A first sign of what is to come.

Today we've taken in numerous grown cats and several litters of kittens. We still have plenty of space but soon we won't if the intake increases. We have two litters of three week old kittens. They are extremely tiny. One of the litters is with it's mother the others are orphaned. Kim told me today that later we won't have the resources to house them as long as they need to be ready to go to a home. They will be euthanized and won't even get a chance.

Kim and I fed a Lysine supplement to all the cats hoping to prevent upper respiratory infection. URI is extremely contageous and Kim told me that sometimes if URI breaks out we have to clean out the entire cat room. And by "clean out" I'm pretty sure she meant euthanize. She said the lysine seems to be working so far, but the real test will come when we get crowded.

A the owner of a large grey cat named Big Boy came in to claim him, he hadn't made it to the adoption room yet and was still in holding. He is a second offender, he's been picked up before. The animals that are picked up for the second time are required to be chipped and nuetered.

Shelly, in charge of home placement, knows so many animals. She sees them come in and recognizes them later and knows their stories; who's adopted them and where they came from. Its amazing that she can keep track of the thousands of animals that pass through the doors at PAWS.

PAWS works closely with the animal control officers. We hold animals without ID for 3 days before considering their adoption eligibility. We hold the ones with ID for 5 days before consideritng their adoption eligibility.

The owner of a German shepard/huskie mix came in before her dog had been picked up becasue he'd gotten out 10 min before. Later I saw him leave with her. She knew where he'd end up. People must be pretty on top of reporting animals. There are two animal control vehicles out side PAWS and we have about 6 officers.

Several cats were brought in today in wire traps set for them. I would imagine it's hard to catch a cat on the fly.

At the end of the day I had some extra time so I decided to exercise one of the dogs. I chose a rottwieler named "Midget", don't ask me why he's named that, I have no clue.
I'm currently living with a rotty so I've become interested in the breed. I took midget out to the back where there is a run full of tennis balls to chase and a mulched forest trail to walk. The trail is a small loop so Midget and I took it three times, I was hoping to calm him down a bit, but I seemed to only scratch the surface of his energy. He's young and very excited. He likes to jump up and for a dog his size this is very bad behavior. I worked with him on the jumping up and we began learning to sit. I think I'll work with him again when I have time. I'd like to focus on a single dog and make an improvement in his adoptablility. I definitely have my work cut out for me.