Oberon

And this is why I love my job.

Mammilian Biology

So we had two black kittens for adoption, one male, one female. Siblings. Someone wished to adopt the male, and did so. Took him home. Called later. "I got the wrong kitten, I wanted the male. I seem to have gotten the female instead." We check remaining kitten in cage, verify that the female is still here. Reassure her that she did indeed get the male. She is quite insistent that she has a female kitten. What makes her so sure that the kitten is female? "Well, this kitten has nipples!"

A Day in the Life...

... starts out with a guinea pig left in a small pet carrier by the front door when I arrive at work. Note on carrier says she knows she's supposed to give a cage and food and supplies when surrendering a small animal, but "she can't afford to do that" so she's dumping it there when nobody's around instead. So does that mean she didn't have a cage and food for the animal? Was he living in that tiny carrier with no food or water his whole life? That doesn't even make sense! Unless she sold the cage and stuff for money... hmm. Maybe I should check craigslist....

Next comes the near-daily "I know you're not open, but can I get some dog food" request. At least this guy was polite and apologetic, which is a nice contrast to the usual rude, demanding, and entitled folks that usually come around looking for handouts. So I went ahead and got it for him.

Stray dog we got it yesterday turns out to be an escape artist. Come back after lunch to discover her missing. She didn't get far, just down to Les Schwabs on the corner, where she was brought into the lobby to await collection. Even better, one of the employees is interested in adopting her if she goes unclaimed.

Lady that brought in two horribly sickly kittens yesterday returns with 4 more equally sickly kittens today.

Another lady is moving and can't take her Norwegian Forest cats with her. I show her the only cages we have available, which are pretty small. So they won't be able to be caged together. Or even see each other. Best we can do is side by side. "Oh, that's fine," she says, "they'll fit in there just fine!" Get the cats in.... holy dear god, you'd need a shoehorn to get one of those cats in a small cage, and he'd never fit in it with a litter box and bowls! The smaller one is a respectable 17.5 lbs, the large one is 24.5 lbs. So they're stuck in the intake room where we had a large double cage open until something bigger opens up front.
 

Next lady brings in a stray cat with a HUGE abscess behind it's left ear. In the lobby, I open the carrier, pet the cat, and attempt to remove the cat gently from the carrier. He's politely refusing to cooperate. "I'll need to take the carrier into the back to get him out," I say. "Oh just a minute, I need to say goodbye," she says, while shoving me away, which is the same thing she says every time she brings us a stray cat. So I let her reach into the carrier to pet him and whatever. To my surprise, she drags him kicking and screaming out of the carrier into her arms! He flails and begins to leap out of her arms, I attempt to catch and control him, fail miserably, and get scratched to hell and bitten to boot. Luckily, he chooses to run through the office to the intake room, where he can be confined. So he's under the cages. If he doesn't come out tomorrow, I'll have to set a trap. Meanwhile, lady is whining and blustering that if we'd just let her in the back, she could talk him out of there, she just KNOWS he'd come to her... then in the next breath tells us that she can only pet him while he's eating, and to get him in the carrier she put in food, then shut the door behind him. And begging us to let her in the back, and PLEASE have Katze come out and talk to her (because for some reason, in our long history of dealing with her, she's decided I'm the awesome one.) I hear another employee say "she's busy right now CLEANING HER WOUNDS! And no you can't go back, you've done quite enough already thank you very much!

 Then the guy who we had courtesy listed his dogs a while back, they all found homes. Well, today he comes back in, saying that he got two of the three returned, because these two dogs, who had lived together all their lives (they're littermates) stopped eating when sent to separate homes. So after two weeks, now he has them back, and can't have them where he lives now, and has to be rid of them TODAY so we have to take them. "I can put you back on the wait list, but we're bursting at the seams right now, I simply don't have a kennel to put them in." "Well I guess I'll just have to take them out and SHOOT them then! <dramatic pause with hand on doorknob...>" "Gee that's a shame, I'm sorry to hear that. <Turn and head back to the laundry room>" "Well what am I supposed to DOOOOOO" he fairly wails. I mention waitlist. Again. Or, since the two dogs seem prepared to die rather than be separated, and it's pretty much an impossibility to adopt out two large dogs together, and we don't have room at the shelter for them right now anyway, perhaps he may be forced to consider euthanasia. "Well that's a damn waste, they're good dogs!" he says. (umm, but shooting's not?)

And that all interspersed with the usual strays in, strays out, people in, people out, bottle babies, etc. Ugg. Is it the weekend yet?

Definition of "Quarantine"

So today, I'm doing ringworm baths, moving recently infected cats out of the momma room and into the sick room, passing through the dog kennels between them. On my way through, I turn a corner just in time to see some blonde chick ducking under the rope with the huge white sign dangling from it that says "QUARANTINE: DO NOT APPROACH." Mind you, she's ducking under on her way BACK into the public dog kennels.

