Teddy's story

     Friday was a really busy day in the Shelter. There are three of us that work in the Shelter and we all had numerous shelter calls throughout the day that kept us running around like crazy. But then there was that one event that stood out among all the others that will probably stick with me for as long as I live.
   Later in the day one of our Animal Control Officers (ACO) informed me that he had brought in a hideous Yorkshire Terrier into the Shelter. The ACO explained to me that he knew who the owner was but he wanted to let us know that the dog was in really bad shape. He explained the whole situation to me. 

     He explained that the Yorkie was caught running loose in the middle of the road when he picked it up. When the ACO asked the neighbors, they identified who the owner of the Yorkie is. The ACO left a door knocker on the owners front door letting him know that we had his dog. When the ACO was impounding the dog he noticed that the owner had several "Check Conditions" complaints on him about this Yorkie named Teddy. Some of the neighbors had complained to Animal Control that they saw Teddy tied out in the back yard and he wasn't being cared for. In our County it is illegal to use tie outs on dogs. Teddy was just adopted from the Humane Society five years ago to this owner.

    When the ACO grabbed the Yorkie up from the middle of the road he couldn't help but notice that he was missing his lower jaw completely. He was severely emaciated probably due to the fact he couldn't eat anymore. Teddy had no teeth in his mouth and his age couldn't be determined at this point. His skin was literally crawling with fleas. Teddy barley resembled a Yorkie anymore. Most of his hair was missing. He only had fur around his nose and the fur he had left on his head appeared to be slicked back with grease. His little feet and legs were naked showing his black colored skin. The ACO identified that he had skin issues.

     The ACO and I walked together to the kennel as he continued to explain the situation. By this time I wanted to get a better look at this dog myself. My first thought when I saw him was that he was very pitiful. My heart broke for him. He was a total wreck, one pathetic mess of a dog. And there he stood on a little blanket that the Officer put down for him. He was in front of the food bowl trying hard to eat the can of food despite his severe disability.

     Teddy was working as hard as he could trying to lap up every little bit of the gravy he possibly could with his loose tongue. You could see the loose skin that was once covering his bottom jaw at one time. It was hanging out of place, below where his mouth should be. This made him look alien. His tongue was just hanging in middle of space; it had nowhere to go. Teddy smelled of Adams flea spray, a strong odor of perfume that hit me like a ton of bricks and gave me a instant headache. You could visually see millions of fleas running around his naked skin. He resembled more like a Chinese Hairless Crested dog than a Yorkie. 

     Teddy didn't appear to be in any pain at all at the moment so all we could do at the Shelter is hold him for 5 working days for the owner to claim him. Unfortunately, all we could do is wait for the owner to come in, if they dare. The ACO put in a note in the system that if the owner came in to claim him  they need to be issued citations for manner of keeping and treating. There is absolutely no reason to let a animal get in this condition. There is no excuse. This is animal cruelty. 

     15 minutes before we closed the owner came in. He didn't come in to redeem Teddy, instead he came in to sign him over to us to avoid getting citations for manner of keeping and treating. Personally I wish we were able to give him the citations regardless but I don't make the rules. Once we had the dog signed over we made the decision to go ahead and put Teddy down. There was no reason to keep Teddy suffering any longer. He wasn't able to eat anymore with ease and he was slowly starving to death. Putting food in front of him that he wasn't able to eat was like teasing him.

     Once Teddy was gone, I examined his lifeless little body closely. What I found shocks me. Teddy was missing most of his hair and we initially thought it was due to his bad skin because he was kept in poor conditions. But upon closer examination, some of the fur on his back was stuck to his skin in what looked like charcoal balls of burnt fur. It hit me, Teddy had been burnt. Teddy had been set on fire. Our minds wondered further what other abuse Teddy had suffered to loose his lower jaw. The pain that he must have endured, I can only imagine.

