Darby and Dot

Okay, so the winner was “Darby” for the black kitten! Thank you Keeler. I had to bring Darby in on Wednesday for some vaccinations and they ended up keeping her :( I was very, very sad as I was expecting to take her back home with me. The foster coordinator called me the next day she stated that the vet wanted to take a look at her as the other two kittens had gotten sick. She also said that Darby should have some friends to help promote socialization. She had talked about putting Darby into another foster home and give me some different kittens, but I objected. Anyway, it came about that I would get some new kittens along with Darby! When I went to go pick them up on Friday and it turns out that they had another solo kitten about the same size as Darby that needed a friend. They put them together and they’ve been best friends since. So now I just have two kittens. Katelyn helped name the new kitten as she really liked the name “Spot,” but since it was another girl, we decided to name her “Dot.” It is the perfect name as she actually has a little dot on the top of her head. So now I have Darby and Dot! Dot’s face is a bit swollen due to the fact that when she was alone she would bang her head on the crate door. It is getting a little better and she has stopped beating herself up since she got paired up with Darby. She is an adventuresome spirit and kinda crazy too! She jumped off my lap right on to Zoey’s back yesterday. She couldn’t hold on and so she slid down Zoey’s side claws out. Zoey just stood there and stared at her like she was crazy. The two kittens play and play, it is very cute! You can see pictures of both of them. Darby is the black one and Dot is the gray one.
Okay, back to work stuff. I ended up getting released on Tuesday! Although, I was on my own most of the week, I really didn’t do any calls all week except for Wednesday. Tuesday and Friday I had to go into Phoenix and take care of things there for work. Friday worked out though because I just stopped by the AAWL (foster shelter) to pick up my kittens on the way back. Then Thursday they had me do a clinic and kennel inspection in Apache Junction. Those activities pretty much took up most of the day. Wednesday I actually went out on 7 calls by myself. I had huge butterflies in my stomach when I went out that day, but I think I did okay. The calls were mostly just stray animals or dogs getting loose. Hopefully I will have more exciting news next time, but so far things are going great!

Good News or Bad News?

I’ll start with the good news, my little pit bull puppies, Spanky and Sparkle, were adopted!!! I’m kinda bummed because they were in and out before I got a chance to see them. Actually, I think I saw the girl, but didn’t realize it was her because she was so big. What a success story! Then today I rode with my supervisor and there is talk of being released as soon as Wednesday!!! That will be so exciting!
Now the bad, I am down to one foster kitten. I woke up Saturday morning to find that one of my kittens, the super social/playful boy couldn’t even hold his head up and could just lie on his side. He would move his paws and legs as if walking but was just moving them in the air. I got dressed and rushed him to the shelter along with the other kittens. On the way there he began a horrible meow, and you could tell he was miserable. They ended up euthanizing him on the spot. They checked out the other two kittens and both had lost a couple ounces in weight. Going from 12oz to 9.5oz is not good, especially when I am trying to get them to a 2lb mark. Anyway, the little gray tabby had a lot of nose and eye gook so they gave me some anti-biotic and eye ointment for her. She began her first dose Saturday night; she was eating and seemed to be doing ok. I borrowed a humidifier for the room to help loosen things up and everything. Well at 2am when I got home, she was lying on her side and couldn’t hold her head up. I ended up staying up with her all night, using a syringe to give her water and a little wet food. Then she began the same horrible meow as her brother. It was awful. Thank goodness for knowing people that work overnights, I was able to talk to Mike and regain some sanity (Thank You!). I took her in and they were able to get her stable. Although, I found out this afternoon that she was euthanized. I guess the two kittens were littermates and born with no thymus, which is important in youngsters to help fight infection. I also found out that the third is not related to them and, for some good news, is doing great! Earlier last week she appeared to have a limp and I almost took her in, but she looked like she was doing better by the time I had gotten off work.
Today she is pouncing on everything that moves, like Zoey’s paw, or doesn’t move, like a toy on the floor. Zoey is absolutely infatuated with this kitten. Today I fed the animals when I got home and Zoey was pacing circles around the house. She wanted to see her baby! I opened the bedroom door so Zoey could see the kitten in the crate and put her food in the bedroom. Not good enough, Zoey paced circles around the room. I opened the crate door and she gave the kitten a big wet kiss! Then she began to eat her food. Well the kitten seemed to want to explore so I let her wander out of the room. Zoey would eat a couple bites, walk out of the room, lick the kitten, get a visual on Kahlua and Ally, lick the kitten, then go back in the room for a few more bites. This cycle went on for a few times until Zoey was done eating and the kitten went back in her room. As I walked in the room, the kitten was on her back and Zoey was licking her belly. Sooooo cute!!! Zoey is very protective of the kitten (who needs a name by the way). Yesterday, I was lying in bed watching a movie and had the kitten on the bed too. Well Ally didn’t like that very much and sat on the nightstand and groaned at the kitten, who was lying on my shoulder. Then she hissed and raised her paw like she was going to swat. She was too far away to get anything so I wasn’t too worried, but did tell her to stop. Well Zoey didn’t like it at all and jumped up from lying in her spot at the foot of the bed and scared Ally away. I had to tell her to stop too. Zoey didn’t like Ally making such a fuss toward the kitten.

