Newborn Pups and Rory Goes Home

Newborn Puppies

Well I definitely got a little surprise the other day while feeding the dogs...I found a small little black rat looking thing beside one of our dogs, Cookie, a Jack Russel terrier mix. I went inside to get a closer look and to my surprise I realized it was a newborn puppy! You can just imagine the shock I was in when I realized what it was. It must have been only 30 minutes old because not even an hour ago she looked normal. It was quite surprising to all of us because she did not look pregnant AT ALL; she was extremely hyper and energetic like the other dogs and she definitely did not look heavier. I tried to take a picture of the puppies but in today's rush...I took a pretty dismal picture, but I tried!

We ended up moving her into a kennel on the inside, not on the adoption side, and made a whelping box for her in a quite and warm area so she could finish giving birth to the rest of her puppies. Dogs can be in labor for up to 24 hours and usually have each puppy within 1-2 hours of each other. So an hour later we saw the second puppy come out - 2 healthy puppies! I also called the vet over to check her out and see if she was ok; he said she looked fine as did the puppies and just to keep an eye on her to make sure she is taking care of her pups. It is not necessary for us to intervene unless we see that the mother is not licking them or nursing them. Cookie ended up having only those 2 puppies and thus far, has been a wonderful mommy! She has been eating well, nursing the puppies, and watching over them like any good mother. Once her puppies are old enough to be separated from her, they will be fostered out until they are old enough to be put up for adoption. Such a cool experience to be a part of and watch! I've seen 3 live foal births and now I can add puppies to that :)

Here's some pictures of Cookie -the last one is a dark pic of her curled up with her 1 hour old puppy snuggled inside:

Rory goes home!

In my previous post I wrote about a wonderful dog named Rory that I was going to work with. In this past week (that I've neglected to write...), I was able to socialize with him and get him to loosen up.

As you can see in the first picture, he was confused and timid and didn't really know what to do with himself. Rory's ears were laid back and he just kind of sat there staring at me...for a good 5 minutes. He quickly figured out what to do in the next few minutes once he realized that all I wanted was to play with him. I couldn't stop him from playing after that little breakthrough and had to coax him to get back on his leash to go back to his kennel! It's like he had all this pent-up chipper energy caged in him somewhere and once he realized that he could be happy, he let all that happy dog energy loose! Silly puppy.

I was off on Saturday and I got a text from a coworker saying that Rory had got adopted. I was so excited he got adopted and that he was able to show someone else what a lovable and friendly dog he is. I think it's a good thing I wasn't there when he left because my sappy self probably would've cried or been sad to see him go...when I am obviously elated that he went home! It's such a wonderful feeling to see them actually walk out those doors with their new family and begin their new life with them.

I thought I would share a video of him on the day I was able to get him to play for the first time. Again, I apologize for the not so great video quality...I'll upgrade eventually!

Kitten Season is Coming!

When we start getting boxes full of kittens...that's when we know kitten season is upon us. We received about 15 kittens in these past two days alone; and this is just the beginning of it! Many people find these kittens outside their homes from a feral cat or "miraculously" their indoor/outdoor cat became pregnant and had kittens. This is why spaying and neutering our pets is so crucial! This is also including feral cats. Our mission is to reduce the number of unwanted pets and rehoming those who are homeless already; and the only way to spread that message is through educating the public. In the meantime, our job is to help these homeless pets and give them a temporary home until they can have a more permanent home.

Out of the 15 kittens, 5 were too young to be put up for adoption so they will be sent to a foster home tomorrow and the rest have been put up for adoption. 3 of them were adopted out yesterday, and 2 out today. These furry little kittens go so quick!

How can I help?

There are so many ways for you to help! I'm asked this all the time and having the community involved in helping the shelter animals is very important. First thing is first, ADOPT! If you can't adopt then foster. If you can't foster then volunteer. If you can't volunteer then donate.

What can I donate?

The easiest and most helpful thing you can donate is: money. Any donation, big or small, is a big help to a rescue organization. There are also a lot of other items you could donate, household items, that we use as well:

-Towels
-Cat Litter
-Bleach
-Blankets
-Toys
-Canned food
-Crates and cages
-and more!

Those are the basics but ANYTHING helps! We go through so many towels, cat litter, and bleach on a daily basis that we are constantly in need. And I'm sure other rescues are just as appreciative and in need as we are. So think about your local shelter from time to time, they could use your help :)

UPDATE

Remember Rebel from the previous post? The people who adopted him ended up cancelling, meaning he went back up for adoption today. It turns out that he is also partially deaf! Most likely something in his genetics that correlates to his bright blue eyes and white coat color. Found it pretty interesting and thought I would share :)

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! Unfortunately, I wasn't able to spend my Easter with my family because I had to work from 7am to 11am today...le sigh. Some of us have to go in to clean and feed the animals, but at least we were able to leave early and relax for the rest of the day. The plus side is that I got to see some of my furry friends and wish them a Happy Easter :) I was going to bring them some goodies but I got crunched for time, so I'm going to make it up to them somehow. Yummy treats maybe?

The puppy in the top picture is named Rebel; he's a 7 month old Whippet mix with blue eyes and huge dumbo-like ears. He was adopted the day after he came in, which doesn't surprise me since puppies never last at the shelter. They go home so quick which is awesome! But I also try to remind people about the perks of adopting an older pet. Anyways, here's a video of the crazy Rebel playing tug-of-war with me.

