Work stories

I don't remember how my day started, but here's how it ended:


A couple came to surrender six cats- two adults and four kittens. The guy came in while the lady sat outside with the cats and smoked. He was pretty upset about one of the cats; the others were a stray mama cat and her kittens about 10 weeks old.

He said that they were moving and weren't allowed to have any cats in their new home. I took the cats in and as he was filling out the form outside with his wife, a volunteer said, "Aren't those the people who surrendered all those cats a while back?" And sure enough, it was. The wife had used her ID on the previous visit a month ago, so the connection wasn't made immediately. They surrendered six cats on their previous visit, 5 of which had been euthanized because of socialization/health and only one survived, honestly partly because of freak show value: he's almost 40 lbs.

This prompted a rant in receiving that there is no accountability for people surrendering animals, and that "the system is broken." Amen to that.


A family came in toward the end of the day to surrender their cat, a 10-year-old declawed medium-haired female. Why? She is incompatible with our other pets. How long have you had her? 10 years. Can you tell me exactly what is going on? Well, basically... We adopted two kittens 18 months ago and decided not to declaw them. We declawed our first cat because she scratched our baby on the face, but that was ten years ago. The new kittens just beat the hell out of her because she can't properly defend herself and won't bite. So we tried keeping her in a room by herself, but she keeps peeing on everything and everyone is miserable so we're bringing her here. Are you aware that if we cannot rehome her (and her chances are worse because of her age) that she will be put to sleep? Yes.

At this point, her son tearfully says, "So, does that mean we're taking her home?" "No."

You are a terrible person. Have fun in your car with your crying child, and congratulations on teaching them how to be a responsible adult. You deserve far worse than having your priceless possessions pissed on.


A woman with her mom came to surrender her dog, a young adult "pit" mix. Looked more like a shepherd mix to me. Everyone was busy, so she got in line. The lobby was quickly filled with the stench of infection. It was so gross we almost asked her to wait outside, but she was already in and deserved to get all the dirty looks she received.

When I got to her, she said that her kids were heartbroken, but she couldn't afford to take care of the dog. This woman was immaculate and had obviously not spared any expense on herself, but couldn't be bothered to take care of her dog. When asked what the smell was, she said, "I don't know, I think she has something infected on her neck." Could it be from the collar? "That's what I thought, but it's not." Uh huh. Has she been to the vet? "Oh, yeah, she has." Which vet? "Banfield." Right.

Not only did she lie about the dog going to the vet (she'd been seen last fall, and the only concern were her nails were too long, and today they were seriously overgrown), but she tried to give me a false address and inaccurate ID. When I got the dog to the back and had a chance to look at her, I found out that the dog's collar and harness had rubbed her skin raw. Both her neck and under her armpits were infected and open. I sat with her and started removing her torture devices and waited for the vet to come.

I was livid and would have liked nothing more than to strangle the owner. And animal control couldn't do anything because they had already surrendered the dogs; animal control usually threatens owners with cruelty unless they surrender the animals immediately.

The system is broken.


That's how my day ended, dealing with those quality people, one after the other, probably all within one hour. I was ready to hide in the bathroom until the front doors locked. So exhausted.

Work stories

2 most notable stories of the day, both sad for different reasons. 

Story one: This lady comes in to adopt a kitten that she had previously canceled her deposit on and then uncanceled, so of course I think she's a flake. Turns out her brother-in-law was killed by an underage drunk driver and she inherited his two teenaged sons, so she's understandably nervous about taking on more responsibility. But she decided to go forward and even adopt an adult she also fell in love with. We wait the ten minutes for both cat and kitten to get FIV/Felv tested. 

Of course the adult turns out to be Felv+ and is euthanized, so I have to give her a refund, apologize profusely and congratulate her on her kitten as she cries her signature onto all the paperwork. 

Kill me. 

Story 2: This woman with a bad attitude comes in with a cat in a carrier so scared he crapped in it. She proceeds to tell us how she needs to return the cat to us because he isn't using the litter box and she is getting married and moving in with her fiancé who doesn't want the cat. She has other cats and of course he hasn't been to the vet, but he's a perfect cat otherwise and oh wait he's from the SPCA, what do you mean it's not the same? 

When reminded that her contract requires her to return him from whence he came, she becomes indignant and says there's a moving truck in front of her house. 

