First of all if you follow the links here you will see one of the largest Puppy Mill raids that was ever held in US history. This just happened on June 26, 2008 and the videos shows you much effort has to happened in order for one raid to happen. Although we here in NB are not used to seeing these kinds of things on such a massive scale it does happen and there are many puppy mills currently operating in NB and throughout Canada. The message is the same, and the conditions the animals live in are consistently similiar. I urge you to contact your politicians and tell them it's time for the government of NB to get the legislation to protect animals from puppy mill operations in effect. Although we have had a law on the books now for 10 years that would address the ability of SPCAs to prevent these types of operations from existing through the Pet Establishment clause, the government is still waiting to enact that portion of the law. Thus the SPCA cannot proactively inspect these operations and unless there are actual witnesses to the situation willing to testify and lodge complaints and be...
We here at the shelter are both happy and sad to say goodbye to our dear little Pug. Sad because we will miss her snorting and wanting to be picked up. Happy because she has found her forever home with great people. Even though she had a bad start in her life, she has shown us how much hope there still is in the world and there are Happy Endings! She will be visiting us from time to time and that is alwasy a thrill for us here at the shelter to ses our former "residents" in good hands. We love you Pugerella, be happy!
Posted at: 11:36 AM | 1 Comment | Add Comment | Permalink
Pugerella Update!
June 8, 2008
It's been a busy weekend with several dogs adopted anda couple transfered to the Miramichi SPCA. Just a quick note for those of you inquiring about little Pugerella. She went through her surgery with flying colors. The Vet said she was remarkedly healthy for all she has went through. The infection in her reproductive tract had caused her to have a flase pregnancy. While there were no puppies, she experienced all the "joys" of pregnancy including lactating and labour pains. That is over with her successful spay surgery. Her eyes are much better and the Vet said that while she will not recover complete sight they are much better and she can get around pretty good. It is amazing how forgiving and loving dogs can be despite experiencing some pretty horrible experiences. She is now wagging her tail and looks forward to greeting everybody in the morning. She still has "accidents" but we have noticed that regular and frequent potty breaks outdoors will be required. She likes people's company and gets upset if left alone for too long. She also gets along well with cats and other small dogs although big dogs that are too rambunctious make her nervous. We...
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Posted at: 02:40 PM | 1 Comment | Add Comment | Permalink
Victoria Day Weekend
May 19, 2008
It's been a busy weekend for all of us here with another adoption fair come and gone. Many volunteers get together to plan, coordinate and carry out this event and for that we are always grateful. Some of our furry friends here at the shelter were featured and got a chance to meet a lot of people and we are keeping our claws crossed that they will all be getting a new home soon. As much as they like it here it's always better to have our own home with a family to love and take care of us. I would like to take a momment to introduce to you our new friend here at the shelter which some of you have probably met already. Her name is Pugerella and she is a 7 year old Pug who was left partially blind and deaf due to years of neglect. Pugerella came to us as a stray picked up near Losier Settlement in the Acadian Peninsula. She was underweight, had severe eye and ear infections and was very afraid of every sound. She soon captured the hearts of all the shelter staff and has become a special project for the staff. Pugerella has...
Hard to believe that only a few short weeks ago it didn't look like winter would ever end. Now the warm weather has arrived and the snow is melting fast. Be careful to keep your pets off the ice! With the arrival of warm weather comes the time to think of cleaning our yards and with the disappearance of the snow banks comes the revelation of lots of doggie doo! Dog walkers are out in full force and are reminded to pick up after their dogs as it is a city by-law to do so. Most of us will be soon be raking our yards and picking up the left overs from this winter. There are plans underway for a designated dog park and it will be nice for dog owners to have an area to let their dogs run free and get some much needed exercise but remember your doggie manners like picking up after your pet as the city will be monitoring the success of this dog park. It is a good time as well to remind dog owners that spring means the inevitable exposure to contagious diseases such as parvo and the best protection for your pets...
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Posted at: 10:07 AM | 1 Comment | Add Comment | Permalink
No this is not an April Fool's joke.
