Being a superintend of an animal shelter. I found this interesting as well as conflicting...

I work for a municipal shelter animal shelter. I’m responsible for planning the budget; making sure that we’ve got the money, and where to spend it, and where to put it. I buy vet supplies  we have animals up on the floor that have been temperament tested and they’re behaviorally sound. I have to make sure the animals are properly cleaned, and properly fed, and if they’re sick they get treatment. I talk to people when they bring in animals.


A lot of my duties are trying to educate people: publicity-type stuff, press releases, and educational materials and literature and trying to make people aware of what is responsible pet ownership and how can you make pet overpopulation go away. Spay-neuter; we preach spay and neuter, spay and neuter. We instituted micro-chipping about four or five years ago, so it’s helped us to get animals back to their owners. It’s a permanent form of identification, even if pets lose their tags, and collars, and all that.

I belong to a group called S.A.W.A., which is Society of Animal Welfare Administrators. We all try to work together and figure out what we can do to make pet ownership easier for people, but then, also look at, what people are doing wrong, and what crimes are being committed against animals. So, that’s part of my job, too, is to look at animal cruelty and people that are breaking ordinances.

So, a lot of my job is just really meeting with people, talking to the public, talking to aldermen. We work under the police department so I do answer to the Chief of Police.



The last paragraph reads "A lot of my job is meeting and talking to the public" So which is it you spend a lot of time talking to the public or over seeing the care of animals etc. If they are promoting responsible ownership and look for crimes committed against animals. Yet shelters are the leading cause of death, wrong doing and animal cruelty!


When I went to pick up A1071562 she was by no means the same kitten they had posted a picture of. "Very thin malnourished and a real bad case of URI which will now forever plague her with flare ups" these are the words of the vet treating her.
So Superintendent if you are out preaching one thing (or politicking) while your animals are getting sick and put to death because of the shelter. Yes spay and neuter are part of the equation on the shoulders of owners but just where and when does your responsibility begin as the care keeper of the shelter animals. How can you  you preach one thing and not practice it yourself on the job? Isn't that what the public is paying for? For you to do your job and do it correctly? Is this too much to ask. Animals (pets) are not disposable they have every right to life as you have, sadly it's you, the brain washing of the american people and the ever growing trend of greed by the MEN in charge of far too many things and aspects of our lives.


***Please refer to the Feb. 16. 2011 blog about micro chipping that was from the ASPCA***

It's been a few days but she is hanging in there

A1071562 is playing more showing signs of being a healthy kitty definitely on the road to recovery. She started out not eating so much now she is eating much better and let's me know when I haven't put her meds in her food which I pre mix for her. Her personality is starting to show and she is active during the wee morning hours as they all are. Tomorrow is her follow up to she she is doing. I can finally she her beautiful very light white blue eyes that drew me to her I try to take pictures every day even if I don't  get them here I have them to show her progress. Now if my lazy self would plug in the video cameras batteries I would have her antics too. She does sleep alot still be she is a kitten and she was very sick. I think back now to when Rhae asked if I could just pull her.... so she would be safe....boy if there was one thing I did that was ever the  right thing to do it was doing that. Thank you Rhae for asking or I may not have done it.......what a blessing this has been....pictures will be up soon as I change computers

The journey of A1072562 sunday morning

Well she was in full force yesterday busy budding around into everything flinging things at  random. She is also feeling better because she is off in her p,lace on my t-shirt next to the t.v.  where she has the advantage view and it's warmer. Her left eye remains the worse of the two, now that the other computer is working until I take it in I will post some more recent photos for all to see.
Now I just need a name that fits her and it hasn't arrived in my brain yet

Off topic here a bit but still dealing with felines....

Last evening I noticed a post on a web site needing to get two very sick kitties from a ways from me to the valley. Okay sure no problem I had the time so I set off. Only as luck would have it there was some kind of accident and a back up for a couple of miles nothing was moving. So I took matters into my own hands so I could the babies (fur of course) to the valley. Made it around the accident and off to a clear freeway in front of me. A lot lost once I was near my destination, finally found it and the kitties and I went, only this time I just guessed at getting back, 605 105 110 OMG so I just left it to fate and it worked out I was in the valley in less than 35 minutes meeting the two people who were frantically looking for a transport last.

I was glad I read the posts when I did but I don't believe in coincidences. Went places in my own city I never knew how to go. Hey last week it was the Orange animal "care" center to rescue a feline A1071562 who surely would have been murdered that sunday with her illness progressing, being siamese, they are very particular and aggressive to those they do not like and I am sure the shelter people were getting what the deserved from this little fur baby.

So as the week ends and the weekend half over 3 lives saved so far, team work and networking paid off for the three voiceless ones. Wishing them and everyone peace, happiness and think about doing a random act of kindness outside of your box and/or comfort zone.

Controlling feline URI in shelters the number one leading cause of death and illness of felines in shelter

This is what one of the veterinarian schools has to say and hopes to  finally achieve when it comes to URI infections in felines.