    Only five years ago the Humane Society thought they saved another dog from a Shelter to go into a loving home. Unfortunately, this wasn't a happy ending for Teddy. His adoption turned out to be hell for him. The three of us there started at his abused lifeless little body and we cried for him. 
     It's been three days since this happened and I haven't even been able to talk about Teddy with anyone. This blog is my release because it's too painful for me to talk about. Every time I think about Teddy I feel the heat rising and the tears well up. RIP Teddy. May God show you love better than man has.
~Author, Jenni (me)

STOP THE ANIMAL ABUSE! 
This is not a actual picture of Teddy, but is what he should have been

A Letter From Your Puppy

     I chewed your shoe.... I didn't know what it was, but it was leather and it was on the floor. I was just playing. Your forgot to get me puppy toys. I wasn't housebroken... Rubbing my nose in what I did only made me ashamed that I had to go at all. There are books and obedience teachers that would have taught you how to teach me to go to the door. I brought fleas into the house... Without anti-flea medication I couldn't get them off me after you left me in the yard for days. I barked... I was only saying, "I'm scared, I'm lonely, I'm here, I'm here! I want to be your best friend."

     You didn't pay attention to me after the first week or so. But I spent all my time waiting... waiting for you love me. But you didn't. Then you got tired of me. You took me to the Shelter. My collar was dirty and too small but the lady there took it off me. Some other puppy will get the barely used leash you left.

     Every day I spent there I wondered...

Would I still be at home if I hadn't chewed your shoe? Would I still be at home if I had been housebroken? Would I still be at home if I hadn't brought fleas into the house? Would I still be at home if I hadn't barked? Would I still be at home if you had taken the time to care for me and to teach manners to me? 

     Then the shelter got overcrowded and I drew an unlucky number... I was still loving you and missing you today when they put me down. I was scared and wanted nothing more than to see your face. Now I'm in a black plastic bag in a landfill. But I will always love you and I will always be your best friend.

Love, 

Your Puppy

This is the fate of too many pets. Pets that were brought into this world by backyard breeders, puppy mills and irresponsible owners. Yes, the Shelters do have purebred dogs. Check with them frequently or find a breed specific rescue. Don't buy from breeders, puppy mills or irresponsible owners. It's the money that keeps them going. If we don't buy their puppies, they'll be forced to stop breeding them. It's supply and demand. Let's save those lives that are already here!
Author unknown

What Really Happens When You Take Your Pet To The Animal Shelter? Answered Straight From The Mouth Of A Shelter Manager

People sometimes think that dumping a dog or cat at an animal shelter will ensure that it finds another home, other people just don’t care, they just want to be rid of the pet that has become a “problem” usually through no fault of its own. I honesty don’t believe that most people even realize what happens when they take a pet to an animal shelter. Maybe a look inside, behind those closed doors, will open some eyes and make someone think twice. If even just one pet can be saved, it will be worth it!

Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight.  
~Albert Schweitzer

This is from an animal shelter manager  in ORLANDO FL which was originally posted on Craigslist. It's an inside look at what really happens behind the scenes of a animal shelter. Take the time to read it and share it. It is definitely time for people to wake up and see, really see!!

I am writing this because I think our society needs a huge wake-up call. As a shelter manager, I am going to share a little insight with you all – a view from the inside, if you will. First off, All of you breeders / sellers should be made to work in the “back” of an animal shelter for just one day.

Maybe if you saw the life drain from a few sad, lost, confused eyes, you would change your mind about breeding and selling to people you don’t even know – that puppy you just sold will most likely end up in my shelter when it’s not a cute little puppy anymore.

How would you feel if you knew that there’s about a 90% chance that dog will never walk out of the shelter it is going to be dumped at – purebred or not! About 50% of all of the dogs that are “owner surrenders” or “strays” that come into my shelter are purebred dogs.

The most common excuses I hear are:

• We are moving and we can’t take our dog (or cat).

Really? Where are you moving to that doesn’t allow pets?

• The dog got bigger than we thought it would.

How big did you think a German Shepherd would get?

• We don’t have time for her.

Really? I work a 10-12 hour day and still have time for my 6 dogs!

• She’s tearing up our yard.

How about bringing her inside, making her a part of your family?
They always tell me, “We just don’t want to have to stress about finding a place for her. We know she’ll get adopted – she’s a good dog”.

