Feline Frenzy Plus
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?