Spring foster deluge begins

After experiencing last year’s frantic foster season where we were overwhelmed with pregnant cats and orphaned kittens needing to get out of the shelter as soon as possible, we’re introducing new initiatives to ready ourselves for the inevitable volume of animals this year.

We’ve got experienced volunteers lined up at the ready, and have increased support to current foster families with weekly e-mails and calls. In the meantime, we’re identifying animals at risk upon admission and keeping them isolated from the point of intake until they move into a foster home, to avoid these vulnerable animals, such as pregnant cats or kittens, from being exposed to any illness in the shelter environment. Learn about becoming an OHS foster volunteer here.

 Cleaning the air to keep animals healthy

Last week we undertook the major job of vacuuming out all the duct work in the building. It’s a loud and complex process, but one that’s vitally important to the health and well being of our animals. Proper maintenance of our HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) system helps to improve the overall air quality in the building, and reduce the spread of illness among animals. It’s something we have to do four times a year, due to the age and state of our facility. Hopefully, the onerous task won’t be as much of issue in our planned new shelter, as modern HVAC systems have more advanced filtration options, so our overall upkeep of this and other infrastructure is expected to fall. For now, staff will work around the noise and dust to keep animals healthy.

 Wildlife calls heat up

Spring means a dramatic increase in the number of wildlife calls we receive. Wild animals are more active at this time of year, building nests, searching for food or having babies. Our agents are dispatched each day to rescue orphaned or injured groundhogs, squirrels, raccoons and more — all without government funding to pay for any of these calls. With only one small rehab facility in the region, most of these animals have to be humanely euthanized once they’re brought to our shelter.

Often wildlife that appears to be orphaned are actually animals that are doing just fine on their own. Learn more about wildlife and what to look for before calling our emergency line.

 Top 10 breeds of adopted dogs

With more than 2,370 dogs coming through our doors each year, we see all shapes, sizes and colour of Fidos. Here’s a list of the top 10 dog breeds we adopted out last year.