Controlling feline upper respiratory infection will help keep shelter cats healthyFeline upper respiratory infection (URI): for pet cats, it's often nothing more serious than a common cold. But for shelter cats, it's one of the leading causes of illness and euthanasia, affecting millions of cats each year. At the Koret Shelter Medicine Program we aim to stomp out this disease or at least greatly decrease its impact. Just a few years ago, the idea of defeating shelter feline URI seemed like a crazy fantasy. But we now know that this disease really can be controlled, even in the challenging environment of an animal shelter. While it may not be eliminated entirely, rates of 5% or less are attainable. Through two studies funded by the Morris Animal Foundation, we are teasing out the environmental and management factors most closely linked to respiratory infection in shelter cats and designing practical ways to improve their chances of escaping infection. We have found that housing plays a significant role, which led us to develop an information sheet for shelters on how to convert small steel or fiberglass cages into cat-friendly double suites comparable to those found at the shelters with the lowest URI rate.


But then again as a lot of us know the leading cause of death in animals that are healthy is killing them in shelters, the shelters that made them sick through disease spreading, lack of food and care which in turns makes them sick. So it's a lose lose situation for pets in shelters.

Not happy with her progress

A1071562 is still running a fever off and on her eyes aren't making alot of progress after a week. I took her to somewhere close because I thought it best I am going to take her to a different vet (one that use for the other felines) drive is longer is all. But with what I see I think necessary. Her appetite has picked up and she is doing well in that area. Has been playing a little bit the last 2 days but not for long and I think that's because she can't see very well.

But aside from the condition she was in from the shelter doings she is a well adjusted and loving little fur baby. I just need to kick this stuff in her eyes out and rid he of her ever. she has taken all the other meds no problems. I need to get to the bottom of this and get her better a  little bit faster then is happening. I might be wrong because I never dealt with this before, but she is getting more and more into things and wanting to play investigating, if it weren't for her eyes I think would be more into things

Today I started to play a little.....

Today is the seventh day that A1071562 and I have been habituating together. When she arrived here she had a bad case of URI, slowly it is getting better the worst part of it and still remains that was are her eyes the third lid is still very present and the lights that are kept on are those little indoor led lights. During the day natural light.
She has gone from one of the smaller cans of wellness to a little dry food. Then last friday we bought up one size to 5.5 where she can ate at least the whole thing through the course of a day. "Please only" she reminds me chicken  flavor and it has to be fresh every time with her meds added.
Today she has felt like playing a little her and there and with that comes exploring and trying to find a place to hide for eye meds there are none. But she pretty much has homesteaded in my lap when on the computer and all over my chest at night.

Micro chipping the ugly little secret about them...

Background 
Implanted microchips, when combined with visible ID tags on a pet’s collar, have proved to be the most reliable system for the recovery of lost or stray companion animals. The International Standards Organization (ISO) has issued specifications for a standardized microchip for animal identification. While most of the world has accepted these standards, North America has not. 




Now for the good n bad of this program


The primary problem is a competitive, technological one involving the compatibility of the microchips and the readers that are used by shelters and veterinary clinicsThe ASPCA supports microchip identification of companion animals. The ASPCA also supports the development of a coordinated effort to transition the United States to an ISO-compliant system.  There will be some obstacles to overcome during the transition period if we are to ensure that no animals already implanted with non-ISO microchips are  “orphaned.” A coordinated effort that includes manufacturers and distributors of microchips, animal shelters, the veterinary community and the pet trades can overcome these difficulties. In those areas where a coordinated system has been actively supported by animal shelters and the veterinary community, pets, pet guardians and the shelters themselves have benefited.


The major 5+ shelters in the Los Angeles area do not scan for chips, nor do they have anyway to do so  even if they did there is no data base that gives them the information on who the owner is. So why are we chipping our pets and risking their health, cancer around the chip site is on the rise in pets.

A1071562 goes to the vet 2/11/11

I took the kitty to the vet she was very sick, running a fever, not wanting to eat and still her yes were somewhat closed because they too were very infected. I was asked a series of questions which of course I had no answer to.
Was she under weight when she enter the shelter?
She is extremely malnourished did that happen at the shelter?
And of corse she had a very bad  case of URI which will be with her for the rest of her life. (which she contracted from the shelter)
Her weight was 3.2 lbs I haven't weighed her again though I do have a scale that would accommodate her, her appetite has picked up since two days after starting the meds, her eyes still remain closed most of the time and were looking really bad last night.

The bright side is she is slowly getting better, the flip side to her condition it didn't have to happen, and worse yet because of the neglect on the part of the shelter she was going to be murdered because no one would want a sick animal and she was getting worse because of them, hhhhhmmmmmmmm now that's strange because according to all the ads on the net and t.v. they have us believing they take care of these neglected and abandon souls right? When they are one of the biggest murderers of healthy or animals were healthy prior to their final destination the shelter.