Checking out San Diego

My mom was kind enough to get me a connection with San Diego County Animal Services. I was able to go for a tour this past Saturday and it was beautiful! It’s a gorgeous facility that is so well catered to the animals as well as the public. It is huge compared to the shelter I work. Although San Diego is much bigger than Pinal County and I love small town feel (including less traffic) out here. Anyway, after my tour of the modern and huge shelter, I got to go on a ride along in San Diego. We went on one call for a crow that wasn’t flying, but it ended up being just a baby crow that was getting ready to fly any day now. Then we went to go resolve a neighborly dispute. You’d be amazed at how many people call animal control to “get” their neighbors. It makes me feel lucky to have such wonderful neighbors! Then our last call was an abandoned crate with a dog in it. It was a small/medium sized crate with a large dog in it. Well it should have been large. It had a large head and paws, but a tiny emaciated body. The whole crate had an awful stench coming from it and you could tell it had been in there a while. When we returned to the shelter the dog was checked by the vet and they said the dog had parvo. They had to dismantle the crate in order to get to the dog, but he was too far gone, and they had to put the dog down. It was definitely a better place for such a sad doggy to go. It is such a shame that was how he had to end his life, and such a shame that someone could abandon him in a state like that.

On a positive note, I have foster kitties!!!! I picked them up on my way back in to Phoenix. They are so cute and pictures will be sure to follow! There are three of them and each one has his or her own distinct personality. One is a little skittish girl and then there is the super social boy. Zoey is super curious about them and Ally could care less. Kahlua falls somewhere in between the two.
Hope everyone had a fantastic Memorial Day Weekend! I know I did. Oh yeah, the picture narrative: This is the little boy with all the cactus needles we pulled out last week. How sad is that! He’s all better now and I heard that his owners came to get him today too.

