October 16th is National Feral Cat Day!

These are just a few of the feral (wild) cats in our care that our volunteers have been working hard to trap. MLDHS started a Feral Cat Catch and Release Program in 2009 to address and help combat the overpopulation of feral cats in and around Meadow Lake. This program involves trapping cats humanely, having them spayed/neutered  and vaccinated, and then returning them to the wild. Feral cats are a symptom of the greater problem of failure to spay and neuter companion animals. Feral cats were, once upon a time,  as domesticated as the cat curled up on your lap, but due to unwanted litters continuously being born they were abandoned and had to learn to survive on their own, away from human contact.

Adoption is not always an option when it comes to feral cats. We have taken in feral kittens and were able to socialize and adopt them to loving homes, but more often than not, feral cats are unable to be socialized and adopted out, so they receive the necessary vet care and are released back into the wild to live out their lives and fulfill their duties.

While some people may view feral cats as pests, they actually have an important role to play in the community. Feral cat colonies are responsible for keeping rodent populations down. They are natural exterminators, eliminating the need for toxic chemicals and dangerous devices.

Cats are very adaptable animals and feral cats especially have the survival skills to endure even the harshest of conditions. However, there has been a movement of people that have “adopted” feral cat colonies, providing food, shelter and water for the helpful felines. This can be a rewarding experience for those who are unable to have pets of their own, to have the opportunity to “take care” of another living creature. In return, the feral cats provide safe and effective rodent control.

There are even some famous feral cat colonies. Canada’s Parliament Building in Ottawa is home to a dozen stray cats that help to control the rodent population on Parliament Hill. They are maintained by a dedicated group of volunteers, who even constructed them elaborate shelters that have become a tourist attraction in their own right.

On the other side of the boarder, Mickey Mouse better watch out!  Disneyland has it’s own colony of feral cats that have been keeping the rodent population under control for over 25 years.

Feral  cats play an important role and the Catch and Release program is a valuable service in our community. Not only does it stop cat overpopulation, but it cuts down on undesirable behaviors such as cat fights, yowling, spraying  and it can even protect your own domesticated feline: having feral cat colonies vaccinated reduces exposure to and the spread of disease.

With the increase in public awareness, education and acceptance of feral cat populations, we can only hope that the days of treating feral cats as nuisance animals and pests will become a thing of the past.

For more information on Feral Cats, Catch & Release programs and Colony support, please visit  Alley Cat Allies.

These two kittens are the product of not spaying a cat. They are just two of 12 newborns that we are currently caring for at our shelter. These two are special though, because unlike the 10 other kittens that arrived with their mother, these two were found in a dumpster.

One thing we realize in Animal Rescue, is that there is no shortage of  dogs and cats, and free animals are easy to come by. Just look around you: bulletin boards, newspaper classifieds, radio swap & shops and internet buy & sell groups are loaded with advertisements for free animals. Unfortunately there aren’t homes for all of them, and some unlucky puppies and kittens end up tossed in a dumpster or left at a landfill to die.

With every pet adopted out at MLDHS, we ensure it is up to date on vaccinations, dewormed, microchipped (dogs), and most importantly, that they are spayed and neutered. All of this costs money, which we work hard to fundraise for.  We have been fortunate to have a great relationship with our local vets who subsidize the vet care costs, so we are able to keep our adoption fees low, possibly the lowest in the province.

As a Humane Society we know the importance of spaying and neutering, but are also aware of the fact that not everyone can afford to have the procedure done. In 2005 we partnered with the Town of Meadow Lake to offer a low cost spay and neuter program. Unfortunately there wasn’t a great turn out, but this could have been due to a number of factors, such as lack of advertising or the fact that MLDHS wasn’t as well known back then as it is today. There is always the potential for a similar program in the future, but we need the support of the public and to know that the service will be utilized.

A couple of years ago we introduced a Feral Cat Catch and Release program to combat overpopulation in feral cat colonies. Wild cats are humanely trapped, spayed/neutered, and then released so they can continue their job as rodent control for the area, without the numbers of offspring getting out of control.

The following photos are a sobering reminder of how animal overpopulation is a slippery slope. It only takes 2 unfixed animals to start the process.

All of this can be prevented by spaying and neutering your pets.

A difficult thing that all shelters have to deal with is euthanasia. Because of the sad fact that there aren’t enough homes for all of the unwanted animals in the world, countless numbers of companion animals are euthanized all over the world each year due to lack of space. It’s almost as if shelters have a revolving door; for every animal adopted, there are 2 more to take its place, or in the case of kittens, 12 more. The supply of animals far outweighs the demand, yet they are still being bred.

