Going north

I'm sitting with Bach on the little patch of grass that is still accessible. Bach, with his striking ice blue eyes, watches the workers put up barricades for the Indy track. Off around one of the bends, I hear someone squealing his car around a corner, really squealing, action flick, car chase like. The guy's just driving some beater but I guess because he sees the track being set up, his X-Box brain kicks in and he figures he can try out some moves.

Bach lies down on the grass. He's hot in the haze of the sun and the grass probably helps cool him down. He rolls over on his back and paws me for a belly rub. I'm spending some extra time with him because this will probably be his last day down at Toronto Animal Services South before he gets transferred up to the north facility for the duration of the city workers' strike.

TAS South has been busy getting ready to shut down. The other three shelters are remaining open. This doesn't make sense to me as I think the south shelter is the best facility - not that I'm biased or anything - but I'm told part of the reason is because the Indy will make access to the South shelter difficult if not impossible. Given that there will be enough worries with no regular staff to look after the animals, the city wants to keep things as simple as possible.

The plan, then, is to move all the animals from south to north. Thing is, TAS South staff would prefer to not put their cats and dogs through the turmoil and anxiety of being housed at the north shelter because no one really knows who will be looking after the animals there when the strike starts. Managers probably, but managers of what? Accounts, trucks and H.R.?

Jen, the person looking after cats at TAS South, has done an incredible job finding temporary cat fosters for the duration of the strike. More than forty cats have already gone out and the few remaining will hopefully be picked up sometime soon.

Most of the dogs have been fostered out as well but there are a handful remaining who will be kept up on the TAS adoption page, so who knows, maybe they'll get homed before the shelter transfer.

But Bach is definitely going up to TAS North. He was adopted out a few weeks ago but returned because his owner discovered he had heartworm at their first vet visit. Her vet told her that his treatment would cost $3000. I think that's a bit padded considering the drugs, while expensive, only cost a few hundred dollars, but hey, everyone wants to make a buck.

So Bach is back and he won't be put up for adoption until he gets put through the heartworm treatment which will last six weeks. And the treatment won't start until after the strike so that's probably another 2 - 3 weeks.

I'm a little worried for him. It feels like sending a sick kid off to summer camp not knowing what the camp facilities are like, not knowing even who's running the camp.

But Bach being Bach being a dog, is presently doing just fine. He doesn't appear to be showing any symptoms. No coughing, no lethargy. He's just enjoying his belly scratches and soaking up the sun, relishing what could be his last few minutes outside for many weeks to come.

He better make it back okay.


(Bach was one of the last out-of-province rescue dogs to be adopted out before TAS started doing heartworm testing on all their rescue dogs. TAS used to test all their dogs but never got any positive results so they figured they might as cancel the tests, at $20 a pop, and put the money elsewhere. Now heartworm seems to be much more prevalent, hence the testing once again.)

Strike stuff ontinued here.

Bach stuff continued here.

Bach's shots

(Previous here.)


Bach got his second heartworm shot today so he wasn't feeling too well when I saw him this afternoon. The staff let him stay in the supervisor's office where it's quieter and a bit cooler. He lifted his head up when I came in the room but that's a far cry from the usual butt wagging greets he likes to give people.

The next few days will be critical and he'll have to be kept very calm, going out for only washroom breaks and then after that, for another four weeks, he'll still have to be kept on minimal exercise. At the end of the four weeks, Bach will get another two shots and then it's another two weeks of no exertion and then finally, if he survives all this, he'll get to go home - and, yup, it looks like he'll have a home to go to.

By the time this is all done, Bach will have been at TAS for almost 5 months. That's a long time to be locked up. It's a good thing Bach's got such an easy-going personality because a lot of other dogs would be kind of screwed up by all that confinement time. While the TAS facilities are pretty good when it comes to animal shelters, it's not that nice to be spending 5 months there. Ideally, there would be a well run, well facilitated humane organization in the city working in partnership with TAS who could take in longer term dogs like Bach and give them a more comfortable environment in which to convalesce.

