Animal Advocates Watchdog

Montreal SPCA-Number of animals that can be saved depends on public's support

http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/news/article/1400452

Char's comment: Yes we do kill for space in Canada!

Published Saturday April 23rd, 2011

Number of animals that can be saved depends on public's support

As of Monday, Timber has a family that loves him, is willing to work with him and help him through the next several months of physiotherapy. Only a short time ago, the young dog's future didn't look so bright.

The roughly 10-month-old Newfoundland-Burmese mix was turned in to the Moncton SPCA with a "bad leg." His owner didn't want to deal with it, so the dog was surrendered.

The truth was, Timber had been hit by a car at some point and his owner chose not to look after him. The SPCA paid for the extensive surgery Timber required, in which the dog had to have part of its femur removed. Still, abandonment and hardship behind him, Timber was a happy-go-lucky fellow and someone that Magalie Bourgeois fell in love with. The Moncton resident and her boyfriend Pierre Daigle searched New Brunswick - from Saint John to Bathurst, breeders to shelters -looking for a dog to bring home to be friends with their five-year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Daisy.

Finally, they found Timber at the Moncton SPCA and knew he was the one.

"He just lied down against the cage and wanted a pat," Magalie says of meeting her newest family member.

She reports that Timber didn't know any commands when he arrived at his new home, and as a young pup he still needs work on his manners, but he's got a great temperament and is eager to please.

"He's learning real quick, and he's smart," she says. Daisy and Timber are learning to get along, too.

"We just went to see the vet today and he told us what we have to do for physio (for Timber)," Magalie explains. It will require plenty of stretching and exercise, but Magalie, a nurse, isn't bothered by the extra work.

Nanette Pearl, executive director of the Moncton SPCA, says Timber's story offers one of the many happy endings the shelter's animals have. In recent months, the SPCA has seen some particularly strange cases. There was a dog that required emergency surgery to remove two and a half tennis balls she had swallowed. Other dogs had nails grown over so that they were embedded into their paws. There was a seven-pound cat, which sounds normal enough until you hear that more than two of its pounds was made up of a matte of fur.

"If you listened closely to the matte, you could hear the bugs," Nanette says.

Then there's Princess Leia, a short-haired white cat currently up for adoption. The tops of her ears had to be removed because they were covered in cysts. She's an odd-looking cat, with gaping holes for ears. She doesn't seem to mind, though, and she purrs up a storm and settles easily into Nanette's arms when picked up. Nanette says whoever adopts the cat will have to keep her ears clean as they have no protection, but she's sure Princess will make a good pet for someone.

Helping out some of the saddest of cases recently has been a "real morale boost" at the shelter, Nanette says, but she admits that the SPCA is viewed by some as a place where animals are dropped off only to be euthanized.

The numbers tell part of that tale, too - depending on the month, anywhere from 300 to 500 animals may make their way through the doors of the Moncton SPCA, everything from cats and dogs to guinea pigs, mice and rabbits. Only about 100 of those are kept and put up for adoption as the shelter has limited resources and space. Some are indeed "put down." Roughly 70 to 120 animals are adopted in a month.

"We want to help them all, but without the dollar, we can't," Nanette says. "It's done on a case-by-case basis."

Currently, roughly 360 animals live at the shelter, 100 or so of which are dogs. More live with the 20 or so foster families that help the SPCA out while some are at staff members' homes.

"We do the best we can with what we have," Nanette says.

Whether an animal is kept and held up for adoption once it arrives at the SPCA depends on several factors - how full the shelter is at the time, how much money is in their budget, whether the animal has much chance of adoption and the extent and cost of any veterinary work that may be required.

Once an animal is placed for adoption, there is no time limit on how long they'll be kept. Some of the cats at the shelter have literally grown up in their cages. But while those animals are safe until they find a home, they're taking up space any of the hundreds of other animals in line could fill.

The SPCA's executive director says they do everything they can to help as many animals as possible. The organization's policy says it must keep a stray animal three days to see if its owner shows up to claim it, but animals are always kept four days. The SPCA works closely with many of Metro Moncton's veterinarians too - "they treat us fantastic," Nanette says - but at the end of the day, there are still bills to pay. In the last two or three months, the shelter has spent close to $8,000 on "extra" costs, surgeries for animals that otherwise wouldn't live. For example, the dog with the appetite for tennis balls was on her death bed until surgery saved her. Those extra costs don't account for food, regular vet care and other necessities.

Heather Smith, a staff member at the shelter, says it is tough to watch so many animals enter the shelter who have serious injuries, but it is "really rewarding when you meet people that have had a good experience" in adopting an animal.

Nanette agrees, saying, "Sometimes, you get overwhelmed with, 'Are we really making a difference?' These (happy endings) give you the affirmation that, yes, we are.'"

The cost of adopting an animal at the SPCA is as follows: $95 for a cat; $145 for a kitten under six months; $225 for a dog and $250 for a dog under six months. Spaying or neutering is included in the cost, in addition to de-worming and the animal's first needles. In the case of a cat, that $95 is actually worth about $350. The shelter is always looking for donations of cash, food, towels and other supplies. When they have extra food, they pass the donations on to groups like Cat Rescue Maritimes (CA-R-MA) in Moncton, Kibble Food Bank in Sussex or the Atlantic Wildlife Institute outside of Sackville.

The SPCA also works with various breed rescue groups to find homes for dogs that make their way into the shelter. Other programs are offered for individuals, such as PAL (Prevent a Litter), which helps people who can't afford it pay for the spaying or neutering of their pets. The program is available when the SPCA is financially able to offer it, and that depends entirely on donations.

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