Reality Check: am I wrong to be upset with our shelter?

[sofiecusion]

I am so sorry for what you are going through. I know our vet can tell if a cat is spayed or not jus by feeling in that part of the belly. You've gotten some great advice on what can be done so no more cats have to be put through senseless suffering.

 

[starryeyedtiger]

Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

You guys are the greatest -- I really appreciate the thought and care you've put into your responses. And Nikki, bless your heart, I can tell you're trying very hard not to hurt my feelings with the possible mitigating factors you mention -- and you haven't. I know you're right about those things. (But I'd never heard of tattooing the spay site before -- what a great idea!

Someone mentioned something that made me worry I'd been unclear about Dorothy's origins, though -- she's a stray we took in, and has never been to our vet. The only reason I felt so sure she had already been spayed was that her behavior never suggested it at all... and there are male cats roaming around here who don't appear to be neutered, yet Dorothy has never shown the slightest sign of heat, and those cats didn't start hanging around while she was in our back yard, so...

I suppose that doesn't prove that she was already spayed... and I guess they do have to be sure... but oh, I hate that she's having to go through this, poor little girl. She was such a sweet, happy kitty, and now I've put her in a tiny cage and she's been sedated and cut open and gotten an infection and a fever, and she's so afraid of everyone now. It just breaks my heart.

I'm going over there now to see how she's doing. If I still don't feel right about it, I'm bringing her home... it's a risk to our other kitties, but...

Oh, I hate it when you just don't know what's the right thing to do!

aww thanks! i was trying to figure out the best way to word that to give both sides a benifit of a doubt. i definitely applaud you for all the wonderful work you do with those sweet furbabies! they're lucky to have you looking after them!

Also just to add- not all kitties show very noticable signs of going into heat (so it's hard to tell if a kitty's been spayed relying on that method) - kitties can go into silent heats (they're actually REALLY common.)
I hope she begins to improve soon so that she can find a lovely forever home!!! You've done a great job with her- i wish her nothing but the best and a great forever home!!

(also- do you know what antibiotics they put her on?)


As far as the tattooing goes- it is VERY inexpensive- so your shelter could definitely afford to do it- all ya'll need to do is go to your local tattoo parlor (or order) and get one syringe full of tattoo ink. for instance- our shelter uses teal green so that if our kitties/dogs were to get loose and another shelter were to find them- they'd know it came from ours. another shelter in our area uses blue/etc. also it only takes a TINSY amount of tattoo ink and you just put it under the stitches/into the incision site right after you sew the animal up from their spay/neuter. it's totally painless (done with a regular shot type syringe and doesn't actually pierce the skin. Not to mention- you do it when the animal's still knocked out so they never know!

just be sure the staff doesn't touch the ink right afterwards unless they want a temp. tattoo

also- if ya'll get a little too much on the incision site and it's still fresh- just spray a little hydrogen peroxide on it and gently wipe it off a pinch (not too much).

spay tattoos prevent soooooo many problems (like reopening an already altared animal just to be sure )and are totally worth it!!! also- one syringe full of tattoo ink should last a VERY long time (i'll put it this way- on average every week we do anywhere from 20-50 spay/neuters just depending on how many animals we have at the time- one syringe of tattoo ink will last through MULTIPLE spay/neuter days!!

Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

Okay... back from the shelter, and I feel better now. Dorothy is in a larger cage in the back, in the surgical suite, and she seems much better today, thank goodness. Her eyes are clear, and she was eating well for the first time since she's been at the shelter!

I talked to the animal care director, and she said the vet is coming again tomorrow and will have another look at her. I said, "Am I correct in thinking she's out of danger now?" and she said, "Oh sure, she's gonna be fine, honey. Just got to get her over this upper respiratory thing, and she's gettin' her medicine for that."

So that made me feel better, that without even looking at the paperwork, that lady knew what was up with Dorothy. Until today, I hadn't felt like anybody but me even knew who she was, y'know? Or cared!

Here's the best part -- on the paperwork, there was a handwritten note with a woman's name, her home, cell, and work phone numbers, and "Please call when available!" So Dorothy already has a potential mom!

I wrote on the paperwork that if Dorothy needed any special care, I would foster her, just call... in case she needs to be out of the shelter environment, where the URI flies around all the time.

But she's looking so much better now, and she seems happier in that larger cage, in a room with only two other critters. (Granted, they're both chi-hooah-hooahs, so the yipping is nonstop -- but it didn't seem to upset her at all.)