Let's see how long it takes us to get there. In the meanwhile, Bach's going to be chillin'.

Daytrip to Toronto Animal Services North ...

From here.

I have to admit, it felt a bit strange going up to Toronto Animal Services North. First of all, it's at Sheppard and Keele and for someone who rarely goes north of Bloor, that's way way up there for me. When I finally find the place and walk through the main entrance, I get that feeling I used to get whenever I started at a new school or a new job: a touch of nerves, a touch of excitement. Weird.

I'm up in Downsview to see Bach. The plan is to check out his new digs at TAS North and then swing way over to Hamilton to visit the Hamilton/Burlington SPCA and see how they're treating our dogs from TAS South, Keenan, Olga and Dakota. I mean, they're not our dogs. They're no one's dogs - and that's the problem - but still, there's a sense of, I guess, responsibility, although it's not even that. It's more that they were in our care, under our roof, and like with guests, friends, whatever you want to call them, it's only right to see them off, to make sure they are safe, delivered into good hands.

I'm pleasantly surprised by TAS North. They've got it good up there. Built in the well-moneyed Mel Lastman years of North York, they sit on a nice chunk of land. The outdoor dog runs are more like grassy fields. Well, actually, they're not like grassy fields. They are grassy fields. I wish we had the land at TAS South for something that splendid. Then it wouldn't be so much like a shelter as it would be like going to a dog park.

The only thing strange about all that space, though, is that there are no dogs out there running around in those nice fields. That may have something to do with TAS North being short staffed because of the city strike so I'll have to go up there again when things are back to normal and see how well used they are. I'm told there aren't any volunteers up at the north shelter so the fenced in fields are used all time by the staff to let the dogs run around leash free.

The indoor facilities are pretty nice too. Well, the dog kennels and cat cages are nothing to brag about - but then when are they ever - but much of the space is natural sunlight bright and open. And the cat room is the best cat room I've ever seen.


It's like it was once a multi-stepped auditorium refurbished into a cat lounge with loads of cat beds and scratching posts and toys and, of course, several friendly cats.


The busy staff are pretty accomodating as well. Since the regular staff are on strike, everyone working there is probably a manager of some sort doing someone else's job but they seemed to be pulling it off well enough. Granted, some of them are working twelve hour days, six days a week, so it can't be easy. They are probably hoping for this strike to be over more than anyone else.

The most important thing, though, is that it looked like Bach is doing well. He's been started on his heartworm meds so his time in the shelter isn't being wasted. People are looking out for him up there and that's good to hear.


They bring him to meet me in an internal courtyard, open to the blue sky above. We're surrounded on two sides by the cat lounge and the cats seem to be as curious about Bach as he is about them. Between belly scratches, Bach gets up and watches the cats who are pawing at the glass wall separating them.


Yeah, he seems okay there. I'm sure he spends most of his days in his kennel and that can't be pleasant but on the heartworm meds, he can't be allowed to physically exert himself anyway. While it may not be the best situation for him to be in, it may be the safest.

Just before I go, I ask about the lack of dogs up for adoption on the TAS site and I'm told that last week around thirty dogs were transferred to Hamilton/Burlington SPCA and thirty dogs, in all likelihood, cleaned out all the TAS adoption dogs. Doing the adoptions on top of everything else must have been too much for the skeleton crews to handle.

I give Bach one last ear scratch and then it's time to head to Hamilton.

Daytrip stuff continued here.

More on Bach here.

Bach remembers me ...

... or maybe he's just being his usual lovely self with everyone he meets. He seems a bit thinner than before his trip up to TAS north for the duration of the city strike and he's blown his winter coat so he looks a little bit shaggier but otherwise, it looks like he's doing okay. Well, he's just as quick to flop down and ask for belly rubs anyway.




It turns out that while he was away, he was put on some kind of larvacide to kill off any heartworm larvae floating around in his bloodstream as well as some antibiotics to kill off associated bacteria that live off the heartworm. Or something like that. It's a little confusing and I'm not sure I have the facts straight but what it means it that he hasn't started his heartworm shots yet. That's going to be Wednesday.