 
I also have a new buddy at the shelter named Rory, a 9 month old Great Dane/Dalmation mix boy. He came into the shelter about 2 weeks ago and had to have a minor surgery to remove a lump on his back. He is in recovery now and will be put up for adoption soon after he completely heals. Rory is my current project; he is VERY skittish of people and whenever any of us walks by his cage, he runs to the back and cowers in the corner. It breaks my heart that such a young puppy is so scared of people and it makes me wonder what must have happened to him earlier, in his critical period of puppyhood? Those first few months are the most important time period in getting a dog socialized with people and other animals. It is much more difficult to socialize an animal after that time period, but it is still very doable! It just requires a bit more time and patience. This is Rory:

Here are some more pictures of Rory - notice the last picture with the arrow pointing to the tail in between his legs. I hope I can show you all pictures of his progress and maybe even one of him playing!

I was able to walk him the other day and once I got him out of his kennel and into the rec yard, he began to loosen up a bit and started smelling everything around him. He seemed more comfortable and actually came up to me to be petted and then sat right next to me. Progress! I hope to work with him more this week and increase his chances of getting adopted by working on his behavior using positive methods. He is so young and deserves a chance of being adopted into a loving home. Stay tuned :)

My Artsy Self

Hello again! Greetings from Monkey, a very sweet and independent kitty at the shelter. I was able to catch him in the best pose and wanted to share it :)

So there's been a lot going on in the shelter...mainly that we are close to reaching capacity in the dog building :( We've been receiving and intaking dogs at an alarming rate (to me) and it hasn't stopped! For example, today when we opened at 10 am, there were four people outside in line to relinquish their pets. That's nuts! And it didn't stop until sometime in the afternoon. We also have a good amount of small dogs which is unusual...meaning adoptions have kind of slowed down these past couple of weeks since we usually just have big dogs. People need to start coming in so we can adopt these guys out!

The temperature during the day has also been rising and I am not looking forward to what the summer has to bring. If it's already in the high 80s and mid 90s now, I can't even imagine how unbearable it's going to be in the summer. I tried to take as many dogs as I could out today and get them into the rec yard to play in the doggy pool and with the hose. I am so not ready for the summer...lol.

Every once in a while I like to do some arts and crafts and thanks to Pinterest, I felt inspired to to this painting the other day. I stumbled upon this DIY idea from this awesome blog called The Space Between, and I decided to make something similar.

Ta-dah! I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but the background is a light purple and just incase, it's a dog silhouette. I printed out the silhouette and drew a grid on the printed paper, then I drew a grid on the wood board and drew it out with the help of the grid. I went old school with this...didn't think I could eyeball it. Here are some more pictures of when I was making it and then after I hung it up in my office space. I love how it came out :)

I also painted some ceramic bowls at a DIY ceramic paint store for my kitty cat Jax. I wrote his name on the side and on the back of one bowl, the date I adopted him. Here are some pictures of them:

Lastly, I found these cute pears online and decided to print them out and glue them onto a rectangular board I painted white. I was originally going to paint them on but I decided just to use Mod Podge glue to stick the pretty pears onto it. The pictures I posted here of the board is still the unfinished product (still need to paint it all white)...but I thought I would include it so you could get the idea! I'm going to hang it in the kitchen once I'm done with it. It's nice to unwind with some arts and crafts every once in a while :)

Little Bit the 30 Pound Cat

First there was Scruffy, a very hefty and round kitty that up until Little Bit arrived, was the biggest cat I've ever seen. I would always marvel at his big size and thought to myself, how in the world does this cat even move? Pfft little did I know that an even bigger cat would come into the shelter not too long after Scruffy arrived.

 

Meet the star of this post, Little Bit. This 8 year old girl was brought into the shelter because her previous family was moving and the new apartment didn't allow cats. Ironically, her name would fool anyone because she is ANYTHING but little. She weighed in at a whopping 30 pounds and after testing her urine and having the vet check her, besides her weight, she is relatively healthy. We wanted to rule out any thyroid or other health issues that might explain her weight problem. Turns out it was clear negligence from her owners who fed her constantly and probably had no room for her to run around. 

So now, Little Bit is our current fat camper and is not up for adoption until she loses some weight. She is such a sweet cat that purrs like crazy whenever you pet her and give her some love. Also, because of her humongous size, she can barely walk and has to army crawl her way around. It's a miracle that she can even use the litter box! Little Bit also can't groom herself properly because she can't reach most of her body to lick it clean...as a result she is a bit stinky. Anytime I have some free time, I head back to the room she is at and wipe her down with this waterless shampoo for cats and brush her fur. Someone's gotta do it!

Like I said in my previous Fat Camper's post, it is crucial for us as owners to monitor our animals' food intake and make sure they don't overeat. It is easy to let that happen since many people just leave out food all day and continue to refill when it is empty. People are "killing them with kindness" and it is not necessary to refill! Limit the food to a certain amount either once or twice a day; or better yet ask your Vet to see what the proper caloric intake your pet needs.

Overweight cats end up having a much shorter life span than cats at their normal weight (just like people). They are in high risk of diabetes, lameness, liver disease, dental diseases, and chronic skin conditions. The overall wellness of our pets can sometimes be tricky and even the best of pet owners can let their cat or dogs gain weight. That is why going to the Vet and making sure you are taking the appropriate steps to keeping your pet healthy is very important.

VIDEO

Here is a video I took of the pudgy Little Bit when I was in the back grooming her. I was able to capture her trying to walk so you can see for yourself how real the problem is. Our goal is to reduce her weight by upping her daily physical activity and limiting her food intake.