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Message from the Director

By Amy Cooper– Director

The past few weeks I’ve had the opportunity to sit down with the directors of several local animal shelters. The approach from each of us is “How can we work together to benefit the animals?” And the answer is “Work together to benefit the animals.”

Shelters have unique resources, staffing, equipment, space, missions, needs, animals, time frames and priorities. What we share in common is the desire and drive to help stray, surrendered, abused and abandoned animals.

Our mission at Sonoma Animal Care and Control is to:

• Protect the health and safety of people and animals.
• Investigate and prosecute animal cruelty, abuse and neglect.
• Educate the public about responsible domestic animal ownership.
• Reduce pet overpopulation through spay/neuter programs.
• Provide a safe environment for animals in need.
• Place adoptable animals into caring homes.

And I know other shelters’ missions overlap in many of these areas.

Plato was right. Necessity is the mother of invention. And it is clear that with nearly universally diminishing municipal and non-profit shelter budgets and resources, working together more than makes sense – it is necessary. To not do so is to miss synergistic opportunities to combine forces and resources.

When you consider the diverse group of volunteers, veterinarians, foster parents, rescue groups, groomers, donors and others that work together with us every day, you realize that people who care about animals, can find middle ground, including shared missions and goals. By supporting each other, and each other’s programs, we are demonstrating that we can, and have, put whatever differences we may have aside, for the greater and achievable goal of saving move lives.

So a “shout out” to our many partners in Sonoma County. Together, we are making a difference.

Homeless Ivory to Happy Jasmine

By Greg Mortensen – Volunteer Coordinator

We have all heard the expression “It takes a village to raise a child.” Well, it most certainly “takes a community to save a dog,” beginning with Joe who found Ivory dodging cars on River Road. He truly represents the many good Samaritans who aid Animal Care and Control, the community and our pets.

Ivory was very sweet when she came to the shelter, and was also very friendly when meeting other pets. Upon physical examination, numerous masses on and under her skin were discovered and removed by the shelter veterinarian. Although her incisions were healing well, and her prognosis was favorable, Ivory was not getting much attention from potential adopters.

After being at the shelter for more than a month, one of our wonderful volunteers, Nan Sanchez-Cook, wanted to help Ivory get adopted, and decided to take her home and foster her. What great and happy news for Ivory and all those who wanted a new home for her! She was going home with Nan. Nan said that Ivory was so happy to jump in the car and fell asleep within minutes, and then explored their house inside and out when they got home.

Ivory enjoyed walks with Nan’s dog Bella, slept all stretched out in the warm sunshine, loved the hand feeding as Nan spoiled her, liked the chewy bones that Bella shared with her and loved all the cuddles, kisses and petting. Life was fantastic and happy with Nan.

But Ivory is no longer being fostered by Nan, and Nan could not be happier that sweet Ivory is now in her forever loving home. And what a home it is! She is basking in so much love and bliss. She thinks she's in doggie heaven right here on earth.

April and Jason's hearts ached for Ivory when they received an email from Nan about Ivory and her condition. They read her story, saw her pictures and knew she was the one for them. Ivory, now named Jasmine, is living the most wonderful life, thanks to her new mom and dad. Her days are now very full and complete with love and activities.

Jasmine takes daily walks with her sister, Ginger (also a Pit Bull), and her brother, Monster (a Rottweiler). Some days Jasmine goes to work with mom and sister, and other days she stays home with dad and brother. The beach was a new fascination for her as she ran and ran, chased sticks, played in the sand, played tag with her siblings, and watched the waves.

At night Jasmine prefers sleeping in her parents' room either on her other fluffy bed or sometimes she jumps up on their bed (and they totally welcome Jasmine). Each morning she anxiously awaits for her special treat – a meatball filled with healthy herbal goodies to keep her strong and healthy. Jasmine already has a doggie massage appointment set up, and when she puts on a little more weight (she has already gained six pounds), she will have some acupuncture treatments. Her body is healing remarkably well, and no more bones are protruding.

