Zerra comes to visit

During my shift at the SPCA on Saturday (yesterday) we kept Zerra, an American Staffordshire Terrier, at reception with us for the day. She was NOT doing well. She'd be surrendered by her family a week before because they "didn't want to deal with her" any more.

Zerra was terrified to be in the shelter. She cowered in her kennel, stopped eating, and started getting bouts of diarrhea. She got spayed on Friday, and then spent the Saturday with us at reception. She didn't appear to be recovering from her surgery very well and simply laid shaking on a blanket for most of the day. We tried feeding her different treats but she wasn't interested in eating anything. She did perk up when new people came through the door and seemed to be especially interested in children.

She was the object of pity among the staff yesterday - she's just such a sorry sight. I called Mark to see if he could bring our own dog down to the shelter at the end of my shift and introduce them to each other. He did and they got along, so we took Zerra home with us for Saturday evening and most of Sunday.

There was an immediate change in her as soon as she walked through our door. The nervous shaking stopped and she contentedly explored the apartment. As soon as she'd looked in every room she returned to us and collapsed on the dog bed by our feet, stretching out happily.

She tried to "guard" her gigantic bed from our dog but we quickly corrected her and she stopped doing it. Arlo, who somehow knows that it's his job to socialize with these various animals we bring home, continued to slowly worm his way closer to her with a wag of his tail. By the end of the night they were both asleep on the dog bed together, and the next day she tried to cuddle up to him when he was lying down. Awww...

Zerra is just an absolute cuddle bug. She likes people and just wants to be near them. Poor thing! She hates being in the shelter and I feel bad that she has to go back tonight, but if she doesn't go back, her chances of being seen by the public and getting adopted to a forever-home decrease greatly.

She was so well behaved - she came with us to get coffee at a nearby plaza Sunday morning and had fun hanging out amongst all the bustle, and she didn't even care when a big dog ran right up to us on our walk. I know she'd make a great pet, but she looks miserable in the shelter and there's always that pit bull stigma. Let's keep our fingers crossed for Zerra!

Pippin

Pippin's story began with a phone call. A couple had found a small elderly dog wandering in the road and kindly took him into their home. They put up signs, but nobody came forward to claim him. Knowing that someone might be looking for him somewhere, they surrendered him to the pound in the hopes that his owner would find him there. The pound is required to hold dogs for 72 hours before putting them up for adoption in order to give owners a chance to come forward. This little old fella did not belong in the cold damp run at the pound facilities. The pound employees had not yet received any inquiries for lost dogs that met his description, and could think of no reason why this elderly little dogs should sit in a concrete run for the three day waiting period, so they gave us a call to see if we could foster him. We re-arranged our schedules and went up to get him, taking Arlo with us to test the little guy's tolerance level for big goofy puppies. They were fine together so, after a short conversation with the pound people, we were off.

Calm little Pippin was an easy dog to have around. He made friends with the resident dog, ignored the resident foster cat, and simply wanted to be near us. He was such a sweet dog, although very scruffy and unkempt. We were horrified to discover that his toenails were overgrown to the point that they were affecting his ability to walk. We clipped off as much as we could and it seemed to help.

The next day the wonderful people at Top Dog Daycare in Esquimalt were kind enough to give Pippin a bath and a haircut - being very gentle the whole time. He looked so much better! We were hoping that the new 'do would increase his chances for a speedy adoption, and were very grateful to the Top Dog folks, who always refuse payment for anything to do with our foster animals. (Except in the form of baked goods!)

Little Pippin really perked up in the few days that we had him. It was sweet to see yet poignant - like the time he got so excited he started running along the sidewalk, only to have his back legs give out for a second or two from the exertion. He was just an old guy and should have been spending his golden years laying on a cushion by his person's feet - not being shuffled around the shelter system.

On the third day we co-ordinated with Carol, the pound employee, to take him in near closing time so that she could take him home for the evening and then bring him in to the pound for adoption hours the next morning. It seemed that everyone was doing their best to keep Pippin out of a kennel. Well, we shortly got another phone call - it turned out that the couple who had originally found Pippin on the road wanted to adopt him! Their application was approved and Pippin was driven out to their house for the final home-check. It was reported to us that they took him gently into their arms and were absolutely overjoyed to have him as a part of their family - this time permanently. I'm glad for the little guy. He had a loving home at last, for the rest of his life.



This week Carol, the pound employee who helped us to help Pippin, lost her battle with depression. She was a guardian angel of the Victoria animal rescue community, working for the animals both in her capacity as a CRD Pound employee as well as with the Greater Victoria Animal Crusaders, of which she was a prominent member. She will be greatly missed in the rescue community, and my thoughts go out to her children.

News!

This is so exciting! Almost by accident I've landed a new job, and it's at the Victoria SPCA! My first day is this Saturday, so I'm sure I'll have lots to write about.

Wish me luck!

Hulk the bully

Scariest cat EVAH.

Hulk was among our early foster animals, and was not a cat for the faint of heart!! He was HUGE, CRAZY, and was the ONLY cat that our rats were ever scared of.

He came to us from the Victoria SPCA because he needed to recuperate from recently being neutered. He was one of those tough tomcats who had the huge jowly cheeks to indicate his dominance. He was also absolutely gi-normous, and knew it.

We set him up in our spare bedroom and kept the door closed for the first few days (as we always do - cats acclimatize to smaller spaces easier than a whole house). I went in on the first day to just be present. I sat quietly and read a book for a while. He was hiding behind the computer monitor when I first went in, but he eventually came out and climbed onto my lap for attention. I petted him absently while reading, and he purred up a storm...until he had had enough, at which point he whirled around, dug his claws into my wrist, and bit my hand. I was quite shocked and froze. He jumped away and went hiding behind the monitor again.

I have to say, I know it shouldn't have, but it really hurt my feelings that he did that. I think if I had been expecting it I wouldn't have taken it personally, but I did. Not logical, I know, but there you go.

That was the first of many such attacks from Mr. Grumpy-pants. We tried valiantly to socialize Hulk anyway. We would pet him for a brief period of time, which he really liked, but then when we stopped and backed away, he would attack!! We protected ourselves by only approaching him in pairs and having the non-petting person stand by at a safe distance with the squirt gun. When the petter stopped, they would say "now!" and the non-petter would squirt Hulk in the face with water as he began his attack. He would then hiss at the watergun and retreat to a safe distance (usually behind the computer monitor) and the petter could escape unscathed.

We also let him out of his room to roam the house every now and again. Yes, we are suckers for punishment. He would come down into the living room and wander around. When we thought he had reached his limit of peaceful co-existence time, we learned to shoo him gently back to his room with a broom. Pick him up? NOT a good idea. Shoo him with a foot? Only if you already have too many feet and need to get rid of one. Don't worry, we were very gentle with the broom.

Hulk went back to the SPCA, leaving many war wounds in our household. Mark had puncture wounds in his calf that got infected but eventually healed, and there was one minor incident with the dog that required us to pull shards of claw out of the dog's face. Poor pup was trying to AVOID Hulk at the time!

What a killer attack-cat.

We never knew what happened to him after that. If his aggressive behaviour was due to hormones, he eventually should have settled down as a result of the neutering. If, however, his aggressive behaviour was due to him being insane, he may still be terrorizing households as I write this story. Either way, I'm glad he's not still lurking behind my computer, planning his next attack.