this morning we healthchecked at least 20 cats and rabbits .. we had only one kitten to healthcheck and he was absolutely adorable .. a longhair mix of black and the most beautiful gray i've even seen in a kitten .. people will be fighting for this little guy once he gets out of the spay and neuter clinic early next week
we had one very large studly male cat that had the friendliest nature despite his feral appearance (missing ear tips and numerous scars from fights) sadly he tested positive for FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus) .. even though my experience with cats testing positive for FIV is far and few between, it is still extremely difficult especially when they are as loving as this boy was
usually my experience with rabbits is fairly limited .. although we do get quite a few of them surrendered at the shelter, i can't say i know enough about bunnies to be able to perform a behavior assessment today i was assigned to moving one of the bunnies into adoption .. as i opened his kennel door, he quickly moved to the back of the kennel .. a sure fire sign that he wasn't too happy too see me .. as i do with the cats, i called him to the front of the kennel .. this silly little bunny actually charged at me .. which was probably the last thing i was expecting from normally docile bunnies !! it ended up taking me several minutes to realize he wasn't attempting to attack me .. but still !!
we had just started healthchecking dogs when 2 puppies were surrendered by their owner .. with strays we have a mandatory 5 day hold time to give owners sufficient time to locate their lost pets .. with owner surrenders, the pets are available immediately for healthcheck and adoption if they pass ..
these 2 puppies immediately got to me .. they were so scared .. the little girl was finally coaxed into crawling up into my lap where she sat, head hidden, for 20 minutes .. the boy, although a bit braver, ended up laying next to his sister in my lap
even though i had planned on going home at 12:00, i ended up staying at the shelter until 1:30, playing with the puppies
even though they would have NO problem being adopted, we felt these little guys were just too timid and would probably suffer being held in the adoption kennels with the other larger, noisy dogs .. a quick check with Special Needs assured us that they would be found a temporary foster home until they were better socialized
they are going to be scheduled for spaying and neutering tomorrow so they will be kenneled in the much quieter clinic, then off to a foster home for a bit of socialization .. since they will already be altered, by the time they are ready for the "general population" at the shelter, their holding time will be reduced since they will be available for immediate adoption
some days like today, working at the shelter feels like a pretty good way to spend my free time
can you see how absolutely adorable these puppies are ?!? (i'm hoping that the pictures turned out but my FTP space is acting kinda screwy tonight !!)
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