A warm thank you to everyone who helped in Jasmine's rescue and happy ending: Joe who found her; the staff at the animal shelter; those who reached out after hearing her story; volunteer Nan for fostering and doing so much in Ivory’s behalf; and a huge thank you to April and Jason for giving Jasmine her second chance in life! She is surrounded by their dedicated love, and is a very happy girl who realizes she is in her forever home.

Pet Photos Help Adoptions

By Cathy Fenn – Animal Shelter Supervisor

You may have noticed the array of festive photos of our adoptable pets while perusing our website. Shelter paid staff, along with volunteer staff, have been having a blast coming up with props and themes to showcase our adoptable animals. Our hope is that potential adopters will get a better idea of each pet’s personality and be more likely to come, meet and potentially adopt the pet.

We have celebrated Mardi Gras, St. Pitty’s Day, Easter, the World Champion Giant’s and even Chihuahua de Mayo! The feedback from the community has been wonderful and we believe the pictures have had a positive impact on adoptions.

We could definitely use your help continuing this program. If you have any ideas on themes or props, we could use them. Also, if you have time to volunteer to help take photos you can call (707) 565-7116 or email Greg at the shelter to sign up.

A Tale of Three Kitties

By John Strathman, DVM – Shelter Veterinarian

It was definitely the worst of times for three young adult black cats that found themselves injured, homeless and scared. But, with some TLC and some nifty surgery, each of these wonderful cats have recovered and are well on their way to enjoying the best of times.

"Charlie Murphy" was a mess. He had a fractured right arm, a fractured left leg, and his tail was paralyzed. We found a microchip and we located his guardian. Unfortunately, the guardian elected to surrender him to us because she could not afford to treat him and her apartment complex didn't permit her to have a cat. I put a fiberglass cast on his leg after reducing the fracture with some simple manipulation and repaired his broken arm with steel pins. He spent about six weeks living at my house. He is such a sweet cat! Careful, you could lose an eye because he likes to head butt and he will drill his muzzle into your eye socket! It was pitiful seeing him creep along on his belly, unable to use his limbs for awhile and dragging his limp tail in the early days of his recovery. But after a few weeks of rest, his fractures healed, his tail was up in the air again and he was running around like new. He was soon adopted by a lucky family!

"Isadora" arrived with a mangled tail and rear foot. Dr. Dan Famini amputated about half of her tail and cleaned and bandaged her left rear foot, which was missing most of the skin over the top and one toe was shattered with lots of little fragments of bone sticking out of the tissue. A couple days later, I performed a "digital filet" procedure, in which I "filleted" the broken toe (made an incision and dissected the skin off the toe, then removed the toe, leaving the toe skin attached to the foot). I flipped the piece of skin that once covered the toe up on top of the paw where she needed skin and sutured it in place. I was able to cover half of the defect with the filleted toe! After a couple of weeks in a foster home, the paw was completely covered with healthy skin and Isadora was walking well on the injured foot. As of this writing, Isadora is waiting for a new home at Homegrown Pet Supply.

We named our third unfortunate black cat "Popeye" because, well, his left eye was "popped" out of its socket. If caught early, a "proptosed" eye can be replaced back into the orbit and the eye and vision can be saved. Unfortunately, this eye had been out for quite some time, so I removed it. Popeye also had a broken jaw which I wired to stabilize it. The day following surgery, he was a new man, strutting around, all lovey dovey, chowing his grub and feeling great! So glad to be done with that crusty, dried up, painful blind eye! He was adopted almost immediately by a family that thinks he is fabulous! That he is! He's a dandy!

I like telling these stories because I want to share with the public all that we do to help so many broken, banged up, sick, neglected, helpless, and desperate animals. In many cases, we make them whole again. We try very hard to improve the quality of life of the injured and sick. Our ultimate goal is to match healthy, friendly animals with loving adoptive homes. Success stories like these help keep me going through tough times when the outcomes aren't so rosy. I enjoy working on these "project" cases and seeing these deserving animals get back on their feet again.

