Tuesday was a pretty typical dog day. Up at 5:00 a.m. and got most of our own dogs out to the dog yard for a pre-dawn romp. I fed all of our dogs and most of the fosters, except Rocky, who was scheduled to be neutered and Samson who was going to the vet. Rocky (right) was dropped off at the SPCA at 8:00 a.m. for his vaccines, heartworm test, and neuter. He whined most of the way in, and once we arrived he lifted his leg on everything within range, both inside and out. I picked up a bag of dog food from the SPCA because I'm keeping 4 of their fosters now.
Samson came along to meet Sammy, the SPCA's resident test cat. Sammy lives upstairs and roams between the various offices, hallways, and conference rooms doing whatever the hell he pleases. I don't know 
Sammy's story, what is wrong with him or how he came to be there, but he is a permanent fixture. He earns his keep as being a test cat to judge the degree of cat aggression displayed by dogs. Sammy looks like he's seen it all and he is not intimidated by dogs. He's very good at sensing a dog's level of aggression and he can and will protect himself by flight or fight as necessary. Cats are more common than dogs as pets these days and it seems that everyone has them, even people wanting to adopt dogs. So, finding out if a dog is cat-friendly or at least cat-tolerant is a necessary prerequiste to many adoptions, including Samson's prospective home. Samson was great with Sammy. He displayed little interest in the cat and no sign of aggression even when Sammy batted Samson's nose with his paws.
Sammy's story, what is wrong with him or how he came to be there, but he is a permanent fixture. He earns his keep as being a test cat to judge the degree of cat aggression displayed by dogs. Sammy looks like he's seen it all and he is not intimidated by dogs. He's very good at sensing a dog's level of aggression and he can and will protect himself by flight or fight as necessary. Cats are more common than dogs as pets these days and it seems that everyone has them, even people wanting to adopt dogs. So, finding out if a dog is cat-friendly or at least cat-tolerant is a necessary prerequiste to many adoptions, including Samson's prospective home. Samson was great with Sammy. He displayed little interest in the cat and no sign of aggression even when Sammy batted Samson's nose with his paws. 
Next we were off to a 9:00 a.m. vet appointment across town with Samson. He still needed vaccines and I wanted the vet to recheck his lungs for signs of the pneumonia. One side sounded clear, the other side wasn't yet, so he is continuing on antibiotics for another two weeks. He had gained almost 10 pounds! He still needs another 15 pounds, but he is doing very well.
We stopped in Charlottesville on a couple errands and then headed back home for an 11:00 a.m. meeting with a young woman from Richmond who was interested in adopting Samson. That went very well and I liked her, so the adoption is going to happen on Saturday. She understands about the pneumonia and I don't anticipate any problems with that.
I spent a few hours at home pretending to work before heading back to Charlotttesville to pick up Rocky. I stopped on the way in to make an appointment to fix the brakes on the van, and then picked up 30 pounds of Zachary's frozen raw food diet from a pet store. Rocky was still sleeping off the anesthesia when I got to the SPCA. I had to lift him out of the cage he was in, but he walked out under his own power. Then it was back home for another round of feeding; dealing with a dog-aggressive female shepherd who was beating up on my rottie, Bud; putting away Zach's raw food; and getting Rocky settled into a crate upstairs in office for the night. I answered emails about dogs, took a call or two, and made dinner for us as well. Maybe I'll get some work done tomorrow.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment