Cardston Kitties

Our five Cardston/Blood Reserve kitties will be fixed tomorrow and ready for adoption soon afterwards. Fostering kitties is much easier than fostering pups (although I do miss them!) and it's also very entertaining.

Our 5 little 9-wk old kitties include 2 boys and 3 girls, all domestic short hairs.

Wellness Clinic on the Blood Reserve, Southern Alberta

For one weekend, the community centre in Moses Lake was turned into a makeshift animal hospital for a clinic run by the Alberta Spay & Neuter Task Force. The clinic provides free spays & neuters, vaccinations, and when available, pet food.

Thunder, half coyote, 8 years, and mom to 3 surviving pups

Thunder is apparently part coyote and loved by her family, but they couldn't take care of her three surviving pups from her latest litter. She's 8 years old and her teeth are in bad shape - but I just love her - she was one of my buddies this weekend and I'm happy to report she's been fixed and vaccinated, so the neighbour's dog (whom we couldn't catch) won't get her knocked up again.

She's an old gal so it took her longer to recover. We warmed her up with blankets and a heating pad, and kept her tongue and gums moistened with water.

Surrendered kittens, two weeks old

Two week old kitten (approx.) wasn't drinking from the mother cat and was really cold. A resident of the Blood Reserve and I each took turns warming the two little grey kittens up and feeding them formula from a syringe until we got them to nurse from mama cat (herself not much more than a kitten). This guy is so small he's like a mouse.

I wanted to bring home this litter and the mom to foster, but they might need round the clock care for a little longer - so they went with Pound Rescue and I brought home a litter of weaned kittens instead that will be available through ARF when they are old enough to be fixed.

There's more to animal rescue groups than just adoptions

This was my second clinic with the Alberta Spay & Neuter Task Force. I volunteered with them in September 2009 for one day, and had also signed up for the June 2010 clinic but it was cancelled due to flooding. My participation was motivated by two things: first, as a volunteer with ARF I wanted to develop a better understanding of where most of our rescued animals come from. Secondly, our first ARF dog, Beadie, came from the Blood Reserve Wellness Clinic in June 2009.

I volunteered at both clinics with a mother and daughter who adopted our third foster dog, Kima. We didn’t know each other before, but since they adopted Kima we’ve become friends. They’ve met a number of our foster puppies and have taken care of our zoo while we’ve gone on vacation.

The Blood Reserve Wellness Clinic is held twice annually and provides free spay and neuter surgeries, free vaccinations and limited amounts of pet food. The operation requires a massive amount of volunteers, many of whom are highly skilled (vets and vet techs). The others typically come from various Calgary-based rescue groups. The September 2010 clinic had volunteers from the ABSNTF, AARCS, Pound Rescue, the Humane Society and ARF (possibly from other groups!). The three day clinic is paid for through donations and grant funding (I believe!). Volunteers make the three hour drive south and typically stay overnight in Cardston at their expense – but it’s more than worth every penny.

This year’s clinic was held in a community centre – basically a big gymnasium that housed an area for crates in line for vet checks, an area for sedated dogs in crates, a big area for surgeries, an area for animals recovering after surgery, an area for animals to be picked up, an area for sterilizing equipment, laundry and for paperwork. Vets and vet techs do surgery beneath the basketball nets under the newly purchased trouble-lights.

Volunteers, myself included, wash crates, walk dogs, nurse kittens, tend to dogs as they recover and wake up etc. Some run into town to do laundry at the Laundromat because the clinic uses so many old towels, sheets and blankets. Others transport young puppies to another facility to reduce their chances of illness.

The first day of the clinic is the most interesting. Teams of volunteers go door to door in the various communities explaining the clinic – the concept is familiar and well received. Community members give permission to have their animal fixed. They can also surrender animals, and permission must be granted to remove an animal from any home. Some dogs have never been in a crate or on a leash, so getting them rounded up is interesting. From here, they go back to the clinic facility with their paperwork and are eventually see by a team of vets and vet techs, and the correct dosage for the anaesthetic is calculated based on the animal’s weight. The first day starts at 10am (after a drive from Calgary) and ends around 10pm. On the second day, volunteers arrive to walk the dogs after a night in the crate, clean crates and get ready for the surgeries. Vets arrive and the process begins. Animals fixed during the morning surgeries can pick up their animals in the afternoon (or have them dropped off). Families are given instructions on how to care for the animal following surgery. They also receive food, typically donated by manufacturers or individuals in Calgary.