Odds are your pet won’t get adopted, and how stressful do you think being in a shelter is?
Your pet has 72 hours to find a new family from the moment you drop it off, sometimes a little longer if the shelter isn’t full and your dog manages to stay completely healthy. If it sniffles, it dies. Your pet will be confined to a small run / kennel in a room with about 25 other barking or crying animals. It will have to relieve itself where it eats and sleeps. It will be depressed and it will cry constantly for the family that abandoned it. If your pet is lucky, I will have enough volunteers that day to take him / her for a walk. If I don’t, your pet won’t get any attention besides having a bowl of food slid under the kennel door and the waste sprayed out of its pen with a high-powered hose.

If your dog is big, black or any of the “bully” breeds (pit bull, rottweiler, mastiff, etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door. Those dogs just don’t get adopted. If your dog doesn’t get adopted within its 72 hours and the shelter is full, it will be destroyed.

If the shelter isn’t full and your dog is good enough, and of a desirable enough breed, it may get a stay of execution, though not for long.

Most pets get very kennel protective after about a week and are destroyed for showing aggression. Even the sweetest dogs will turn in this environment. If your pet makes it over all of those hurdles, chances are it will get kennel cough or an upper respiratory infection and will be destroyed because shelters just don’t have the funds to pay for even a $100 treatment.

Here’s a little euthanasia 101 for those of you that have never witnessed a perfectly healthy, scared animal being “put-down”. First, your pet will be taken from its kennel on a leash. They always look like they think they are going for a walk – happy, wagging their tails. That is, until they get to “The Room”, when every one of them freaks out and puts on the brakes when we get to the door. It must smell like death, or they can feel the sad souls that are left in there. It’s strange, but it happens with every one of them.

Your dog or cat will be restrained, held down by 1 or 2 vet techs (depending on their size and how freaked out they are). A euthanasia tech or a vet will start the process. They find a vein in the front leg and inject a lethal dose of the “pink stuff”.

Hopefully your pet doesn’t panic from being restrained and jerk it’s leg. I’ve seen the needles tear out of a leg and been covered with the resulting blood, and been deafened by the yelps and screams. They all don’t just “go to sleep” – sometimes they spasm for a while, gasp for air and defecate on themselves.

When it all ends, your pet’s corpse will be stacked like firewood in a large freezer in the back, with all of the other animals that were killed, waiting to be picked up like garbage. What happens next? Cremated? Taken to the dump? Rendered into pet food? You’ll never know, and it probably won’t even cross your mind.
It was just an animal, and you can always buy another one, right?

I hope that those of you that have read this are bawling your eyes out and can’t get the pictures out of your head. I do everyday on the way home from work. I hate my job, I hate that it exists and I hate that it will always be there unless people make some changes and realize that the lives you are affecting go much farther than the pets you dump at a shelter.

Between 9 and 11 MILLION animals die every year in shelters and only you can stop it. I do my best to save every life I can but rescues are always full, and there are more animals coming in everyday than there are homes.

My point to all of this is DON’T BREED OR BUY WHILE SHELTER PETS DIE! Hate me if you want to – the truth hurts and reality is what it is. I just hope I maybe changed one person’s mind about breeding their dog, taking their loving pet to a shelter, or buying a dog. I hope that someone will walk into my shelter and say “I saw this thing on line and it made me want to adopt”. That would make it all worth it.

FAST SHELTER FACTS
Approximately 8 million to 12 million companion animals enter animal
shelters nationwide every year, and approximately 5 million to 9 million are
euthanized (60 percent of dogs and 70 percent of cats). Shelter intakes are
about evenly divided between those animals relinquished by owners and
those picked up by animal control. These are national estimates; the
percentage of euthanasia may vary from state to state.

According to the National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy
(NCPPSP), less than 2 percent of cats and only 15 to 20 percent of dogs are
returned to their owners. Most of these were identified with tags, tattoos or
microchips.

Twenty-five percent of dogs who enter local shelters are purebred.
(Source:NCPPSP)

Only 10 percent of the animals received by shelters have been spayed or
neutered. About 75 percent of owned pets are neutered.

The majority of pets are obtained from acquaintances and family members.
About 15 to 20 percent of dogs are purchased from breeders, and 10 to 20
percent of cats and dogs are adopted from shelters and rescues.
(Source: Ralston Purina and NCPPSP)

More than 20 percent of people who leave dogs in shelters adopted them
from a shelter. (Source: NCPPSP)

Five out of ten dogs in shelters and seven out of ten cats in shelters are
destroyed simply because there is no one to adopt them.

