From the Humane Society of Elmore County
Day to day in a Shelter like ours is a lot busier and more involved than many people may think. While the public sees our adoptable pets on-line, what you cannot see is all of the work that has been done to get many of them ready for adoption. Pets coming in injured or debilitated from neglect are sadly a very common occurrence and treatment/help starts the minute they arrive. If an animal is badly injured/debilitated our first step will be to get it to a supporting Veterinarian immediately. A dog that came into us on Saturday with a badly injured foot went to a Vet without delay and is staying in their care. That dog is getting all appropriate care and if no owner comes forward to reclaim, we (and the Veterinarian of course) will see to its needs to help it recover fully. This dog’s recovery is likely to be a month to two or more months and that is just one of many we are often dealing with.
In addition to the dog noted above, we always have others recovering from neglect and issues such as mange, respiratory infections, severe flea and tick infestations, intestinal parasites and poor nutrition. We pretty well always have dogs undergoing heartworm treatment which is why prevention is so important to us. Long-term neglect is not ‘fixable’ overnight, so it is not uncommon for us to have had dogs or cats a month or more before they are recovered and ready to be placed for adoption.
Too often we receive animals that are terribly underweight from starvation and/or severe intestinal parasites. Re-feeding a starved pet is not just putting food in front of them as they may need multiple small meals during the day to get their recovery safely started. Pets with large internal parasite loads have to be de-wormed carefully so as not to shock their system and then often have to be de-wormed multiple times to finally rid them of their parasites.
Many, many cats and kittens come to us with upper respiratory issues that can be from contagious cat diseases or just bad overall health from poor nutrition, internal and external parasites, and stress. Goopy eyes and runny noses are more the norm for large numbers of kittens during ‘kitten season,’ and our kitty quarantine area is generally full during those months as we work to help many of these kittens get well enough to be placed for adoption.
What about all of those puppies and kittens too young to be without a mother? Our staff whips up kitten and puppy meals geared to their needs and that means a lot of goopy foods and dirty puppy and kitten faces needing cleaned after they eat throughout the day. That is a lot of puppy and kitten cleaning going on depending on the time of year. If we have a nursing mother that is able and willing to take on new babies it makes life a lot easier and we are certainly grateful for some wonderful mother dogs and cats who prove to be incredible moms! Of course, our foster families are unsung heroes as they take on babies to raise until they are ready to find their new homes.
Shelter work is a lot more than just putting food and water down daily. There are medications, vaccinations and parasite preventives to be given, feeding to be monitored, baths to keep them clean, illness/injury issues to be dealt with, exercise to help their physical and psychological health, behavior assessments so that we can help pets and adopters find great matches and lots of documentation to go along with it all. Spay/neuter surgeries have to be scheduled with all the accompanying paperwork followed by photography sessions so the world can see our wonderful pets online. Of course, helping a potential adopter meet the pet they may adopt is the goal of all of this work so that we can turn our focus back to all those still coming in so we can start the process all over again.
So, while this is likely our slowest month of the year based on normal statistics, there is truly very little ‘down’ time in a shelter as there is no end to caring for 200+ pets every day. But no matter the numbers, you can trust that our staff is there to help all that come to us to the best of our ability as we all love animals and work to find them better futures.
