Shelter Life

Our Trick or Treat event was a “howling” good time!

2009-11-12T09:16:00.000-08:00

This year we hosted a Halloween event at both of our locations in Oakland and Dublin. Our “Howl-oween” festival aimed to provide a safe, fun and educational experience for all trick or treaters!

We kicked off our event with a ten question scavenger hunt, where children and families had to navigate through the shelter to find clues and answer questions. Each question was educational; all questions related to basic animal care or fun animal facts! At various of the scavenger stations we even had some of our shelter animals help give clues and demonstrate answers. We also had two bunny stations, where children could pet bunnies and learn about rabbit care. After participants answered the question they received a piece of candy and travelled to the next scavenger hunt table. Here is a small sample of some of our fun fact-filled questions:

What is the difference between a bunny and a rabbit?

What are 3 things that pets need?

Cats should drink milk, True or False?

After the scavenger hunt, participants had the opportunity to participate in our wickedly fun Halloween games and arts and crafts. Some of these include playing musical tombstones, pin the nose on the pumpkin, hot pumpkin as well as making popcorn hands and lollypop spiders.

A very special thanks to all of our Halloween volunteers; we could not have run the event without all of your enthusiasm and dedication. Thanks for helping foster a safe and exciting Halloween environment for all to enjoy. And, best of all, thanks for joining us in spirit and wearing your Halloween costume!

Busy Day in Tri-Valley today!

2009-11-07T17:54:00.000-08:00

I love seeing Club Second Chance animals go to good homes. We adopted 2 CSC cats as well as 5 other adult cats, 2 kittens, 1 CSC dog and 2 puppies. All this chaos while also hosting our monthly Rabbit event and being short one staff member. The staff (and volunteers!) worked hard and deserve a nice pat on the back and a big thank you.

Happy Tails to:

Type:	Cat
Name	Breed	Color	Gender	Age
Wally	Domestic Short Hair	Black	Male	5 Years
Adella	Domestic Medium Hair	Grey	Female	7 Years
Ally	Domestic Short Hair	Brown Tabby	Female	5 1/2 Years
Andy	Domestic Short Hair	Brown Tabby	Male	8-9 Years
Dolly	Domestic Short Hair	Torbie	Female	4-5 Years
Wendy	Domestic Short Hair	Brown Tabby	Female	2 Years
Alana	Domestic Medium Hair	Black	Female	5 Months

Type:	Dog
Name	Breed	Color	Gender	Age
Tipsy	Terrier	Tan	Female	6-7 Years

Type:	Kitten
Name	Breed	Color	Gender	Age
Comet	Domestic Longhair	Orange Tabby	Male	3 Months
Oz	Domestic Short Hair	Grey Tabby	Male	2 Months

Type:	Puppy
Name	Breed	Color	Gender	Age
Grizzly	American Eskimo / Poodle Miniature	White	Male	2 Months
Polar	American Eskimo / Poodle Miniature	White	Female	2 Months
Grand Total:	12 Adoptions!

OHA

2009-10-06T10:43:00.000-07:00

The Oakland Housing Authority and the SPCA collaborate in the first of a kind partnership.

Oakland Housing Authority came to the SPCA in the spring, 2009, with a proposal. A nationally known model for a public housing authority with a mission to assure the availability of quality housing for low income persons, OHA is fully aware of the significant values animal companions have for people, and allows pets under 25 pounds in all of their units. Because of their pet friendly policy OHA approached the SPCA and asked for help in supporting the relationships of tenants and their pets. OHA provides 3,308 public housing units on 268 sites, 1,386 units at large developments, 1,615 units at scattered sites, and 307 units in mixed-finance partnerships, and 11, 142 section 8 leased housing units (rental assistance to private owners). Undeniably, a vast number or tenants and their pets will benefit from this project.

Several meetings with management from both groups took place to discuss how to best create a comprehensive, accessible program. A decision was made to begin by providing information, training and resources to OHA staff, as they are often the first ones to become aware of the need for pet support and education.

The first of three trainings was held on September 18, 2009. Most of the participants present were OHA maintenance and grounds employees. Some of the topics addressed included dog and cat myths verses facts, understanding cultural differences among training, pit bull education, bite prevention, ferals or strays, basic animal care, animal cruelty, abandonment or neglect, and available resources.

I had the pleasure of bringing one of our SPCA furry friends, Greta, a lovable pit bull to the training. She was a hit with most everyone, although there was one of two exceptions. (For the second training, one week later, I brought Chili, a small Chihuahua mix who sat in my lap as relaxed as the Buddha and charmed every last participant. Attendees at this training were OHA housing managers.)

The information was received with great interest and generated energetic participation. Incidents with pets, both negative and positive were shared and problem solving discussed. A lively question and answer period took place at the end of the training, along with an evaluation form for the participants to fill out.

Feedback was unanimous. Great project!

I agree! As an SPCA volunteer I can't wait to get more involved with this project. The next step will be offering training directly to the tenants. I'll keep you updated and informed so look for the next installment in a future bog.

Animal Camp: A Huge Success!

2009-08-26T14:40:00.000-07:00

We just completed our second year of Animal Camp and what a successful summer! Not only did the animals enjoy having so much attention from all the little visitors, but the campers also enjoyed interacting with the animals. When asked about their favorite part of camp, most of kids said "visiting with the cats!"

Campers participated in a variety of animal activities this summer. For example, campers made animal advertisements which we were able to hang up around the shelter in order to help with promotion of all the shelter guests. Some of our campers had the opportunity to learn about horses through a meet and greet where they were able to brush and feed a horse! A rabbit rescue group visited camp a number of times to teach about the care and needs of keeping a rabbit as a pet, but of course the best part was when everyone sat in a circle on the floor and the rabbits were able to hop around and visit. At our 6-8 grade camp we had a number of outstanding speakers, and all of the campers gave rave reviews of their presentations and at the opportunity to learn more about working with animals professionally in the future.

The 1-3 grade camp fostered animals for the week, plush animals that is. We treated

them as if they were real pets all week long. Campers were responsible for complete care of the pet including walking their animals, administering medications and gathering all the necessary supplies for each pet. Many parents use our camp as a resource to help prepare their children for the responsibility of caring for a real pet one day, which brings me to the story of Caty.

Caty joined us for the first time last summer and has participated in multiple of our programs since, including Animal Camp in July. Caty has been a joy to teach and always sends us a thank you card in the mail after she attends camp- how sweet is that? Every time I see her she tells me how she longs to have a pet but that her parents keep telling her she is not quite ready. And how although she really wanted a dog any pet would do since she did not have any animals in her home. I was elated for Caty when her mom mentioned to me on the last day of camp that they would soon be looking for a dog. Caty's mom and dad brought her to our annual Adopt-a-thon so that Caty could look for a dog, a real live dog of her very own! I was even more pleased to receive an e-mail from Caty's mom letting me know that she was able to rescue a wonderful dog from the event that day, Roxy a small terrier mix. Roxy and Caty seem to be a perfect match and I am so glad we were able to help Caty prepare to adopt a dog of her own as I know she will be a stellar pet parent. Congratulations Caty and family!

Here are a few notes from other Animal Camp parents:

"Emily and Megan had a great time at camp and are already looking forward to the next camp!"

"My daughter Audrey attended many camps this summer including Vacation Bible School, Club Sport Sports camp, and your SPCA camp. SPCA camp was by far her favorite. Your caring staff, and your curriculum provide a perfect blend of fun and education for children. Audrey learned more about pet responsibility but I think the primary difference is the respect and care with which you treat your students. Thank you so much and we look forward to attending for our third year next year!"

"My daughter, Annika, had a fantastic time last week at your camp. In the past, we had only heard great things about it and now we know for ourselves…yes…we plan to sign up again next year! We’ve been telling others about it, too. Hopefully, there will be room for us next year! Thank you for such a wonderfully informative and interesting program."

"Thank you to you, Michael and Sierra, my daughter (Kathryn) had a wonderful week.
I asked her if there was anything she would like to see done differently - she said no. As a parent I appreciated the education factor and the kitty cat toy crafts. I feel Kate came home with a better understanding of community - and how pets are a part of our families and community. I like that you gave them the opportunity to view a spay/neuter operation - and although Kate opted out - she still came home with a better understanding and brought home fabulous questions."

So as you can see our Animal Camp success can be measured in many different ways. From the children we educated and inspired, to the animals who found homes with a few of our campers and their families; it was all a success and we look forward to doing it again this winter!

For more information on Animal Camp or to check out our other education programs visit the education page on our website.

Help is on the way

2009-08-17T15:21:00.000-07:00

Have you ever visited Mexico and wondered if there is any hope for the street dogs, the feral cats, and the generally unthrifty animals you see lurking on every street corner? There is. Several organizations, mostly grass-roots efforts, are popping up to bring medical care to disadvantaged animals. The Humane Society of the United States is at the forefront of this movement with its Rural Area Veterinary Services (RAVS). RAVS delivers mobile veterinary services – examinations, vaccinations, and spay/neuter surgeries – to underserved rural communities throughout North and South America.

In late July I spent a week as a RAVS volunteer on the Colville Indian Reservation in Northeast Washington. Our group was led by 3 experienced HSUS veterinarians and several support staff. The rest of the team -- 30 veterinary students, 6 veterinarians, and 6 animal care technicians – were volunteers. We assembled in a Super 8 Motel next to the Spokane airport on a Friday morning. In our own cars and carpools, we became a caravan, following the RAVS rig, a fifth-wheel carrying a complete veterinary clinic packed into small boxes. The landscape changed from wheat fields into high desert, and finally into pine forest as we drove all day, finally crossing the Columbia River and entering the Colville Indian Reservation. By Saturday at 6am, we had unpacked hundreds of boxes and turned a community center gymnasium into a fully functioning vet clinic.

Comprised of twelve separate tribes, the Colville Reservation is home to about 7500 Native Americans. The community has fallen on hard times lately, as the logging industry is in decline and the mills which employ most of the Colville are closing. We met a number of people who were living on the brink, often having to choose between feeding their pets or feeding their families. Needless to say they were ecstatic to be provided with completely free veterinary care and lined up each day outside each of our three clinics.

RAVS’ primary goal is to provide high-quality animal care for communities isolated by poverty and geography. They have a secondary goal though, which is to provide veterinary students with hand-on clinical experience. Under the watchful eyes of the volunteer veterinarians, students perform physical examinations, medical treatments, and even spay and neuter surgeries. (Even the EBSPCA’s own Dr. Barb Jones volunteered as a student at RAVS clinics!) I was impressed by the preparation and motivation of these dedicated students. Their enthusiasm for veterinary medicine and their willingness to work long hours was impressive. And work we did. The entire clinic, which filled a gymnasium, had to be packed up and moved three times during the course of the week. Setting up the clinic once we had arrived at our destination often took hours. No hotels on the reservation meant sleeping on community center floors, and grabbing food when possible -- without the luxury of hot showers or hot coffee!

In addition to spaying and neutering over 250 animals, we managed to change some lives along the way. Teddy Bear was a 9-month old Golden who had been hit by a car several weeks earlier, and came to our clinic with a shattered pelvis, flesh wounds, and a severely fractured rear leg. He had been living in the back of a pickup truck, as his owners were homeless and unable to afford having Teddy seen by one of the few veterinarians on the reservation. After examining Teddy, the lead veterinarian decided that the hind limb would need to be amputated. Unfortunately, because of his aftercare and rehabilitation, Teddy’s owners decided they would not be able to keep him, and surrendered him to our care. The volunteer veterinarian who was assigned to Teddy ended up falling in love with him and adopting him at the end of the trip. As an added bonus – she even has a friend who is getting certified in canine rehabilitation, who will be able to help Teddy adjust to living on 3 legs.

I’m not sure I have the energy to go on another RAVS trip in the near future. I can’t even imagine how difficult it must be to pull the whole thing together in South America, with even more challenges. It really makes me appreciate our EBSPCA clinics, where the patients come to us. We also have the luxury of numerous and animal welfare organizations and veterinarians here in the Bay Area. For those that aren’t as fortunate as us, it’s nice to know there’s a group of animal lovers driving around in a caravan, getting to where they are needed.

Teddy and his new person

Update on New Humane Advocate

2009-07-24T15:33:00.000-07:00

The mission of the East Bay SPCA is clear – prevent cruelty to animals and save lives. Too frequently we see the end result of neglect or cruelty, far past the time that would have been reasonable to intervene. As a consequence, the animals have paid a terrible price. This is unacceptable to us.

This is why we created the new position of Humane Advocate and asked for special contributions to fund the position. Because you are a generous supporter of the East Bay SPCA, I want to tell you this initiative has been met with immediate success and to share with you this interim report.

We believe that most cruelty and neglect is unintentional, due largely to lack of education. Intervention at an early stage can greatly improve the lives of animals, and of their owners. Our Humane Advocate is truly a social worker for both people and animals, and we are now coming into the community offering support, education and compassion.

Oakland Animal Control as you may know is a division of the Oakland Police Department. Oakland Animal Control has been for a long time staffed by dedicated professionals who work tirelessly to respond to complaints of animal cruelty, abandonment and worse. With the city budget in a record deficit, and the animal control division already understaffed, increasing staffing levels is not an option. Add to that an economic downturn that is being compared to the Great Depression and we can honestly say it is a horrible time to be a pet. Animals ending up in shelters have increased tremendously since 2007 – the first time this number has increased in six years.

With so much stacked against pets, pet owners and city funded animal control, it was time for us to step up. Before sending our Humane Advocate into the field, we met with the acting Deputy Police Chief. He welcomed our proposal with enthusiasm. To ensure solid teamwork between our new Humane Advocate and our peer Animal Control officers, our staff will now be included in weekly police/animal control meetings and debriefs. Cases will be referred to us from them, and similarly, cases coming directly to us would be communicated with them.

Our Humane Advocate hit the ground running. An experienced animal control officer from another city, she headed straight into the community and got to work.

One of her first cases came by way of a Good Samaritan who brought in an injured stray dog. After paying for his care, she asked if we could come into her community and educate her neighbors – most of whom had free-roaming, breeding dogs that frequently got hit by cars. After a long strategic meeting and review of the neighborhood, it was decided that the Samaritan would host a “block party” for all her neighbors. The East Bay SPCA would be there to give free shots, free spay/neuter certificates and do an educational talk – all translated into Spanish by our host. The event was a huge success with over 35 dogs getting shots and other necessary tools such as collars and leashes, flea treatment, brushes and such. More events are planned for the future.

Another call came by way of Oakland Police. Neighbors had been complaining about a house that was breeding pit bulls. The conditions were squalid and the police confiscated the dogs. Our advocate went out there and met the two gentlemen who had the dogs, and started a dialogue. Within a day we had the adult dogs in for free spay and neuter, as well as three remaining puppies. Our advocate offered advice on cleaning up the property to make it more dog friendly, and more enjoyable for both people and pets. The puppies were found good homes and the female pitbull returned to her owners (after our advocate did a check and cleared them to re-own)– who now have become advocates of spaying and neutering dogs. Working with us they got to learn first hand how many pitbulls end up in shelters and never make it out. Deciding to become part of the solution, rather than the problem, they are now spokespeople for our services – and for the humane treatment of pets. They still communicate regularly with us.

We have dozens more similar stories. It gives me such pride to say we are effectively tackling some of the most difficult situations in the field and making a positive difference. The collaboration between Oakland Animal Control/Oakland Police Department and the East Bay SPCA should serve as a model for other cities. We are proof that it does work.

These success stories, with hundreds more to come, are because of the support we get from you and all our donors. I offer you my sincerest heart-felt thank you for the life-changing differences you are making in our community.

Search and Rescue

2009-07-15T09:41:00.000-07:00

Huckleberry was rescued by the East Bay SPCA in Oakland from the Berkeley shelter in November 2007. Because of his excellent physical and mental abilities, Search and Rescue Foundation, www.searchdogfoundation.org, an organization which pulls candidates from shelters, was contacted and Huckleberry was put through the many tests to see whether he would qualify. Once he proved his mettle, he was put through the rigorous training to become a bona fide search and rescue dog. See this month’s Bay Woof for more details about Huckleberry’s story.

Sent to us from Berkeley Animal Control

Free Shot Fair: Mission Possible!

2009-04-14T12:30:00.000-07:00

We did it, and we did it with integrity! I want to thank everyone who participated in the March 29 Shot Fair at Ira Jenkins Park. These events connect us to the communities we serve in a way that nothing else does. We devote our time to offer a valuable service, we invest our heart and soul, and we take our experiences back with us—some good, some bad, some inspiring, and some that make us loose sleep at night. It is grass roots work in raw form. It is in these communities that our mission takes root, and where the seeds sprout with our efforts to create a more conscious environment for the welfare of companion animals.

The folks who help with these events are making an impact that extends beyond the boundaries of the park, and even the neighborhood. We are raising awareness, and that awareness will eventually put an end to animal suffering. We may not see it come full circle in our lifetime, but I have seen it extend beyond my imagination in the short period of time I have existed on this planet. It is true that we must act local and think global, because it is with that approach that we prevent burn out and defeat.

Sometimes I lay awake at night and think of the insurmountable amount of suffering humans have inflicted on innocent creatures, and in those moments I feel like I’ve undertaken an impossible mission. And then I think about the time that I was finally able to convince my neighbor to stop tethering his dog after five years of an imprisoned existence. I think about Bart surviving a cruel beginning, and finding a home where he is deeply loved. I think about all the effort our CA’s put into teaching dogs to trust that humans will treat them with kindness. We are doing right by animals, and we are doing right by people. When you do work that is based on kindness and respect, you are essentially healing the planet. You may not recycle all the time, and you may eat McDonald’s, but you are changing people’s minds about the way they treat their animals.

Goodnight, Kobe

2009-03-01T14:28:00.000-08:00

One of the first things I learned in my employment here at the EBSPCA was the motto "you can't save them all." As pessimistic as it sounds, its something that we all have to accept to avoid overexerting ourselves emotionally. None of us would last more than a few months if we didn’t accept the fact that there are some things that all the compassion in the world can't accomplish.

Its been a few months since she left us, but sometimes my mind turns to a dog named Kobe. She was a black lab/cattle dog mix, about two years old, who came into our Oakland shelter as a stray. When I first looked at her in her kennel, I wondered if she was sitting at an odd angle, or if she was just unusually flexible, because her back legs looked very small.

I hate to admit it, but I was a little horrified when she got up to greet me, and I saw the reason why she looked so strange... Her back legs were atrophied to about half their proper size, and fused in a crumpled position behind her torso. When she got up, they didn't even touch the ground; she walked entirely on her front feet.

None of our staff knew what had happened to her, or how she managed to survive on two legs. But it seems like someone must have cared for her at one time, because she was quite loving, if a little scared (even with her disability, she tried to escape several times when she first came in.) The first time I formally met her, I kneeled down next to her and held out my hand so as not to scare her. Her response was to scoot right past my hand and lay her head on my knee with a world-weary sigh. I almost cried.

Because she had such a nice personality, the shelter higher-ups decided to have her looked at by a specialist to determine her prognosis. Undoubtedly she would never walk on four legs again, but many dogs with paralyzed or amputated rear legs function quite well when strapped into specially made wheeled carts.

While the results of these evaluations were pending, Kobe was busy loving shelter life. She seemed to know that people felt sorry for her, because she took every opportunity to snuggle in close to someone and get some love. She seemed to relish being the center of attention.

Unfortunately, Kobe's was not the Cinderella story that shelter workers crave. It turned out that her back had been broken, and because of the way her spine had curved, it was likely that she would suffer from painful bowel and urinary tract issues for the rest of her life. She had already become severely incontinent during her stay with us.

We did have to say goodbye to Kobe, but I know I speak for more than one employee and volunteer when I say that I take comfort in the fact that her last weeks were spent being loved and pampered. She may even have received more love and affection in her short stay with us than she had gotten the entire rest of her all-too-short life. "You can't save them all" may hold true for all of us at the EBSPCA, but in terms of compassion, our reach will always exceed our grasp.

Crooked Stanley

2009-02-01T16:15:00.001-08:00

Stanley was a smelly, scrawny orange kitten who came into our shelter on my birthday, and began our acquaintance by biting me. Sure it hadn't been hard enough to draw blood, but it seemed inauspicious. Because I was the birthday girl, our feline associate (Jenna) gave me the honor of naming him. He seemed moody and a little violent, so I decided to name him Stanley after my favorite film director, Stanley Kubrick. My boyfriend warned me to save that name for another animal, since I had always talked about using it. However, kittens get adopted very quickly at our shelter, so I figured Stanley would be up for adoption for a week or two before he got snapped up, and I'd forget all about him. This was in November 2008, and little did I know I wouldn't be forgetting Stanley anytime soon.

At any rate, Stanley was put up for adoption. And he only stayed there for a day before Jenna noticed him sneezing and tilting his head. So, he went into our isolation ward and got started on some antibiotics for what was assumed to be a URI (Upper Respiratory Infection – a treatable illness that’s common in shelter cats.) A week or so passed, and I visited him regularly, which was probably a bad idea… I guess you can assume what happened then; I got attached. It seems his initial response to me was fear-driven, because from then on he started to purr just seeing me walk up to his cage. He was the kind of cat that would snuggle up to any available human, even if all the human he could access was a couple of fingers through the bars of his cage. He even licked my nose just about every time I held him in my arms.

After the next weekend, I came back to find Stanley's cage empty. After a small moment of panic I found him in our holding room with a "DO NOT HANDLE" sign on his cage. When I asked Jenna about this, she said that our office vet had to run some tests on him. Apparently his head tilt hadn't gone away, and when placed on the ground in a large room, he would walk with a strange, wobbly gait and occasionally trip over his own feet. This hadn't been noticed before because he was in a cage just big enough for him to stand and walk a few steps in. So, blood tests for poisoning and disease were needed. I spent most of the week worrying about him, and even opened his cage for the occasional pat, (even though its against shelter policy; if my bosses are reading this, I washed my hands up to the elbow before and after, I swear!)

Anyway, once the test results came back, they showed that Stanley was in good health. The most likely explanation for his problem lay in a genetic disorder called cerebellar hypoplasia. Similar to cerebral palsy in humans, its main symptoms are poor balance, irregular gait and perceptual abnormalities, all of which Stanley had in some form. However, his case seemed mild. So, our shelter being as gracious as it is, he was deemed adoptable, albeit with a medical waiver outlining his condition.

So, he went out in public view, and was a resounding failure at attracting potential adopters. I could insert a cynical comment here, but I don't think it really fits in with this story's beginning, or its outcome. I told myself that if he wasn't adopted by the end of the year, I would take him home. The only thing that kept me from taking him home in the first place was the reality of my life; I already have two prima donna female cats, I live in a teeny one-bedroom apartment with my boyfriend, and both of us work full-time. Although that didn't stop me from thinking "don't you DARE take my Stanley!" every time I saw someone poking their fingers through the bars of Stanley's cage. I nearly exploded when I heard someone mutter “that cat’s only got half a brain!”

However, nearly a month later, a woman came in to rent a feral cat trap (our shelter has a program where private citizens can humanely trap feral cats, bring them to our clinic to get them spayed/neutered free of charge, and then re-release them, thusly stopping population growth without killing.) Anyway, she was about my mom's age, and had been working with our shelter's cat program for nearly 3 years. She works from home, so she has ample free time to devote to helping us. I processed her trap rental, but since she was in no particular hurry, she decided to look at our cats. I talked to her for a good half hour about all things cat-related, and somehow Stanley came up.

Fortunately it was a slow day, so I had time to tell her all about him, and even take him out of his cage so she could see how sweet was. She was very taken with him, and he warmed up to her right away, to the point of doing the heart-melting nose lick. She said she would have loved to take him home, but couldn't really justify the expense. I felt a bit saddened by this, because to me she seemed like the ideal owner for him.

About five days later, a woman about my age came into the shelter, and immediately asked about Stanley. It turns out that the woman who had come in previously was her mother-in-law, and had mentioned Stanley wistfully several times since then. After peppering me with questions about his condition (she was actually a registered nurse) she asked if she could adopt him for her mother-in-law as an early Christmas gift. At that moment, I felt my chest get a little lighter, a feeling I now can only describe as joy! However, it is shelter policy not to adopt animals out to anyone who intends to give the animal as a gift. We want our adoption process to be as informed as possible. We do, however, offer gift certificates! So, I sold her a gift certificate and spent the rest of the day smiling, and cuddling Stanley whenever I had a spare moment.

The next day, I was eating lunch in the lounge when Michelle (one of our volunteers) came in and told me that Stanley was getting adopted, and that his new owner had asked for me by name. Immediately, I put aside my crossword puzzle and practically ran into the lobby. It was her, of course, and she said she was so happy I was here to see Stanley go home. In retrospect, I should have given her a hug. But all I thought to do was smile and hold Stanley on my lap as another employee processed the paperwork. So, after another 10 minutes of fervent thank yous being sent back and forth, I put Stanley in his new carrier and walked him and his new owner out the door, telling her to call my extension whenever she wanted to.

After Stanley went out the door, I felt a little sadness rising in the back of my throat, but it was overwhelmed by the feeling that he was going to a wonderful new home. And I admit, I felt some pride as well. Not really pride at having been an advocate for a fellow creature in need, but pride that I had resisted the selfish urge to keep him for myself in favor of letting someone else have a chance, especially someone who could give him a better home than I could have.

Love is Bitter Sweet

2009-01-23T11:19:00.000-08:00

I cried when I first met Bonnie. Stuffed teddy bear in tow, she shook her behind wildly and greeted me with with a huge smile. "Please pick me, please pick me, please oh please pick me!" My heart dropped. It was love at first sight! The scars on her face revealed a dreadful past, yet her spirit was unaffected. Nothing could dissuade her joie de vivre. Those scars now only exaggerated her smile, and the joy poured out of her like an open dam. In the long months that she lived at our shelter, her enthusiasm was unwavering.

While Bonnie is the best dog I have ever known, she isn't always so fond of other dogs, and only then does her smile reveal the missing teeth from the damaged snout. She is cautious, and gives fair warning. This unfortunate trait extended her stay at the shelter longer than the average dog, though otherwise she passed all tests with flying colors: good with children, playful, gorgeous, gentle, young at heart, no food aggression, likes to snuggle, good manners, very obedient, curious, and an absolute love bug! When I arrived to work every morning, I always went to get my Bonnie fix. She was better than coffee.

I came to work yesterday to find Bonnie's kennel empty. I quickly checked my e-mail and read the one that would reveal her fate. It came from one of our volunteers who practically lives at the shelter and it read, "Hallelujah. Bonnie sleeps in her own home for the first time in many months. Good things do happen. " My heart sank and tears fell. Love is bittersweet at the East Bay SPCA!

The decision to euthanize

2009-01-03T11:09:00.000-08:00

The most difficult part of my job, as part of the management team, is the decision to euthanize one of the animals in our care. The East Bay SPCA is not a "no kill" shelter. However, unlike city or county shelters, we only euthanize for health or behavior reasons. We will keep an animal up for adoption as long as it takes to find them a home, granted they pass our health and behavior criteria. That is where it gets tricky. What is that criteria and how do we decide was "passes" and what doesn't?

The case I want to talk about is a cat named Canella. Canella came to us from another local shelter. We did an initial assessment: cat is friendly, enjoys human interaction, seems healthy, etc. It was noted that she doesn’t like other cats. That’s ok; we’ll take her into our program and let the potential adopter know. She’s a Lynx Point Siamese mix, she will get adopted quickly!

Canella showed signs of stress after arriving at our shelter, as cats often do, by not eating a lot and acting a little quiet. She’d come over for pets and affection, but something seemed off. We had the vet take a look. She decided to run a blood panel as it appeared Canella was probably a little older than shelter staff had originally thought. (That is not uncommon. It is very difficult to tell a cat’s age when given no history by previous owners.) The blood panel came back and the news wasn’t good. Canella had kidney disease.

In the past, an animal with kidney disease was not put up for adoption. They were euthanized. This was not good news for Canella – a sweet, affectionate, beautiful, petite kitty. After discussing the case, we decided since Canella appeared stable – her eating had become regular, she seemed happy, etc. – we decided to put her up for adoption with a medical waiver. A medical waiver states that the adopter is made aware of the health condition and agrees to take on responsibility for the animal post adoption. We knew we would really have to tug at some heart strings to find her a home, but we wanted to give her a chance. With our new program in place, Club Second Chance, we felt it was the right thing to do.

Unfortunately, Canella has been waiting for a home since September. It was recommended that we perform a blood panel every couple months and weigh her regularly to monitor the progression of the disease. She is also to be fed prescription food, called K/D, which is a specially formulated diet for animals with kidney disease. After running the latest blood panel, her disease does seem to be progressing, but she is still in a stable state. It is uncertain how long she has, but it is certain that we would love to find her a home to live out her final days, whether that ends up being weeks, months or even years.

The time will come when we or her adopter will have to make that most difficult decision to put her to sleep, but not yet.

If you would like to meet Canella, she is available for adoption at our Oakland facility, located at 8323 Baldwin Street. As part of our Club Second Chance program, she will receive a discount for services at our Veterinary Clinic as well as discounts at participating businesses.

Growl, Meow & Wine!

2008-10-04T16:39:00.000-07:00

It sure does take a lot of work to get this place nice and clean for the Growl, Meow & Wine event! This event is a way of saying "Thank You" to all of our contributors for helping us take such great care of our animals.

I am very excited, as this is my first year participating. I'm not sure exactly what it is going to be like, but from what everyone has told me, it seems like it is going to be fun. I'm also excited about the catering! :) Well, we have spent the last week cleaning every nook and cranny to make sure that the shelter looks its best. Hopefully we will also find some potential adopters for many of our dogs and cats too. I will keep you posted as to how it goes!

Casper

2008-05-20T17:07:00.000-07:00

Casper is a wonderful example of why we started our Club Second Chance Fund. This fund provides for services and diagnostics required by some of our most deserving cats and dogs. Casper is a “mature” gentleman who won our hearts during his time in both Oakland and Dublin Adoption Centers. Through Club Second Chance, we were able to get him the expensive diagnostic work necessary to determine his medical condition and get him on the right medication so he could go to his new home… which he happily has done!

Our adopter and volunteer, Karin, has only wonderful things to say about Casper.
From Karin: Hi. I thought folks at the East Bay SPCA who remember and loved Casper while he was a resident in Oakland and Dublin (before being adopted by me!), would enjoy these pictures.
Two weeks ago Casper and I went down to Pacific Grove for a long weekend. Pacific Grove is a wonderful little town situated between Monterey and Carmel. I'm telling you, did Casper have fun! We took early morning walks on the beach everyday. He socialized with other dogs at the wonderful "off leash" dog beach in Carmel. He chased after water birds on the shore and would have loved to go after some sun bathing seals or a few deer walking around Asilomar State Park had he not been on a leash! Casper was reliving his young "whipper snapper" dog days that weekend. He even met a lovely young chocolate Lab named "Kona" at the dog-friendly motel we stayed at. It was love at first sight for Casper. He followed Kona everywhere when the two were together!
I think you can tell by Casper's big smile in the photos below, that he really had a ball. He had to rest up from his big out-of-town weekend, but is doing fine now. I think he misses the beach though (…and Kona).
: )

I am so happy we were able to give Casper the second chance he deserved.

A long way home

2008-03-28T08:51:00.000-07:00

Just a few short months ago, Shy Girl was living in a hole. She was one of 145 dogs who were stranded outside of Gabbs, Nevada when their caretaker passed away. The dogs lived in outdoors pens in pairs or small groups, and had limited contact with people. Some were outgoing and friendly, some were nervous and barky, and some were scared of everything. Shy Girl was one of the scared ones - she didn't get her name for nothing.

Shy Girl spent most of her time hiding in hole she'd dug in her pen, and when rescuers came to remove her from the property, they had to climb into her hole and pull her out. I can only imagine how terrifying that moment must have been for her. Luckily, things would soon get better for this sweet dog.

The East Bay SPCA was part of a collaborative effort to rescue the Gabbs dogs, and in January seven of the dogs came to our Oakland shelter after a long truck ride from Nevada. Frank, Fred, Jacob, Oopsie, Argonaut, Pinny and Shy Girl were all so scared that they wouldn't move on their own, and had to be carried to their kennels. It was days, or in some cases weeks, before they would leave their kennels on their own. Something as simple as going for a walk around the shelter grounds was a major accomplishment for these dogs - they simply had no idea how to live with people.

Staff and volunteers worked patiently and diligently to bring the dogs out of there shells. The dogs were assessed on a regular basis to determine what progress they were making, and whether they could ever be placed in homes. One by one, they passed their temperament evaluations and were made available for adoption.

Two weeks ago, a woman named Theresa came to the shelter looking for a companion, and found Shy Girl. After a trial adoption period, Theresa knew that Shy Girl was the one for her, and offered this special girl a permanent home.

Four dogs are still looking for their forever homes. Oopsie is the most outgoing. She bonds with people quickly, and loves to go for walks.

Frank takes more time to warm up to new people, but once he bonds with you, you've got a friend for life. Frank doesn't like to be separated from those he's bonded with, and would do best with someone who can spend lots of time with him.

Argonaut is very shy, and prefers to spend much of his time resting in his crate. He wouldn't mind staying home alone while his owner goes to work.

Fred is quiet, but curious and hopeful. He is learning to enjoy walks and play time with other dogs.

If you think you might be able to provide a home to one of these special dogs, please give us a call or visit them at the shelter. Frank and Argonaut are at our Tri-Valley adoption center, and Fred and Oopsie are at our Oakland adoption center.

Good Samaritans' Stop Saves a Life

2008-03-05T11:56:00.000-08:00

Thanks to two incredibly kind women, a young dog's life was saved last Friday. "Bart," was discovered by these Good Samaritans on a street corner in Oakland. He was malnutritioned and barely moving. East Bay SPCA veterinarian Dr. Atid and our medical staff worked to save him, but they didn't know if we were too late.

I didn't want to get my hopes up as I left for the weekend. Bart had made it through the day, but we didn't know how he'd fair in the days to come. I couldn't bring myself to call the office Saturday and Sunday, even though I thought about Bart all weekend long.

I braced myself as I drove to work on Monday. When I arrived early that day, I learned the good news: Bart had made it. He was even eating on his own. I rushed to his kennel where I found him looking very weak, but wagging his tail whenever anyone spoke to him. My co-workers and I took turns getting Bart out of his kennel for short amounts of time so he could stretch his legs. He was still too weak to stand on his own, so we hovered over him as we gentle braced him to help him stand.

Over the past two days, Bart has continued to improve. He can now stand for short periods of time and is even walking a bit around our office. My little corner of the place is now Bart's daytime retreat, where my co-workers and our wonderful volunteers shower him with love and attention. Our shelter supervisor Lenny has even come in on his two days off to spend time with this special guy.

We look forward to seeing Bart continue to grow stronger in the coming days and weeks. We look forward to updating our blog, so visitors can watch Bart recover, too. As we watch Bart grow stronger, we remain so grateful to the two kind women who stopped their cars to save this special dog's life.

Whiska finds a home!

2008-02-23T18:18:00.000-08:00

Many people know or have heard about an East Bay SPCA cat named Whiska. She was first brought to the shelter as a transfer with no history on why she ended up there. This is very common for many of the animals that we see. As a young, petite kitty, we didn't imagine her stay with us to be as long as it was. She originally came in 1 1/2 years ago! She spent time at both of our adoption facilities hoping and waiting for her time to come. She was featured as Pet of the Week in our TailMail (e-newsletter) as well as in various newspapers.
Today she was adopted after being spotted on our website. We are so grateful to her adopter for giving her a home.

Zoolander Calls 911

2008-02-07T16:46:00.000-08:00

We had a situation where the police showed up at the East Bay SPCA in Tri-Valley responding to a call made to 911. Asking around we couldn't figure out how this call could have been made as we didn't have an emergency situation.

Looking into it further, it may be the result of Zoolander, our Shelter Cat, stepping on a speed dial button, which summoned the police.

Zoolander has an emergency to report! He's trying his best to get outta here! Zoolander has been with the East Bay SPCA for almost a full year, come March. He has spent time at both of our adoption facilities and is still waiting for his forever home. He is our Shelter Cat, which means he gets to spend his time in our office, greeting volunteers, staff and shelter dogs as they come through to say hello.

Zoolander is a wonderful kitty, come and meet him at our shelter in Dublin.

Lucca update

2007-09-27T23:12:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture from a few weeks ago I finally pulled off my cell phone. It's of our old pal, Lucca. He is looking very good -- a little round at the edges, but who am I to judge?

He spends a lot of time greeting customers at a nearby flower shop. He also gets to live with lots of other animals, of the barn yard variety, and even some cats.

He's still a bit noisy when excited, but he's working on it!

Quick picture update

2007-08-08T00:40:00.001-07:00

I wanted to post some pictures of the kittens Frances posted earlier. I took them more than a week ago but I haven't gotten around to it. They are now adopted after a relatively long stay in our care (for kittens).

This is Alex. She loves to drop toys by your feet (look at the bottom of the picture) to get you to play with her. She is so silly.

I worked our Adopt-a-thon at both our Tri-Valley (July 28th) and Oakland (July 29th) locations this year. Unfortunately, I was too busy to stop and take any pictures of the fun. At the end of the day in Oakland though, I managed to spot Crank. Crank is our resident feral cat. She is not too interested in people, but she has been well taken care of. She stays on the Oakland property so that she is not in danger.

I just wanted to remember a couple really cool cats and kittens...

2007-07-22T13:32:00.001-07:00

McKool.

Minou.

Gordon.

Lucky.

Julius.

Danny update

2007-07-17T13:45:00.000-07:00

Danny, whom I've blogged about previously, was adopted this Wednesday from our Oakland shelter!