Then she has the nerve to ask if we can get the cat shit out of her carrier. Are you f*ing kidding me?! She's lucky I didn't piss in it myself and stuff the whole mess down her throat.

Every. Day.

Sacagawea

A beagle got reclaimed today. Weird, in itself. At first I wasn't impressed with the owner, but after speaking with her and thinking about it a little, I'm glad she's being such a responsible pet owner. First off, the beagle was her first pet, and she'll readily tell you that a beagle is a terrible first dog. She won't be getting another. She also asked why unaltered animals cost more to reclaim than spayed/neutered animals, and after explaining, she said, "Yeah, I should get her spayed." Hopefully she'll do that. Then, we started talking about beagles in general and I told her how nice her little girl looked and told her that the two I've had (temporarily) had yeast skin infections. She said, "She does, too." I honestly couldn't tell. This may be the first beagle that's been reclaimed to a decent owner who actually cares about quality of life. After all the idiots and jerks, it's nice to meet someone different.

Kittens!

I've been working cats for a while. There's only one other KA who likes cats, and I don't mind, so that's what I do.

A while back, I pulled this guy from stray:

They named him Dark Angel and put him in CQ. This is back when we were at capacity and were fighting for every free space.

The front desk offered to put him up front in a kennel with them, so at least people could see him when they walked in. He had a huge sign saying he was available and awesome.

Soon after, a litter of kittens that had been running around behind the front desk were discovered to have panleuk and euthanized. DA was quarantined to his kennel. Probably fine because of age and never actually touching the floor, but at risk because of being a stray and possibly coming into contact with things/people the kittens had touched.

He was adopted anyway =)

That's when I found another kitten in stray but didn't pull him because he was sick. Receiving wanted him checked before they put him in CI for treatment. He waited for vet attention for 3 days. Finally, someone from receiving checked him themselves, and he had sores (indicative of calici). He was euthanized. Had the vets looked at him earlier, he would either have been euthanized or treated, but wouldn't have spent those three days rotting in the feral room. I'm still upset about that.

Week before last, I tried to stay in CQ as much as possible because of recent panleuk "outbreaks." On two separate occasions, about a week apart, kittens were found with panleukopenia. On the second occasion, in an effort to contain the outbreak, a dozen kittens were euthanized. I'm not sure how much about that I can say here, but someone should have been fired, no one has been, and I am still pissed about this.

Despite my best efforts, the past two weeks I've been in CS, the feral room. There were some cats and kittens I was monitoring and thinking of pulling, but luckily someone got to them first.

Mickey So Fine "feral"

Mickey So Fine "available for adoption!"

Poor Mickey. I don't know what happened to him before he got to us, but he has some pretty ugly marks on his face, what looked burns to me. You can kind of see them in the pictures. He was not ready for the floor, in my opinion, but it's better than being in the back. Hopefully he'll come around.

This past Saturday I pulled four kittens:

They named the first one after me, not knowing there were three more on the way.

Rasin & Craisin

First, I just pulled Rasin and requested his name be Raisin. Little spelling error, oh well. Then I decided to pull his brother, Craisin, the wee one in the back, in hopes that some time in CQ would help him out. Miraculously, he decided he wanted to be nice, too, and he got put on the adoption floor.

This is my favorite:

Haymitch "feral"

Haymitch "available?"

Not sure if he made it to the adoption floor yet. He had a pretty nasty booboo on his neck. Said it looked like a pustule. Ick. He is absolutely stunning and a wonderful, snuggly purr box. I was tempted to bring him home, but he needed to be looked at by the vets. I guess he looks like Zsasz to me. We still miss him.

UPDATE: Haymitch went into foster, got very fat, and was adopted by a lovely family.

It's been pretty busy in the cat rooms. We have a new volunteer who has been doing a fantastic job cuddling and adoption counseling. There have been some notable adoptions, but we could always use more.

Now, for another week. We'll see what happens.

Bad day

We were full this morning. Last night, Receiving was scrambling to find places to put incoming animals, both dogs and cats. This morning, they pulled for space. For those who don't know, "pull for space" means: Choose dog and cats to euthanize in order to make space for new ones. It is more "fair" to euthanize those who have had months to find homes than those who have just arrived and never had a chance. Truth is, euthanizing healthy, friendly animals is never "fair". The fact that our facility exists as more than a temporary stop for lost animals is not "fair".

