Pet Talk

by Cathy Davis    I would like you to join me on a day, just one day, in the life of a shelter director. Doesn’t matter what day, they’re pretty much all alike.
    It’s 6:30 a.m. and the director gets a call about an injured animal, gives instructions on procedure and then gets up and tends to her house full of animals. Because if you work at the shelter, you have a house full of animals. No two ways around it, the most needy and hard to place find their way into your hearts and into your home.
    Arriving at the shelter shortly before 8 a.m., the director is met by animal control from one of our towns. She has 22 cats with her that have been brought in as strays. It seems that people who don’t spay and neuter their cats think that other people who do take care of their animals won’t mind if they just drop their unwanted cats in front of their house. They have a barn, that’s the reasoning, so they must want my cats. Wrong answer. These cats are often feral, never spayed or neutered, and all of a sudden your drop off becomes six cats, and then 22.
    These 22 cats are all examined for medical issues. Two have extremely serious issues and are isolated, three are contagious and also isolated, the rest are full of fleas, thin, and skittish. Those are placed in foster care for a short time so they can be bathed, fed, vetted, and loved till they come around and are more friendly and adoptable. God bless the foster home families who agree to do this for us on a regular basis, I don’t know what we would do without them.
    It takes hours to process these 22 cats and in the meantime there are people trying to get all the cages cleaned, animals fed, building spiffed up so we can open the doors at 11 a.m. We keep the doors locked until then to allow the staff sufficient time to clean. I know from experience that if you just open the doors at 8 a.m. you are still trying to tend to the animals at 4 p.m., you just can’t wait on customers and showcase your animals and answer phones and pay bills and tend to the 1,000 other things that go on in a shelter at the same time you are cleaning.
    Cleaning time is not just wiping out a cage. This is the time the animals get their morning meal and fresh water, this is the time they are each checked individually to make sure they are eating right, they are healthy, their skin is checked, their eyes are checked, their ears are checked, and we have just three hours to do 50 animals. Our staff is well trained and dedicated and any time they see anything that concerns them, they bring this to the attention of the director and the shelter vet is consulted.
    On this particular day, the shelter is cleaned, the 22 cats are processed, when we get in a cat that has been hit by a car and is badly injured. He is cleaned up and comforted, assessed, the vet is called, and she runs down to determine if he can be saved. Sadly, his injuries are so bad that the vet assessment is not good. The little fellow is suffering and his injuries cannot be treated. He will not survive. The decision is made to do the humane thing and end his suffering. The staff gathers around and makes sure that his last memory is of loving kindness. Tears flow. It was hoped he could be saved. Money was not an issue, treatment was not an issue, if there was anything at all that could have been done for him, it would have been.
    It would be easy to just sit down and cry at this point. Already in this day we have seen 22 unwanted cats that were dumped off, many of them sick, all of them malnourished, we have seen a poor kitty that was badly injured and had to make the tough choice to end his suffering, and the day is still early.
     The director takes phone call after phone call. Some of them are just asking questions “how long do I wait after my cat has kittens before I get her spayed”, some are inquiring as to what we have for dogs or puppies, some want to know the shelter hours. The phone never stops.
    Between phone calls the director and our lovely volunteer Laura make sure to get photos of all the new animals so they can go on the website and on Facebook because if all we do is just clean their litter boxes, they will live with us forever and we have to get them out in front of the public and find them new homes as quickly as possible. Taking good photos of little critters is kind of like nailing jell-o to the wall, it’s not impossible but it’s not easy. Once this is complete the Director starts reviewing the adoption applications, calling potential adopters, calling to find a rescue to take one of our more difficult to place dogs, making arrangements for transportation of a couple of rescue puppies, dealing with staff schedules, getting the deposit ready for the bank, and on and on it goes. One day, this is just one day.
    As visitors come and go, they don’t see all the hard work that goes into maintaining the health of the animals, the safety and cleanliness of the building, the scheduling of staff, the purchasing of supplies, and they don’t see the joy of every adoption or the heartache of watching an animal suffer. What they do see is a dedicated staff who does all this work day in and day out for one reason and one reason only, the love of animals. 
    The next time you see someone who works in animal welfare or rescue, give them a hug and thank them for all their hard work.