My Gracie Girl

2007-06-15T08:39:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about Gracie, the Boxer mix that I took home to help gain weight. Last week I returned to work from my weekend, to find out that Gracie (who was at the shelter rather than my home due to her desire to eat my cat) had become terminally ill, and needed to be euthanized.

Back at the shelter, Gracie wasn't eating well, and when she did eat, she usually vomited. She actually started losing weight, rather than gaining it. When I saw how badly she was doing asI left that weekend before I heard Gracie's news, I felt terribly guilty. I was convinced that she couldn't handle being in the shelter, and that if she was at my house, she would be better. I thought I should have found a way to manage her and my cat for a longer period of time. Even after I found out that she seemed to be having some sort of organ failure, it was initially difficult to accept that I couldn't have prevented this.

However, I trust our vets implicitly, and knew that there was nothing that I, or anyone else, could do to make Gracie better. I was in our TV shelter and Gracie was in Oakland when I received the news that she was to be euthanized that morning. My co-workers and the clinic staff held her an extra hour so that I come be with Gracie during her final minutes. I quickly drove to Oakland, preparing myself to see Gracie lethargic and miserable and ready to go.

When I arrived however, Gracie was happy to see me, and ready to go for a walk. I took her out, and was shocked to have Gracie trying to push me around for lap time, working for treats for her trainer, playing with the little dogs in my bosses office, and finding and gnawing on a knuckle bone. I was well aware that this did not mean that Gracie was fine. She had slowed a tad, even if hardly perceptible, and she had become jaundiced. At the same time, I had hoped to take her home for one last comfortable night, and was not doing so because I had heard that she was in such terrible shape. As much as I wanted time with her, what I wanted most was whatever was in Gracie's best interest, so I decided to seek out the answer.

I spoke to A and the Doctor about Gracie. I had her with me still, and she elected to bring her bone with her, showing it off as she trotted down the hall. We had a great discussion about whether it was safe for her to hold off on being put to sleep for one more day. Based on all her medical pieces, it seemed she would be in significant pain or discomfort, yet her behavior did not reflect this. The vet had continued to try to help Gracie as long as possible for this same reason - that her spirits were so consistenly high. I was given the blessing to take her for the night, knowing that in the event that she became worse during the night, I'd have to take her to the shelter for an emergency euthanasia.

Gracie and I returned to TV, where she spent the day with me. The had a great afternoon, greeting everyone, begging at the table, chewing her knuckle bone, sleeping on her bed, and showing off, throwing, and kill shaking her stuffed bear.

When the evening was over, we returned to my house. Upon arrival, Gracie was wagging her tail and smiling, acting as if she knew this was her home, and jumping right back into the routine we had during her stay with me two weeks prior. She played with the dogs, ate dinner like a champ (and kept it down!), stole my dog's stuffed hedghog for more throwing and kill shaking, and harrassed my cat...a lot.

A little after 10 we settled down, Gracie on one side of me and Koobi on the other, to watch some TV. Gracie would occasionally pop up to fixate on my cat, then return to curling up by my side. At around 10:40, she sat up and stared down the cat. I reached over to pull her back, when she suddenly fell over, arched her back, took one last breath, and died.

Although it is sad to have her gone, I feel extremely fortunate for her that she was able to pass away, without signs of suffering, in my home by my side where she was most comfortable.

A Sad Update to a "Happy Ending"

2007-06-06T21:28:00.000-07:00

Babs, was a big black lab mix who sat at our shelter for months waiting for the right home. She found them in the Wilsons who sent us their adoption story for our "Happy Endings" page. (Read it here: http://www.eastbayspca.org/ adoptableanimals/ happyendings.cfm?id=8).

The Wilsons kept us updated by dropping by our City Center storefront in downtown Oakland and sending holiday cards featuring Babs and her brother Ranger in an assortment of holiday gear.

I received news today that after being ill for sometime, Babs was humanely euthanized at home. I'm grateful to the Wilson family for sharing small pieces of her life with the shelter staff (even this very sad one), and most of all for giving an overlooked sweet big, old, awkwardly shaped dog the best years of her life.

How Many Kittens Can You Fit Into A Waterbowl?

2007-06-01T16:55:00.000-07:00

This kitten found a good use for the empty waterbowl in her cage:She was soon joined by one sibling...

and then another...These guys (including the one poor sibling who actually couldn't fit in the bowl) are now home with M.C., a dedicated Dublin foster.

Danny Boy

2007-05-21T18:31:00.000-07:00

Danny is a nice dog who has been at our shelter for a while, so I thought I'd post some pictures up and a bit about him.

He's big and tall (80 pounds) but quite gentle and well mannered. In fact, he has met many young children and has been perfect! He still is young and gets excited so he'll need somebody who can play with him and take him on walks, but when it's time to settle down, he'd just settle quietly by your side with his favorite toy.

He seems like a good dog for a first time dog owner, and he is housebroken. It's important to know that he wouldn't do well with cats or other small animals, however.

I think it's strange that he's been here for a while and people seem to pass by him, despite how cute he looks with his big eyes and gentle look. Maybe because people think he's too big. He was even in another rescue organization for a while who turned to us for help. Are you the right family for him?

Here is a link to his profile on Virtual Pet Adoptions.com : http://www.virtualpetadoptions.com/adoptapet/pet_details.asp?petid=10639

The True Adventures of Gracie and Shayna

2007-05-20T15:29:00.000-07:00

I haven't fostered a shelter dog in quite a while, but as I'm starting to consider adding a dog to my family, I thought that now is as good a time as ever. Tonight I'm going to take home Gracie, a Boxer/Lab mix. I met Gracie a week ago when I pulled her from a local shelter for our adoption program. I had a spot for a new Silver Muzzle Club dog, and I thought Gracie was a perfect fit. In the kennel, I saw a puppyish, squishy boxer face, but when I took her out, the other end was a very different story. Gracie is extremely emaciated, has a thin, brittle coat, her ears look like they have tar inside, and her front teeth have been worn to nubs. However, upon closer inspection, we've realized Gracie probably isn't a senior at all. More likely five or six years old, this dog appears to be the victim of severe neglect.

Tuesday Gracie will go to the vet to get spayed, have a couple of calouses removed, and get cleaned up. My goal will be to help her put some weight on and add some shine to her coat. I think with a little TLC, Gracie will return to looking and acting like the young dog she really is.

Lucca's Year

2007-05-12T21:24:00.000-07:00

A year ago today, Lucca arrived at the East Bay SPCA, and I am told that he didn't make a sound during his intake test. Soon after, Lucca debuted his lovely houndish bay, and he's been in fine voice ever since.

Lucca bays when he is excited. For a shelter dog, nothing is as exciting as getting out of his kennel for a walk, so Lucca starts each outing with a woooo woooooo WOOOOOO. Lucca also bays at cats and squirrels and potential sources of food. When his leash broke and he got loose at our Oakland shelter, he ran down the street and was found baying at the deli counter of a nearby supermarket.

Lucca has also had quiet moments over the past year. He is mostly quiet when he plays with other dogs, and his friendly and adaptable play style helps him fit in with almost any group. Lucca has played with dozens of shelter dogs, helping to exercise them, relieve stress, and teach them valuable social skills. Many of Lucca's playmates have been adopted, while Lucca still waits for a home.

Lucca was quiet when he helped me demonstrate clicker training to some of our volunteers. In fact, he was the perfect dog to show how with a clicker and some treats, you can turn a barking, distracted dog into a quiet, focused dog in just a few moments.

Lucca is quiet when he's working with his trainer, and has learned many things over the past year. He can sit, lie down, and shake. He's got a rock solid stay. He can walk by a tempting treat without touching it, or find a treat that's been carefully hidden.

Lucca was very quiet when I took him on a field trip one afternoon. He rode in the car like a pro, he made an excellent hiking buddy, and he was a perfect gentleman when we stopped at a coffee shop afterwards.

I don't know what the next year will bring for Lucca, but I have to believe that his adoption day is coming soon. Until that day, we will continue to take very good care of him. Lucca has healthful food, a warm bed, and veterinary care as needed. He gets toys, attention, and play time with other dogs. Volunteers take him for walks, and his trainer keeps his mind occupied. But at the end of the day, staff and volunteers go home, while Lucca and the other dogs stay at the shelter, waiting

Lucca's a good dog, and it's time for him to go home.

May 27 - UPDATE: Eight days after this blog was posted, Lucca went home on a trial adoption and joined a herd of goats, horses, parrots, and even some cats! Today his new family came in and finalized his adoption, just over a year after he was first surrendered. We hope to add Lucca's story to our happy endings page sometime soon!

Bay Area is #1 Humane Community!

2007-05-01T10:59:00.000-07:00

According to an index that the Humane Society of the United States has compiled, our beloved Bay Area rates #1 in the nation for its compassion for animals.

Check out the website www.humaneindex.org to see how this was determined and how other metropolitan areas stack up to us.

Let's keep up the good work and keep spreading the word about living by a more humane ethic!

Kitten Season...

2007-04-28T19:41:00.000-07:00

Last week, Oakland Animal Services called us with a request to take 3 (related) moms and their 11 babies.We took them in... and that number soon became 14 as we took in another 3 tiny bottlefeeders. Luckily, "Olga" took the orphans in willingly. The recently assembled family is seen above.
The other mothers, "Harriet" and "Frederika" share nursing duties here... one on each side, with 11 babies in the middle!
and here's another shot of the feeding frenzy.

"Harriet" and "Frederika" are now in foster with 2 loving foster families (Thank you J.R. & J.L. for sharing your homes!)... "Olga" and her brood await their turn, but will soon be with an East Bay SPCA foster family who will take great care of them until they are ready for adoption.

If you're interested in helping out with families like the ones above, or with kittens who aren't fortunate enough to come in with their mothers, please contact us at foster@eastbayspca.org. Help us save lives, one litter at a time!

Picture Time

2007-04-22T20:01:00.001-07:00

If you're like me, you like pictures! Here are pictures of some animals adopted over the last month or so from our Tri-Valley location (except Anna, who was adopted from Oakland, but also had a long stay in Tri-Valley).
Izzy -- this feisty girl found a home with a cat savvy family, and lots of dogs and cats to play with.
Poor Anna had a rough stay at the SPCA. She was so very stressed out and shut down, and had been waiting since late last year for her family. Now that she's in a home, she's so much happier!
Ashlynn -- this wiggly girl had been waiting for a home since December.

Cindy -- a quiet, sophisticated, cuddler.
Sebastian -- who can forget him? This big kitty loves to meow and just has cheeks that invite you to scratch them.
Hass, this silly, cross-eyed boy has a new playmate at home.
Cloud finally got her home! This deaf kitty spent 421 days in our care waiting.

Julius -- the quintessental Boxer. Big, slobbery, and a lot of fun.
Chico -- a big puppy!
Pancake -- small now, but big soon! She's so well behaved.
Max -- what a goof! He's so cuddly and friendly with everybody.
Beeker -- he loves to lick!

Love at first sight

2007-04-22T19:30:00.000-07:00

We've all heard about it and thought about it -- is there such a thing as love at first sight?

Yesterday morning I had Becki, a shy, timid, and loving girl hanging out at the front desk for some socialization. She was making the most of it by taking a nice nap.

Well, maybe taking a nap isn't the most sociable thing to do. But it was a good sign, she was nice and comfortable and happy to have company. When she is lonely she tends to pace and be a little "vocal".

A lot of customers came up to say hi to Becki, and she was happy to recieve their pets. She's very timid and gentle, and just looks at you with those big brown eyes.

A couple came in yesterday looking to adopt a dog. I told them the dogs are down the hall, but to say hi to Becki since I had her with me up front.

A few seconds later I hear "I don't think we need to look at any of the other dogs -- she's just the dog we're looking for."

A little over an hour later, I was processing the paperwork for Becki's adoption.

Was it love at first sight? Maybe I'm a little bit more of a believer now.

About Gomez

2007-04-21T17:03:00.000-07:00

Gomez the hound came to the Oakland shelter more than a month and a half ago. I pulled him from the Stockton Animal Services shelter thinking he'd probably be an easy one to move up and get a home for. What instead happened ...Gomez failed his initial temperment tests for being extremely shy and slightly aggressive (bark, growl, raise hackles) toward a stranger. After assigning him to myself and working for almost a month on meeting strangers, playing with other dogs, going on walks, getting used to indoor flooring (I don't think Gomez had ever been on a hard slick floor! Now he walks on them just fine), and learning how to wear a gentle leader, Gomez passed a re-test and moved up to adoptions!
After spending so much time with him, I've found several things that work with him. 1) Gomez does much better when there is another dog around. He plays VERY nicely with other dogs, even small ones, and would likely make a good 'daily dog park dog'. 2) Gomez has not shown any further aggression toward strangers, but it is important that he be allowed to bond strongly to his new person (right now, me. soon...you?) before being forced to meet strangers. 3) Gomez is crate trained, and likes his crate. This is a very helpful tool for getting him used to new places! 4) Gomez is ok spending time by himself. He has not shown any signs of destructive behavior, and instead likes to lie on couches and on warm things (a sunny kitchen floor?). 5) Gomez housebroke himself. In training here, Gomez has learned watch, touch, stay, and target, as well as how to jump over a jump.
Today I had Gomez out in one of the back runs and we were spending some down time together. I gave him a nice chewie for the first time (possibly in his whole life thus far) and he LOVED it. In fact, he loved it so much that he went into a play bow and devoured the entire thing in that position. Gomez is endearing and subtle. Gomez is still very shy, but he is learning by leaps and bounds. I think Gomez will blossom very quickly in a quiet, loving home. Do you have room in your heart for this sweet misfit?

Moooooo

2007-04-07T10:05:00.000-07:00

Yesterday F. and I went to ABC 7 for their Perfect Pet segment (we are on the first Friday of every month, at 11:25 am), and took along Moo, who aboslutely stole the show. As you can see, he loved being in the green room, prepping for his moment in the spotlight. We were waiting to go on, and he was rolling around on the floor, snuggling up to our legs, and using his scent hound sniffing skills to search out stray treats.

He is an absolute clown, and he loves to play and be crazy when he has the opportunity. But what surprised me most of all, was this entertainer walks incredibly well on leash, not pulling, staying next to us the whole time (straying only to sniff the trees). He was very good around people on the street, and hopped right into the car when it was time to come back to the shelter.

Winter Cat Campaign Rocked the House!

2007-04-05T09:27:00.000-07:00

The first Oakland Winter Cat Campaign was a big success!

In 6 months (October – March):
229 feral cats were fixed (104 males, 114 females)
1 had to be euthanized for health reasons
11 were already spayed or neutered

Spaying and neutering these cats will prevent the births of an estimated 1017 kittens this season.

Over 3 years, even with a mortality rate of 70%, that number would be 3,300.

BIG THANKS go to:
*Fix Our Ferals for all their hard work in creating and organizing the program.
*All of our volunteers (from FOF, OAS, and our own SPCA volunteers) who trapped, transported, scouted and gave lots of TLC
*The Spay/Neuter clinic staff: the volunteers had nothing but good things to say about the s/n crew.

If you are interested in joining us on the next Oakland Winter Cat Campaign, or any summer feral cat programs, please email feralfix@eastbayspca.org and we would love to have your help!

Grateful Snuggles for Kind Kids!

2007-03-20T10:42:00.000-07:00

American Humane is having a "Be Kind to Animals" kid contest to promote Be Kind to Animals Week, May 6-12, 2007, and recognize the kids that are leading the next generation in taking care of animals. When this was brought to my attention, N. and I decided that the perfect person to nominate is the son of one of our longest running fosters. Here is the nomination that was sent in today for him:

"The stereotype of 12 year old boys today is not R.K., but I wish it were. R., along with his mom J. and the rest of the K. crew, has fostered over 150 kittens for the East Bay SPCA, along with their 100th kitten, Century. When kittens are sick, it is R. who holds them as they get medicine; when they need a bath, R. makes sure they are warm and dry off fast; when they crash all of the sudden, it is R. of everyone in the house who holds them to give them comfort and solace as they pass. Under-socialized kittens start in R.’s room first because he has a special way with them, and at the rest home where he volunteers with his mom and sister A., R. visits with the house cat, much to the amusement of the residents. One of his most important contributions is with neighborhood kids: R. explains proper kitten handling, and educates them about animals. R. is a wonderful, compassionate kid who always knows how to quiet down and be gentle with his foster animals, and in return they give him grateful snuggles knowing he has saved their life."

If you know any kids that should be reconized for their kindness to animals, please go to Americanhumane.org and nominate them! They are the ones who will be ensuring the welfare of homeless animals in 30 years, and we need to show everyone how we appreciate their efforts!

Camilla Rose...

2007-03-17T10:41:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos of that sweet spotty girl and Chris.

Spotting my Soul Mate

2007-03-16T14:59:00.000-07:00

You never know what you are going to get. Almost two months ago, I adopted a dog from here that most people wouldn't have adopted. Camilla Rose was an older Dalmatian who had already been diagnosed with cancer. She was more than 30 pounds overweight, she had some very odd habits around eating strange things, and she was really quite a couch potato. When I heard she not going to be adoptable due to her medical issues, it was not really much of a question as to where she was going to end up. I took her home that night and adopted her at 9 am the next morning. We had an excellent time together. We took hikes, put her on a diet (she lost 22 pounds!), she got lots of love and skritches, and she started getting better. For a while there my sweet Camilla learned how to play again. Maybe it was my younger dogs that brought it out, or maybe it was just being in a home and knowing she never had to have puppies or scrounge for trash again. Camilla's favorite pastime was following me around, tail constantly wagging, and staring lovingly at me. I think she worshipped me as much as I delighted in her.
Last week, Camilla was fine. A few days ago, she got sick very suddenly, and we had to make the decision to put her to sleep. As of yesterday morning, I am back to having two dogs. Time goes so quickly, and circumstances change just as quickly. I, of the young and agile herding dogs, never thought I'd own an older, overweight, silly spotty girl. Thousands of dogs come through this shelter, and I could have had my pick of any of the younger, stronger, better looking ones, but somehow I knew THIS one was the one for me. Go figure. While I am very very sad still that she is not with me any more, I am pleased as punch that we found each other just in time. Sometimes dogs and people are made for each other, regardless of what other people think of that bond. I didn't set myself up for disappointment, I set myself up for love.
I know that there are dogs in this shelter and in other shelters that people overlook because of how they look, because of their age, because of a particular behavior trait that might be annoying. I would remind you that we are not always in our best packages, either. Sometimes, it is that dog that has been here a long time, or that dog that is not perfectly fit in body that has the soul we can most easily connect with. Look at Lucca and Destiny and Miracle. Lucca is an absolute clown and has the funniest facial expressions I have ever seen in a dog. Lucca gets along well with other dogs, and has has become somewhat of a legend around the shelter. Destiny is incredibly well trained, easy to get along with, and is beautiful, besides. Miracle not only has a great rescue story, but also is super cute and full of energy, even if he is a senior dog. Consider giving one of these ones a home. You never know what you are going to get.