More and more people respond that their pets are already fixed when volunteers go door to door. Progress is being made. But there is no shortage of heartbreaking stories. I transported a 4-5 month old puppy for AARCS; the pup had had a collar tied tightly around his neck – so bad it had left an open wound. A 12 year old dog came in with a fractured foot (old injury, healed) and quills to the same leg. He was too old for his surgery, but had the quills removed.

Volunteers from Pound Rescue and AARCS spent much of Saturday rounding up more animals and sorting out where the many surrendered dogs and cats could go. At least three vehicles of volunteers returned to Calgary full of crates destined for AARCS, Pound Rescue, Pawsitive Match, Misty Creek and ARF. I don’t think they will find homes for all the kittens so we took in one litter for ARF. Adult dogs are also hard to place but as of yesterday, I think a foster home had been found for all, or most of the adult surrendered dogs.

Our day started at 7:30. I left Cardston around 6:30pm and drove to Calgary for a series of drop offs. I think I went to bed around 1am – with one puppy in the dog room (went to the vet Sunday morning) and the litter of five kittens getting cozy in the second bedroom.

The work of the Alberta Spay & Neuter Task Force wouldn’t be possible without donations, sponsorship, grant funding, and the contributions of various rescue organizations, including the Calgary Humane Society and ARF. The ABSNTF will hold another clinic for Siksika Nation over the first weekend in October. The next clinic for the Blood Reserve will be held in June.

Matlock is Adopted! (and we are 'retired')

Well, our days of volunteering every day have come to an end and the feeling is bittersweet. After months of back and forth on whether we'd adopt a second dog (and retire from fostering), we got one pup we just couldn't give up. Actually, a second pup we couldn't give up, because we were "Foster Family Failures (FFF)" with Beadie too just over a year ago. Matlock is a great fit for our family, and camping just proved that even more. We're looking forward to many more trips together - although we may need a bigger vehicle...

But today was odd and I felt a little lost as I wasn't taking a puppy on a day visit, or taking a puppy to Petsmart. I was out of the loop. ARF has helped me feel 'at home' in Calgary and I'm experiencing a really profound sense of loss in our 'retirement' - there were actually tears - no joke. I haven't felt this way since leaving Ottawa and the Children's Garden in Robert Leggett Park - a project I was heavily involved with, and very sad to leave. The difference with ARF is that I'm still in the same city, but have chosen to take on a different role within the organization.

I can't wrap my head around 'never' fostering again - I can't really stand to think that! I do hope to babysit the odd foster dog when ARF foster parents are out of town, or foster again when our schedules are lighter. For now, I'll have to find something else to do with my time!

Doggy Date

Matti and Beadie took first-timer "Tee-bo" to the dog park today. Without hesitation, all three of them were in the water and became fast friends. Teebo is a rescue dog from California, brought to Calgary through Little Mutts Rescue (a great option for people who want or need a small breed dog!) Matti has transformed in the last few weeks since we first started bringing him to the dog park (he used to run away from all the dogs). Now he owns the park and loves to hang out with the other dogs. His forever home should be prepared to keep taking Matlock to the dog park, and keep introducing him to new things as he is still timid around things that seem strange to him.

Matti walks twice a day, and usually one of those walks is off leash (at least part of it). He also gets at least one really big walk at one of the bigger dog parks each week, sometimes more often. A good dog is a well-exercised dog and a dog that isn't able to grow bored.

Stolen Pics:)

I have "borrowed" some pictures from a friend because I couldn't resist putting them up here because they're such great pictures of Matti enjoying life in the mountains!

Answer to Chad

I'm sorry to hear about the passing of your ARF dog. It took me a long time to get over the loss of the two dogs in my profile picture. Matti actually really reminds me of the blond terrier cross. I do think Matti would eventually be a good jogging partner, although you'd have to wait until he was full grown. He's much better on leash now (less walking in front of you at every step!) I do think Matti will be a really good family dog. He doesn't do a lot of mouthing and he's cuddly, but he gets very excited and does a lot of jumping up at the moment. He has only had very limited exposure to children (the odd time approaching kids when on leash or at the park). So he'll really benefit from continued training. He knows to sit and shake a paw (for a treat) at the moment. As with any dog or pup, I wouldn't leave him alone with young children, and would make sure the children were also being taught how to behave around a dog.

Matti also loves his foster sister, and would do well with another young dog.

Chillin' by the Campfire

Fun times around the campfire! Matti curled up with Beadie in the tent and we're happy to report that he slept through the night each night. In fact, both dogs were exhausted by 8:30 or 9:00 each night, and slept close to 12 hours in the tent while we chatted around the fire. Matti saw deer on the trip... and was a little freaked out by them!