Still playing catchup.

When my week started everything seemed like it was new for me. The big problem was, since this week began I have felt like everything is going in slow motion and I just can't get ahead of the curve. From the time it takes to clean in the morning to getting all of the laundry caught up, it seems like there just isn't enough time.

I have to say, I will be glad when these seven poop machines are able to go home. They are cute little boogers but the mess that these guys makes is amazing. It was rather funny today while we were putting them in their pin. I was reaching over the sides of the pins to put to puppies in when I leaned down to put them I the ground the weight of the dogs through me off and I went falling straight down. Luckily I was able to put my hands down and keep from hurting both the puppies and myself, but boy did I have a tough time getting up. Luckily there was another staff member there to not only laugh at me but to lend a helping hand.

After all the joking on my behalf it was time to get back to scrubbing down the kennels. Once we got all of them fed and brought back up from the runs it was time to head over to the cattery. I tackled the North side which houses about nine cats. I was actually pretty nice to be in the air conditioning and have the luxury of kitty litter to cover up the smell of poo. Once all the litter had been changed, new food and water placed in the kennels, and all the bedding changed I moved over to cat iso where a group of six cats is waiting to be cleared medically. Before I knew it the clock read 11. I am just glad that I finally finished before people started coming into the shelter. It's always fun to wheel past a wagon full of garbage while customers are walking around looking at the animals.

On to the overflowing laundry room. Since Saturday the pile has been slowly getting smaller but the amount that is still outside of the laundry room is pretty staggering. Even with constantly running the washer and dryer over the last three days, we still haven't caught up on all of the laundry. Makes me wonder what would happen if the mail stopped for a few days. All I know is that if there is a day that we are unable to do laundry we had better have enough staff members the following days to make sure that it gets caught up quickly because boy does this stuff snowball.

Since Mondays are the weekly cleaning days it was time to do all of the poo buckets from all 15 yards. It's not as bad as you would think since the entire kennel staff helps out. I was able to get one yard done when I got asked to help out with a cat relinquishment call. The individual spoke Spanish so me being semi ( and I do mean semi) fluent I was asked to help out. I began by asking the gentleman if he spoke English, he said a little and I told him I spoke a little Spanish. After some really bad spanglish on my part we were able to get all of his information, told him what the fees would be and that he would need to bring any vaccination information. Hopefully I didn't screw up too bad and everything will go well next Monday when he brings his animals in.

Time for afternoon feedings. Another kennel attendant took care of the regular feedings so I started making the special diets. There were only a few since one of the ASP (animal safehouse program) dogs that was on wet only food got to go home today. After making the duck and potato meals for two of the dogs I went in to our lab/greyhound mixes kennel to make sure she ate. She's the one I have talked so much in the past about her not being able to keep weight on and her serious case of IBS. The only way to get our girl to eat is to hand feed her and make sure that she is completely comfortable and not distracted by all of the barking and chaos that is going on around her. After a good ten minutes of coaxing she ate her whole meal. Below is a picture of our sweet girl that just needs a stress free home where she can actually relax.
After all of the feedings and some more laundry of course it was time to bring the dogs down for their last break. While we were bringing them down a showing was called over the radio. It was a young man that was looking at a dachshund mix. It seemed like a good fit but the adopter still needed rental agreement from his apartment complex. He also wanted to think about the big decision over night. Hopefully he'll be back in the morning because it has been a while since I have gotten to send anyone home here and I need that pick me up.

With time running out in the day I was asked once again to help out with a translation at the front desk. There were two women with their dogs asking if they could relinquish them to us. I explained that our evaluator wasn't here today and they would need to make an appointment to evaluate their pets. Unfortunately the two women had to leave to Mexico in the morning and they are unable to bring their dogs across the border. I then had to explain that they were going to have to go to a county shelter in order to drop off their animals. It was heartbreaking to hear their stories and how long they had had their pets but it was nice to see that they just weren't throwing them on the streets and actually looking for a good shelter to put them up for adoption. I told them where to go and that the shelter would find good homes for their companions and prophetically apologized for their difficult situation.

The day came to an end with not much to show for it rather than a shrinking pile of laundry. It was nice that several ASP animals (including a cat) got to go home with their owners. Overall I am looking forward to my Friday to get a break and recharge my emotions. Tomorrow should be fun though, seven puppy neuters and hopefully knocking out the rest of the laundry.