TNR

I bet you are wondering what a TNR is?  Well, a TNR, in its entirety, is when you trap something, get it spayed/neutered and then you release it back from where you found it.  This is a very useful tool at the shelter where I work.  MSU-CVM students come to our shelter once a month and perform spays and neuters on our shelter animals. We never adopt anything out without it being sterile; and by sterile I mean not fertile or cannot reproduce.  They also do, what we call, TNR’s.  Residents in Clay County have a big problem with feral cats and this program allows us to offer them a chance to get these cats fixed and release them back out where they found them.  The only stipulation of this agreement is that if they were feeding them, they must continue to do so.  According to the ASPCA in 2012, “it is impossible to determine how many stray dogs and cats live in the United States; estimates for cats alone range up to 70 million.  The average number of litters a fertile cat produces is one to two a year; the average number of kittens is four to six per litter” (ASPCA, 2012).  By offering residents this kind of help can and will make a big difference in our community.  There are many feline diseases that can be spread, not only through bites and saliva, but from mother to kittens in utero.  Most of these diseases are not zoonotic, but there are a few that humans can contract.  Such diseases include: rabies, cat-scratch disease, salmonellosis, etc.  When you control the population, you control the diseases as well.  So, offering this program is a good thing to help keep the population of cats down in our community.

               

Shelter Stats

Are you ever driving around on afternoon and see a stray dog? For us here in the south, it is a common sight.  Did you know that "[m]any strays are lost pets who were not kept properly indoors or provided with identification" as quoted by the ASPCA Pet Statistics.  And the sad part about most of them is that their owners did not care enough about them to go looking for them or to even put fliers up with their information on it so that if the animal was found they would know who to contact about them.  Instead they end up in shelters.  Some pet owners have microchipped their animals so that if they do end up in a shelter all the shelter has to do is scan them with a chip reader and the small piece of equipment displays a company name and chip number.  Then, all the shelter has to do is call that company and get the owners' information so that they can contact them to come pick their animal up.  "According to the National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy (NCPPSP), less than 2 percent of cats and only 15 to 20 percent of dogs are returned to their owners. Most of these were identified with tags, tattoos or microchips" (ASPCA, 2012).  Some people just get tired of owning an animal and let them go so they do not have to deal with them any longer. 

Adoption

We were very excited Friday afternoon, one of our dogs that had been at our shelter for a little over a year go adopted out!  A man and his wife came by last week from two and a half hours away and feel in love with our Hershey.  Hershey is a chocolate lab that came to us with heartworms.  She was treated for heartworms at the beginning of the year and is now clear.  This family was so excited to have her become part of their family they had already bought her accessories and installed a doggie door for her before she had even gotten there.  It's always a great feeling to know that one of our babies is going to a loving home.   

Really?!

The dog we have had for about four months now is finally gone.  The woman that adopted him wants him to be a therapy dog, HAHAHA!  This will never happen.  He was too aggressive to begin with and now she wants to put him around people that he doesn't know..... recipe for disaster if you ask me.  People are idiots sometimes.