So okay! I can breathe again! I'll keep going back to check on her, of course, but for the moment, I feel much more confident that she's going to be all right. And once Dorothy is healthy and safe in her new home, then I can be more calm and clearheaded in addressing these other issues at the shelter.

I wonder if there are professional consultants who troubleshoot animal shelters...

Sounds like nothing but good updates!!!!

(as far as professional consultants- i'm not sure about the shelter you volunteer from wether it's considered a ch. 501 non-profit or its owned by the city. BUT at my shelter- if there were to be a big problem that nobody was taking care of -someone could go above the shelter /ac staff and talk directly to the guy who runs the public works division (animal control, sanitation and many other dpts fall under that category) and believe me- if someone complained to him we'd be in DEEP trouble- sooooooo perhaps if your shelter is run by the city and problems persist- you could anonymously address your concern to the head of the dpt in your city if need be)

 

[carolpetunia]

Our shelter was founded by a philanthropic couple who also started a children's clinic in the area... wonderful people, both dead now. I think we're a 501(3)c... no city affiliation that I know of.

Sheesh, I didn't know about "silent" heats. That's what I'VE been in for quite a few long, lonely years now...

 

[starryeyedtiger]

Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

Sheesh, I didn't know about "silent" heats. That's what I'VE been in for quite a few long, lonely years now...

lol too funny!!!!!

(and yes in all seriousness- silent heats are VERY common in animals such as cats, dogs, and rabbits when not spayed.)

 

[persi & alley]

Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

As some of you know, I volunteer with a no-kill, non-profit shelter in the area, and have been doing so for over three years. The shelter has an absolutely stellar reputation. There are occasional problems there, just as there are everywhere... but overall, I've always had a lot of faith in the way it's run.

In the past year, though, I've become concerned -- and in the past ten days, I've gotten downright angry. I could be expecting too much, though... I don't know. So please, especially if you have shelter experience, tell me what you think:

Those of us who foster for the shelter had always been assured that our foster critters were getting checked for potentially contagious problems before they were handed over to us, unless we were otherwise informed. Sometimes they're too young or too ill for some kinds of testing and treatment, but we were told we would always be informed if that was the case, so we could take appropriate precautions for our own pets.

Late last year, it became apparent to me that in fact, animals were being taken in and put right back out into foster homes without so much as a flea-check. I raised the issue with the volunteer coordinator, and she and I had a talk with the intake person and one of the senior vet techs. I was assured that the issue would be resolved... but since then, they've had such rapid turnover in most of the positions related to the issue that things have only gotten more chaotic. I don't believe I have ever received the right paperwork with a foster, which makes it impossible to track the animal's medical history... and we've unknowingly taken home kittens with fleas, ticks, coccidia, severe URI... you name it.

On one occasion, I smelled the characteristic smell of coccidia on the poopy little kitten we'd brought home, so I went back the next day and told them I thought the kitten had coccidia. The vet tech shooed me out of the room, supposedly did some kind of test, and handed the kitten back to me, saying she was fine. Three days later, the poor little thing was so sick that I gathered my nerve and went back again. This time I stayed and watched the test done -- and sure enough, she did have coccidia, and they finally gave us some medicine for her.

That's the general attitude, by the way -- the vet techs seem vehemently resentful toward the volunteers and fosters, to the point of direct hostility at times. We're told in volunteer training that they appreciate it when we let them know about kittens who seem to have problems -- sneezing, runny eyes, etc. But when we actually do so, we're dismissed, as if we're too stupid for our observations to mean anything.

The six tiny kittens I took home last week were shockingly small and weak, but the staff told me, "Oh, don't worry, they'll do fine, just feed them when they cry." I asked for more detailed instruction, because I'd never fostered such tiny ones before, but all I got was "Don't turn the heating pad up any higher than Low."

As some of you know, one of those kittens died at the emergency vet that night, and they were all found to have, for god's sake, maggots infesting their intestinal tracts. The infestation was visible, to anyone who knew what he was looking at (which I didn't).

So clearly, nobody had done a thing for those poor kittens -- they just handed them over to someone who had no experience in fostering bottle babies at all. If they'd looked at them first, they would have known they needed some immediate treatment -- and that poor little girl I later took to the ER might have survived.

Now Dorothy, the stray I had been caring for in our back yard, is at the shelter awaiting adoption. I've been over there almost every day to check on her, and my name is on record as the person surrendering her, so it should not have been hard for them to contact me. But they didn't -- they just decided to send her for spaying! I could have told them she was already spayed (in fact, I had told them -- I had marked it on the forms), because it was obvious from her behavior during the two months I knew her before I finally got her a spot in the shelter. Plus, she's declawed, and that certainly ought to raise a question in their minds as to whether she was spayed at the same time!