For the month of August we are offering all cats and kittens for FREE, which still includes all vet work. Rather than euthanize  perfectly happy and healthy cats we want to give them away to approved homes.

So the next time you think it’s a good idea to experience the “miracle of life” and let your pet have a litter, or you get a free puppy or kitten and have no plans to spay/neuter….don’t think of those kittens pictured above, they’re the lucky ones. Think of the ones that weren’t rescued. Then contact your local vet and make an appointment to have your pet(s) fixed!

And if you are looking to welcome a new furry companion into your home, don’t breed or buy:

ADOPT!

For more information on the benefits of spay/neuter please read the ASPCA’s article The Top Ten Reasons to Spay/Neuter.

Involvement in MLDHS was a family affair: Lauren’s mother is a board member and volunteer, and the family has taken serveral dogs into their home to foster, some of which were adopted by grandparents and uncles. She and her sister came up with some pretty great names for dogs and cats, and formed some unbreakable bonds with them. When Lauren’s favorite former foster dog Hobbes was adopted, I asked her to make sure she told her family that he found his home. She said so poignantly “I am really sad, because he was my best friend here.”

She was an animal advocate through and through. She participated in 4-H obedience training with her beloved dog Bella and loved the teachings of Caesar Milan. Some of our volunteers were able to share the experience of seeing his seminar in Saskatoon with her, which was very special. She and her family attended our fundraisers and volunteer functions and were always willing to help out wherever they could. Our shelter family only knew Lauren for a short time, but what a difference she has made in our lives…

We bid farewell to this beautiful young lady yesterday. It was moving to hear the stories and memories from her family, and get to know this beautiful girl that we had the opportunity to know in the last year of her life. She has left a profound impact on the world and will live on in the hearts of the people and animals that had the good fortune of knowing her.

On behalf of the animals in our shelter, Jeff and I wrote the following poem for Lauren. We had all of the shelter dogs and some cats sign it with their painted paws, had it framed and presented it to her family as a reminder of the lasting impact her kindness has left on the animals that she knew and loved.

We Miss You So Much

Because you liked us the moment we arrived

And because you always cared

You made sure we had what we needed

And kept us calm when we were scared.

***

You taught us love, kindness, compassion

And we found a best friend in you

A piece of you lives on in all of us

That we’ll carry our whole lives through.

***

You had such kind words and patience

You brightened our day with a smile

A tummy rub and a scratch behind the ears

You walked us for miles and miles.

***

We could only show how it meant so much

With wagging tails and loud, content purrs

But if you only knew the difference you made

And how far that love went beyond these words.

 ***

Just because we couldn’t talk back and forth

Made no difference to what we have shared

We’ll keep your memory alive in our hearts

Because you helped us, loved us, and you cared.

(Lauren with her Dog Bella & 4-H Achievement Day 2011)

Lauren, Thank you for reminding us to be kind to others, live in the moment, love with all of our hearts, and find joy and laughter in every day. You will truly be missed.

(Wreath made for Lauren on Behalf of MLDHS Volunteers)

A shelter is an unnatural environment for any animal. Our cats seem to fair much better than dogs in terms of length of stay. We’ve had cats for 1.5 years that were very happy to stay with us for that duration of time, and probably could have stayed longer had they not been adopted! Dogs are different. In animal rescue there is a term “Kennel Crazy” which refers to the behavioral change a dog goes through as a result of being in a shelter environment for too long.

Our shelter is equipped with dog doors to allow dogs to go in and out whenever they want, large dog runs for them to run off their energy, and most importantly, dedicated volunteers that take them for walks, off leash runs, and hiking at St. Cyr trails. But despite our best efforts some dogs just don’t do well in a shelter setting. The most annoying, misbehaved dog in the shelter can be the quietest, most obedient angel in a home. We really try to stress to potential adopters that they cannot judge a book by it’s cover: when looking at dogs in the shelter, how they behave in the shelter does not reflect how they will be in a home.

This is why foster homes are extremely important.

Fostering can be a very rewarding experience and it doesn’t always have to be whole litters of orphaned puppies and kittens. We have several adult dogs at the shelter that are in need of foster homes. It can be for as long or as short a time as necessary. Some foster families keep dogs until they find their forever homes, others will take a dog for a weekend to give it a mental break from the shelter. Foster homes are able to spend time with a dog one on one and learn their personalities and behaviors that would otherwise go unnoticed at the shelter. This gives us very valuable information that we can use to update their adoption profiles, giving them a better chance at getting adopted.

