Tippi’s Happy Ending

2007

This ten year-old tiny apricot poodle cross...


...was sold by the SPCA for $110.00 to an AAS supporter with her teeth in this condition. We had her back x-rayed, we did a geriatric blood panel to determine her general state of health (good except she has a slight heart murmur that is not slowing her down at all, but may require medication in the future) and we had her plaque-covered teeth cleaned and two rotten teeth removed at a cost of $563.00.

She is very dear girl and wags her stumpy tail all the time.

We regret that the SPCA is still selling animals in this condition. We don't believe this is animal welfare. How could the SPCA know if Tippi's teeth ever got taken care of when they did no home check and made no follow-up call?

And we regret that the SPCA is still misinforming the public. On the SPCA website (www.spca.bc.ca/adoption/default.asp) it says: The cost of a shelter cat or dog includes a microchip, spay/neuter (or discount for the operation if it has not been done prior to adoption), a health guarantee and vaccinations.

Yet the SPCA's sales agreement says the purchaser:
3. I will have this animal tattooed or implanted with a microchip.
4. I understand that the SPCA makes a reasonable attempt to ensure that only healthy animals are adopted but this cannot be guaranteed.


I heard a SPCA person on the radio asking for food donations as they had to discard so much of their food due to the recall. I almost smacked my car into the car in front of me!

How is it possible that they can't afford to purchase quality food from a local supplier at cost but they can afford a team of lawyers to pursue a lengthy drawn out lawsuit designed to crush small organizations because they speak out against the inefficiency of the SPCA?

Sharon Harcourt





Tippi curls up with Kona, her new best friend and look-a-like, after a good long run up the North Shore trails.

Tippi is one happy little girl now that she has the free-running fun and exercise that every dog needs and deserves, even the tiniest, even the oldest. She is also free of the pain from her rotten teeth. And she has a dog-pack as well as a human family. All dogs need and deserve both.

Look at the fun she is having running up and down the beach with her pals. She can also keep up with everyone up the mountain for two hours. Too many dogs, especially little dogs, only get short leash walks around the neighbourhood, the same walk, over and over, their neck in a noose. What fun or exercise is that? Or they are "played with" in a back yard. Dogs are so grateful for any fun or attention so they act thrilled when they are tethered and taken round the same old block, but it is not right to do that to them just because they don't know there is anything better. As their guardians it is up to us to know better and to do better for them.

Tippi's forever family comes with loving parents, gentle kids, and a playmate, Kona, who looks like Tippi's clone! Tippi has it all now: no more pain, no more distress, no more discomfort, and the freedom to express all the behaviours that promote well-being: running, playing, snuggling and curling up with a buddy for a snooze.

After neglect and indifference by those who should have known and done better, lucky little Tippi at last has the SPCA's Five Freedoms, thanks to her selfless rescuers and the selfless real animal welfare network. More and more dogs like Tippi are being rescued as the alternative animal welfare network grows in reputation and trust.

1. Freedom from hunger and thirst
2. Freedom from pain, injury, and disease
3. Freedom from distress
4. Freedom from discomfort
5. Freedom to express behaviours that promote well-being.


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