Oakland Adoption Staff Talent!

2007-03-09T12:38:00.000-08:00

Today is Staff Appreciation Day! In the Oakland Adoption Gallery we put together a little staff photo show. I can't tell you how amazing the 24 entries were! We wanted to put these photos to the test and invited some guest judges to determine the best shots. Our guest judges were members of the photography club at the East Oakland Youth Development Center here in our community. Mr. B and the four young men who came to our show have all been taking photos and learning about photography for awhile now. They took what they are learning about photography and then paired with their own unique perspectives on our photos made their decisions.

Below are listed some of the winners. Thank you Mr B., A., J., B. and J. for you efforts!

Ziggy Stardust taken by Sarah W. won first place for both Best Dog Photo and Best Technique!

Lucca taken by Sarah W. won for best adoption appeal.

Madeline taken by Debe B. gets the prize for best cat photo.

Pretty talented bunch of dedicated staff....

443

2007-03-03T22:28:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update:
443 days that Sugarfoot was in the care of the East Bay SPCA. And now she's been adopted! Hooray!

Also today, Josef, Julia, and Taylor were adopted, cats that have not been here that long. Not a bad day!

Spay Day Meets The Goal Plus Four!

2007-03-01T08:47:00.000-08:00

We had a very successful spay day yesterday at our Tri Valley Facility. We spayed and neutered 104 animals, we admitted 106 animals (1 was previously spayed, one was a previously neutered male cat )

21 Canine spays
18 Canine neuters
29 Feline spays
36 Feline Neuters

This day would not have been successful without all the teamwork from our staff and all the volunteers helping out. Thank you to all the spay and neuter staff, everyone worked a very long and hard day. K, G, L, T, and J all worked so hard at making sure they had animals prepped and ready for the doctors. Dr. U. from Bishops Ranch worked with us yesterday and he has commented numerous times on what a well run center we have and what great team we have in place.

Special thanks to Dr. S. for coming in on her day off to help me set up and getting all those surgeries completed; H for calculating and keeping all those drugs in order; K, M and Afor all your help at the front desk; E for working with us all day and to R for helping transport and set up all the equipment.

JOB WELL DONE! WAY TO GO ONE AND ALL! THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK!

Posted on behalf of Amity M.

Who is going to take her place?

2007-02-18T08:55:00.001-08:00

After being at the shelter for a year and a half, Miss Sweet Pea finally found her forever home.

S. Pea went back and forth between our Dublin and Oakland facilities. After our last shelter cat Benson was adopted, Sweet Pea became our new shelter cat. She was pretty low-key at first. She liked to lounge in her box near the window in the food room. Occasionally she would run into the grooming area and give me little nudges letting me know it was time for breakfast or dinner. Soon she became more social, and wasn't as feisty as she used to be when she lived the habitat life. I would go in her room daily to brush her so her pretty fur wouldn't get matted. I know she didn't want another fancy haircut like the one she had last summer, so she would roll around letting me brush her all over. Just yesterday she caught her first, and what will hopefully be her last, mouse here.

Although she could be a little brat sometimes, everyone is going to miss her and her little fuzzy boots.

Now I wonder, who is going to take her place?

Dedicated Kids

2007-02-14T09:02:00.000-08:00

Allow me to introduce to you the future leaders of tomorrow! Actually, their commitment to the animals has these three young people showing leadership today.

Anna, Jack, and Mike have taken us under their wings and have brought donations of money, food, and supplies to the shelter. They have made two generous visits thus far, as friends of the shelter they are welcome familiar faces! They are pictured here with Cher who loves the attention from her new friends. Cher has recently had surgery for an eye condition, but will be ready for a new home very soon.

Let's also hear it for the parents who help their kids in reaching out and making a difference!

Reading Has Gone to the Dogs

2007-02-10T14:33:00.000-08:00

Our PALS (Pets and Love Shared) program has been sending animal assisted therapy (AAT) teams to different skilled nursing facilities throughout Alameda County for about 3 years. Many of our volunteers with PALS were wanting to also do some work with kids, and Lin from the Orinda Library recently invited some of our teams to join in their Paws to Read program.

In this program kids sign up in advance at the library to come and read aloud to a dog. Maybe because dogs can't read, maybe because dogs don't judge them. Whatever the reason these programs have been shown to help children increase in both reading skill and confidence.

It is a big hit and we are looking forward to developing a program like this with some other local libraries. We are also going to be offering a 4 week class for folks already doing AAT with their dogs to prepare for and learn more about the programs like the one in Orinda.

Pictured are Susan andRosa with a young lady who is reading a lovely picture book. Rosa seems to be pretty relaxed and loving it! See our webpage dog training site for more information about PALS and the "Books Have Gone to the Dogs" class.

No Kitten Season 2007!

2007-02-08T16:18:00.000-08:00

It looked weird to me too, when I first saw it.

This statement was on the back of a flyer that Fix Our Ferals created to advertise the new joint venture between FOF and the East Bay SPCA- The Oakland Winter Cat Campaign. The mission: Fix at least 200 feral cats living in the Fruitvale area of Oakland (chosen for its proximity to other similar projects to widen the area of altered cats, and the overhwelming numbers of un-fixed cats reported).

We organized a team of volunteers who scout out feral colonies, trap the cats, transport them to our Spay/Neuter Surgery Center, help recover them for 4-6 days, and transport them back to EXACTLY where they were trapped. The program started the first week of October, and is scheduled to run through the end of March. As I said before, the goal was to get at least 200 cats fixed- and as of yesterday, we have altered 170 cats with almost two full months to go!

We have a wonderful set of volunteers who go out of their way for these cats who want nothing to do with you once you have fed them, and for the countless unborn kittens who may have ended up in a city or county shelter with no-one to take them home and love them. Thanks to the hard work of everyone involved, there are 170 less cats breeding this year, and 170 less contributors to kitten overpopulation in shelters.

So, now I like to think of this as a rally cheer for the program: "No Kitten Season 2007!"

Thank you to all the great Oakland Winter Cat Campaign volunteers, and staff who have helped make this possible.

February 6

2007-02-06T08:09:00.000-08:00

As a foster parent of many kittens over the past several years, we have accumulated more pictures than I care to share with you. Every year I send a few of these off to Cat Fancy to see if they would be interested in putting them in their Year-in-A-Box Calendar. A few have been selected but this year's selection was extra special. Cat Fancy probably thought they were picking a cute photo of two kitties wrapped around each other. What they didn't know was how one had saved the other.

Like a lot of other kittens, Oreo (aka Daisy) was brought to the Oakland SPCA after being dropped off at another shelter. She was alone and scared. Where her physical health was good, she was so emotionally traumatized that she had lost her will to live. She had spent about a week being pampered by the staff and pretty much lived in the Volunteer Office. One day CS saw us while we were working our shift at the shelter and asked if we would consider taking her. We already had a litter of four healthy kittens at home, but CS thought the stimulation of our large family and the other kittens might be good for her. So we took her home. We had never experienced a kitten like her before. She did not move, except to eat and use the litter box. If you laid her somewhere and came back three hours later, she would still be laying there. We carried her around the house, stroked her and tried to cuddle with her. And when we were busy, we put her in the kitty bed where the other fosters slept. And that is where Leo found her. Leo was a six week old, orange tabby male, and he immediately recognized how scared she was. He would crawl in bed with her and when she hissed at him, he would crawl out. He would patiently wait for her to fall asleep and then he would try again. Eventually she let him stay. And when he stayed all the other kittens would pile on in too, leaving her at the bottom, covered with kittens, not sure what to do. Next Leo started grooming Oreo. And she let him. One day, after she had been with us about two weeks, I rolled a ball past her and she reached out one paw and swiped at it. It was a huge victory. A few days later we caught her up and playing with the same ball. And within a week, Oreo and Leo were inseparable and she was following him everywhere.

Leo was ready to be returned to the shelter long before Oreo was ready, so sadly he returned first. We hated separating them. Although Oreo was very noise sensitive, she continued to do well. After another month it was determined she was ready to return for her adoption. She was sent to Tri Valley where the adoption habitats would be easier on her. She was there about a week when we came to visit her. She was sitting on a perch and overjoyed to see us. As we left she went to the top of her condo and watched us leave. When we returned a few days later she was up on the condo again, watching everyone that entered that door and waiting. And that is where we think she might have been the first morning of the Fall Adopt-a-Thon when a woman came in looking for a cat or small dog. She said she looked over, locked eyes with Oreo and felt a connection. Oreo snuggled with her, purred and won her heart. The woman lived in a small, quiet home and had never had a pet before. When the shelter called her a few weeks later, Oreo had settled in and they were living happily together.

We thought it was quite fitting that Leo and Oreo would end up in February, a month filled with Love.

Contributed by the King Family, an extraordinary family of foster volunteers!

The Loss of a Great Volunteer

2007-01-31T18:10:00.000-08:00

I heard some very sad news last week.

BJ, a beloved volunteer, lost her battle with cancer.

I heard the news from BJ's best friend Betty.

Betty G. and BJ were one of the first animal assisted therapy teams to join our PALS (Pets And Love Shared) program in it's infancy 3 years ago. BJ was a furry brown dog with deep soulful eyes and a real gift at knowing who needed some gentle unconditional love.

BJ was diagnosed with cancer awhile ago and had some dramatic facial surgery that left her scarred but still able to visit all her beloved people at chaparral House in Berkeley.

The staff and residents there will miss her, the PALS gang will miss her, and most of all I know her family (especially Betty) will miss her very much. Her work as a therapy dog volunteer touched many people.

Lucky for Betty, she is not out of a job. BJ was working on raising up a successor. Gypsy will be doing visits and trying to fill the big pawprints left behind by a wonderful spirit.

Play time!

2007-01-25T12:45:00.000-08:00

Just some pictures of the dogs playing for this update today.

May Flights of Angels...

2007-01-25T09:09:00.000-08:00

Just a little memorial to a wonderful dog.

Don't Turn a Blind Eye

2007-01-24T12:41:00.000-08:00

Such an important lesson we all must remember. I am always so heartened when young people see a need and put together a response that is helpful. It is so natural for kids to hear that animals or people or our earth are in need of saving and want to do something to make things better. This is why when kids come to the shelter I get excited. These are the people who one day will be in charge, they will be the ones who keep up this hard work we do.

When kids come by and want to volunteer we make sure that there are opportunities for them. See our "Kids and Volunteering" webpage. http://www.eastbayspca.org/volunteer/kidsandvolunteering.cfm

Kids take their volunteer work very seriously. RK, one of our young foster care volunteers, after a very hard week of fostering young kittens was overheard saying, "These kittens are my life, Mom!"

Sometimes a whole group of kids will come by with donations. They worked together to raise money, food, blankets, or other needed shelter items. While raising donations they were also raising awareness in their peer group of the need to take care of the animals in our communities. These generous children and their proud parents are such a vital link for us to the greater community.

I always hope we have a warm welcome for each child who offers to lend us a hand. In that warmth we help nurture seeds of generosity and awareness. It is with great appreciation and gratitude that we accept the fruits of their efforts. Rock on kids!!!

Two Fairytale Endings

2007-01-17T08:58:00.000-08:00

Recently, we were looking at having to make some very difficult decisions. Two dogs in our shelter were determined to be unadoptable due to medical issues. One is hard enough. Two on the same day is practically unbearable. Needless to say it was a tough pill to swallow.

Titan, an older pit bull, and Holly, a senior standard poodle, are staff favorites. The senior dog veterinary exams we do for all older dogs entering the shelter brought us bad news for these two lovely dogs. Each was determined to have medical issues that prevented them from moving forward to adoptions. LG, the shelter manager in Tri Valley, let the staff group know the bad news. Both dogs would need to be euthanized.

Unfortunately or fortunately, (depending on how you look at it), the closer you get to an animal, the harder it is when the toughest of decisions has to be made. I got the call on my day off, and it hit me like a freight train. "Titan is going to be euthanized today, I am sorry."

Titan in particular holds a special place in my heart because during his nearly 6 month stay at the shelter we spent a lot of time together and I grew to love his easygoing personality. Most importantly, he is a pit bull, and I have a serious soft spot for the bully breeds. Once he bonds with you, he never leaves your side. I would take him out to the yard to play, and he would sniff around my immediate area, never straying further than 5 feet or so, always keeping me within eye, nose, or earshot. I would train him in the lobby of our adoption center, and kids would run up to him, asking me if they could give him a treat. Gladly obliging, he sat like a gentleman and gently took treats from their hands all the while wagging his happy pit tail.

After hearing the news, I quickly got in my car and headed to the shelter. On my way there I stopped and bought a bacon cheeseburger. It is nice to be able to give our animals an extra special treat before you say goodbye, besides, it is the least I could do. On my way there, I got another call. I had to stop the car. I had to concentrate because I found it hard to believe what I was hearing. I couldn't believe this mind-boggling turn of events. It turned out one of our dedicated canine volunteers, who had fostered Titan for 2 weeks, wanted to adopt him. Since this was by no means a typical situation, our shelter manager had to speak with the volunteer first to make sure she was fully informed of Titan's medical issues and that she had thought it through thoroughly. It turns out that she had thought it through, and she adopted him the very next day. By the way, he did still get his cheeseburger. Incredible sadness followed by triumphant joy. This day might just turn out all right, or so I thought.

Holly, an 8 year old standard poodle had come to us full of mats and burrs. After a good shave and a bath, she was looking and feeling much better. As one of our old timers, Holly got the full work up, also known as a Silver Muzzle Club exam, which involves a blood test. Her lab results didn't show anything terribly concerning, but our vet decided it would probably be best to send Holly to a foster home and recheck her blood work again in a month. So off she went, lucky girl, she got to spend the holidays with a loving foster family. Then came the bad news. Holly's second blood test showed signs of chronic liver failure. She, too, would have to be humanely euthanized.

Once again, before the difficulty of this news could totally set in, I heard the news. Holly's foster home didn't even think twice before deciding to officially welcome Holly into their family. It is unknown how much longer a life she will have, but she will get to live out her days in the love and caring attention of her foster turned forever family. Of course Holly is oblivious to all of this, all she knows is that she has two new loving parents, and she'll be able to live the rest of her life in spoiled bliss.

It is days like these that make me want to tear my hair out.
It is days like these that shave years off of my life.
It is also days like these that, corny as it sounds, make it all worth it.

Submitted by Chris H. in the Volunteer Department

Overshadowed by a dog

2007-01-16T11:43:00.000-08:00

There was a volunteer orientation this weekend at our Dublin shelter, and as part of the introduction to our foster program, I came into the room with a puppy. Not just any puppy, but Taina(who you read about in Kirsten's last blog). I walked into the room, and immediately, no one was listening. While I talked about the foster program, people responded at the appropriate moments, but I could see who the real star of the show was.

This happens once a month, actually. I take a dog on ABC-7 KGO's Perfect Pet segment the first Friday of every month (I am on around 11:25am if you are interested in watching). I always walk on set with my pulse racing, tongue all tied up, certain everyone is going to laugh at me. But I have watched these segments, and even when I am looking to see how I did, I find myself watching the dog, seeing what they were doing while I was talking about them. This weekend showed me that when I show a cute dog to people, they are watching the dog as well, which takes the pressure off of me!

So thanks Taina, for reminding me not to be nervous.

"Living" in Two Shelters

2007-01-10T17:12:00.000-08:00

A few of the staff here at the East Bay SPCA, myself included, split their time between two or more facilities. Working in two locations sometimes feels like being the child of divorced parents - your stuff is always at one place or another, if you need something in a day or two you have to remember to bring it with you, you have two different rooms (or desks as the case may be). My canine staff are like step or half siblings who only live at one of the houses. I care about them all equally, but those at one place hardly even know those at the other.

Although trying to remember where I'm supposed to work the next morning can be a hassle once in a while, I do think that in this case the benefits outweigh the costs. I get to know twice as many people and work at a pair of places which, despite having all the same processes and procedures, have vastly different feels from one another, and I get to enjoy it all.

In the hot summer months, there is nothing I like better than a Sunday morning in Dublin. I'm the first to arrive to the quiet shelter, and the air is always perfect. I go through the building, greeting the dogs, letting them out, seeing if any alumni are boarding with us, check out the new dogs that were taken in when I was in Oakland the day before. I catch up on my email, make plans for the week, and take a walk across the street to our neighboring shelter to take a look around. Of course, in those same summer months, if I leave my Berkeley home at 7am and it's already t-shirt weather, I thank my lucky stars if I'm on my way to Oakland where it will be 10 or 20 degrees cooler than Tri Valley.

Sometimes I look forward to the slightly slower pace of our smaller Tri Valley shelter, and other days I'm itching to get to work in Oakland where there's always a ton of action. I love having our shelter cat in Tri Valley roaming free in the office, whether it is Voodoo scaling the cubicles or Sugarfoot trying to steal my Peet's coffee in the morning. I love having my office space in Oakland be shared with our "Real Life Room" (a room which does its best to imitate a home setting) where I can bring a different dog in for some down time with me while I do my paperwork every day.

I guess what it comes down to is, the grass is green on both sides of the fence. For that, I'll give up forgetting which filing cabinet has that handout I'm looking for any day.

The New Hayward Foster Program and "The Kitten Equation"

2007-01-10T13:22:00.000-08:00

Every year thousands of kittens are euthanized in Alameda county, mostly because our county and city shelters are not equipped to handle the influx of kittens during the aptly named "kitten season"- known to laymen as March through October.

During this time feral cats and owned cats are out gallavanting around, and the product of their freedom in the warm weather is the countless litters of orphaned, abandoned or surrendered kittens. At the East Bay SPCA we do our part by sending all the kittens too young to be spayed or neutered (for shelter animals, they need to be 2lbs. in order for the vets to perform the surgery) into foster homes. We have almost 200 active foster homes who take kittens (and puppies, and adult cats and dogs!) for us for up to 2 months at a time depending on how long the kittens need to reach the target weight. We fostered out almost 1000 animals last year, all thanks to our great foster parents. Unfortunately, even 200 foster homes brings us nowhere near saving every litter of kittens that ends up in a county shelter from euthanasia. The ones we can take, because of time and foster homes available (and shelter space) are put up for adoption in our shelter, living proof of the kind people in this county willing to spend time and money to take care of meowing, playful bundles of fur.

So "The kitten equation" is this:
Kittens at Animal Control- (Available foster homes & Open kennels)= the number of kittens left in the county shelter.

Our goal is to make the last number 0. Currently we have foster in the Tri-Valley area who pick up and drop off their kittens at the East Bay SPCA in Dublin, and fosters in the Oakland area who foster through our Oakland shelter, but we still need to reach more people. So we are starting a new program with Hayward Animal Services this year to open our foster program up to more foster homes, and hence, more kittens. I, as foster coordinator, will be in Hayward 2 days a week helping find foster homes in that area, along with our other two foster programs. The goal is to transfer a record number of kittens out of the Hayward shelter, into a loving foster home, and eventually to an adopter!

