Thursday, December 27, 2012

Longtimer of the Month


This is Sincere.  She has been at the SPCA since June 15, 2012 for a total to date of 195 days.  When she arrived at the shelter she weighed just 35.8 pounds (Left).  Today she weighs 51 pounds.  This is her story:

She had a litter of puppies on May 16, 2012.  Her owner was not feeding her enough, and the food she was getting was of low quality.  To add to her woes, she was full of fleas and internal parasites.  Her five puppies were also thin.  Her puppies were so hungry that, at four weeks of age, they hungrily ate moist puppy food.  It took many weeks for Sincere to recover from her starved state.  Despite the fact that her puppies were pit bulls, they were quickly adopted.  Not so for Sincere.  Her breed and activity level have kept her from being adopted.

She holds a special place in my heart because I am the person who picked her up from her neglectful situation.  I am hoping that someone will read her story and know that this dog needs a second chance at a good home.


Home for the Holidays

Many people have the week between Christmas and New Year off from work. What a great time to introduce a new pet to the family!  There are so many homeless pets awaiting new homes.  Please check them out at www.lycomingspca.org

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Christmas Wishes








Christmas wishes do come true.
 
We requested a new stainless steel portable intake pen for our cats.  This is a temporary holding cage where the cats await an examination after they arrive at our shelter.  The cages on the left are made of laminate.  Dirt was collecting in crevices and the shelves were beginning to warp.  We wanted an easy to clean surface that would stand up to repeated use.
 
Luckily for us, a donor saw our request in our newsletter and agreed to purchase the new stainless steel cages!
 
From the large to the small we are blessed with generous donors who bring us items from our wish list to help care for the animals.  I am so grateful to so many who make it possible to give the best possible care to homeless animals. 

Friday, December 14, 2012

Free Range Chickens

One hot summer evening I passed by a field that had 2 foot high fenced areas, approximately 10 feet square, covered with aluminum sheets.  Under the aluminum 'roofs' were many chickens. There were a dozen or so of these types of pens.

It occurred to me that those chickens probably get very hot during the heat of the summer day and questioned our investigator about it.  He agreed to check on the birds.  What he discovered surprised me.

The chickens were being bred as 'free range' chickens.  They had plenty of water and feed and supposedly, the pens were moved frequently.

Up until I went to training and saw how the food animals were housed and butchered, I was a meat eater.  My favorite meat was chicken.  Since then I have been avoiding all meat.  I know of other people who avoid meat but will, on occasion, will eat 'free range' chicken. 

When I think 'free range', I'm thinking a Texas sized ranch where the chickens run where they want and have fun finding yummy things to eat.  So imagine my disappointment when I saw a 'free range' farm locally.

I've adjusted pretty well to eating veggies and fish and hardly miss eating meat.  And since I've seen how 'free range' and farm raised chickens are housed, I'm even happier that I've adjusted. 

Monday, December 3, 2012

Would You Take This Animal?

I frequently hear people say, "I couldn't do your job." 

Trust me, there are days I don't want to do my job.  Most often it's a Monday morning.   That is when we will get phone calls from a distraught pet owner who has to find a new home for their cat because it is peeing outside of the litter box.  I'm not sure I can find a new home for a cat that is not using its litter box.

Or how about the dog that bites so badly that the person bitten has to get stitches.  Would you take that animal into your home?

There are some things that are just training issues, and then there are things that create too much of a liability for us to place an animal in a home.  What I don't understand is why a pet owner will believe it is an SPCA problem and we need to find the animal another home.  I disagree.  

If an individual adopts, purchases or receives an animal as a gift; it becomes the pet owner's responsibility to care for that animal.  So how is it possible that someone can tell me I'm not doing my job if I can't find a home for a pet that has issues?

So maybe it's just one of those days that I don't want to do my job, but it is not because of the animal.  It is because someone else just does not understand. 

Can't wait til Tuesday!