You haven’t seen “sad” until…

…you walk through an animal shelter on a rainy day. As you walk by their little eyes pierce yours as if saying, “Please bring me home with you where I can be warm and cozy.” The dogs that have a buddy (or buddies) with them are cuddled up close to one another sleeping. Just so sad, but just as sad, was the “aggressive” dog I picked up today, well I actually picked up four “aggressive” dogs today, but notice the quotes. They were all so sweet and mellow, and note that three of them were pit bulls. Hmmmm… Okay, well back to my sad story, the fourth dog had a run in with a cactus. It was all over his nose, paws, and inside his mouth. I had to sedate him and then a supervisor and I pulled each little sticker out one by one, including from the roof of his mouth, gums, and tongue. It was so cute when he woke up, he pulled his head up and tried to figure out where he was because I had sedated him while he was still in the truck. He continued to lay there as we double checked his paws and then I carried him into a kennel where he could finish waking up. The poor thing looked like an entirely different dog without the extra whiskers! I suppose that is more of a success story rather than a sad story! My third sad story is that I had to put down a black pit bull that looked like Zoey. And to give pit bulls another shout out, I had to sedate a couple of them today along with a couple other big dogs and I was able to use a regular syringe, go in the kennel, and inject them with the sedative. Then we also have a push pole (a syringe on the end of a pole) that we use on the dogs we don’t want to get close to. I only had to use it once today and it was on a Chihuahua. Go figure...
I’m running out of pictures, I need to take some new ones, but here is an old one I took. It’s a little kitten that we picked up from someone who found it. Isn’t it cute! I held it the whole way back to the shelter. Then an update on the two puppies, Sparkle and Spanky. I guess they are both just getting really big (according to my latesst report from the foster mom) and they are coming in to the shelter on Tuesday! I can't wait to see them!!

On my own...kinda!

Well the last couple days I’ve been moving around a little more independently. Monday I came in, prepared a group of animals to go to Phoenix on my truck and prepared a dog to go to the lab. So the first half of my day was spent on my own delivering animals to the lab and to a vet school where they will get spayed or neutered. Then I met up with my trainer and we ran some calls together.
This morning my trainer was out running priority calls on her way on in so I had to do “the list,” but this was the first time I did it unsupervised. It felt good not having someone over my shoulder and feeling a part of the team. When we finally were ready to leave the shelter we stopped the fleet yard so my trainer’s truck could get worked on. This meant we rode around in my truck! We ran some errands for the county, delivering paperwork, etc…, but then we finally went on a call. We had gone to this house yesterday and the dogs were outside with no water and no food. We left a notice on the door and gave them food and water. Today, the dogs were still there and the food and water were gone. When it’s over 100° outside, it is not okay to be without water. Also the notice was still on the door so it seemed that no one had been there since the day before. I got to run the call and decided to call my supervisor. She said to take the dogs, so we did. I got to load the dogs into my truck and take them to the shelter. Hopefully it won’t be too far off when I really will be riding solo!
I hope everyone is doing well, I know it’s really warming up out here in AZ. I actually turned the AC on this morning after a miserable night. I came home yesterday and took a nap. That was about all I got accomplished yesterday and then had a hard time going to sleep at night due to the heat. Even the dogs were miserable (they are soooo spoiled). Neither one could get comfortable last night, I could hear Zoey going in and out of the dog door, and both of them tried sleeping in the living room/ hallway on the tile. Poor Zoey tried lying down next to me on the bed and couldn’t stop panting. I put ice in their water and shared my cold watermelon with them just to try and help cool them down. This was all between 10pm and midnight and usually anytime after 9pm they are passed out in my bedroom. Things seem to be better today, now I just can’t wait for summer to be over!!

Better Late Than Never I Suppose!

Wow, I didn’t realize it had been two weeks since my last post! I’ve been staying pretty busy working for animal control and then still working a day or two at the old job. Mostly just tired, but I am looking forward to a three day weekend back home in San Diego!! Things are going well; I am getting more confident talking to the public and will be excited to be out on my own so I can do things my way! It’s getting closer. According to the schedule I should be riding with my supervisor the week of Memorial Day to be evaluated. Hopefully that works out because schedules have been known to change quite a bit lately. I’m just trying to be flexible for now. It will be nice when I’ll get into the rotation and know what my schedule will be.

