And we're off!

I am still always surprised that my Mondays are actually Saturdays and the busiest day of the week. I never mind it because the day goes by so fast but that doesn't mean that I am ready for it. As usual we signed up to clean a specific area, the big difference today was I was being shown how to give meds to the animals. This is important since I am working on Memorial day and will need to handle that task because we work on a skeleton crew. It was a pretty simply thing, gather up all of the pills and powders that the dogs and cats need to take and shove them in the some wet food making sure you put the right pile over the right dog's name. The one thing that did surprise me was that there are a few dogs that need a lot of pills. Some are vitamins and some are allergy pills but some are antibiotics and others are for thyroid problems. It was nice to see that the animals are getting the care that they need. In addition to all of the medications there are two dogs that recently got "fixed" and require a hot compress two times a day. It's kind of nice to hang out with the little guys and do something that you know they are enjoying.

After all of the meds and cleaning out the kenells we moved over to the cattery. I was surprised to see a volunteer there that early but it was nice to see them showing the cats some attention. The big issue for me was that every time I tried to clean out a kennel the volunteer seemed to be hindering it. Whether she was pulling a cat out that didn't along with another or just standing over the litter it made for a laborous task. I can't complain though because she is here on her own time helping us out and if it takes me a little longer to clean so be it. I was just glad to see a volunteer giving the cats some well deserved time.

Before I knew it I saw customers flowing into the shelter and I realized that it was already 11:30. As soon as I headed back to the office it was nothing but showing after showing pretty much for the rest of the day. There were a few denials because people eithier wanted an "outdoor" dog or wanted to take home an animal that needed to go home to another dog. Even with the denials there were some great adoptions today. Two dogs that have been in the shelter for quite some time found their forever homes and one dog who has been in the shelter for several months with medical issues got to go home today. The feeling of finally finding these animals home is unimagineable. This is the reward for doing this job.

On a sadder note, one of our little terriers was returned today. I know that he will be adopted out quickly but it is very sad to see an animal come back to this stressful enviornment. The reason he was returned was he had some medical issues that were pretty serious. I'm sure that I have mentioned him before, he actually came to the shelter with a broken pelvis and was on light duty for about the past month. The woman knew all of this but when she took him to her vet. she felt that the overall lifetime bills of the animal could be pretty expensive. Anyways, at least he got to get his "bed rest" in a comfortable home and now we can find the perfect family to take him home with them.

In all of the chaos a woman brought in two kittens that she had found. They were quite cute but we couldn't just take them without testing them for feline leukemia. It's a pretty simple test, you draw blood, mix it with a special solution, place it on a testing strip and wait. Luckily both kittens were negative and we were able to take them. I set up a kennel in the kittery and with a little luck and time we can find them both new homes. I have to mention that one of the little guys, pictured below, is what they call a polydactel (I think that's how you spell it) and has five toes on three of his paws and six on one. Not sure if it is evolution or what, but this little guy sure is cute. I have also included a picture of his cute little six toes.

The rest of the afternoon flew by. I helped out again with the afternoon meds and washed some dishes. Once all of the animals were back up I had a chance to notice that all of the laundry was cuaght up. Praise someone because it was some kind of miracle to see that all of the mess that was the laundry was now clean and organized. It was fun day today, seeing some great dogs find their forever homes and learing some new skills at the same time. I just hope tomorrow doesn't pail in comparison because I feel that I have already gone through the loop of this roller coaster week.