One “occupational hazard” to fostering is falling head over heels in love with your foster pet. We have had many foster animals that have ended up in their permanent homes because of the unbreakable bond that formed over the course of the fostering period.

The best description of fostering that I have found is the following quote:

“Foster families are so very special, hearts strong enough to love and even stronger to let go……”

A foster family puts a lot into these animals: they are essentially teaching them the skills they need to become a great family pet. It can take a lot to let go after investing so much, love, time and energy, but the biggest reward is seeing your former foster in a loving home and knowing that you helped them get there.

If you have room in your home and your heart and you are looking for a rewarding experience that will make a difference in the lives of a shelter animal, please consider becoming a foster home!

This recent string of videos started with the following video made to promote adoption of Black Cats.

The ideas snowballed from there and I decided to feature our long term dogs in their own adoption promotion videos, showcasing their photos and videos that volunteers have collected over the months, and brief points about their behaviors and personalities. I plan to do this for all of the dogs in the shelter, but I started with these four as they have been in our shelter between 4-6 months, which is quite a long time for a dog to go without a home!

So without further adieu, let me introduce you to our long term shelter dogs!

Midnight has been at our shelter since October 14, 2010.

Spot has been at our shelter since October 15, 2010.

Sarge has been at our shelter since November 1, 2010.

Hobbes has been at our shelter since December 1, 2010.

Hopefully these videos will be the trick to finally get these great dogs adopted! Please pass them on!

When a group of supporters in Alberta heard about our break-in at the shelter they went above and beyond the call of duty. They teamed together and bought us a 4 camera security surveillance system in hopes of deterring future acts of vandalism against our shelter, and to keep the shelter animals safe and secure. This act of kindness moved me to tears. It is so touching to know that our little shelter in Northwest Saskatchewan has the support of people across the country. It is amazing how animals can bring people together!

So on behalf of the animals in our shelter and our volunteers I extend a huge Tail Wagging Thank You to Taylor, Joan, Dawn, Cherie, Jordy, Michael & Matt for your generous donation of a surveillance system!

Jeff and Shelter dog Noodles pose alongside the Surveillance System

I would also like to take this time to thank everyone for their continued support of MLDHS. Every single contribution that has been made, whether in time, monetary donations, or supplies has been greatly appreciated and has made a difference in the lives of the animals in our shelter!

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

Each year MLDHS provides a temporary home for over 200 unwanted dogs and cats. We are run by a small but dedicated group of volunteers who work extremely hard to keep the dogs and cats in our care happy and healthy. So much work goes on behind the scenes every day to keep up with the maintenance and daily operations of the shelter, all the while trying to find the animals in our care their forever homes. All of this and more is why it is extremely unfortunate, hurtful and disappointing to have had someone cut the locks on our front gates, open up the outdoor dog kennels and set the dogs free in the middle of the night.

Thankfully all of the dogs have been found and returned to the shelter.  It is a testament to our volunteers at how well we look after our animals. Most of the dogs when given the opportunity to leave the property, stayed put on their Kuranda Beds. They knew where they were safe and felt comfortable and at home. All but two dogs stayed in the industrial park. However, the fact remains that their temporary home that our volunteers work so hard to maintain, has been violated. These dogs have been put at risk at the hands of  a very careless and heartless individual. Our facility is right by the highway and the dogs could have been hit by a car, gotten lost, or much worse. The animals in the shelter are all part of our families. They are not just some random number behind a cage. We genuinely care about their well being and we feel absolutely helpless that someone came along and compromised everything we’ve worked so hard for. It’s not a joke and it’s not funny. It is a crime. I can only hope that the person who did this is found and brought to justice.

The gate latches were specifically cut on the kennels of these 3 dogs.

However, multiple dog kennels were opened, letting many other dogs out, but special attention was paid to these 3 kennels.

Please help spread the word and post the following to your Facebook Status, or forward to your email contacts. Hopefully we can work together to find whoever is responsible.

Between 9:30pm-10:45pm March 15/11 someone broke into the Meadow Lake & District Humane Society’s shelter compound and opened the dog’s outdoor kennels, left the front gates open, and let them loose. Thankfully most of them knew where their temporary home is and stayed in the area. The last 2 dogs were found on the 600 block of 3rd Ave West at 12:18am. The RCMP have been notified. If you have any information about this incident please contact MLDHS at (306)240-8384 or the RCMP at (306)236-2570. Thank you!

