Pet Talk

    I believe with all my heart and soul that nothing really worthwhile is easy.  Take marriage.  Marriage is a wonderful institution, sanctified by God, entered into by millions, bringing great joy and happiness.  But is it easy?  Sorry, hate to break it to all you newly engaged couples planning your June wedding, but no, it’s not easy.  I adore my husband.  He has the most beautiful blue eyes, a quirky sense of humor, can hug like a bear, works hard, and he is just about the smartest man I know.  But is living with him easy?  No.  Not because there is anything wrong with him, or me, but just because that’s life, we’re two different people, and sometimes we agree to disagree on issues.
    How about your job, do you enjoy your job?  Is it easy?  I bet it’s not, I bet that some days no matter how much you love your job you have to drag yourself out of bed and make yourself go to work and I bet there are some days that you say more than once, “is it five o’clock yet?”
    And let’s talk about children.  There is no greater joy in life than children (and grandchildren) but is it easy raising children?  Not even close. 
    The animal shelter is the same.  It is a very worthwhile cause, making sure that lost animals, injured animals, abandoned or abused animals are taken care of and re-homed as soon as possible.  There is a sense of fulfillment that comes with working with animals, a real feeling of purpose and accomplishment, not to mention the gratification that you get when you take a dog for a walk or hug a kitty or pair a pet with someone who is elderly and lonely or someone who has just lost a beloved companion.
    But it’s also hard work.  It takes a village to support a shelter.  Volunteers who work hard at fund raisers, volunteers who foster animals, staff and volunteers who clean cages and do vet runs and make phone calls trying to find new homes. 
    And it’s also hard work because Shelter management is a lot different than having four or five cats at home.  We have to practice what our Vet refers to as “herd medicine”.  We have to remember that if one kitty sneezes, we should be watching all the kitties for signs of a cold or infection. 
    One thing that we’ve learned at the Shelter is to jump on things early when we see them.  Right now the Shelter is in a self-imposed quarantine because we have  identified  ringworm  in our cat population.  Ringworm in and of itself is rather innocuous but it’s highly contagious, spreads quickly and is “zoonotic” which means people can catch it from animals and animals can catch it from people.  We will not be adopting out any cats or taking in any owner animals until our Vet has cleared our facility as being 100% free of any latent ringworm spores.
    Ringworm is not a worm, it’s a fungus, kind of like a toenail fungus or a yeast infection.  It causes a rash and in many cases the rash is a series of small round lesions that are crusty around the outside.  You can find a lot of good information on the internet about ringworm.   It’s in the area, you should be aware that this came to us from the outside, and if your cats are outdoor cats you might want to watch for this. 
    Our quarantine could last as long as 45 days.  We are following a strict protocol, recommended by our Veterinarian, and will advise when we are able to re-open.  
    This is going to be a very long and very expensive process for us and we want to tell you all how much we appreciate your patience and your support as we work through this.  In speaking with other Shelters, we find that we are very fortunate that we’ve never had this problem before, and once this is cleaned up we hope to never have it again, but it’s like anything in a shelter, you bring in strays, you have no idea where they came from or what they’ve been exposed to, and sometimes something contagious sneaks in the back door.   We are working hard to do everything the Vet tells us to do, and we want to thank him for his hard work, dedication, and the heart that he brings with him in working with us through this.