Please, if you live in the Hayward Area and would like to be a part of this new program to save the lives of hundreds of kittens, contact me at foster@eastbayspca.org, because together we can make that last number 0. For everyone who fosters already, you have my warmest thanks and I know a few thousand animals thank you as well, from the bottom of their hearts.

Use a Personalized ID Tag!

2007-01-10T10:20:00.000-08:00

Yes, this is quite a corny post and post title, but it's important for those who love your pets.

Please use a personalized tag with your phone number for your dog or cat, in addition to a county license.

I ask because as I was about to get home from work on Sunday, I found this poor old dog wandering around the street. He seemed to be having a good time, but he was headed toward a busy street so I couldn't let him go any further without trying to get him home. Fortunately he was friendly, although a little shy, but I had some leftovers from lunch in my car.

I finally got comfortable enough to take hold of his collar and look at his tag. He had one, but only the county ID tag, which has a serial number. It was 7pm on a Sunday night, so I couldn't call his license. Poor old guy would need to wait to see if there was a home to return to. I brought him to the shelter in the area I found him, left my contact information, and would follow up the next day.

If he had a phone number he could have gone home right away. Please folks, put a tag on your pet's collar.

FOLLOWUP: 1/10/07 After following up with animal services shelter that issued this guy's license, "Buck" as he is called was reunited with his owner.

Holiday Greetings and Happy Endings

2007-01-10T08:47:00.000-08:00

This is Babs. She was adopted back in 2004. She was one of our Silver Muzzle Club guests and was here for a long time waiting for her forever family.

This year, in the stack of holiday cards, there she was. A photo of Babs in a Santa hat along with her handsome chocolate lab brother in a yamulke! All through the holiday season staff and volunteers would walk through the office where the cards were on display and you could hear the comments. "Remember Babs?" "Look how happy she looks" "I loved that dog"

We, the staff and volunteers, always love to hear about the dogs and cats who find homes through our efforts. Thank you to each of you who sends us a card at the holidays, a happy ending letter during the year, or an email saying it is going well. There is nothing more heartening than these stories and photos. As we clean up the holiday decorations, the cherished cards with photos of our adopted animals move back to the break room where they will be posted on our Happy Endings Board. Each dog and cat posted there reminds us about our mission. It also reminds us how wonderful all our adopters are!

Happy New Year!

Somebody's Destiny Awaits

2007-01-07T10:58:00.000-08:00

Destiny is one of our long-term dogs, and she is my staff pick. She has been here for over four months, and may be here for quite a while longer before she finds a home. But she will find her home eventually, and whoever adopts her will count themselves blessed. I am sure that Destiny is somebody's perfect dog.

Long-term dogs stick around for a number of reasons. Sometimes only because they're old or plain looking. Some dogs are shy or aloof and don't sell themselves; these dogs have to wait for someone who takes the time to get to know them. Some dogs have behavioral issues which require a home that is just right, such as with someone who's home all day, doesn't have children, or is willing to commit to a specific training and management plan in order to prevent problem behaviors. For all these reasons, some dogs are less desirable to the general public.

But here's the thing. Once long-term dogs are adopted, they're not less desirable at all. In fact, many of our former long-term dogs are living happily ever after in homes where they are cherished, and their owners wouldn't want any other dog. These people didn't pick the dog that no one else wanted because they felt sorry for her, they picked the dog that was perfect for them.

Long time blog readers will be familiar with Simon. Simon was blogged about a second time, although not by name, in Searched and Rescued. Now here's the rest of the story: Simon was indeed accepted into Search and Rescue training, and we all celebrated. But then he flunked out, and was returned to the shelter, unwanted, unmanageable, and incorrigible. We feared that he might be one of the dogs we couldn't save, but he was given one last chance. He managed to behave himself long enough to be put up for adoption, and on his very first day in adoptions, he found his person. Simon has been living in his forever home for over seven months months now, and is doing well. He's still a butthead, but his owners love him for it, and at the ripe old age of two, he's mellowed into a more manageable butthead.

Sugar found her perfect people just a couple weeks shy of her one year anniversary at the shelter. This spring, she will be celebrating a much better anniversary: one year in her forever home.

Every day as I walk from the front of the shelter to the back, I pass by pictures of Stella out and about with her canine brother, wearing a spiffy collar and looking so very happy. These photos were sent to us by Stella's owners to show us how perfect she is for them.

Smiley is living happily ever after. She has three cats to play with, and she gets to go everywhere with her person. She is off her medication, and hasn't destroyed so much as a sock in her new home.

Bridget was never blogged about, but she was my staff pick before Destiny, and one of my all-time favorite dogs. She was a middle-aged, plain brown shepherd mix, who needed a home without other animals. She is now a pampered family member, and her nametag reads, "Princess Bridget."

Destiny's time will come, I know it. But waiting can be hard, and some days I feel sad and frustrated as I watch people pass Destiny by, and shower their attention on smaller, fluffier, cuter dogs.

In the meantime, I'm having a blast training Destiny. She is smart, athletic and fun! She's not the cuddly type, but is always ready to go for a hike or play a game of fetch. Just the other day, she surprised and delighted me by jumping up onto a countertop and standing there to survey the room. Now, I realize that jumping on the counter may not be a selling point for most people, but I can't help but admire a dog who has the athleticism, curiosity, and confidence to jump onto a counter just to see the view. (In a home, proper use of tethers and tie-downs will help Destiny to learn that such behavior isn't appropriate.)

Destiny is very well crate trained, and doing well with her house training. She loves stuffed kongs and chew toys, and can entertain herself for hours. She doesn't bark much, and has a short, clean coat. She would do quite well in a home with someone who works full time, provided she got daily walks and play time, and some vigorous exercise on the weekends. She's not a good candidate for the dog park, but loves to play with rough-and-tumble boy dogs and sturdy puppies. Because Destiny can be a bit possessive of her food, she needs to go to a home without children.

I can't wait until Destiny finds her forever home. When that time comes, I will rejoice for her, but I will also miss her, and I will be just a little bit jealous of her adopters. They will be very lucky people indeed, to be able to share their life with such an awesome dog.

The Witching Hour

2007-01-06T15:23:00.000-08:00

Although it is no longer near Halloween, this struck me as the perfect analogy for our puppy, Midnight.
Midnight the pup is a pit bull/lab mix who is about 3 1/2 months old now. She came into the shelter slightly under-aged, a dog whom no one wanted to take responsibility for. Midnight has been with us now for over a month (quite a while for such a cute pup!) While she is here, Midnight continues to be well socialized with all sorts of people and other dogs, to attend puppy training classes, and to play and grow daily. Midnight can fetch, Midnight can sit at doors, and Midnight can lie down and stay longer than most puppies her age.
Because Midnight is a pit mix, she has a special adoption procedure. Her new adopter must be over 21, and either own a home or have permission from a landlord to have a pit mix. An application, home check, and training classes with us are required. Midnight will go to her new family on trial adoption until she is finished with puppy training and then she will be able to be adopted. All members of Midnight's new family, including resident dogs, have to be here to meet her before an application can be given. While she is certainly still a puppy and needs consistent rules and training, Midnight is also a very good girl who deserves to have a home!
'The Witching Hour' (in mythology) is a time after dark, sometimes said to be near midnight, when those so inclined are most likely to see ghosts who do not materialize during the day. It is a time of 'hurry up and wait'. All activity comes to a halt, observations are made, and the events of the future are anticipated. The time right now is Midnight's Witching Hour. Midnight was in a hurry to come to us when she was a very little puppy. Now that she is here, though, she just has to sit and wait and wonder what it would be like to have a family of her own. In the mean time, she continues to go to puppy classes, perfect her obedience commands, and hope. Who will materialize as her forever home?

The More The Merrier

2007-01-05T16:59:00.000-08:00

OK, what do you think you see in this picture...if you are like most folks you see a Mom kitty and her kittens right?

Well, a little closer look reveals that the big cat in the middle is "Charlie" and he is just that a "he"!

"Bib" who has the white chest and a stub tail and "Shadow" who is a manx are the little brother and sister to Charlie.

To make a long story short, like their little tails, this trio are bonded very much to each other and we are hoping to find a home that really would like the sounds of 12 thundering pawprints! Charlie is very bonded to his siblings. He grooms them, encourages them to socialize, and pulls them close at night to sleep with him. Charlie is also a gentleman with dogs who are civil with him.

Come on down to the East Bay SPCA Oakland adoption center to visit with this trio and let's hope we find them a home together.

Update: 1/7/07...this trio has found a new home today!

It will be a very good year for Taina.

2007-01-03T08:51:00.000-08:00

Puppies are somewhat rare in our shelter these days. Isn't that great?

Not long ago, the East Bay was the kind of community where dozens of unwanted puppies would be dropped off at the doors of shelters all over the county, every day. The public shelters, responsible for strays, got the brunt of these orphans, but we saw our fair share, too. The public shelters transferred as many of them as we could handle for adoptions. We were able to find them good homes, and it gave crowded public shelters more room, but not all puppies got adopted.

Since then, spay and neuter campaigns, and responsible pet ownership have dramatically reduced the number of homeless puppies. That means fewer have to be euthanized for lack of space. In fact, nearly all homeless puppies get adopted quickly these days, but that doesn't mean there are none, or none looking for a warm place to sleep and a nice person to cuddle with.

This is Taina (ty-EE-na); she's just five weeks old, and a few pounds. She was a stray--a hungry stray--in a Tri-Valley shelter a couple days ago. Taina doesn't know that the homeless population of puppies has been reduced. She has no idea that puppies like her find homes easily in our community. She doesn't realize that there are lots and lots of families who comb our website and shelters looking for pups just like her.

All she knows is she doesn't have a home, and then we got her wet (we bathed her!), and she's sad.

I cuddled with Taina yesterday (in fact, I gave her my middle name!), and she shivered and whimpered uncontrollably. She really was miserable.

But she has no idea what a fabulous life is in store for her. She wouldn't have survived long as a five week old stray in the elements. She is only barely old enough to feed herself.

But, my! has her life taken an amazing turn! One of our most experienced and dedicated puppy foster homes, Joanne, is showing Taina the ropes today, and will for the next three weeks until it's time for Taina's spay. She'll be fully vetted, dewormed, vaccinated, and microchipped. She'll be adopted to a home who has been educated in puppy training and will take classes with her.

This week is my last week at the East Bay SPCA, and Taina is the last puppy I will name, and probably the last one I will see. But her uniqueness is such a terrific reminder of the accomplishments of animal welfare in the East Bay.

We still have a ways to go, but we have come so far, and I have been proud to have been part of it.

An Auspicious Anniversary

2006-12-21T08:27:00.000-08:00

We've posted about Sugarfoot in here before. Sugarfoot is a cat that lives in the Tri-Valley facility office.

She's our latest "shelter cat' -- chill with dogs, so the perfect foil to see if a dog is aggressive towards cats, indifferent, or playful.

In her spare time, she tortures my dogs, who don't have the freedom around the office that she enjoys.

She sits around the corner from my dogs -- because if she sat in front of them, she'd be charged and no matter how chill she is, it's startling to have 160 pounds of pure, dumb Labrador rushing at you. But right around the corner, there she sits, torturing them with the knowledge that she is there.

But that is only part of her day: she has a routine that involves spending time sleeping at the top of her very, very tall cat tree. Sleeping in the black furry donut on A's desk. Quick naps in the kitty cube in the hall.

And hours of playing bouncy-bounce with the calendar on L's desk.

I don't know if you can see that, but one of Sugarfoot's day time activities is to sit on L's desk and bounce the calendar with her paw. Over and over again. Sort of like having OCD. She got all shy being filmed, but you get the idea.

Why does she enjoy such a life? Because she arrived in our shelter on December 15, 2005. (Yes, I missed acknowledging her one-year anniversary date.) She's been here one year and one week and it's time for her to go home.

While Sugarfoot (I call her Sugarpaws; but others have nicknames for her that aren't so blog-friendly...) is a joy to have around -- she makes me laugh every day, and any pet that puts my dogs in their place rocks -- the best life in a shelter is not as great as being in home. Having a bed to curl up on at night, with a caring friend nearby...just doesn't compare to nighttimes being spent alone waiting til staff arrive the next morning.

So my Christmas wish? That Sugarfoot gets to spend the holidays terrorizing her very own dogs, and scaling Christmas trees in her very own house.

My Mutt posters a huge success!

2006-12-16T12:22:00.000-08:00

Read this morning's San Francisco Chronicle.

Friend of the East Bay SPCA, Eileen Mitchell, writes a popular column for the SF Chronicle about pets, and well, Elvis her greyhound!

But she is terrific friend of animal welfare and gets the complicated issues we deal in every day.

The article in today's paper is about a very popular program called, "My Mutt" that has brought thousands of dollars into not just the East Bay SPCA, but animal welfare all over the Bay Area.

Our friends at Pet Food Express
deserve a huge "Woof!!" too, for all the good work they do, while managing to run a responsible business at the same time.

Where are the kitty grass folks?

2006-12-13T18:59:00.000-08:00

In the "no kill" world (follow that link to read what "no-kill" means to the East Bay SPCA) our kitties can sometimes take a long time to find a home.

This is a lot different from the days when, sadly, cats only lived in shelters a few days, and then were either adopted, or....well, you know.

Yay! More time to find them homes! But in return, we've had to spend a lot of time coming up with ways to keep cats healthy and stimulated for long periods. Cats who are caged or kenneled for months on end sometimes don't do well, so we needed to be creative, if we were going to keep them healthy and happy for that long.

When we installed our new, larger cat habitats in Oakland this summer, we had the room to add items to their habitats to make their lives more interesting and bring them amenities they might find outside or in the home.

One of those items is "kitty grass." Not quite as intoxicating as our state's semi-legal mood altering substance, kitty grass is supposed to (and this came from some retailer's website) "promote and assist in the elimination of fur balls, naturally maintain a well-balanced digestive system...help offset the environmental impurities that your pets are exposed to on a daily basis and will aid them in living a healthier life."

Now, we don't know if it does ALL that. But the kitties sure like it! You'll often see the kitties nibbling or rubbing up against their kitty grass with a blissful look on their face.

(I guess my photo isn't a good example of that, huh?)

But last week, we were asking each other, "what happened to the kitty grass people?"

You see, since we installed our new cat habitats, all our kitty grass, big flats of dozens of containers, have been donated by a nursery called Woodrose Gardens in Sebastopol. Out of the goodness of their hearts, they have, on a regular basis, silently been making sure our kitties have a non-stop supply of kitty grass to keep them happy and social.

We got a call from them last week; their greenhouse was destroyed by a storm over Thanksgiving. They called to let us know that they wouldn't be able to donate kitty grass for awhile, and they apologized.

Their greenhouse was destroyed--and they called to apologize to us!

I feel terrible that their greenhouse was destroyed. I am glad, however, that it has given us a chance to publicly thank them for this simple, but important, donation that directly impacts the quality of life for the cats in our care.

So, thank you, Woodrose Gardens, and the entire East Bay SPCA sends condolences, and good wishes in getting your business back on its feet.

Holly and her ugly sweater

2006-12-10T11:16:00.000-08:00

Underneath this oh-so-uncool sweater is a sweet soul with sad eyes. Holly came into the shelter this week, covered with mats all through her overly-long poodle hair. Despite the pain she must have been in as hundreds of mats pulled at her tender skin in every direction, she has the sweetest disposition (I know this, because even my Bratty Maddie, the office loudmouth if there is a dog that she doesn't like, kept her snout shut when meeting her over the baby gate).

As the dog over-population is our community gets lower and lower, that doesn't mean that dogs and cats with homes are not found in horrible conditions. I guess that is the next step in making this a humane community for cats and dogs.

I think Holly likes this plan.

Still waiting...scratch that! She's home!

2006-12-07T19:59:00.000-08:00

We've posted about Smiley here before. We've written articles in the paper about Smiley. Smiley is our longest term shelter dog, 231 days.

I heard rumor today that Smiley might have an interested adopter.

If Smiley was a regular old dog, that wouldn't be so interesting. I mean, most of our dogs find homes. It's amazing actually, but every dog and cat has someone, eventually, who finds them the perfect fit.

But 231 days. Smiley was a loooooooong termer. See, Smiley has issues. Shayna wrote about them eloquently in an earlier post.

But I heard today that there is someone who has met with Smiley a bunch, who "gets" her issues and has been explained what kind of management that Smiley will need for her life, for her separation anxiety.

It sounds promising so I kind of have had my fingers crossed all night, because I heard she might go out on our Paws to Consider program, which would be first step in finding a home.

UPDATE:

When I started this blog post, I didn't know the exact number of days that Smiley had been in the shelter, so I looked it up tonight, at home.

I opened our database, and instead of seeing "Available for Adoption," I see "Adopted Altered" which is our nomenclature for a completed adoption.

WHAT?? At the sound of my Whoop! my own dogs looked up from the evening naps (yeah, right: as opposed to their morning naps, their early afternoon naps, their late afternoon naps, and their evening-before-bedtime naps...) wondering what the heck all the noise was about.

I tried to explain to them, in dog-ese, that their pal Smiley, that cute chick outside my door, in the second habitat finally got herself a home. They grunted, probably wondering, for the umpteenth time today, what I was saying.

But Smiley knows. She's home.

So I had to change my Blog Title from "Still waiting" to "She's home!"

Shopping for a kitten.

2006-11-21T23:25:00.000-08:00

We generally discourage the attitude that dogs and cats can be purchased at a store. In fact, most progressive pet stores have stopped selling companion animals. But nothing is better for publicity than a good retail location.

Thanks to our good friends at Shorenstein Properties in downtown Oakland, we have had a storefront location at City Center since the late 1990s.

From 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. folks working in downtown Oakland spend their lunch break (and then some!) visiting with the cats, kittens and occasional dog available for adoption. Sure, most people in the middle of the day can't suddenly adopt a pet -- and we want to make sure the rest of their household meets the pet anyhow -- but as you can see from the photos below, that hasn't stopped hundreds of people from finding their new best friend....while on their lunch break!

This fine storefront is put together and managed by one of our employees, Ken. He really deserves most of the credit for the success of City Center. Ken is shown in the picture below spending time with Ricky, our Border Collie/Corgie, who is available from the Oakland facility.

Now, there a bunch of other people who spend a lot of time on City Center: The City Center regulars, a group of volunteers who assist Ken every day, making sure the cats and (usually one) dog get settled in the for the day, and fed and cleaned.

If you get a chance to be in Oakland, downtown City Center on a Monday, Tuesday or Friday, check it out!

Senior Animals -- Part Three!?!?

2006-11-16T00:45:00.000-08:00

We're on a roll here folks. I was inspired to go look back at some of the Silver Muzzle cats, since Shayna's post focused on dogs, and I found some videos to go along too!
I haven't been here as long as Shayna though, so I can't go as far back -- that and a hard drive crash at Tri-Valley prevents me from looking at some of the ones from long ago up.

Some long long term readers may remember Willie!
Here he is in video form, back when we had shelter cats in the back hall and not the office.