We are a very small group of volunteers who all have our own jobs, own families, own pets, and own lives, but despite all of our other commitments, we make the time to contribute towards MLDHS. Many people assume that volunteering for the Humane Society is a “crappy” job that involves scooping poop. That is a very small (depending on how many animals we have!) part of volunteering. People volunteer in several different capacities – all of which are crucial to the survival of our shelter.

Answering phones and emails

Taking photos of adoptable animals

Maintaining the website

Fostering

Being a Board Member

Walking & Hiking with dogs

Training dogs

Grooming dogs

Cuddling kitties

Cleaning the shelter

Organizing fundraisers

Laundry

Maintenance & Repair

Carpentry projects

School Presentations

Transporting animals

Meeting adopters

Looking after vet care

It is amazing that our shelter is as progressive as it is being run solely on volunteers. It is estimated that in a year MLDHS logs over 2500 hours of volunteer work. We are on call 24/7: volunteers are woken up in the middle of the night to go do intakes, have to take time away from their own jobs to take animals to the vet, and have to take time away from families to meet potential adopters at the shelter. It is a hard job, and it is often a thankless job, but it is worth it.

The gift of time is priceless when the end result is seeing a dog or cat that you’ve spent every day with finally find its forever home.

I am so proud to be involved in such a devoted group of volunteers. With everyone working together, we volunteers are able to run our shelter effectively and efficiently. We are a great example of teamwork; a diverse group of individuals working together towards a common goal of protecting, caring for, and loving the animals that come through our doors, until they find their forever homes. We contribute our time as much as we can, when we can, and every little bit helps!

So on behalf of the 101 dogs and 63 cats that we have found forever homes for so far this year, and the 8 dogs 25 cats that currently call our shelter home…..

It’s that time of year again! The leaves have fallen off the trees, the air has become bitterly cold, the snow is falling, and the shelter is full.

We currently have 17 wonderful K9s that are currently calling our 14 cage shelter home, so if you do the math, we’re OVER full. We’ve got puppies, teenagers and adults of every size, shape, color and activity level. There’s something for everyone! We also have 23 furry felines for adoption!

We have put the SOS call out to other shelters in hopes that they can take some dogs off of our hands but we have yet to hear back. Many shelters are already dealing with their own influx of animals now that the cold weather had hit.

Since we are full we have closed our doors to new intakes. Some people have been really understanding, even offering to keep stray’s that they’ve found until we have room, but others, not so much.

“What’s the point of having a shelter when you won’t take my dog?”

“You call yourselves a humane society?!”

“If you don’t take it I’m just going to dump it/kill it/____.”

“Why can’t I just leave it outside your building?”

It’s a fact of life, shelters get full, and when our options are to either euthanize current dogs to make space, or to close the shelter to intakes until we generate more adoptions and make room for new animals, the choice is simple. Our shelter is not a No-Kill shelter, but we are very, very very low kill. Since January of this year only 4 dogs and 1 cat have been euthanized. That is greatly reduced from previous years, and is just a small drop in the bucket compared to other shelters. It is a shame to euthanize a perfectly healthy animal due to space, and when our volunteers have developed emotional attachments to the animals in the shelter, it is extremely difficult to put an animal down that is loved by so many. To someone on the outside it’s just another dog or cat, but to our volunteers who spend every day with these animals, it’s an extension of their own family.

You may be wondering “What can I do to help?”. Well thanks for asking!

SPAY & NEUTER – If everyone spayed and neutered their own animals we wouldn’t have nearly as much unwanted litters as we do now. People let their animals breed, not thinking in the long term. Yes kittens and puppies are cute, but they grow up to be cats and dogs, and to put it simply, there aren’t enough homes for all of them. The graphics below show just how many kittens and puppies can be produced when people don’t spay/neuter their pets.

ADOPT -  This is an obvious choice! If you are looking for a new best friend for life, please adopt a shelter animal! We’ve got something for everyone! Our available animals can be seen on our website.

FOSTER – We are in need of Full Time & Part Time foster homes. MLDHS only has a handful of foster homes which is not enough for the amount of unwanted and abandoned animals that Meadow Lake generates. Fostering can be as short as a weekend or as long as it takes for a dog to get adopted. If you are uncertain about adopting a dog and the commitment involved, please consider becoming a foster home! You can take a shelter dog into your home for a weekend or longer to give it the experience of a home environment, lots of attention, and socialization, as well as a much needed break from the shelter! Many great shelter dogs are with us for long periods of time, and while we try to make their stay in the shelter as comfortable as possible, nothing is better than being in a home, even if it’s just for a couple of days! If this sounds like something you or someone you know would be interested in doing, please contact MLDHS

IF YOU FIND A STRAY – If it does not appear to be in distress or in poor body condition, leave it where it is. Many people in Meadow Lake let their dogs and cats roam outside. Eventually these dogs and cats will find their way back home. If you feel uncomfortable leaving it, take it in and call us with a detailed description of the animal in case an owner calls. We are happy to provide you with food to feed it. And once we have room at the shelter, we’re more than willing to take it in. Please be patient.

