Keeping them healthy
Published 3:49 pm Friday, March 19, 2010
Many people who come to visit the Foothills Humane Society marvel at the cleanliness and the good health our animals are in. It takes a lot of hard work, vigilance and dedication to every detail to achieve the results people see.&bsp; The biggest fear we have is a communicable disease. Since animals are constantly being moved in and out or shifted, we operate in what I like to call organized chaos.
We have isolations areas for when animals first arrive and we quickly move them up to adoption status after theyve been checked out. Even if an animal appears healthy, it usually spends at least three days in isolation before all tests are done and we feel secure enough to move them to adoptable areas. &bsp;
That being said, it is impossible to foresee an outbreak of some sort now and then.&bsp; For this, we have special isolation areas and very careful attention when tending to them so as not to transfer the problem to our healthy animals.&bsp; At the moment, we have five in-house dogs needing attention: Faith and Sarah, who have Coccidian; and Bob, Gideon and Bandit, who have kennel cough.
We also have a group of adult cats who have been sneezing and are being isolated. It is not the first time this has happened, but we are on it. All these animals are on medications and Im sure theyll be fine. The photo seen&bsp; above is when I was asking Stephanie how they were doing.
We rarely, if ever, lose an animal when these things occur. Again, thanks to the diligence and hard work of our staff. Our goal is not only to find good homes for these animals, but also to deliver healthy and happy animals to those who are kind enough to adopt them.
So when you visit F.H.S. and notice how clean, happy and healthy our wonderful critters are, give a little nod of gratitude to our great staff who operate so lovingly midst the organized chaos.
Thanks for listening.