Alright, that's it, I'm cheating! I'm going back to dogs, but with more video. I was going through my folder and now that I know how to upload videos easily, why not?
Here are two dogs I'll never forget: Sancho, and Don Quixote, two old guys we took in from the Contra Costa shelter in Martinez.

The very famous Kahlua:

Here is Matt, a senior cat. He was rescued from a house with dozens of other cats, including roommates, Sabra, Nathan, Vesuvius, and Annie. All of them came a long way, especially shy Matt. He blossomed into a very loving, purr-crazy, dog-loving heart-throb of a kitty.

Walker -- boy he liked to TALK! I have quite a few pictures that look like this:

One of my favorites, and a long-term staff pick for me, Frida!!
Boy, she had attitude, sass, loved to "talk" and I sure loved it.

OK, who can resist a cute puppy? This guy's name was Oso. I remember the corny line I used when putting him on the website: "Oso, is Oh-So cute!"

That's it, I'm tired, and gotta work in the morning. Ciao!

Senior Animals Part Two

2006-11-15T17:31:00.000-08:00

Looking at Kirsten's post about our senior animals made me think back to where the program all began. It started in 2003 with a chow mix named Oscar at one of our local shelters. For months we'd go to take dogs from that shelter, and I would see him in his kennel. He was a perfectly nice looking dog with a bright orange coat, but we weren't taking him because he was too old. As spay/neuter and responsible pet ownership contined to improve, there were less easy to adopt out dogs at local shelters. We finally made the decision to take a chance on this dog that I'd had my eye on for so long.
He certainly didn't fly out of our shelter, either. It took time, but he finally found a home. On the day he left, May 13th, 2003, I got this e-mail from R:

I think you heard already today about Oscar getting adopted. N and I are going to try to help out the adopters a bit more than normal with after adoption medical stuff just so you know.
Just wanted to say thanks for taking a chance on taking Oscar in. If it wasn't for you, he might still be at [the original shelter] patiently waiting...
Anyway...just thanks.

After receiving this e-mail, I began to think about other older dogs who tend to languish in shelters due to their ages. I responded to R's message, saying that I'd love if we could always reserve a couple of kennel spaces for Sr. animals. From there, the Silver Muzzle Club was born. After a great group effort from the Canine Associates, R, N, and other staff, we put together a program for dogs and cats eight years and older. We set a number of each that we could take into both our Oakland and Tri Valley shelters, a special intake procedure including a sr. dog vet check and blood panel, and of course our new name and logo (created by one of our younger volunteers).

Since then, we've seen many older animals come and go through our shelter. Many have been among the favorite canines and felines of staff and volunteers. Kirsten has already shown our current bunch, but I'd like to feature a few 'old timers' (pardon my pun). Everyone who knew these dogs during their time at the shelter will never forget a single one of them. Apologies in advance to cat lovers...as canine manager, I don't know the cats well enough to know which ones were seniors.
Right: Oscar, the unoffical founder of the SMC

Below: Babs, 2003

Ethel , 2004

Kaluha, 2004 (above)

Pepe, 2005

Mrs. Appleface, 2005 (above)

Jack (above) and Juno (right), 2005

It was a dark and Stormy night....

2006-11-09T07:39:00.000-08:00

Here's the last time we posted about Stormy.

On April 11, 2005 we took in a beautiful black and white cat we named "Stormy." Stormy was only 2 years old. Fluffy and fine, with the unfortunate distinction of being black and white. A common coat color among a sea of uncommon cats. But Stormy, sweet and affectionate was anything but common.

458 days later, after a long, frustrating stay (for us; I think Stormy rather liked it) we transferred Stormy to Tri-Valley Animal Rescue in a trade of sorts.

Sometimes, we will do a "swap," trading out adoptable animals to each other. Maybe they have cat they haven't been able to find a home for, so they will transfer him to us to give a change in scenery.

Perhaps we will flunk out with one particular cat, and at the same time, they have an overload of easily adoptable kittens, so we'll make a trade that meets both our needs.

I think Stormy was in that second category; traded in for a bunch of kittens.

It's not as mercenary as it sounds!

But what ever you call it, after 458 days in the shelter, TVAR found a home for Stormy in a couple weeks. Now Stormy is adjusting to the life she's always deserved.

Way to go, TVAR!

Old pets need homes, too.

2006-11-04T13:38:00.000-08:00

I read Craigslist often; sometimes for fun, sometimes to find out if anyone is talking about the East Bay SPCA, and sometimes to see if there is a pet question I can answer.

Like any public posting place, you'll see things that crack you up, make you angry or tear your heart out.

So I am scrolling through a bunch of posts and I read this from someone talking about why they bought a purebred cat at a cattery:

"....Plus, at SPCA they had only old tired cats."

Tired, old cats?! Grrrr.

Let me tell you about "old" pets: Old pets rock. Old pets don't get to be old pets unless they have lived right. You see very few mean, cranky senior shelter petizens, because for a homeless dog or a cat to reach the ripe old age of whatever is "senior" for that breed, he or she has got to be housetrained, is probably very tolerant of other cats or dogs, very lovable to people and, unfortunately, probably missing his or her original home, very much.

I can't help but wonder (and some of the time we do know) what happened to these sweet, obviously well loved cats and dogs, that resulted in them being homeless in their advanced years?

Did their beloved owner die?
Was a newborn baby added to the household, and the previously devoted owner said, "this is just too much?"
Did a partner come into the household that didn't appreciate a tail curled over his or her face in the morning or an enormous paw providing a 5:30 a.m. wake up?
After years of finding housing that accommodated the whole family, pet included, suddenly it became too difficult to do, so the owners chose the house or apartment over their companion?
Did the pet get lost, and wander too far, or was brought to a shelter too far away to be reunited? Leaving behind a houseful of heartbroken humans?

With a Silver Muzzle Club pet (our special program for dogs and cats over eight years old), you are getting a pet that will often fit in your home easily, with a personality that you can count on, and have many of the social graces and training expected of a pet down pat.

"Tired old cats..." Bah.

Meet some of our Silver Muzzle Club pets at our two shelters:
Our Seniors

Mittens is 11 years old:

Marvin is 8 years old:

Rosie is 7 and a half years old (read about her in the blog below!):

Oliver is 8 years old:

Titan is also 8 years old:

Co Co is 10 years old; be still my heart.....!

Nori is 9 years old:

Socks is 8 years old:

I hope someone is looking out for me when I become a senior citizen. No one deserves to spend their twilight years alone, looking for a family to love them.

This holiday season, give an usual gift -- to a senior shelter pet -- and vow to either adopt, or arrange for the adoption of one of our senior pets, or one of the senior pets around our community.

What it's all for

2006-11-03T00:00:00.000-08:00

What does it mean to be human? Why is it that some days, all you can think of are all the sad things that have happened in your life, and not some of the great things? Is that part of being human?

Take, for instance, a cat named Jeffrey who was in our shelter late last year.

Tonight, I just can't stop thinking about him. I wasn't particularly attached, and I hadn't really spent that much time with him. He was obviously a friendly and very easy going cat, however.

So far, there was nothing really remarkable about him that would make me remember him many years later. He wasn't at the shelter for a long time. I know he was a great cat, but we have a lot of great cats. I actually do remember a lot of them, if you can jog my memory a bit.

To continue on with the story, I noticed he sure seemed to be drinking a lot of water, and, conversely, urinating a lot. This is not a good thing, so I checked in with my manager, LG, and had him set up to go to the vet, and to monitor him until the vet came in next week.

Here is where the story gets memorable for me. That same day, before we took Jeffrey out of the adoption habitats, a mother and her young daughter came in and spent time with him. It was just them in the household, and they were looking for a friend. Jeffrey really fit the bill, and for good reason. He was really playful, friendly, didn't mind tummy rubs, was good about being held. Truly, a great cat for them. In fact, this was "just the cat [they] had been waiting for." I was very excited, and so were they. Sounded like a great adoption to be!

I did tell them, we need to hold off on the adoption for now. I noticed he's been drinking a lot, and before sending him home, I'd like to have him checked out by the vet on Tuesday to see what's up. I took their info so we could try and hold Jeffrey for them after his vet check-up.

What the vet found out was very depressing. A large solid lump on the kidney, that could be felt from touching the skin. X-rays showed a large mass there. Further investigation was worse. Even if operated on, this tumor had significantly affected Jeffrey's kidney functions. His quality of life would begin to decline. After a few days of second opinions and re-checks to verify his prognosis, it was decided the best thing to do was to euthanize him so he would not have to suffer.

And that leaves me with this family, the mother and daughter, who had found just the cat they had been waiting for. The cat they had been waiting for, Jeffrey, was soon to leave the earth.

I couldn't do it. I couldn't make the call. I knew I wouldn't be able to keep myself together. I asked LD to make the call. I decided to go to a different room, and not listen. It still bothers me, though. I feel awful. I know it must have broken that girl's heart. It really broke mine. Are they ever going to find the cat they were really looking for? I don't know, but I really hope so.

Now I bring myself back to one of those days, those long nights, when I get sad and think of some of these things, like poor Jeffrey. Why are humans the way we are? Why do we have emotions like this?

And then I think of Vinnie, the cat I wrote about in my very first blog. I feel a great sadness when I think of his passing, and I really miss him.

Tonight, I realize about the other things I think about when I think about him. About how happy he made me feel, and how much love I had for him. The way I would look forward to hearing his silly meow every morning. I don't miss him because something bad happened to him, but because I miss what he meant when he was with us, how he affected my life.

That, I now know, is what it's all for.

Rosie Is Still My Staff Pick

2006-10-30T08:52:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: Rosie was adopted on 1/13/07...we wish you all the best fine girl!

Why is Rosie still here? When I took Rosie in to our shelter from Hayward way back at the beginning of June, L. said she would last a long time in adoptions. I didn't believe him. Rosie is a Dalmatian! So what if she is almost 8 years old? Rosie is beautiful and fit and playful and very devoted!

I should have listened.

Poor Rosie sat (and stood and whined and barked and sat some more) in adoptions for weeks in Oakland. Finally, she transferred to Tri-Valley where she found some doggie playmates, met lots of new people, and still continued to be overlooked for younger, smaller, or differently-colored dogs.

Then one day someone noticed a small lump. The small lump on Rosie's neck very quickly became a huge one, so big she couldn't wear a collar. She didn't want to play or walk or even eat any more, so I took her home. Initial tests indicated that she probably didn't have long, and that I should make her comfortable and wait. There was no sense in subjecting an older dog to extreme medical intervention when what she really needed as a home. So, I took her home and fed her amazing yummy food and prepared myself for a long, slow process, including having to carry her up the stairs.

The first night, she was quiet. I thought, so far, so good. The next morning I woke up to find Rosie in VERY bad shape and took her in to see the vets for what I thought would be the last time. I moped around all day, sad for the injustice in the world that a dog this wonderful would sit in a shelter for so long for no apparent reason, and then would die before her forever home came along…but what happened was a miracle. After doing some additional blood work, the vet noticed some inconsistencies in her results and operated for more information--instead of putting her down. To their surprise, instead of cancer as was expected, they found an incredibly deep, inbelievably bad abcess! Rosie never had cancer after all.

What this meant for me (and another wonderful volunteer who took over the third week) was almost a month of flushing drains and hydrating wounds and daily stretches to keep blood flowing and pills to keep up with.

Over the course of the time living with me I discovered that:

Rosie does NOT like talking birds. The talking TV is fine, but the parrots are not.
Rosie likes to be the center of attention and the only dog. Rosie despised my cute, young fluffy dogs and said so in so many barks. She has played well with dogs not in her space, but for a forever home, she would like to be the One and Only.
Rosie likes FOOD. She will do anything for it, which makes her very easily trainable. Rosie can now sit, shake, wave, speak, lie down, and sit pretty. This also means that if I was not watching, Rosie will steal 3/4 of a pizza from the counter and eat it in two bites, making for some very interesting poo later on, like she did at my house. (Adopters should use tie downs like we suggest!)
Rosie cannot live with cats. Period.
Rosie is very well housebroken.
Rosie is very recognizable. I had all sorts of people cross the street to meet the Dalmatian, and not one of them thought she was a pit mix. Even people who are normally afraid of dogs somehow thought that Rosie would want to be petted because she was spotty. Be prepared for this. You will either love it or hate it. I loved it, and I thank you, Walt Disney.
Rosie pulls. We need to use an anti-pull harness when walking her. Before you take her out on a walk just on her collar, do one of two things: Either become a body builder, or picture me running down the street trying not to get my arm yanked off while Rosie keeps the cat in her sights, all the while clawing at the side walk and barking while people cross the street in the OTHER direction and shake their heads in pity.
Rosie is absolutely, fabulously, wonderful. Rosie is all dog and all sweet Princess rolled up into one. She may try your patience, but she will also tug at your heart strings.

I truly hope that this special girl finds her forever home soon. She is a character and a half, and you will never be sorry that you knew her. Rosie became my staff pick as soon as she was made available for adoption, months and months ago, and yes, Rosie is still my staff pick.

Posted for Canine Associate, Chris Wilson

Hallo-WOOF-Ween in Tri-Valley

2006-10-30T04:14:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from the Tri-Valley Hall-Woof-Ween. See the two posts below for Oakland. I had to sneak in some pictures while still doing my job as a Customer Care Associate, thus, I don't have all the names of the animals. I'll do the best to caption what I have.

Dogs lined up for the contest. This was for best matching costume between human and animal.

More matching costumes. Many of the dogs are alumni, too!

Darth Vader won a prize, when he had his mask on. He doesn't look like Dark Lord of the Sith without the mask (nerd joke, sorry!)

:)

AD had already donned the costume of "Lucha Libre" with his dog, Maple, but put it back on so our dog Smiley could enter.

Carolyn McArdle awarding a prize.

Smiley and AD win a prize.

Let's hear it for the Alumni!

2006-10-29T21:03:00.000-08:00

Remember Clementine? She was the (literally!) poster-child for what NOT to do when encountering foxtails.

She was a sad case, but a bit of medical magic later, and she was good as new.... and quickly adopted, as we also reported here.

Well, while the day's festivities were a blast, that didn't stop us from taking a minute to appreciate the success of some of our Alumni.

Here's Clementine today, now called Jessie:

Jessie found a home with a wacky Schnauzer (not from the EBSPCA), named Peanut:

Who would have thought that that young pup way back in July, so close to death, would now be fighting over squeaky toys with a 20 pound sibling?

Welcome back Clementine/Jessie. You and your siblings are welcome anytime!

Hallo-WOOF-een!

2006-10-29T19:59:00.000-08:00

(Sorry about the confuddled order of the text and posts in this entry.... I can't figure it out, but we'll make it a game! See if you can match the correct captions to the right dogs!)

To us (and most of you, apparently) dressing up your pet is the most natural thing in the world. One the best things about having a pet is being able to dress him with feathers and baggy clothes and not have him drag you into his therapist's office 20 years later....

We held a Halloween event at both shelters today, in Oakland and Dublin, to give a chance for pet owners and adopters to show off their finest costumes. Our Hallo-WOOF-een! costume contest was judged by Carolyn McArdle (from KKIQ) in the Tri-Valley and Sherry Brown (from KOIT) in Oakland.

We had a bunch of winners (not all of whom are shown below) and here are a few of our visitors:

A Tired Busy Bee...

A very NOT tired Busy Bee...

This is Princess, dressed like a Devil. You decided.

Poor OllieDog. Barely anyone wanted to take a pic of his face; they all wanted the cute jeans' butt with the tail sticking out.

We were privileged to receive the Famous Hugh Hefner, with the his bunny, Charlotte. Smashing, both of them. We were concerned that Charlotte was being exploited but she assured me she enjoyed her bunny ears.

You probably can't tell from the photo, but Nacho was dressed as Curious George. Easily one of my favorite costumes, but unfortunately, with the stiff little dog competition, Nacho went home empty handed except for all his Trick-or-Treating toys.

And now, a REAL Princess. Can you see the toenails?

Beanie ready for take off.

Brody was the ultimate cool-cat, even while dressed like a nerd. No lie: he LIKED wearing those sunglasses and kept them on all day.

And this is Jake. In case you can't tell, those are tiny yellow chickies on his t-shirt. Jake came as a chick magnet.

Faces

2006-10-23T00:55:00.000-07:00

Is $225 too much for a dog?

2006-10-22T23:25:00.000-07:00

Sometimes people complain to me about how $225 is too much for a dog. There even was a woman the other day who complained we "priced her out" by taking a dog from a nearby shelter, and taking him into our program. At the county shelter, their basic adoption fee is cheaper, but then you need to factor in the costs of spaying or neutering, which is, of course, mandatory before leaving a California shelter, current shots, and any other health care costs. Our adoption fee also includes an obedience training class, so the real end price ends up being a bargain.

Here's what any adoption of ours includes, at the least:

Animals are spayed and neutered before being put up for adoption
Animals are up to their current shots before being put up for adoption
A temprament assessment of dogs to ensure they are safe family pets
Cats are tested for Feline Leukemia and FIV; Kittens tested for Feline Leukemia
All animals are microchipped
A 20% off coupon for Pet Food Express, a pet store, to help get started on supplies
A "New Pet Health Check" that gets you a free visit to the vet at several participating vet offices
Obedience training class for dogs
Free one month supply of flea treatment
Lifetime advice on your new family member

I think $225 (or $100 for cats) is quite a bargain. Besides that, do people realize the costs of owning an animal? You are bringing in a new, living thing to the family, which costs money.

The example I like to use is -- hey -- I spent $300 on a nice vacuum cleaner after I adopted my dog to get all that hair off the couch! That was more than the adoption fee. Going to the vet can cost quite a bit of money, too. If you can't afford the $225, how can you cover vet costs? A lot of times people can get lucky and not have to go so often, but can you really count on that?

Of course, I try to explain this to people, what is included in the adoption price, and what care might be required in taking care of an animal, but still some think it's too high. Am I being too judgemental here?

Remember, though, that on the flip side, there are many people and our many great adopters who understand this and know what costs may be when taking care of an animal. Being human, though, the people who complain stay in my mind.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Tell them Rachel sent you.

2006-10-22T08:21:00.000-07:00

As you all know, I'm on maternity leave. I spend my days and nights caring for two 4 week-old twin gals. Occassionally I get a break and get to hang out with my son while dad takes care of the gals. This morning was one of those times.

I went to run some errands and get some bagels and coffee. While in Noahs, I recognized a volunteer. I don't know all the volunteers these days, but I knew him. He and his daughter come weekly to the shelter to clean cat cages. They are there every single weekend, scooping litter, spraying out cages, feeding kitties, and scrubbing floors. Although we have had volunteers cleaning for years, I am still impressed with folks who choose to spend their Saturday morning doing this less than glamorous activity.

But back to Noahs. I'm with my son and I'm not a chit chatty person, so I don't say anything to him at Noahs. Then we head to Starbucks and minutes later, there he is again. My son has a little tantrum and the volunteer smiles. Unable to pretend I don't recognize him at this point, I say, "Heading over to clean the cats today?"