The following data are ASPCA estimates unless otherwise indicated.
~Shelter facts complied by ASPCA, Craigslist shelter manager author unknown 

Heart Warming Adoption Story

This is a true story that just happened to me at the Shelter I work at. This is not a reprint or a story that I cross posted. This is the TRUE story of one of millions cats that wind up in Shelters across the nation. This is HIS adoption story and I hope you enjoy.

                                                                             Not actual photo

An elderly lady that was in her late 80's came in faithfully every week with her live-in care giver that was helping assist her walk through the Shelter as she visited looking for her missing cat. They have been coming to the Shelter for several weeks in a row hoping to find her missing cat with no luck so far.

Then finally one time they came back again, but this time it was a little different. The friendly elderly lady told me straight away, that if her cat wasn't in the back holding area today that she was ready and was going to adopt another cat. After I escorted them to the back to look for her missing cat again, she was visibly disappointed to not see her beloved missing cat.

                                                        Not actual photo

However she had a glimmer of hope in her eye, probably due to being hopeful enough to save the life of another homeless cat on this day. Once we walked back up front without her missing cat, she quickly moved on to ask me if I could help her pick out a cat from our adoption area. As we were walking back up to the adoption room, I explained to her that she should take them out one at a time and see how they interact with her, and choose one that way.

Once we were in the room I closed the door behind me and noticed that her first glance went towards a 6 month old black/white kitten in cage CA9. Without wasting time she quickly pointed out that she remembered that kitten and she wanted to take it out.

                                                         Authentic photo of the actual cat

She went on to explain to me that she wanted that one because she remembered seeing it with a E collar a few weeks previously, on several of her previous visits to the Shelter while she was looking for her missing cat. This kitten she was talking about was indeed held in the back for quite some time in the isolation area because he had a crypt orchid testicle. His surgery was a bit more invasive than a normal neuter due to him being crypt orchid. The night after his surgery, he had managed to pull out all of his sutures and he ended up getting a bad infection due to that.

Overnight after his surgery, not only did he remove his sutures, but he had also licked his surgery site wide open and he had a gaping wound in his abdomen by morning. Once it came to our attention to what he had done, we had to start him on medication immediately, which meant that we had to hold him back for a few weeks while he was on his round of antibiotics. We had to also keep the area clean and treat it daily, and just give him time to heal up. So, it was during this treatment period that she had took notice to him in the back holding area.

After all, how can anyone miss a black kitten with a bright pink sate-light collar around it's neck? So as soon as she recognized him again up in adoption, she immediately asked me to take him out of the cage for her. She stroked him a few times and quickly told me to pack him up for her... She was certain that this was the one that ought to be coming home with her. She had her mind set quickly that this was the cat that she wants.

As I was getting the box ready for her; her attention was diverted to this orange and white kitty. (pictured below) I continued on with setting up the card board carrying case for her newly chosen kitten. As I was finished with the last fold, she quickly announced that I should  "hold on". She told me that she liked this orange and white cat too. I told her to take her time choosing and that she could take him out too if she liked. I had already finished making the box and just put the bottom support in the box and I left it sitting on the floor with the top opened.
 

I took a few steps away to assist her opening the cage so I could let out the orange and white cat that she was looking at because she wanted to pet him too. As soon as I opened the cage the cat quickly darted out and wrapped around her legs and feet a few times as she bent over to pet him. Suddenly without warning or much thought, he instinctively turned tail the other direction and jumped right into the card board box that I left open on the floor. I have never witnessed such a powerful moment of this was really meant to be.... It was like he was telling us..... "Nooo, you gotta take me home!"

It took us just a second to react because we were a little stunned and we looked at each other in disbelief and giggled for a few seconds. My attention was turned back to the cat that jumped into the box. I glanced back down and he was still laying just as I saw him the second he jumped in. He was stoically peering back up at us waiting for us to react. His body was low and flat to the bottom of the carrier and he was laying flat on his belly with his front feet stretched out in front of him. He looked straight up and made direct eye contact with me...  I could almost hear him say, as if he was a child speaking to me... "So what are you waiting for?"