We hold hundreds of animals. If we could hold more, I have no doubt that we would eventually fill again. Every summer, we are full to capacity, and then some. I'm so glad that I don't have the difficult job to not only choose the animals that are sacrificed but also do the sacrificing. To make that decision and then execute it must be excruciating, especially knowing how much those individuals care. This is not a career you enter into lightly. It's one where you know that you can't "win" every day. Some days, you just lose.

Honestly, I wasn't particularly upset about any of the dozen or so dogs that were pulled today. I hate to say it, but I also was not surprised about the ones that I knew. Sad because I know many of them were loved by the volunteers, but not surprised. Pit bulls are adopted far less than other dogs. I would wager that a majority of non-medical euthanasias are pit bulls. I never bought into the breed stereotypes, but my job has made me a full believer that dogs are not defined by their breed, especially one perpetuated by false media reports. But that is a rant for another day.

What upset me were some of the cat choices. Black cats are the pit bulls of cats. Like puppies, they're more adoptable when young, but once they reach adulthood, they are adopted in much lower numbers. Yesterday, I found out that my favorite cat in stray, who had been waiting for a vet exam for three days, had Calici and was euthanized. I went with him and he was out before he knew what was happening. I can't help but wonder if he had been seen earlier, would he have been okay? I know better than to dwell on questions like that, but they still pop up and are troublesome.

I didn't recognize some of the cats, but there were two that stood out. Yesterday, I told Doc that a cat had tapeworms, and she handed me the pill for treatment. I'd never actually pilled a cat, but I didn't tell her that. I knew how, and I did it. Thankfully, he was cooperative. He was euthanized this morning. Another one was China, a fat, older, very sweet and silly cat. Both were large, black, short-hair cats.

We are short staffed. Full past capacity with animals, but short in all departments except the front desk. We have been operating with half kennel staff, about 3/4 receiving, NO full-time vet, one out of two vet techs. It's getting ridiculous. I usually work 4 days with 3 days off. Tomorrow will be my sixth day in a row. I am tired, sore, stressed out, and disheartened.

Worth it

My job is hard. I come home tired and covered in who-knows-what after 10 hours on my feet. I'm sweaty, sticky, stinky, cranky, and did I already say tired? My coworkers bicker like a bunch of children, there's policy that is so out of touch it's not funny, and I constantly encounter the lowest, most sociopathic people in our county.

But Friday I pulled a kitten from stray. A big, handsome 4 month old medium-haired black kitten with huge paws. He was neutered yesterday and went home today! I can't take all the credit for saving him, but I also can't guarantee someone would have noticed him if I hadn't pulled him.

Today I made a new friend in stray. Another medium-haired black kitten, about 3 months old. He's sick, so I didn't pull him. But I gave him a blanket, and he loved it so much he made biscuits.

That made showing up to work totally worth it.

How you do it.

We take on a lot of animals. Not as many as some of the fosters we know, due to time, energy, and space, but we tend to stay at (reasonable) capacity.

Most people, though, aren't shown an animal and told, "If you don't take this home, it will die." It's a hazard of the job. You always have the option to say, "No," and no one will be offended, but it is a very guilt-inducing situation. I have plenty of coworkers who simply don't foster, all for very good reasons*, but I would say 80% routinely foster and 90% have at least once.

We currently have one dog, two kittens, and a rabbit. The dog was in a cell for six months before we took and was losing her mind. We've had her for five months; she can't be adopted out or rescued because of her pending court case, which has been dragged out to the point of foolishness. The kittens were still too young to eat solid food when we got them and would not have survived on their own. The rabbit would have been euthanized two separate times if we hadn't decided to adopt him.  They are all unwelcome here, with no consideration. If a residence is so heartless that it will not give an animal a safe, temporary haven, at no cost to the property, then it is not where we belong.

I would encourage everyone who has space in their heart and home and a little spare time to take in an animal in need. It really does save a life. Letting go is always hard, but there are always more to help.

*One coworker, who works in Receiving, stopped fostering as often when she had to euthanize her own kittens because she was the only one on duty who could do it. I think that is enough to force anyone to take a break, if not permanently.