First Day

Today was the first day of my internship with the Peoria Animal Welfare Shelter (PAWS). I will be observing for most of this week to learn the procedures and get familiarized with the facility. Today I shadowed Dianne who showed me how to process animals through the computer. We charged out all the animals who were on their way home and readied them for their vet exam. We weighed them, took their temp, and gave them their vaccinations. If they were older dogs we tested them for heartworm.

Then we conducted the Sue Sternburg behavioral test on several dogs who were eligible to be moved into the adoption area. Any animal we were moving from holding was tested for a ID chip, photographed and their status changed in the system.

We drew blood from an aged beagle to test him for heart worm. He is about 8 years old and is going home with a family this week. His owner came it earlier to claim him, but after hearing he had been adopted decided she didn' t really need him back. He's probably better off since he'd been at the shelter several weeks before his owner came to claim him.

I also witnessed three animals get euthanized. One was an American Pit Bull that had bitten his owner, and the other two were cats with advanced medical conditions.

The shelter is unusually unoccupied for this time of year. I am told that in the next week or so I will see our numbers rise dramaitcally once the litters of puppies and kittens come in. We already have three mommies with kittens.