I stop dead. "You can't be back there!"
Her: oh really?
Me: Yeah, that's why it's blocked with a rope and sign.
Her. Oh, I didn't realize that meant I couldn't go look.
Me: Well, it sure doesn't mean "Duck the rope and come on in!" That German Shepherd back there could take your head off, but that's not the reason for the sign. Theres also a litter of sick puppies back there. We don't know what they have, or if it's contagious. So if you stepped in their germs, then walk all over the shelter, you are endangering every animal in here. Which is why that tray of bleach solution and irrigation boots are right there next to that rope.  So back right the heck up and step in that tray.  No, I don't care if it ruins your shoes.

Also today. Group of frat boys outside in our dog play area in their underwear and Santa hats taking pictures with the dogs. It was 20 degrees.

Woman on phone wanting to surrender her cat who hates other cats so bad that merely seeing another cat sends him into rages where he bites people. Didn't really think through the fact that he'd be in a cage surrounded by other cats, and being handled by the general public in that environment.

Idiotic people without the IQ required to operate doors. I think I walked past the kennel door ONCE where I didn't have to shut it. At one point, somebody let a dog out of his kennel, who then ran through the open door into the cat area, and started having a hay day. Other employee rounds up dog, goes back into kennels, yells "did somebody lose a DOG???" Person responsible didn't seem to recognize the fact that if you let a dog out of it's kennel, you should probably make an effort to chase it down. Or at least alert a staff member. Since that particular Lab/Akita mix isn't good with cats. Sorta wants to eat them, even.

Never have I been so happy to be stuck all afternoon in the sweltering laundry room doing lime-sulfur dips.

On the positive side, the American Eskimo who came in on deaths door is a whole different dog today. He grinned at me, walked outside on his own four legs, and ate treats and canned food off the fork. Amazing what 2 days worth of antibiotics and food will do for a sick dog. And shaving off all the feces matted fur around the back end too. Tuesday the vet was "cautiously optimistic" that he would survive.

Have I mentioned I hate people sometimes?

Edit: Sadly, the American Eskimo dog didn't survive after all. 

Tipper's Bladder

So we've got a dog at the shelter, been acting like she's had a UTI. Urine was... interesting colored... to say the least. Lots of blood and stuff, but no crystals. Put her on Baytril for two weeks with no improvement whatsoever. Time for x-rays.

And holy cow, it's no wonder the poor dog is peeing blood. And no antibiotic is gonna fix THIS:

So she goes in for surgery Wed to get that taken care of. For reference, this is a 113 pound dog. For those who don't know what you're looking at, those big white spots are stones in the bladder. That's one stone the size of an orange, one the size of a lemon, and a whole double fistfull of gravel sized stones.

Aston Continues

So last night at med-time, I discovered that ED's (Eyeball Dude) eye was protruding farther than ever before. Like seriously an inch out of his face. All scabbed over and nasty. So this morning I took him in, and it was decided that no, he really wasn't in great shape yet for surgery, but the way that thing was sticking outta there, he was going to swipe it right out himself. Vet says "ready for my diagnosis? That's yucky!"

So we knock him out, and the vet just grabs the thing between his fingers and pulls. We initially thought it was the whole thing, but turns out it was just the lens, cornea, iris, and misc. tissue. He had to dig around to clean the rest of the globe out. But it's all gone now, stitched up, and hopefully will heal nicely.

The other eye is actually doing a little recovery on it's own, and there's a chance he might keep that eye. Don't know how much vision he'll have though. Just have to wait and see.

Such a sweet little thing though. Purrs up a storm if you pet him, and comes to your voice if you talk to him. Which means, don't talk if his cage door is open, unless you are in a position to catch!

Edit: Eyeball Dude was eventually named Aston.  He grew up nice and healthy, but did eventually lose that second eye as well.  He and his "guide cat" sister were adopted together.

Aston in the Beginning

Note on front door at work upon arrival Tuesday morning: "I found this and don't know how to take care of it."

As for his overall well-being, he's not doing too bad. He's a super sweet little guy, loves to be talked to and pet. Wasn't real keen on having his ears cleaned today, but the herd of mites needed thinning. He doesn't seem to be in pain, or he's been in pain so long it no longer bothers him. So our hope is, after a week or so of antibiotics and good food, he'll be strong enough to undergo surgery to remove both his eyes. Yes, we've had an eyeless cat at the shelter before, yes she did fine in a community cat room, and yes she got adopted.

Also, this evening another little foundling came in, same age, same size, body type, condition, same HUGE ears full of mites, one small lesion on one eye, and a URI. We're assuming they are siblings, and put them in together. They love each other.