But they opened her up anyway, subjected her to sedation, only to find that she was already spayed... and now she has an infection in the incision, a high fever requiring subcutaneous fluids, and a bad URI.

And I'm the one who placed her in their hands! I feel horrible for what she's being put through. I'm on the verge of going over there and just taking her back, taking her to our vet, getting her well, and finding her a home myself, however long it might take.

I can't afford it... between Dylan's injury and the ER visit for the foster kitten, we're down over $450 in the past two weeks. But I'm seriously thinking of doing it anyway, asking the vet to let me pay over time.

Am I wrong to expect better than this of our shelter? I know it's an incredibly high-pressure environment, with far more animals in need than can possibly be helped... I know that many of the people who work there do so because they like animals a lot better than people, and therefore they just aren't going to be pleasant to deal with... but it still seems to me that there's a carelessness over there, a literal lack of care, that was not the norm just a year or so ago.

Have I been deluding myself about the quality of our shelter? Is it just this way in shelters everywhere? And if not, if it should not be like this... what can I do? What should I do?

Are you talking about the shelter here in Plano on 15th street?? I have been in there several times looking at the cats. I may have even talked to you, the people seemed nice and friendly. But of course there are always the things you cannot see.

 

[dragoriana]

I don't know what to say. I know it can be hard especially if they are full. Animal Aid is a non kill non government funded shelter as well. And as much as it is hard if alot of cats are sick and medication costs money, they can't just ignore it. One of my favourite girls had just been spayed, and a few days later she jumped up on my lap, and a drop creamy yellow liquid came out of her vagina. I only noticed it because i was giving her cuddles and everyone else was at the other end in the kitchen or another office. If i hadn't of reported it she may have gotten even worse and died from infection

In the end for completely different reasons she actually got pts for behavioural problems, she scratched one or two people and after all that time of good behaviour, they decided it was best after 2 scratches!!!

Sometimes i hate shelters. The only thing that i am thankful to shelters is that alot of people now have animals in their home who are loved. I think there are some questionable things, and just because you foster or volunteer, instead of being in a top rank, it doesnt matter. Anyone who looks after animals has a right to be worried if something isn't right.

 

[carolpetunia]

No, P&A, it's not the Plano shelter... this is another one, and I shouldn't name it here in public. I'll PM you...

Dragoriana... oh, that must have been hard for you. They do get concerned at our shelter if a cat bites, but a scratch is no big deal at all. Usually, we just put our "psychokitties" in cages with warning signs, so only the initiated will handle them. I try to remember to wear my glasses when I'm there, so at least I won't get it in the eye.

I did get it in the mouth the other day, though. It was a kitten about 12 weeks old, lovely little blue and white bicolor, and he seemed fine at first -- but as I brought him up to my chest, he suddenly panicked and lashed out. One claw tore down my cheek, and the tip broke off in the corner of my mouth; another claw went right through my lip and into my gum! Hurt like the very dickens, and bled ever so dramatically!

Once I was cleaned up, I went back to make friends with the little guy... he was so scared, bless his heart. It's going to take some work. His siblings are much more relaxed than he is, though, so maybe their attitude will rub off.

Heading over there tomorrow to smuggle Dorothy some good organic cat food.

 

[dragoriana]

You don't expect cats to be perfectly behaved in the home even if they get trained. A kitten could be perfectly behaved at the shelter, but nice it gets home it's going to nip at a little kid and scratch furniture, that's what they do. And that's what adult cats do as well. God if shelters pts cats who scratched there would be a lot more room. But that would be a bad thing, they do deserve a chance. I think i told you guys about oddball as well. He was pure white like Chuckie, one yellow one blue eye (hence the name) and deaf. He was the most handsome boy i had ever seen. He was very friendly and played with the humans. After a while of being in the shelter he hated it there, and he started picking fights with a big fluffy cat and Oddball was pts because he couldn't be trusted outside his cage. And whenever he was in the cage he would meow and meow and meow. It was very loud for us but he didnt know. If only somoene had come in and picked him, a single cat household, he could have had a beautiful life.

Sometimes it just plain sucks *sighs*

I hope Dorothy is doing well. As someone else said, when you VISIT a shelter, it all seems very nice and friendly, and some of them genuinly are, but when you work there you get a real view.