BE KIND – This may seem like an odd one, but it is very important. One thing that people need to realize is that MLDHS is 100% Volunteer run. We all have our own lives, own jobs, own families and own pets to look after, but we choose to work as hard as we do for the humane society because we are passionate about animals and want to make a difference. No one gets paid for the work they do. It is a difficult job, a tiring job and often a thankless job, but the reward for all the hard work is when a dog or cat finally finds their forever home. Knowing that you played an integral role in helping someone find their furry best friend is priceless. The quotes mentioned above show that not everyone who calls MLDHS or shows up at the shelter are very kind and respectful. Please remember,  we are all volunteers, doing the best we can, with little resources. When you are contacting MLDHS, a little kindness goes a long way!

Thank you for your continued support of the Meadow Lake & District Humane Society!

I have seen several incidents in my 5 years with MLDHS. Here are just a few:

- A puppy  being kicked around like a soccer ball between two people.

- Kitten’s being purposely run over by a child on a bike. One kitten died. 3 were rescued.

- A Kitten was tossed out of the window of a car over a fence. The person on the other side of the fence didn’t want it so she threw it back over onto the road, resulting in road-rash to the face.

- A young girl punching and slapping a kitten on it’s head and body. At the same time a group of young boys were in the back yard attempting to drown another kitten in the pool.

- A group of kids were attempting to stuff a kitten into a sewer drain.

- And most recently, a father told his children to “get rid of” their kitten, so they attempted to beat it to death.

Thankfully for these animals, there was someone nearby who saw their acts of cruelty and intervened. It pains me to think about the many other instances where there was no one around to intervene on behalf of the abused animals.

Education on how to treat animals with respect and dignity, as well as being a responsible pet owner, starts in the home. Unfortunately many of these children are not being taught these valuable life lessons, and as a result, the incidents mentioned above occur.

Humane Education is an important part of our organization. Humane Education Chair Jeff McCallum goes into the schools and gives presentations to children on how to properly treat and care for animals. It is unnerving how much some children don’t know about how to treat animals, because their parents never told them. Children learn from example, and if a proper example isn’t being taught in the home environment, then they are never going to learn. There has been increasing evidence that animal cruelty can lead to violence towards people. Also, children that are exposed to family violence in the home are more likely to abuse animals as a means of imitating the violence that they witness on a regular basis.  In some cases animal cruelty is a symptom of a much bigger problem, but the fact remains that some children are just not taught respect for animals. It only stresses the importance of Humane Education, and getting the information out to these children. If we don’t teach them, who will?

Our shelter works closely with the local schools and provides work experience, shelter tours, dog walking, and volunteering opportunities to students who have expressed an interest in it. It is extremely hard not to get discouraged when looking at the future of animal welfare when the next generation are exhibiting some nasty behaviors towards animals, but for every child that abuses an animal, there are a handful that are kind to animals and want to make a difference. We have a lot of great young volunteers who work hard on behalf of the animals.

Animal Cruelty is a crime, but due to lack of reporting, many of these crimes go unpunished. And even if they do enter the justice system, the majority of cruelty cases only result in a slap on the wrist, or a fine. They very rarely result in jail time. All that’s left are the dogs and cats that will forever carry the scars of their traumatic past, and the perpetrators are left to re-offend. People need to start taking animal cruelty at the hands of children VERY seriously. It is not “just a phase”, or “boys being boys”. It is WRONG, and may just be a preview of negative behaviors to come from those particular children. What kind of adults are these children going to grow up to be if they have no compassion, no remorse, no respect for another living, breathing creature?

Humane Education can be valuable resource in reaching those children who have lost their way. However, lessons of respect for animals are ultimately up to parents. Teachers can even play an important role. If you are a parent, teach your children respect for animals at an early age. If you are a teacher, organize Humane Education presentations for your school. And if you see children being cruel to animals, please PLEASE step in, take the animal, call MLDHS and the RCMP. These children need to realize that actions have consequences.

Children are our future: We need to ensure that the future of animal welfare will be falling into the right hands.