Lunch Puppy

Today was one of those days that I felt like throwing in the towel early...so by the time I went home I pretty much just took a shower and knocked out. Hopefully tomorrow will be a much better day! Yesterday I did dog adoptions all day and 9 were able to go home; such an awesome day :) Then today we received about 7 new dogs...sigh, it's a never ending cycle. 

I thought I'd just share some pictures of the puppy I spent most of my lunch break with today - hence the name "Lunch Puppy"! She's a small Boston/terrier mix that came from a litter of 5 (mentioned in a previous post). Her other brothers and sisters have already gotten adopted and she's the only one left. She's getting treated for a punctured eye in Iso, so I've been trying to socialize with her since she's all alone! :(

Here are pictures after the mini-photo shoot I had of her during my lunch break (in order):

I managed to creep in and take a picture of her while she was sleeping. Yes in that position...

And then she woke up!

Look at that face :)

Oh hello there!

 

Did you come to play with me?

And then she started getting more and more rambunctious...

OoOoh a string...

What's over here?

Made my day better :)

May I chew on you?

Oh, what's this?

Nom nom nom...

I swear I would only let a cute puppy like her chew on my book - she thought it was a delicious treat! This is the book I am currently reading called Dog Sense by John Bradshaw. I'm going to cover a topic I've been reading and learning about in my next post...so stay tuned!

Mr. Fluff the Persian

I have this love/hate relationship with Saturdays...I LOVE that we get a lot of people in and a lot of adoptions. I hate how stressful the day can be and how exhausted I feel at the end of the day. I worked in cat Iso (Isolation) for the entire morning since we have a full house...around 40 sick kitties. Yikes! It takes a lot of work to medicate and clean in Iso, so we didn't finish until around 11am. There was also one young orange cat that made cleaning a bit more difficult. He learned how to open his cage by body slamming himself against the door and I'd find him walking around the room like it's all good. I freaked out the first time because I couldn't find him until I saw the tip of a tail underneath the cages...he then ran right up to me and nudged his head against my leg in affection. How could I get mad at him after that? Silly kitty.

Later, an orange cat named Rascal from one of my previous posts was adopted out and sent home today. He's been at the shelter since early January and is such a friendly and sweet cat that really deserved a good home. YAY to happy endings!

Persian Cat

I also wanted to share with you one of my favorite cats at the shelter named Mr. Fluff.

They originated from Persia, modern-day Iran, and have become a very popular breed in the United States. Persians were pets for royalty at one point in time, with owners such as Queen Victoria, and now they are one of the most popular pedigreed cat in North America. They are unique with their short flat pushed in face (doll-like) and thick fluffy coat. Personality wise, they are extremely sweet and serene companions...not at all an active or energetic breed. They prefer a calm environment, although they can easily adapt to a louder environment if their needs are met. Mr. Fluff has a special lion trim cut that was most likely done because of matted hair and to keep him cool (in this Florida weather). I'll update on him if he gets adopted :)

Last but not least, I wanted to post two pictures of a big old pit who was adopted out today to a wonderful new home. His name is Buddah and his friendly personality won me over the day he arrived at the shelter. Thankfully he was at the shelter for only about three weeks and not any longer. Here are the pictures I took of him today:

What a day!

Wow...what a day. I don't even know where to begin! We were a bit short staffed today, meaning we had our work cut out for us. My 8 hour work shift felt like it all happened within an hour...by the time I knew it was 5 o'clock and time to clock out! I usually get to the shelter around 7:20 am and start the cleaning in either cats or dogs, and today I was in cats. We had plenty of work to do, including cleaning the cages and scrubbing out the 4 free roam rooms. To top it off, we have these HUGE new cat trees in the rooms which are wonderful...but a pain in the butt to move in order for us to clean the rooms (pictures below). We need to finish cleaning by 9:45 since we open at 10am, but today we barely finished at 9:50 and didn't have time to get a break.

Some of the cats enjoying the tree houses that were donated :)

Anyways, after cleaning we opened the doors and already had people lined up in front of cat and dog receiving. (-____-) That's all I can say to that. I received the first 2 cats and then 4 kittens right after. Luckily they were all healthy and in good shape, so they were all able to be put up for adoption! I then ran over to dogs and did the dog meds, then worked up front (adoptions) for most of the day; I was the only dog adoption counselor on staff and I am proud to say that I can finally do all the paperwork comfortably and feel confident in adoptions. I sent Boosie home today from my previous post and helped the new owners lift him into their car - he was a bit woozy from the surgery. He gave me a big wet doggy kiss after putting him in the can...which was pretty much the highlight of my day :)

I also did five adoptions; three of them were sent home today and two were put up for spay/neuter for tomorrow morning. For being so short staffed and having a million things to do on top of that...it was a great dog adoption day! Throughout the day we also had some other things come up, such as a dog getting loose (from a customer, not ours) and girl scouts getting a tour of the shelter. AND to top it all off, we still had to deal with the Parvo incident from yesterday and had to clean out some kennels and areas over again with bleach then let it soak...meaning our space was limited.

Somehow we managed and at the end of the day, being able to have dogs and cats get adopted out to good homes makes it all worthwhile :) It can be really stressful at times and there are moments where I feel like escaping and just hiding in a kennel with the dogs. All they do is give us love and are always excited to see us...I couldn't ask for a better stress reliever there.

