over to the Doc for examination, wound cleaning, antibiotics (cat bites can cause bad infections if not treated.) and a tetnaus shot.  Ann wasn't happy about that.  Plus the cat now has to be quarantined for 10 days. No chance for adoption for this guy.

I finished giving the rest of the vaccinations, and logging it all in the chart.  Ann and Edith had fed most of the dogs before they left, so I fed the rest.  The mama pit bull growled when I opened her kennel door, but stopped when she saw I had food.  I wasn't taking any chances though and carefully slipped the bowl through the opening in the door and shut it quickly just in case her mood changed.  I didn't want to follow in Ann's footsteps.

 I was just ready to leave and a woman showed up who had seen Wished, the Siamese kitten, on the new poster. It was love at first sight. She put her name down for Wishes and will adopt her as soon as she is old enough to be spayed which will be about 2 weeks.

 Okay, can I leave now?

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We had plenty of new cats and kittens come into the shelter over the weekend.  While more cats and kittens means a lot more work, we adopted out all the available kittens with 5 going home today, so we'll need some more cutie pies to take to the Oakdale Farmers' Market Thursday evening.

New cats means checking out each one, testing their "purr" factor, and deciding which ones are healthy and adoptable.  Tracy is our "cat lady" and together we wiped goopy eyes with antibiotic ointment, applied spot flea treatment, swabbed out gunky ears with ear mite medicine.  We've got some handsome kitties with distinctive markings which means most of these kitties have "curb appeal.  We also had to come up with names.  The Oakdale Shelter is small and only has 10 primary dog kennels and 8 cat cages.  500 cats, and 500 dogs come through the shelter every year, and most are adoptable so we go through a LOT of names. 

 I got out my name notebook for inspiration.  It will be Magic and Wishes for the little black/gray tabby and his sister a seal point Siamese mix.  They won't be old enough to adopt for another couple of weeks.  Alfie is already 2 1/2 pounds to he is ready to be neutered next week.  He some goopy eyes, but no sneezing or coughing so he should be fine in a day or so.  Very cute guy and a real purring machine.  The 4 tabbies (3 females and 1 male) are also almost 3 pounds so they are ready to be spay/neutered and put up for adoption.  We named them Hillary, Ashley, Smudge (he had a little spot on his nose.) and Pudge (he was the stout male in the group.)

 After the kitties were cleaned and squared away, Ann and I started walking dogs.  We usually walk the big dogs first but switched today and started with the small dogs. I walked 2 at a time which turned out to be a mistake.  The senior Pug decided he was the top dog, and wanted to boss the little Shih Tzu around.  The Shih Tzu decided to argue and I had to do some tricky leash work to keep them apart on our way back to the shelter.  Ann "walked" Chica, the little scardy cat chihuahua by holding her in her arms the whole way.  Chica was adopted yesterday and is just waiting for her spay appointment on Friday before she goes to her new home.

 Our next round was a beautiful young male spaniel.  We can't understand why someone isn't missing this dog and why they haven't called the shelter to claim him.  If he is not claimed we will have no trouble adopting him.  After 2 rounds of little dogs, Ann and I each took a big dog.  I took Shiloh a handsome yellow lab, and she took Charlie a rottie/shepherd mix who is recovering from mange due to a severe flea allergy.  Charlie lost much of his hair and he still looks pretty odd, but it's starting to grow back and he'll be a handsome boy eventually.  It's a mystery why his family let him get this bad, but they haven't called to claim him so I guess they just didn't care.

Before we left, we gave Rascal his "last supper".  Rascal is a sweet young pit bull mix who will be euthanized, not because he is a bad dog, but because few people will adopt a pit bull teenager who is past the cute puppy stage.  We have learned over the years to not get too attached to any of the pit bulls who come to the shelter.  Very few make it out alive, but we try to make their stay at the shelter as pleasant as possible and like to give them a big serving of juicy canned dog food for their last treat.

 Tomorrow I'll tell you more about the family of maltese we have in protective custody, and the mama pit bull mix and her 3 pups.

 BC

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