April 1, 2008
I wish it were but it's not. On Sunday, March 30th we received 19 housecats as a result of a house fire. Yesterday we picked up 6 more and today still 2 more. We have 5 more still to catch as these are actually going back into the house and we can't go in but traps have been set and we should have the rest in the next few days. That means 32 cats from one location alone. Three cats have 11 kittens between them and we are sure a few more are pregnant which will result in more kittens. To put that in perspective 32 cats represents about 50 % of what we would normally hold at the shelter. That's a lot of cats. Of course the owner is not in a position now to help financial as he has lost everything in the fire but this was a disaster waiting to happen in any event. When you allow a couple of cats to start breeding indiscriminately you run into trouble rather quickly. These cats are all related, in other words, 1 became 5 became 12 became 20 became 32 and more on the way in less than 2...
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Posted at: 08:49 PM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink
Hippity Hop Hop...Happy Easter!
March 23, 2008
Did you know that is the earliest Easter in over a 100 years? And we won't see an early Easter like this for another couple of hundred years. Has something to do with the lunar cycle and Easter always falling on the first Sunday of the new moon after the first day of Spring? Something like that. Anyway it sure is the snowiest we have had in a very long time. I remember when Spring meant Pussy Willows ,tulips, robins, marbles and skipping ropes. Ah the good old days. Anyway that hasn't stopped the animals from coming in. The Easter Bunny dropped by at the shelter and left us a bunny. No not a chocolate one but an actual live bunny. Funny enough his name was Pope. We renamed him Bon Bon. He is a dwarf rabbit and pretty cute and friendly. Now we normally don't advocate people get bunnies for Easter presents. They sure are cute and cuddly when they are little. Sadly, people don't realize that unlike a dog and cat they require a lot more work to maintain with the cleaning and upkeep of their enclosures. They sure can poop! Some bunnies can be litter trained like a...
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Posted at: 08:36 AM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink
What you see is what you get.
March 9, 2008
Since I'm snowed in and have some spare time rather than look at more snow falling I'm going to address another topic. Namely what to expect when you rescue an animal from a shelter. First of all and most importantly you will NOT get a 100 % guaranteed for life to be free from all present or future health problems, perfectly behaved all of the time animal nor nothing will ever happen to this animal for the rest of his life. With limited funds when you deal with 1000 animals per year there is no way we could test, vaccinated, treat and do every possible procedure to rule out every illness or genetic flaws to each and evey animal. Adopters would never pay the adoption fees to recover that cost . No matter where you get an animal from these expectations are not realistic unless you are willing to pay . The majority of the time adopters or potential adopters come to the shelter and leave perfectly satisfied with their choices, are prepared and perfectly aware of what they are getting into and the relationship between all parties is a happy one. We would still not be here if we weren't doing something right....
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Posted at: 04:44 PM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink
Digging Out...again!
March 9, 2008
Well I guess I haven't written here for a while so time to update you on what's been happening. Snow, more snow, snow, yet more snow...yup that's about it. But seriosuly. This has been a hard winter so far and it's not much better for all the critters out there. With so much snow on the ground wildlife and birds have a harder time to find food or shelter from the elements. This is not good for our pets either. With the big snowbanks your dog or cat may not be seen and slippery roads do not make it easy for drivers to stop. Cats by their very nature may seek shelter under car hoods, under cars, under steps and decks, or woodpiles and can quickly become buried or trapped under the snow. With the frequency of storms and people going in and out of their sheds and garages a cat could get mistakenly locked in. Wet slush and freezing rain can cake on the animals fur making it much more difficult to stay warm or even become frozen to the ground. Sub zero temperatures can cause frostbite to ears, noses, paws and tails. Road salt can burn the pads...
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Posted at: 04:05 PM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink
If your not part of the solution then maybe your part of the problem....
January 10, 2008
Hi there and I hope the new year is going good for all of you out there so far. Can you beleive this weather? Sadly this is the kind of weather that gets our furred and feathered friends in trouble as wet fur and feathers are poor insulators indeed and finding food is so much harder. Anyway I'd like to share a few thoughts here on an incident that happened this week. Often times we get asked why is it necessary to spay/neuter the dogs and cats from the shelter. Isn't it more important to save their lives? Well yes and no. While saving lives is important one of our primary objectives as a shelter is to prevent overpopulation since that is probably the most pressing problem on humane societies everywhere....just too many cats and dogs being born for the homes that are available. Well I don't know about you but I know for me I would much prefer preventing that litter of puppy or kittens from being born in the first place than being forced to euthanise 80% of them each and every year. In this day and age of environmental concerns and awareness that to reduce, reuse or recycle...