He looks surprised and says, "Oh! I didn't recognize you." He then goes on to say, very apologetically, that they were unable to go yesterday and can't go today. I said, "That's OK, I haven't been there in weeks. I'm on leave."

Then he says, "We are volunteering for the Winter Cat Campaign. It's great. It makes us feel so good about what we are doing and it only takes about 30 minutes. We love it!"

Although the Winter Cat Campaign was officially started after I left for leave, I helped set it up, so I knew what he was talking about. A collaborative effort with Fix our Ferals, the campaign focuses trapping, neutering and releasing feral cats in a certain neighborhood. Fix our Ferals supplies the trapping expertise and outreach while the East Bay SPCA supplies the location for the recovery as well as steeply discounted spay neuter surgeries. Both groups recruited volunteers to help trap and care for the cats after the surgery.

From what I hear, it is going very well. If you are interested in getting involved, email volunteer@eastbayspca.org. Tell them Rachel sent you.

Spa day for Duke.

2006-10-08T18:47:00.000-07:00

You didn't misread that. It's SPA day, not SPAY day. And besides, Duke's a boy. Who would have thought that spending time in an animal shelter was like going up to the spas in Sonoma?

What a cutie, just out of the hot springs (our bathing tub), waiting for the next step in his beauty routine.

Duke the Pug was transferred into our facility from one on the animal control facilities with which we partner. Even though the homeless dog population in our community continues to decline, dogs still become homeless, even purebred ones. And while a lot of adopters seek out dogs like Duke -- cute, trendy, small -- he wasn't ready to go in a new home right away. He has a weight problem that needed to be evaluated, and also had a growth on his eye that needed to be checked.

But our biggest concern is that Duke did not like his feet touched. On closer examination, it was very clear why not:

That has got to hurt. The nails on the other three paws were equally as overgrown. Duke the Pug was in serious need of a serious manicure.

Duke got the full treatment this past week. Got scrubbed and buffed, got his nails trimmed, his eye looked at and a weight loss plan established. Duke is ready for adoption now.

Despite his gruff expression below (that's just a Pug for you!), he is looking forward to his new home. He wasn't adopted this weekend, so you can come see him on Wednesday in Tri-Valley.

The Shayna Curse

2006-10-06T10:55:00.000-07:00

There is an anomaly in the video game universe called "The Madden Curse." Every year a new John Madden football game (the most popular football series out there) is released to reflect team changes from season to season. Each year a well know, talented player is selected to be featured on the cover of the cases the games come in. Each year something horrible, often an injury, happens to whatever player graces that cover.

There is a portion of our website called 'Staff Picks.' We each select a cat or a dog we particularly like to be featured on the page with us. In the last several months I have had four or five staff picks. Every one of them, seemingly perfect dogs at the time, have been pulled out of adoptions or quickly adopted out and returned for a behavior problem. Some have been able to return to adoptions with some training and evaluations and have happy endings. Others have not.

My most recent staff pick was taken off of our website when she was adopted (only a week or so after we took our picture together), and was returned within a few days for growling at a member of the household. I never in a million years expected this to happen. We're working with her now, she may still have a happy ending, but I don't know for sure.

Today I need to choose a new staff pick. I want to do it because I love featuring animals that are special to me on our website, but I have to say I'm a little nervous. If I choose a great dog, even one who has consistently been a great dog for months, will something go wrong? How will I break the Shayna curse?

The Trouble with Being Troubled

2006-10-01T11:39:00.000-07:00

Smiley is one of the friendliest, well tempered dogs we have in the shelter right now. She does well with other dogs, and helps some of our young puppies learn how to play. She's great with kids. She's got a killer smile. She's a bit older, so she doesn't pull on leash or bounce off the walls, is done with her chewing stage, is housebroken - even lives in our 'real life habitat' complete with table, bookshelf & books, and a comfy wicker dog bed without making the room messy.

Smiley has been in our shelter for nearly six months.

The reason Smiley is still here: she doesn't want to be alone. Smiley is among the dogs we sometimes see in shelters who have developed serious anxiety problems, most likely as a result of being rehomed multiple times. Smiley's anxiety is almost entirely restricted to being on her own, a problem most commonly known as 'separation anxiety.' Many dogs bark or whine a bit when their owners leave, or chew things up because their families never properly trained them to be home alone. Dogs with separation anxiety however, have a much harder time. Many people who have heard of separation anxiety are aware that their stress can result in destruction of property or house soiling problems. This can be extremely hard on owners, but what is arguably worse is what these dogs can do to themselves. Their level of stress is visible in excess drool inability to eat even the tasties treats when no one is home. Many of them damage their teeth trying to chew out of crates or mutilate themselves when under stress.

Five months ago, this was Smiley. If crated, her chin, front legs and the floor of her crate would be soaked. If left alone in a new place she was excessively destructive. Due to her level of stress when she was alone in her kennel, Smiley, though the same friendly dog she'd always been, seemed anxious even when we were with her.

We put together a training plan for Smiley, based on one that had been successfully completed with another separation anxiety dog who was adopted by a staff member a year earlier. Smiley has an anti-anxietal drug which she may need to take for quite a while, at least while she adjusts to a new home. We have also used a dog pheromone to help keep her calm in her habitat. Through special feeding, exercise and crating time, she is able to stay alone in a room we've selected for her for extended periods of time, and has worked her way from 1-5 stress free minutes in her crate to 1-2 hours - sometimes longer.

The transition to a new home will be difficult for Smiley, but certainly not unmanageable. She'll need to live in a home which is not empty eight hours a day, and will likely need extra help in the beginning. On the other hand, she has a well established plan which we have seen be successful for her while at our facility. Our staff are available to assist her new family with the transition. Most importantly, Smiley's strengths, including the amount of love she will provide her new family far outweigh the challenges ahead. Smiley is just waiting for the person who is willing to take the time to discover that.

Talented people....

2006-09-25T22:01:00.000-07:00

Animal welfare is full of talented people. Here's a sampling of some of the volunteer or employee-made art showing in "Caring Hearts - Creative Hands" at our Tri-Valley Shelter:

This Chinese ink painting is called "Take Me" by artist Wendy Lee.

This oil is called "Ladies of the Lake" by artist Catherine McBride.

This stunning bronze, by our recently retired head of the EBSPCA, Gary Templin, is called "Extremism in the defense of liberty is not a vice."?

Woof! is by one of our cat volunteers, Shirley Hoye.

Caring Hearts-Creative Hands is Open!

2006-09-24T19:15:00.000-07:00

Every year, we host an art show in our facility. Isn't that weird?

Not so weird when you consider that our Tri-Valley Facility was built with a beautiful professional gallery inside. The idea was to create a space that people would come to even if they weren't coming to visit dogs and cats, to perhaps encourage them to visit some anyhow, or encourage them to support the work we do.

One of the ways we do this is to partner with Las Positas College in Livermore to keep the gallery full. Rotating art classes throughout the year display their work in our gallery. (The picture above is from the last show.) It gives the students a chance to learn curating and gives us a chance to introduce our animals to new people. *

But each year, we host a special show, that we put on, that is open to Employees or Volunteers of Bay Area shelters and rescue groups.

The quality of work from the hands of people who use those same hands to care for homeless pets is stunning.

So, Caring Hearts-Creative Hands is open for 2006; you can come view this amazing art yourself during the public hours at our Tri-Valley shelter.

I will post some pictures from the show itself tomorrow. See you there!

*If you know of any Tri-Valley business who would like to sponsor the Las Positas' Art Shows, to assist with advertising, the artist's reception, expenses associated with displaying the art, please let me know at info@eastbayspca.org.

Feral Fixin'

2006-09-01T20:44:00.000-07:00

Several years ago, our management team got together to look at the future. A non-profit (or a business that matter) should always be several years ahead of the organization. What are the challenges on the horizon that might require changes in the way we utilize our generous support?

It was clear from all angles that, in the East Bay, we were beginning to get a handle on the overpopulation of dogs, at least in our community. That doesn't mean dogs don't end up homeless, and in need of new homes. But that does mean that there is beginning to be a balance between the number of homeless dogs and the resources, and space, available.

Good news for dogs. But we were no where near close to ending the overpopulation of cats.

While people react when they see a stray dog, folks rarely even notice the stray cat. The stray cat is silent, usually in hiding until the evening. And if homeless, as many of them are, they are very, very prolific, each cat creating hundreds and thousands of offspring in just a few short years.

Funded by our generous donors, the East Bay SPCA launched the Feral Fix Hotline in April of this year to provide support to the residents of Alameda and Contra Costa County, with regard to feral cats, especially providing free trap rental and free spay and neuter surgeries for individuals willing to follow Trap - Neuter - Return.

We are so proud of our success. In 2005, we performed 770 feral cat surgeries at no cost, most of them to clients who were assisted by our very dedicated partners at ICRA and Fix Our Ferals.

In 2006, with the launch of the Feral Fix Hotline, we are well over 700.

It's not going to be quick, but working together, animal welfare in the East Bay is making a big dent in the problem.

For more information on the East Bay Feral Fix, or if you'd like to volunteer, read about our program here: http://www.eastbayspca.org/feral

Maybe day two will be easier.

2006-08-21T20:02:00.000-07:00

Well...I'm officially on maternity leave. I thought I would make it to the end of August, but my doctor and husband thought differently.

Today was my first day of being at home when I should have been at work. Unlike the last time I was on leave (when I actually had a baby to care for), this time, I am home on the couch watching court tv shows for about 4 weeks before the twins arrive.

It's pretty hard to shut off the "shelter brain". Who got adopted yesterday? Did they get new dogs today? Did payroll get done on time? Do they have enough animals for spay neuter tomorrow? How is the sick cat doing? What about the injured puppy? Did AM actually get to take today off? Did those boarding requests get taken care of? How many animals did the spay neuter staff spay neuter today? Where did they get the kittens from?

Nothing too fantastic or earth-shattering, but thoughts that run through my head on a daily basis. Now, those questions will have to go unanswered. In four weeks, I'll be too crazed and busy and tired to care. But today, day one of leave, I miss work like one misses a boy friend who is out of the country. You know everything is OK, but just hearing his voice would make you feel so much better.

Maybe day two will be easier.

Obsess, much?

2006-08-19T20:52:00.000-07:00

People who come home late on Saturday night, have no business poking their head into work and seeing what went on all day, particularly if that was their day off.

But when you work for an Animal Shelter, sometimes you. just. can't. help. yourself.

You have to know. Who got adopted today, on Saturday, the busiest day of the week? Did any of our long term pets finally get lucky today? How long did that super desirable little dog last? An hour?

So I peek on Satuday nights. I just am curious. Sure, I will find out the following week but I just want to know now.

Thanks to Shelter Buddy, I can look at shelter records at home, any time of the day or night.

And tonight, the whoop I let out woke up my two sleepy labs. They wouldn't care anyhow, but Boo and Muffin got adopted today. Together. By a person in Danville.

Man, can I just say? You got two TERRIFIC cats. May you all be very, very happy together.

And, thank you.

Our storage room looks like a appliance outlet.

2006-08-16T18:07:00.000-07:00

About six months ago, all of our washers and dryers broke. Well, not all of them. But almost all of them. One by one. Over the course of about 3 weeks. It may not seem like a big deal, but since we have commerical washers in both shelters and residential washers and dryers in all three clinics (and two at our Spay Neuter Center in Oakland), it was a very big deal. The build up of dirty towels and blankets was out of control.

And of course, we don't have the funds to buy new washers and dryers...or even used washers and dryers, so we had to get creative.

I posted a message on Berkeley Parents Network, an on-line community for all things child related in the East Bay, asking for donations of washers and dryers. And boy, did those parents come through. Not only did we get enough to replace the broken ones, we have several washers and dryers in reserve just waiting for the next one to break. It's great. Our storage room looks like an appliance outlet.

Pit Bull Hall - First Anniversary!

2006-08-15T16:51:00.000-07:00

One year ago, we blogged about a new program of which we were very proud, "Pit Bull Hall."

Pit bulls were, and still are, one of the breeds of dogs still at risk in the East Bay, and with an adoption solution not working nearly fast enough. So Pit Bull Hall brought a new approach to a burgeoning nationwide problem.

We wanted to communicate our results to the public and press that morning, and they were eagerly waiting to hear, as well. Unforunately, terrorists in the U.K. chose that morning to get arrested so the press was fairly distracted that day.

Fortunately, the East Bay's is home to one of the more animal-aware columnists: Mary Eisenhart, who provided this recap in her column.

Here's some more information on our first year of Pit Bull Hall:

It was a nice way to start the day.

2006-08-15T14:16:00.000-07:00

I stopped at Starbucks this morning on my way out to Tri Valley to get my usual decaf iced latte. On my way in, many people stopped to say something to me. (For some reason, people think it socially acceptable to chat with pregnant ladies more than non-pregnant ladies, so I'm getting used to people stopping me and talking.) So when the guy behind me in the line started talking to me, I didn't think much of it.

"Excuse me, do you work at the East Bay SPCA?"

"Yes," I said, wondering how we knew and then realizing my shirt had our logo on it.

"Oh, I just dropped my dog off there."

I think to myself...'Great. Another jerk dumping his dog.' But then he says...

"I just left her at the Spay Neuter Center."

Doh! I jumped to a horrible conclusion when he was doing something so great.

"How great!" I say, "what is your dog's name? I'll check on her when I get over there."

While he mentioned her name, he offers to pay for my drink and croissant. I politely decline saying something about how he has already spent money with "us" today. Then he says,

"Nope, it was free. She is a pit bull mix. I'm unemployed so it was really helpful to me."

"Wonderful," I say, "I love our Pit Fix program."

"Yes, lots of people wouldn't get it done without that program."

We chatted a bit more until my drink arrived and I headed off to work.

It was a nice way to start the day.

I'll miss you more than you know.

2006-08-05T19:00:00.000-07:00

Today was a tough day. We euthanized five dogs today. Two from Tri Valley and three from Oakland. That is a huge number considering we usually only euthanize a couple dogs a month.

Four of them came from other shelters. They were selected because they passed the initial temperament test we perform at the city or county shelter. Then, after they are settled in, we re-test them using a more extensive and comprehensive test. Three of these dogs showed problems during that second test and one showed problems only after being made available for adoption. The problems ranged from unmanageable possession aggression (where dogs are possessive over their food or other items, and it can't be safely controlled) to being aggressive during handling, to randomly
aggressiving biting at kids, to stranger aggression

The fifth dog was an adoption return. The dog was being managed in the home despite some possession issues for a couple years, but then started to guard space and people, aggressing to the point of scaring the owners. They worked with our trainers for a while, but ultimately decided, and we agreed, the dog was unsafe to have with a family.

They were all hard, but well-thought decisions, each was made only after each dog had been given time to work on the issues (to see if we could modify the behavior). We were saddened by them all and wished desperately that the resolution could have been more happy.

We were especially saddened with one dog in particular. This dog was Big Beulah (BB as I call her.) I took this dog in from Oakland Animal Services (and actually blogged about her many months ago) as my first self-selected pit bull, after being trained by BADRAP in pit bull temperament and evaluations. She was wonderful. Wiggly, friendly, a real people pleaser. We had a volunteer agree to foster her for a couple weeks to learn more about her temperament before putting her up for adoption. BB did great. She had no issues and was a real delight. She was put up for adoption with a special adoption process (including a home check, an application, and a foster period). But she had no takers.

Not sure if it was her big body or cropped ears or the funny way she stared at passers by. We knew she was wonderful, but our clients weren't buying it.

After about 60 days in the kennel, she started acting strangely. She didn't like being handled and would whip around with her mouth to show her discontent. Not good. She also started doing a weird barking thing, becoming agitated at seemingly nothing. Something would set her off and she would start barking in a non-friendly way at nothing and no one. Also not good.

We thought that perhaps she was just sick of being in the kennels. Many dogs can go kennel crazy after long stays. ,So we asked the original foster parent if she could take her home again to see if it was "environmental" or "temperamental." She agreed and started sending regular emails reporting on BB. BB was doing some growling and "woofing" at certain strangers on walks. There didn't seem to be any pattern or predictability to it.

It was at this point that we really started to question the breed we thought she was.

Pit bulls should never growl or bark at strangers and they should love to be handled. So, either she wasn't a pit bull or she was an unstable one. We talked to the Pit Bull people and they agreed she was at best a mix but probably some other kind of Mastiff. Then we talked to the Mastiff people (Mastiff rescue) and they asked for pictures of her. Based on the description of behavior, they thought she might be a Cane Corso. But after looking at her pictures, they thought she was a Presa mix.

That was the worse news we could hear. We knew we couldn't responsibly place a Presa mix and there were no responsible rescue groups to take her. We had to give her foster parent the bad news...she was not adoptable. Her foster parent, who knew all along that there was a chance she would not be put up for adoption, took the bad news fairly well. Because we knew what a responsible dog owner this foster parent was, we did give her the option of adopting her. But we also cautioned her against this. She would have lifelong behavior management issues as well insurance issues (due to the breed). And the worse part was that the behavior is expected to get worse when the dog hits about 3 years old. We couldn't predict what would happen, but there was a chance it would be very bad. She wanted to help her, but she also wanted to do the right thing.

We had many conversations about the pros and cons of adopting her as well as why we couldn't put her up for the general public. She came to peace with the decision not to adopt and we scheduled a time to bring her back to the shelter.

I picked her and BB up, brought them to the shelter where she got a good off-leash run. They she was spoiled with some peanut butter and belly rubs from two dedicated staff. She got her favorite blanky from her foster home and was happy as a clam. The foster parent and I left, both of us with tears in our eyes, while ND and the staff humanely euthanized her. It was quiet ride home as we both sat next to each other thinking of the dog we both loved so much. We got to her house, I asked if she would be OK and offered to talk anytime and then said my goodbye. I cried some more on my way home as I am sure she did in her apartment. I then called the shelter to make sure everything went well and was assured it did.

I know we did the right thing, but I do feel responsible for putting this amazing foster parent through this experience since I selected the dog. She gave BB an incredible life during the last few months. A life she probably never had before stuck in someone's back yard being bred for money. But had I never taken her in, the foster parent would never had fallen in love with her and wouldn't have had to ensure such deep sadness. I've met few people with the integrity, dedication and resolve to be as responsible as she has. It is an honor to know her and I aspire to be as strong as she.

Good-bye, Big Beulah. I'll miss you more than you know.

Clementine's Happy Ending

2006-08-02T12:54:00.000-07:00

Early in July, I wrote about our retriever mix named Clementine who had a large foxtail in her ear (if you didn't read about Clem, see "It's Foxtail Season Again"). Well, as was reported by one of our trainers in the comments section, Clementine woke up the next morning full of puppy energy. There have been no signs of neurological damage at all. Unilateral deafness (deaf in one ear) can be very difficult to detect in dogs without special hearing tests, but for now we're assuming that she only hears out of her good ear.