It didn't take the elderly lady much longer to say "Close the lid, he wants to come home with me".. and so we giggled in pure amazement the whole way up to the front desk to seal the deal....It's stories like this one that I intend on letting outweigh the sad stories of working at a Shelter.. I love my job :)
~Author, Jenni (me) 

                                              He was adopted on 10/14/10    
                                  Authentic photo of the actual cat

Prelude to Shelter Animals

Prelude 

I work at a full service animal shelter. I give affection, feed, and take care of the animals that are housed at the Shelter. I see many neglected animals, as well as sick and healthy ones too.

Every three weeks, I work in the spay and neuter clinic as a Vet Tech.

I vaccinate all the animals in hopes of keeping them healthy so our Shelter can save as many as possible. Sometimes they are too sick to keep at the shelter due to time and space. When I can I will foster them until they are healthy enough for adoption.

I scan them for microchips hoping and praying that I will be able to find their owner. and reunite them.

I'm also a adoption counselor and I give advice in hopes to ease the transition between the animal and person when the newly adopted animal is leaving our Shelter for it's new home.

I'm also the girl who is called up to the front desk to take your "owner surrendered" pet or better yet... the animal that you say is a "stray" because you are too scared to fess up that it's really your pet.  You see, I can tell this dog is not a stray when it keeps looking back at you as if to say "Why is she taking me" and struggles to get away from me to run back over to you as I try to take him to the back to place him in a holding cage.

Or better yet, when you bring your pet to the shelter because for whatever reason you decide that you don't want them anymore. I go up to find that you brought your little child with you to say goodbye and they are up there screaming at me as I take their pet away as I walk them down the "Green Mile". If you ask me this is not very good parenting skills. You are passing your lack of loyalty skills on to your children. You should know that they learn from you. What if ...... What if.... when YOU have grown old too.. your children leave you behind in a nursing home as your grandchildren watch... What are YOU teaching your children about loyalty?

Lastly, as you probably already figured; I'm a certified euthanasia technician. I'm the one who is holding your pet when it takes it's last breath when you forgot to come in looking for your old dog that we can't put up for adoption due to it's old age or declining health. I'm the last voice that your pet will ever hear, the last touch that they will ever feel. I will hold on to the everlasting memory of YOUR pet that you didn't come looking for until the day that I die. Be comforted knowing that within me, they will live on.

Like most people we encounter, after reading these statements most of you probably have already judged me negatively and say "how could you".... :(

The truth is that if you really knew me you'd know that I was born to save animals, not to kill them. This is my life story and I have chosen to devote life and my blog to tell the the story of the ANIMALS THAT I WORK FOR.

As for all those animal that I couldn't save.. God knows that a candle burns deep inside my heart in memory of them. If nothing else, I'm thankful that I have helped end their suffering at the hands of uncaring humans. Who better to hold them, pet them and talk to them softly when they leave this painful realm to enter the peaceful one when they cross over.

I'd be lying if I didn't say that I also have hopes that this blog will help people who don't work in the Shelter animal field to better understand the realities of the animals living at animal shelters, and better to understand the people and the emotions of those who work there. We aren't doing this for the money. We are people who love animals, we are not monsters. We are true passionate and very responsible animal lovers. By what we see day in and day out, we usually can spot truth and trouble a mile away. You can't fool us so please don't even try. The only one it hurts in the long run is the animals.

~ Author, Jenni (me)

Lizzy the Lizard

                                                            Authentic photo

Looking back; my parent's weren't the most responsible pet owners. They are forgiven because back then (without giving away my age) most people didn't spay and neuter their pets like we do today. We had several outside cats that had several litters of kittens. As a child, I could accurately sex a kitten at it's birth which should tell you something.. haha.

                                                         Authentic photo

My parents always figured that somehow my life was going to be revolving around animals. I was the little kid in the neighborhood that saved all the little creatures. I had a box turtle, a baby squirrel that fell from a tree during a hurricane, a Green Anole Lizard that I recused from the mouth of my outside cat. And at a time I also had a dove with broken wing that I was rehabilitating. There was even a time or two that I had to bottle feed and hand raise kittens when one of our outside Momma cat's had rejected their kittens. I cried so hard when I was unsuccessful at saving them. I experienced the fact "that you can't save them all" from a very young age. I ran my little makeshift rescue operation from my childhood room.