Here are some take-home messages, morals to these stories:

1. Little cat + big car = not good for cat. Please keep your cats indoors and away from cars.
2. Please microchip your pets. If a pet goes missing, you can be notified quickly if it is found so that you can be reunited. If your pet requires medical care, and you can be located through your pet's microchip ID, it will be you, the guardian, making the decisions and that's how it should be. And remember when you move or your contact information changes you must contact the microchip company.
3. Want to help an animal shelter? Then adopt your next pet from one. Consider opening your home temporarily to a shelter animal as a foster parent volunteer. Foster homes allow animals to relax and recover outside of a stressful shelter environment. Foster homes allow us to save more animals!

35 Years of Service – Bob Garcia Retires

By Shirley Zindler–Animal Control Officer

It is with a great sense of loss that Sonoma County Animal Control announces the retirement of Supervising Animal Control Officer, Bob Garcia, after 35 years of dedicated service. It’s impossible to express what Bob has meant to the department, the staff and the community over the years, but here’s an overview of his accomplishments.

Bob got his start as a Humane Officer for the Humane Society of Sonoma County and transferred to Sonoma County Animal Control in 1976. At that time the county was dealing with a tremendous number of loose dogs attacking livestock. This caused thousands of needless deaths and injuries every year and put the livelihood of ranchers at risk.

There were only two animal control officers for the entire county then and Bob and his partner Shorty impounded over 300 dogs a month. There was a great need for public education, spay and neuter, and leash law enforcement. They were tireless in their pursuit. After the county shelter was built in 1989, Animal Control took over cruelty investigations and humane work as well. With Bob’s guidance, Sonoma County became one of the first agencies in California to pass laws regarding animal welfare. This improved the officer’s ability to prosecute cruelty as well as making it easier to seize animals in need.

Bob was also instrumental in implementing more serious penalties for owners of aggressive dogs in order to protect the public. Animal overpopulation was addressed with mandatory spay and neuter for loose dogs and other programs providing free and low cost spay and neuter services. The euthanasia numbers dropped significantly in the county during Bob’s career. He has also helped get multiple felony convictions for animal cruelty over the years and has made it clear that Sonoma County will prosecute this type of activity to the fullest extent of the law.

After 10 years as an officer, Bob was promoted to Officer Supervisor and excelled in the leadership role. He spent the next 25 years providing a wealth of knowledge, guidance and support to the staff. Always a sympathetic ear, Bob’s kindness and patience could be counted on to help employees cope with the often stressful job. He was a father figure and mentor to all and earned the well deserved nickname of “Dad”.

Bob’s presence at the shelter will be greatly missed and we wish him a wonderful retirement on his ranch in Sebastopol.

Heather Ausburne

By Greg Mortensen – Volunteer Coordinator

Among our many outstanding volunteers this month, we are spotlighting one of our excellent veterinary clinic volunteers, Heather Ausburne. Heather has volunteered for the shelter for one year, and is doing a great job. She is very dependable, and our shelter medical team can rely on her.

Heather helps with the animals that need to be examined by the veterinarian and that need to receive their veterinary prescribed treatments. She also vaccinates, gets animals ready for surgery, cleans the surgical instruments and checks on the animals recovering from surgery.

Heather volunteers three days a week and after she has completed her shifts working with the technicians and veterinarian, she continues volunteering as a dog groomer. Heather is always happy, and her cheerfulness must, in part, come from the wonderful disposition that the groomed dogs demonstrate. They always feel and look so awesome when she has worked her magic.

We would like to take a moment and thank Heather for all that she does in behalf of our pets, our community and the animal shelter staff. We could not do it without her.

If you are interested in volunteering at the shelter, please contact Greg Mortensen at (707) 565-7116 or visit us on-line at www.theanimalshelter.org for more information.