Shelter Update

We're working hard at the Shelter to get dogs and cats into fur-ever homes.  However, sometimes it feels like an uphill  battle.

Little Pic-a-Pepper

On Labor Day, I adopted "Pepper", my spunky little tri-color Chihuahua foster boy.  He's going to a home with a puppy mill-Papillon for a friend, and at-home owner who wanted a Chihuahua best friend.  Pepper hardly gave me a second glance as he left!

Then, yesterday, I was waiting to see the Shelter Vet, Dr. D.  He was conferring with a new adopter who had brought in a sweet Lab-mix puppy named Maya.  The dog was lethargic, shut down, feverish and wouldn't do much more than sleep, plus was suffering from loose stools and poor appetite.  When the pup's eyes began oozing green goop, the owner brought the dog in to try and figure out the problem.  The prognosis wasn't good--most likely distemper (Even I could tell--the dog's nose was runnning, and the pup had that stunned, woozy-eyed "Big D" look).  Dr. D. recommended euthanization, which at that point, was wise.  The owner agreed, on the condition (of course) that he could come back in a week or so to choose another dog.

Meanwhile, the Shelter is overrun with kittens and cats.  I heard, unofficially, that approximately 1,000 cats and kittens have made the trip to the EU room in the past few weeks.

We're running a big Off-Site push at four different PetsMart locations this week, as part of PetsMart's "Second Chance at Love" promotion.  The PetsMart Charities are giving larger donations to the Shelter for each pet adopted from September 6th through the 12th.  We're struggling with getting volunteers to work the weekday Off-sites--most have day jobs.  I've been hauling dogs and working Off-sites all week and am exhausted. My house is a wreck, and my husband is ready to throw a big ol' hissy fit.  Rain from Hurricane/Tropical Storm Hermione has slowed everything down.  Today, the storms have departed Houston, but the humidity and mosquitoes are back.

I brought home a tiny, russet-red boy Chihuahua last night. I took him to Off-site, then realized too late that he was ill.  He is very underweight, has upper respitory and God knows what else.  Plus he's un-altered.  He did eat last night, and has eaten this morning.  I don't know whether he'll make it or not.

Here is a video that was made, using footage shot in our Shelter a few weeks ago.

Since the beginning of summer, we have seen an increase in owner-surrenders and adoption-returns on dogs.  The owner-surrender dogs tend to fall apart in the Shelter encvironment.  I have been taking Checkers, a five or six year old Rat Terrier to Off-sites.  He thinks I'm his savior and he shrieks in his kennel if I walk out of sight, which annoys the PetsMart manager.  The store manager is not happy to have us there, but we help increase sales--one of my adopters yesterday spent $96 buying supplies, including a dog crate.  I spent $40 both this week and last week buying supplies for my dogs and fosters.  It irks me when we can't have what should be a win-win relationship with PetsMart.

Once this PetsMart deal is done this weekend, we'll be back to our regular schedule--primarily weekend events.  I just wish the stream of dogs and cats arriving at the Shelter would ease up.