VIDEO

Here's a video I've been meaning to add of two ADORABLE terrier puppies that were recently adopted at the shelter. After watching this video, you'll see what I mean by how excited they are to see you! If I'm ever feeling stressed or overwhelmed at times, I take a minute to sit in a kennel and just enjoy their company :)

The Dreaded Parvo

 PARVO!!! One of the most dreaded and scariest diseases you could get at a shelter or kennel. Parvo is something that kennels sometimes have to deal with and fortunately we haven't had to in a while, but I decided to research on it anyways. I have also decided that in my blog, I will write about health topics, behavior related topics, and of course the shelter life. Whatever inspires me the most that day, especially if something stood out, is what I will generally write about. And since I am striving to go to Veterinary School, you will definitely find plenty of health related blog posts as it will benefit me in learning about all this crazy stuff. It's always good to learn something new right? :)

What is Parvo?

Let me start out by first explaining what Parvovirus, or Parvo, really is. Canine Parvovirus is a highly contagious viral disease that is caused by the canine parvovirus type 2 (CPV-2) virus. It is very common in puppies under 6 months and is easily transmissible to other dogs through feces and bodily fluids; but can also be passed through the objects that came into contact with the virus. Symptoms are shown after the incubation period, which is usually 4-6 days. This is lousy for puppies at the shelter because it makes it difficult for us to detect the signs of parvo early, before they get adopted (puppies get adopted fairly quick). It's a very unfortunate and rare case...but it does happen and when it does, it causes everyone a lot of heartache.

Clinical Signs

• Foul smelling diarrhea
• Vomitting
• Lethargy
• Fever
• Loss of appetite
• Dehydration - this is usually what results in death if not treated quickly! 
• Sudden death

Treatment & Prevention

If treated early and aggressively, many puppies can recover after weeks of treatment. It is extremely difficult to treat in a shelter because of the high risk rate of exposure and the stressful environment the dog is in. A veterinary hospital with the proper tools is required to provide supportive care. 85 - 90% of dogs can surpass this terrible disease if treated early, but the mortality rate is as high as 90% if not caught early or treated at all. In other words...PARVO SUCKS!

There is one saying that I abide by now and will continue to preach:

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. 

This goes for SO many other illnesses and diseases that can be avoided for both cats and dogs through early prevention. For dog owners, the best thing you can do to prevent your dog from getting parvo is to make sure that they are up to date on all of their shots and vaccinations (especially distemper). As an Animal Care Specialist and future Veterinarian (positive thinking!), it is crucial to educate people about why prevention is SO important and how it can help avoid you some serious vet bills.

For example, a simple chewable monthly tablet of Heartguard can prevent a dog from contracting Heartworms; which is very common in warm weather. Heartworms in dogs is a slow killer and it generally takes over 3 months of serious treatment to get rid of. Not to mention that amount of money it takes! Prevention is key to a happy and healthy animal that will live a long fruitful life.

Boosie

And now to end the post on a lighter note...meet Boosie [pronounced BOO-SEE]. This guy was definitely a favorite of mine at the shelter and I am so happy that he got adopted today! I took these pictures yesterday and was gonna write about him then, but of course I got writers block and sort of lazy. Today I was gonna write about him and BAM, he got adopted! He's a 2 year old Chocolate Lab/American Bulldog mix that is ridiculously loving and playful. I was prepared to take this guy home if he stayed at the shelter for too long! Here are some pictures of him enjoying the outdoors during my lunch break :)

Angry people...and more PUPPIES!

Yesterday I had the day off but from what my co-workers told me, I missed quite an interesting day! We had one lady who got her application for a dog denied because she lost a cat she adopted from us (and didn't really seem to care) and has a history of neglecting pets. Apparently she threw a HUGE fit and after yelling at the top of her lungs in the lobby, she proceeded to go outside and knock down one of our signs. To make it even worse, she had two young children with her (one who couldn't even walk), which didn't seem to slow her down one bit. The cops were called on her for damage to the property and I hope that they look more into her history for the safety of those kids.

This type of situation is EXACTLY what I'm worried about encountering when doing adoptions. I haven't had to deny an application yet, but I'm hoping that when I do...it won't go down like that. Here's to hoping! People who are denied for dogs (I've seen) act a lot crazier and usually are a lot more angry than the people in cats. I'm not sure if it's because they become attached to the idea of getting the dog or what, but I'm not looking forward to it. I enjoy approving applications and actually sending the dogs out to good homes; it genuinely makes my day! :) You know what else makes my day? Puppies! So here are some more puppies for you to gush over.

Big Puppies

This pair came in on Thursday and have both been adopted and sent home since then. Both are only three months old (!!!) and are German Shepard/Great Dane mixed named Sakura and Buddy. Sakura was actually adopted by one of my co-workers and went home today. So you'll probably get an update for her in one of my future blog posts :)

Small Puppies

All the staff and volunteers have been besotted with these cuties and have been gushing over them ever since they arrived. They are eight week old Boston/Terrier mix puppies and three of them have already been adopted while the other still waiting to be adopted. I can't get enough of puppies...seriously.

Extra Small Puppies!

Say hello again to the smuppies (as my boyfriend likes to say), the extra small puppies! These two are the newborn pups that were born at the shelter about a week ago, and so far they've been doing very well! Cookie, the mom, has been an excellent and very attentive mother. They haven't opened their eyes yet but I'll update on these two later once they start walking and being more alert. I'm gonna see if I can think of some cute names for them soon :)