On July 16th, after taking some time to recover, Celemtine went up for adoption on what is arguably our busiest day of the year - our annual adoptathon. There were dogs from our shelter as well as many Bay Area rescue groups covering the property, but even with so many dogs up for adoption at the facility, Clementine met a family who was interested in taking her home under our trial adoption program, Paws To Consider within hours of becoming available and moving to our adoption kennels. The week went well, and Clementine was adopted at the end of the trial period.

Clem is now known as Jessie, and is living with a pair of Schnauzers. From our notes on Jessie's 1 week check in, it sounds like all is going well. She's enrolled to start the five-week obedience class I teach this evening, so hopefully I'll be meeting her family tonight, and getting to see her when we begin having dogs in the class next week. I look forward to seeing her happy and well.

I think I like Rod Guiler the best.

2006-07-25T19:39:00.000-07:00

I can never remember how to spell certain dog breeds. Apparently, I am not the only one. The following are breeds as they were documented by the clients on clinic registration forms.

Begall Beagle
Malibu Malamute
Bull Massive
Bull Mastiff
Bull Mater
Bull Mastiff
Patedillon Papillon
Pegniece Pekingese
Pequenes Pekingese
Chewawa Chihuahua
Chiguagua Chihuahua
Chiwawa Chihuahua
Chiyaya Chihuahua
Chuchcan Chihuahua
Pet Bull Pit Bull
Pick Bull Pit Bull
Pip bull Pit Bull
Pit Bowl Pit Bull
Pul Bull Pit Bull
Put Bill Pit Bull
Chow-Wow Chow Chow
Puppy Chow Chow Chow
Cracker Spano Cocker Spaniel
Crocker Spaniard Cocker Spaniel
Papamarian Pomeranian
Pomerena Pomeranian
Checo Sovakain Wolf Czechoslovakian Wolf
Pomeria Pomeranian
Datsun Dachshund
Pub Pug
Doxin Dachshund
Winner Dachshund
Weener Boy Dachshund
Hot Dog Dachshund
Rottwielderer Rottweiler
Rockwiler Rottweiler
Rod Guiler Rottweiler
Rotwilder Rottweiler
Roukweilr Rottweiler
Wrot Rottweiler
Dolmotion Mex Dalmatian Mix
Girman Heaper German Shepherd
Jurman Sheperd German Shepherd
Keltie Sheltie
Shit Zoo Shih Tzu
Lapso Upso Lhasa Apsa
Lapsa apso Lhasa Apsa
Siemeis Siamese
Lasa Opso Lhasa Apsa
Simon Siamese

I think I like Rod Guiler the best.

110

2006-07-24T13:07:00.000-07:00

I wish I was writing about 110 adoptions this weekend, but instead I'm writing about 110 degrees Fahrenheit.

This past week or so has been a real scorcher. Blame global warming, ecological changes, whatever -- it's not pleasant for us animals used to more temperate climates.

At our Tri-Valley Adoption and Spay Neuter facility, the climate control system includes 10 A/C compressors, each working on separate parts of the building.

Sometime within the past two weeks, two of those compressors have failed or lost the ability to fully cool. Fortunately (so to speak), those compressors covered the back hallway and break room for the staff. Although it was miserable eating lunch at 90 - 100 degrees, all our animals were safe in the air conditioned habitats and kennels.

This Sunday brought a dire situation however. Sometime in the late morning or early afternoon, the compressor for the rear kennels and cat holding area stopped working effectively (or failed outright). Temperatures rised quickly, despite doing our best to keep things cool by limiting outside air and closing doors and turning out lights.

This is where our awesome quick-thinking and hard-working staff jumped into action. A game plan was made to get our dogs and cats to safety, quickly. Thoughts about where to put them were paramount. On the other side of the building is the dog training room, aka the "concrete room", named for the concrete floors. The windows in this room were recently tinted heavily to keep heat out and make things look nicer from the outside. This room only runs the A/C when we are having classes, so the compressor has seen much less use and potentially runs better. The staff cranked up the A/C (fortunately it was still cool from morning classes) and rushed to get dog crates from all corners of the shelter to house the dogs temporarily.

Half the cats were moved from the now hot "cat holding" to the grooming room, and the other half wheeled with their cages to the attached spay/neuter facility, where the A/C was still able to cool.

Ideas on a more permanent location for the dogs were thought up, as they couldn't stay in crates all night. Right now some of the dogs are staying in the spay/neuter kennels, at least until Tuesday, when the s/n clinic is next open and those kennels are needed for them. We transferred more to our Oakland facility, where they had some extra space.

I really have to thank everyone who was there on Sunday to help out. Without our staff and volunteers, things would be a lot worse for our four legged friends. They put out hard work even on a miserable day that exhausted us all. Thanks also to RE, Facilities Manager for coming on your day off trying to help.

Waiting patiently to be noticed.

2006-07-23T22:45:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, we took in a dog from a local county shelter. We were told some story about how the dog ended up there, tested the dog, and called him Wolfgang. After he had been available for adoption a week or so, we had our adoptathon. That day, someone came in saying they were from the breed rescue group for Wolfgang's breed and they wanted him. They would pay the fee, do whatever was necessary...they just wanted to take the dog so they could place him. Our manager explained that the dog wasn't at risk, was doing well and we didn't need help with placement. She said we would call if we did need help. This pissed the person off to no end, demanding the manager's supervisor's name (me) and throwing a fit.

So, I get a message explaining what happened from her point of view. I returned the call the next day, but only after three other breed rescue people had left messages. I had a nice chat with her explaining our process, how we are a little different than other shelters as we have habitats (she said this breed doesn't kennel well), the ability to restrict adoptions (she said this breed doesn't do well with kids), and dog trainers who work with the dog (she said this breed is smart and needs stimulation.) I repeated what the manager had said about not needing their help at this time, but also added that we wouldn't turn over a dog to a rescue group we had never worked with before without some vetting and paperwork. I also asked if she would give a dog over to someone who showed up with no notice demanding the dog. She seemed to understand, thanked me, and I said we would talk again after I had the needed documents. I did say, before we hung up, that I would be happy to have any interested parties that they knew come to see the dog at our facility. I said we would even put the dog on hold if someone was driving a long distance.

Then, the next day, we get a message from the breeder of the dog (yes, they traced this dog back to the breeder) and from another person saying THEY were with the breed rescue group. They both wanted the dog back. I explained everything again to them. I told them each that I was already dealing with someone from the rescue group, but that I would be happy to put the dog on hold if someone was coming from a long distance.

Then, the next day, I get a fax from someone else from this breed rescue basically telling me the first person I spoke with was a complete liar and showing email proof of her deceptive ways. Apparently this first person said that we were holding back the dog as our "trophy bride" since we don't get pure breds often.

It was at that point that I decided I was done with all this nonsense and that if anyone else called about the dog, I would be honest and tell them I was done.

That same day, two different people from the Monterey area called. They heard we had this dog from the breeder and wanted to come meet him. I said sure. The first person could come in three days and the second person could come today. I put the dog on hold, the people drove up, met the dog, fulfilled all of our requirements AND had had this breed of dog before. It was a nice match and they drove back south with Wolfgang. (We called the other person to tell them the adoption had happened.)

I can not tell you how pleased I was that this dog was in a home and I didn't have to talk to anyone else about him again. I had probably spent 3-4 hours on the phone with various people talking about the dog. It was ridiculous.

But what was more ridiculous is that no one would spend this kind of time or energy on a mutt. There is no "mutt breed rescue". No one takes the time to get to the know the dog...they just think the breed they rescue is different and unique and special. And none of them understand how what we do in the shelter is the complete opposite of what the breeders and clubs do with their dogs. We take dogs that end up unwanted in city and county shelters and give them another chance. They create dogs that take away adoptive owners from those same needy dogs sitting waiting in shelters. For every dog bred, that is one fewer dog in the shelter that gets a home.

Anyway, I'm sounding bitter and rambling, so I'd better stop. The whole thing just made me sad. So much time and effort spent rescuing one dog simply because of who his parents were when the real dogs that need rescuing are still waiting patiently to be noticed.

105.

2006-07-16T21:28:00.000-07:00

That's how many homeless dogs, cats, kittens, puppies, guinea pigs and bunnies got lined up with new homes this weekend in the two day, Weekend Adoptathon.

We had 14 groups participating in Tri-Valley on Saturday, and 17 groups participating in Oakland on Sunday (some were at both, like FOFAS, Purrfect Cat Rescue, Hayward Animal Services, and Community Concern for Cats), and they brought along with them scores of fun, happy, crazy :), dedicated, thoughtful, caring, boisterous, educated, zealous, patient, hardworking staff and volunteers. And animals. Lots and lots and lots of animals.

Animal welfare is in good shape in this community, if this group of professionals is any indication.

You know? I know that I work with amazing people, because I see them every day. But it is so heartening to know that 30+ other groups are populated by people who care as much as the people attending the Adoptathon this weekend. In brutal heat, no less.

I have about a 100 new heroes.

Chloe, it's time to go home

2006-07-16T17:30:00.000-07:00

Congratulations Chloe, on at least your third adoption from the East Bay SPCA in Tri-Valley!

Poor Chloe has been in and out of the shelter so many times, through no fault of her own.

She originally was adopted 2 or 3 years ago as a younger cat. She went home with younger children who played with her roughly and when she had enough, she would scratch back.

Our advice to the orignal adopters was to leave Chloe alone when she had enough, but the adopters weren't so happy with that, and they declawed her to prevent her from scratching.

Little did they realize, by declawing a cat, they're taking away her first line of defense, her claws. Her second best defense is her teeth. Instead of now clawing at the kids, she would nip at them (although not breaking skin). She was then returned for not being good with the kids.

Since then, she's been re-adopted and returned several times now, for various reasons, such as moving, not having time, and allergies. After her very last return, she stayed here 311 days looking for her final home. During part of that time, she served as our "Shelter Cat", the cat we use to test out dog's reactions with cats.

Now, with this final adoption, I am hoping it's her very last one. I'm sure she would feel the same way. Early reports from the adopters is that she is doing very well and adjusting quickly to the new home! Thanks to the wonders of the internet the new adopters learned about Chloe off the Virtual Pet Adoptions website and thought she was a great match for their lifestyle.

I'm confident this is her final stop now. Everybody loves her at the new home, and even the neighbors have come to visit her.

Sometimes kittens just die.

2006-07-11T06:39:00.000-07:00

I got a call last night on my cell phone from CK. Calls from the foster coordinator at night are never good. Sure enough, a kitten was failing, and someone needed to meet the foster parent at the shelter. With ND on a few days vacation, it fell to me to handle this. (We are the only ones in the shelter certified to perform euthanasia other than the vets and RVTs.)

So, I piled me and big belly in the car and headed back to work. I arrived quickly and waited for the foster parent to show up. While I waited, I saw Crank, our New Orleans transplant, who was surprised that there was anyone else at the shelter at this time. I must have disturbed her routine.

Then I saw another cat. So I got out of my car and tried to approach the cat to see if it was tame or feral. (Sometimes people "dump" their unwanted cats on our property and we can easily catch them.) This orange tabby was very wary of my presence and wouldn't let me get but within 10 feet of him. (Ah well... note to self: tell shelter staff to put out feral cat trap.)

Then the foster parent arrived. I took a look at the kitten, a skinny little black guy and indeed he was not in good shape. But he didn't quite qualify for euthanasia. I mean, he wasn't doing well, but he didn't appear to be in extreme pain or suffering. He was just lying there, eyes open, breathing fairly normally. So I gave him some fluids in the hopes that this would help his dehyrdration. I explained the foster parent that it might not work. We both stayed there together about 30 minutes trying more fluids.

He didn't look better, but he didn't look worse. I told the foster parent that I would take him home tonight, continue to give fluids and hope for the best. We would call her tomorrow with the status of the kitten. She was in tears and thanked me as she wiped them away.

We headed home, but by the time we arrived, he was already doing worse. I tried more fluids, but he just kept looking worse. He passed away around 10:30pm and then I sadly went to bed. Hopefully he knew that we tried our best. CK will call the foster parent this morning to tell her what we all know...this wasn't her fault and sometimes kittens just die.

Our volunteers are the best!

2006-07-09T10:39:00.000-07:00

I came to work this morning at 9am to see what kind of chaos was happening at the shelter. You see, today was the day that we were breaking down all the cat cages in preparation for our new cat habitats that arrive tomorrow. We first had to move all the cats to other locations, clean the cages, and break them down.

I expected total craziness when I arrived, but I was most pleasantly surprised when the bulk of the job was already done. Volunteers were cleaning cages, staff and volunteers were breaking down cages and moving them, other volunteers were hanging out with the felines who were, to say the least, confused.

It was amazing and I've never felt so unneeded in my whole life. It was a great feeling. Thanks to CM, FC. and JM for organizing everything. Special thanks to RE for coming in on his day off to get dirty. And the most thanks of all to Elaine, Shirley, Elliott, Jan, Dan, Jittaun, Leslie, Betty, Stephanie, Mary, Cheyanne and Colleen. Our volunteers are the best!

It's Foxtail Season Again

2006-07-08T17:29:00.000-07:00

Every summer the California grass dries up and foxtails are born. This is a season where many dog owners find themselves needing to check their dogs - especially long haired ones - between the toes, under the coat, behind the ears searching for small barbs stuck to the skin or fur. If not noticed right away, these small pieces of the larger seed head can get stuck up noses or embedded deep under the skin, needing surgical removal. If you haven't seen what foxtails look like, you can take a look at http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/dogs/foxtails.html .

Yesterday, when J and I took a trip to one of the shelters we work with, we tested, fell in love with, and took in a yellow lab mix, later named Clementine. Clem's a bouncy adolescent pup, around seven months old. Full of energy, friendly and social, she was everything we want to see in the dogs we take in to our shelter. She was in good health, with the exception of what looked to me like a very bad ear infection (though I'm no vet, so I was only guessing). I was sure she'd need to see one of our vets as soon as possible to get the ear flushed, and wondered if she would even need to be treated under anesthesia, possibly during her spay surgery. Clem kept shaking her head, something dogs often do if their ears are painful or itchy, and I was glad we would be able to help her to be more comfortable soon.

Today, after our vet's daily rounds for the shelter animals, our shelter lead, C, came to me and said that they put Clem under anesthesia immediately. I knew this must mean that Clem's ear was in very bad shape, possibly worse than I thought, because the clinic was very busy, it was an hour before they closed for the day, and dogs very rarely need to be put under right away like that.

About 45 minutes later, C returned and told me that the surgery was over. Dr. A had pulled what she said was the biggest foxtail she'd ever seen in a dog out of Clem's ear. It wasn't a small barb like what normally works its way into a dog's skin - it was the entire foxtail - a good two to 3 inches long. There was also a second piece of a foxtail, and addition to being deeper than the first, it was pretty long for a foxtail barb, at least an inch itself. She reported to me that Dr. A said Clem was most likely going to be deaf in that ear.

Clem's foxtails

Clem's foxtails to scale (paperclip is large, syringe shows length of 3ccs liquid)

I went to visit Clem as she was coming out of ansthesia, and Dr. A told us that she had had to go so deep into the ear to remove the foxtails that she was very close to the brain. Given the contact with the inner ear and proximity to the brain, there is a possibility that Celm will suffer from seizures or balance problems. The doctor told us our big danger surrounding seizures is in the next hour or so as she wakes up. Right now I'm staying at work an extra hour or so with her to moniter progress. As for her balance or other neurological or inner ear problems, only time will tell as we won't be able to see any signs until Clem comes out of anesthesia.

For all of us, Clem's tough day is a reminder that we need to check our own dogs for foxtails whenever they go to parks or other locations with dry grass. Right now she's resting, giving little tail wags and lifting her head just a bit when visiters come by. Tomorrow morning, C and I will be checking on her right away. For now we're all going to send her our good wishes and be thankful that our wonderful veterinary staff were able to help her so quickly.

We'll update you with her progress. Hopefully, her news will be good.

Clem after surgery

The end of an era, the beginning of a new one.

2006-07-08T16:36:00.000-07:00

A week ago last Thursday, at our Tri-Valley facility, the East Bay SPCA said "so long" to the man who for the last 19 years ago, has been the leader of the East Bay SPCA.

Gary Templin was hired in 1987 by the Board of Directors of what was then the Oakland SPCA, an organization coming off of several years of turmoil and turnover. Those of you who are long time Oakland residents recall that the organization did not always have the stellar reputation that is does today.

Shortly after starting, Gary made two very controversial decisions (for the time) that have since become the standard for private, non profit animal welfare: 1) he decided that a private donor funded place was not an appropriate place for the public to dump pets, which led to the closing up the night drop boxes, and 2) he demanded that every single pet leaving the facility was was spayed and neutered. This was uncommon at the time and very unpopular in the animal welfare community.

The public "demanded" the continued right to drop off pets, clients demanded the right to adopt intact animals, and many veterinarians were in agreement. But today, this is how ALL private, non profit animal welfare organizations are run.

In 1991, Gary met a man named David Duffield, who had recently become very wealthy due to his company, PeopleSoft, going public. Gary shared with him his vision of an animal shelter that wasn't a depressing, desperate place. A place where learning could take place and where the public would enjoy visiting.

David Duffield and Peoplesoft became one of the first major donors to the Oakland SPCA, and over the years contributed funding to the 1992 Oakland Adoption Center addition, one of the first adoption centers in the country built to not look like a "dog pound." (Read the San Francisco Chronicle about the opening of the new Oakland Adoption "Mall")

This partnership also led to the 1998 building of the region's first Spay/Neuter Surgery Center, and in 2001 the Tri-Valley Adoption Center and Spay and Neuter Surgery Center. Gary's presentation to the Duffields was that through collaboration and accessible spay and neuter, more lives would be saved than by any other activity, even adoption, though the facility would continue to provide adoptions and other resources. (Later, David Duffield founded the Maddie's Fund on a similar premise and brought the concept of accessible, affordable spay and neuter surgery, with agencies collaborating for a common goal, to animal shelters across the country. Since then, the Maddie's Fund has contributed mightly to animal shelters in the Bay Area and beyond.)

In 1997, Gary presented and the Board of Directors approved, the blue print for "Goal 2007" which was an audacious mission that called for the end of euthanasia of adoptable dogs and cats in Alameda County by 2007.

We are very close to accomplishing this. Since 1998, well over 70,000 spay and neuter surgeries have been performed at the East Bay SPCA’s facilities. Other agencies look to the East Bay SPCAs operations as a model of successful programming.

In the early 2000s, the East Bay SPCA continued to break ground in animal welfare by identifying specific challenges hampering the achievement of Goal 2007, with programs involving the spaying and neutering of pit bulls and feral cat.

Gary has stepped down to spend the next years of his life on his family, his art, and the outdoors, like many of us wish after years of working.

In his place, Allison Lindquist, former Associate Director of the Oakland Zoo, steps in to his mighty shoes with a new vision to successfully guide the organization through the next twenty years.

Allison has been creating the new "era" since the beginning of May, but we give thanks to Gary Templin for his successes in creating the one.