I also didn't realize how much of a risk factor there is associated with this shot. I know he has to stay fairly immobilized for several weeks but it's the first day or so immediately afterward that is especially risky. If the drug kills too many worms all at once or if his heart is too weak, he could die as the worms die, detach themselves and clog up some artery.

TAS isn't going to send him out to anyone until he's survived his first shot at least (there are two more in six weeks). After all the time Bach's spent locked up, he'd better survive this.

More on Bach here.

Toronto Animal Services Friday Review, May 8

Toronto Animal Services South won't be taking in any rescue dogs for a week or so while they clean the dog quarantine room of any trace of parvo.

The adoption room is open, though, and I hope some of these guys find their new homes this weekend. Lots of big, friendly ones this time. Handsome dogs all and especially check out Bach's baby blues.

Gretchen

Bach

Filou

Molly

Laurie

More on Bach here.

Four in, four out

The adoption gods must've been whispering in people's ears over the course of the strike because on Monday all four dogs who were just listed for adoption on Friday found new homes. I kinda wanted to see that big-headed Chihuahua again but, oh well ... much better that he be permanently at home than temporarily with me.

Smokey is going to be put into rescue, partially because of his infected ear which is going to take some time to figure out what's wrong and partially because he'll do better in rescue. The kennel environment is just too stressful for him.

Bach's saga continues. There weren't enough drugs for his heartworm treatment so more had to be ordered. It's finally come in but now the vet is on vacation until next week so it looks like it's going to be Monday or Tuesday. This treatment protocol sounds like it's going to be quite tough on him. Someone's going to have to watch him immediately after the shot to make sure he doesn't move much at all to lessen the chance of a stroke. I'm glad he doesn't know what's in store.

More Bach here.

Back, finally

It must have been a bittersweet return to work for Toronto Animal Services staff. It probably felt good to be earning a pay cheque again but, on the other hand, it seemed as soon as the doors opened, people were lining up to leave behind animals.

The first dog that was brought in was for an owner requested euthanasia. The JRT was old and had been seizuring all night. It was time to say goodbye. Glad I wasn't there for that.

Shortly after that, Bach was brought back from his stay up at TAS north (more on him tomorrow).

The rest of the animals were dumped by their owners. Nine cats and three dogs today, I think, was the count. Some of the dumpers were crying. Why? Were they really expecting sympathy for tossing their pet so they could go move into a new condo?

Oh what a hard decision. Oh boo hoo. A new trendy downtown condo or kick out my dog? Oh boo hoo. It's just that the condo's got rules against dogs and it's such a beautiful condo. Overpriced just right and really trendy - not that I'm a follower of trends, but you know how it is. My friends will just gush when I invite them over for cocktails. I know. It's too bad, you don't fit the new condo weight requirements. I'm sure you would've had a great life there too. No hard feelings, right? It's hard on me, also, you know. Boo hoo hoo. I hope you don't get euthanized. Sniff, sniff. Oh look. Time to go. Gotta pick out some new curtains. I want sheer, really sheer. So sexy that way.

Phury, too big for the new condo:


Smokey, too expensive:


Smokey's a beautiful dog with a rich black coat. We're guessing he's a Doberman/Great Dane mix. He's come in with such a bad ear infection that his right ear is completely swollen shut internally.



You can see how scared he was in the video at having been abandoned. He was owner searching the whole time I had him out, peering at everyone in the far distance to see if his owner had come back for him and looking away disappointed and anxious every time. Yep, it was heartbreaking but hopefully he'll come around in a few days.

As for the dogs at Hamilton/Burlingon SPCA and other private fosters, they will be be brought back to TAS South over the next few days. There really wasn't much anyone could do today in that regard because city council didn't ratify the workers' contract until late in the day. It would have really sucked to have brought all the animals back in only to have to ship them out again if council hadn't approved the contract.