My most outstanding memories of all my rescue efforts from my childhood is Lizzy The Lizard's Story.   
Lizzie was my Green Anole Lizard  that I recused from the mouth of my tortoise shell calico cat, named Boots. One summer afternoon, I found Lizzy literally dangling from the "mouth of the lion" when I rescued him. Boots just happened to be walking up on the side walk in the front of my house when I opened the front door going outside. The first thing I saw was Boots walking there in front of me with this helpless little green body of a lizard dangling from her mouth. I didn't know if it was still alive or dead but I was in total shock. I was no older than 12 years old at the time.

I ran over to my cat and yelled at her to release the lizard from her mouth. As if she understood my every word and emotion; she quickly released her death grip that she had over the lizard. Lizzy dropped to the concrete sidewalk and I hurriedly swooped him up and examined him. He had one puncture wound on his belly and one on his back. I ran in the house with the lizard in the palm of my hand. The lizard must have been  in shock because he was limp at the time, but he was very much alive. I took him to our tiny little bathroom and searched in the medicine cabinet for peroxide and neosporin. I poured peroxide on him and it fizzed up and then I dabbed some triple antibiotic cream on his wounds.

In searching the bathroom I also found an empty old Dove soap box and placed Lizzie in there to rest. He just stayed there and rested like I told him to do. It really was the strangest thing. He never tried to run away or get away from me, not even once. It was like he knew I was helping him from the very start.

I kept Lizzie in his little Dove soap box and frequently checked on him. His wounds quickly healed and he started to have a appetite again. To start with while his was in his soap box hospital room; I went outside and hit flies with the fly swatter to feed him freshly killed flies. He ate them all, every single one.

I kept in him a open cardboard box in my garage at night. At any time he could have left his confinements and would have been freed, but he never did. He never even tried to. Every time I ran to his cardboard box in the morning to check on him; I wasn't sure if he would still be there or be gone. I was kinda delighted that he never left.

Months went by. All I had to do was put my first finger in front of his soap box and he would come out and step on it. He proudly perched there and I would take him outside for his hunt for flies. I would put him on my monkey bars and hit flies with the fly swatter to feed him the dead flies that I placed in front of him. He would also sit there on my monkey bars and wait for flies land near him so he could eat them.

I could walk away and leave him unattended for moderate periods of time and he would amazingly still be there close to the same area when I came back to check on him. I never had to pick him up, he could have left at any time, he had every opportunity to be free. I never had the intention of keeping him as my prisoner, I just wanted to help him at the time be healthy and happy.

After he had his belly full and it was nearly dark, all I had to do was put my index finger in front of him again and he would hop on it and perch there as I walked him back inside my garage and placed him back in his  his dove soapbox bed. Looking back, it was one of the most remarkable experiences I have ever had pertaining to animals.

Then one day it happened. I went over to check on him and it was worse than him being gone. He was laying there dead. All the time that I had invested, the fun that we had together, the amazing experience had come to an end. I was torn to pieces and I ran inside the house crying and told my Dad that Lizzy had died. Of course he said leave him in there he would bury him in a little while. I told him that I wanted to be there when he buried him, but he said no. My parents understood and knew how attached I had become to that little green lizard I called Lizzie.

Now looking back, over the years I have always thought about Lizzie. Every time I step outside and see one of these skid-dish little green anole lizards scooting by. I think of Lizzie every single time.

As it turns out, one winter I was going through a pile of dirty laundry in my Dad's garage because the washer and dryer was in there. As I was sorting laundry a little green anole lizard fell out and I was shocked into the realization that Lizzie probably didn't die back then as I had thought, but instead he probably went into hibernation due to the lowering temperatures of the approaching fall season. I was in horror at the thought that my Dad might have buried him alive. So I had to ask if he really buried him alive or just threw him behind the fence line in the woods. Thankfully, he didn't bury him and I hold on to the hope that Lizzie awoke his hibernation a free lizard. In memory of Lizzie the lizard... Love you always and I hope you lived many years after being recused from the mouth of the lion.  <3

~Author, Jenni (me)