Lost Pets Get Free Ride Home in Kansas City

Kansas City, Missouri recently launched their new pet licensing "Free Ride Home" program.  What a barking good idea!

Licensing your pet increases the chance that you'll be reunited with your pet if he/she is lost.  Licensing a pet in KCMO is only $10 and has the following benefits:

• Licensed lost or stray pets will be taken home instead of to the animal shelter - Free Ride Home!
• One time per year - no ticket for running at large.
• No shelter fees if the owner is home when the pet is returned, half fees if the owner cannot be located and later reclaims their pet from the shelter.

 
For more information about Free Ride Home in KCMO fetch www.petdata.com

Joplin Missouri Tornado: Pet Rescuers Race Against Time

The race is on. The window of opportunity to rescue pets after the devastating tornado that hit Joplin on May 22 is closing.  The bulldozers are on the way and demolition will soon begin.

Postings at community forums around the area point out the fact that not all pets have been found and time is running out. Just one example:  With the talk of demolition starting we NEED to get the word out about the still missing Miss Hanah! PLEASE help circulate her picture and information. White American Bulldog, 110lbs, two different colored eyes. Last seen as recently as Saturday at: 4224 E. 26th street. Her house once stood at 4915 E27th st. Searchers meeting tomorrow at 430 to go into the area to look for her. Please look at her pictures and circulate.  I cannot express how dearly she is missed.

Multiple animal welfare organization are using the Joplin Humane Society as a clinic for sick and injured pets.  Three warehouses are being used as an emergency shelter.  As of this past Friday, 944 pets have been rescued and 292 of those have been reunited with their owners.

One dog gives rescuers hope and underscores their belief that there are other pets that need to be saved.  12 days after the EF5 tornado struck, the ASPCA's on site rescue team found a dehydrated dogin a twister-demolished house, huddled under a bed with debris covering it.

Agencies are still deciding when to draw the line.  Until then they'll keep searching.  As Kyle Held, ASPCA Midwest Director of Field Investigations and Response said:  That's why we do what we do to save the one animal that couldn't be saved.

 

Joplin Missouri Tornado: Stray Dogs, Cats and More Find Shelter

Pomeranian found Friday. Photo: Amy Buckley

.

Dogs, cats, rabbits, parakeets, cockatiels, more than 30 chickens and a pot-bellied pig – animals of all kinds have found shelter at the Joplin Humane Society following last Sunday’s deadly tornado.

Approximately 500 animals have been brought to the temporary shelter set up by ASPCA at the old Dent and Ding appliance next to the humane society’s new building. With close to 100 staff, volunteers and a temporary shelter set up by the ASPCA ,they can house up to 1,200 animals now and they plan to dispense donated pet food and supplies to those affected by the tornado.

Calls started rolling in early Monday and a temporary shelter was set up later that day, opening to the public Tuesday. Wednesday they took in nearly 250 animals. Many families have been reunited with their pets, but even if they cannot take their pets with them it is important to come down and identify them, Aquino said.

They will look at a 14-day window to identify the pets before moving to the adoption process and may reach out to local foster networks to help house the animals. Members of the Neosho-based Faithful Friends Animal Advocates say they’re ready to step in when the temporary operation rolls out, but that moment has not come yet said Kathryn Destreza, southeast regional director ASPCA Investigations and Response.

The shelter will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Organizers ask anyone who is sheltering a dog, but does not know it’s owner to bring them to the shelter so they can be reunified with their families. Pets are also being listed at www.joplinhumanesociety.com. Finding families for the stranded pets is why they are there, Destreza said.

“We love them and we walk them and we take great care of them, but we’re not their family,” she said. “This is all about reunification with the owner.”

Those reporting to the shelter are asked to bring as much identifying information as possible and a picture if possible.

Kathy McDonald was all smiles as she left the shelter Friday afternoon with her pit bull mix Sophia Marie in tow. She was not home when the storm struck, but a neighbor told her he’d seen Sophia headed toward 26th Street.

“I knew she was alive,” McDonald said.

On Thursday, she found her frightened kitten cowering under a piece of drywall. The six-pound cat had lost nearly two pounds.

“She’s still traumatized,” McDonald said.

Her search is not over yet.

“I’ve still got two kittens out there,” she said.

Tim Rickey, southeast regional director ASPCA Investigations and Respons,e once lived in the Joplin area.

“All of my family and my friends are here,” Rickey said. “I’m dealing with the same thing everybody else in this community is. We all know people affected by this.”

Getting animals back to their owners lifts their spirits and helps build the long-term community recovery, he said.

“This is a beacon of hope,” Rickey said.

What you can do:

Volunteers are needed to move supplies and clean cages. They can register at the Joplin Humane Society, but may be placed on a call list. Donations can be placed online at www.joplinhumanesociety.com.

A Big Day for Rudy: Getting Neutered

Rudy, totally unaware of his upcoming surgery. 

Snip and Clip.  Nip and Tuck.  The Conehead Cometh.  All titles I considered for this blog post.  I decided to keep it simple:  Getting Neutered.

It definitely is a big day for Rudy, our yellow Labrador Retriever pup.  Rudy is almost 7 months old now.  After doing quite a bit of reading about the best age to neuter dogs, especially big dogs, we've decided to follow our vet's recommendation.  So, Rudy is getting neutered today.

All our dog-boys are neutered.  Tucker at 6 months because that's the age all of our male canines have been neutered in the past.  Jeffie at 8 weeks because the shelter we adopted him from does it that way.  Though we know there's a lot of controversy about the best age to have this surgery performed, we've experienced no bad outcomes in the past.  Even though we think 8 weeks - so far before puberty - is iffy (and we had no choice about that)  Jeffie, now 5, seems fine.

We are big believers in spay and neuter.  Shelter euthanasia is the number one killer of companion animals in our country.  Millions of dollars are spent each year by our communities dealing with stray and unwanted pets.  Even though animal advocacy organizations are doing a great job educating the pet owning public and low cost spay / neuter organizations have sprung up all over the US, there simply are not enough homes for all those unplanned litters of dogs and cats.

Do I think any of our pets will end up in a shelter?  No.  And though it's pretty doubtful any of our dogs could produce any offspring, never say never.  All I have to do is think about Rudy's Labrador Retriever mother who managed to escape a yard just long enough to rendevous with a neighboring chocolate Lab.  'Nuff said.

At For Love of a Dog we subscribe to that old adage:  If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.

So, later today Rudy will be home from the vet, sporting one of those crazy collars, getting sniffed like crazy by the rest of the dog pack, and he'll be minus his family jewels.