One fun rescue story was 3 puppies that had been called in wandering next to the canal. They were getting close to the edge and one started going down towards the steep concrete down to the canal. I was able to get my catch pole around him before he went too much farther and fell in. Of course he probably wouldn’t have been trying to get away if we hadn’t been catching his buddies. Nevertheless, all three made it back to the shelter safe and sound. Then later that day we had to respond to a call in the middle of nowhere and the easiest route had been closed down for the day (by an idiot who robbed the Quick Trip for $200 and then when getting away from the police, ran into a semi, thus ending his life) so anyway, we went another way. I’m glad she was navigating because we did some fun off-roading. I would love to come back on the quad. I looked at a map later and I couldn’t even figure out where we had been. We were going up dirt hills where I could barely see down the other side and going down the narrow dirt pathways. I was having fun, but had to remember I shouldn’t bounce the puppies in the back around too much!
Then the picture of my lovely white boots… That is a picture of me and Michelle and we were the lucky ones selected to put down some pups that had Parvo. There were five dogs in the kennel and there was poop smeared all over the kennel floor. Parvo is very contagious so we were wearing those to limit tracking the disease to other kennels. We even stepped in that blue litter box filled with bleach after taking off the booties too.

Also last week I got to go to the Central Arizona Animal Cruelty Taskforce meeting. That was really neat as my director was there along with other people in law enforcement and other agencies. They all got together and brainstormed how to go about particular cases and ways to get their message to the public. I learned a lot about more things that Animal Control is involved in other than picking up stray dogs and barking complaints.

And Addisyn, you are welcome whenever to come chase my doggies and kitty!

A Bigger Picture

Here is the picture from the newspaper. The quality isn’t the greatest as it has been photocopied and then scanned into my computer, but if you click on the picture it should open a new page displaying the full size picture. It does on my computer at least!

It’s been a while since I’ve written my last blog, but Monday when I arrived, Bessie (the cat) had been adopted! I was relieved I didn’t have to bring another animal home, but she was a cutie! Now I have my eye on 3 other kittens that I brought in from the stray pen on Monday. They are all so cute I know they will have no problem getting adopted! My last update is on the little puppies Spanky and Sparkle. They are getting so big! They are beginning to get their teeth and are eating some wet food and drinking raw goats’ milk from a bowl. They are each developing their own personalities and are just doing so well! I can’t wait to see them get adopted.

My training is continuing to move along. I learned a lot more this week and just hoping I am moving along in the right direction. My trainer just handed me a list of calls on Thursday and said, “Here you go.” I had to decide which calls to go on first and map out how to get there. We went on one dirt road and I asked my trainer if she had ever been down this road. She said “Yep, on a quad!” Oh well, the road went through where I needed it to; it was just a little more scenic! I did make some minor mistakes while out in the field, but I was able to learn. I even had to respond to a call where the dog owner spoke Spanish. It was difficult to communicate, but somehow with some Spanglish and some charades, I think she understood what I was trying to say! Then we responded to a dead dog on the side of the road again. I asked my trainer if I was running this call on my own too. She said yes, but was kind enough to open the truck door so I could get the dog into one of the back kennels. It was a little frustrating having someone there that wasn’t being so helpful, but I know why she was. At the end of the day I was grateful because I had learned so much having to figure things out for myself instead of having someone to fall back on.

Along with the field training I have had to continue my training on euthanasia. Some of the other officers had me sedate an owner surrender to put to sleep. Then after it was sedated they gave me the syringe with the Sodium Pentobarbital to euthanize. I have found cat heart after cat heart, but this cat was incredibly stubborn (and overweight). I could not find it. Anyway after a couple attempts, the other officer took the needle and injected it with the fatal solution. Then the next day I was walking by the kennels and saw another officer kneeling down in the kennels. I walked in and she had already sedated this dog. He was 11 years old and sick so his owner surrendered him. The officer asked if I wanted to do it. Of course I didn’t, but I would rather start with one sick dog rather than a whole line of healthy unwanted dogs and puppies. It took a couple tries, but I found his heart and euthanized him. It’s a weird feeling. I know I need to do it for the job, I know why I have to do it, and I know I can do it, but I feel guilty for being able to do it. It just makes me feel like some cold hearted monster. I just have to remind myself of why it needs to be done, that no one there wants to do this or likes to do it either, and we are doing the most humane way we can. So again, please spay or neuter your pets and encourage others to be responsible pet owners as well!!! I did get my own drugs and things so next week I will have to do even more...