Right now, we are in full swing with kitten season. More and more kittens are arriving in our care each day. Some arrive with their mother to nurture and care for them, but many are not so lucky.
At the OHS, we created the Orphan Kitten Program to provide our most vulnerable charges with the extra care and nurturing they need. With the support of dedicated staff and volunteers, our wee felines receive extra care and attention throughout the day.
I’ve written before about the myth of thousands of dogs surrendered to shelters because so many people acquired dogs during the pandemic. While that’s largely false, there are genuine issues with so many recently acquired pets: the dubious source of the dogs, a lack of available veterinarians, and dogs left unsocialized are primary concerns. Another issue is access to good trainers and perhaps new dog owners not knowing how to select the best trainer for their dog. Here are a couple of things you should know.
With life slowly returning to something that resembles normal, most OHS programs have been reopened over the past couple of months. Camps and tours for children and youth, tours, birthday parties, in-person dog training and other important programs are once again operating, building a better future for Ottawa’s animals by creating a better generation of pet owners.
I don’t know about you, but I miss getting together with people. I miss older relatives that have been under stricter restrictions. I’ve missed dinners out with friends. I’ve missed in-person staff meetings at work. I miss getting together with my colleagues from across the province to talk about our mutual challenges and their solutions. I’m tired of Zoom. It’s convenient, but it’s just not the same.
Saturday’s storm knocked out power to the OHS — toppling trees on our property, causing some damage and making our outdoor dog run unusable. We are still in the dark and have had to cancel most of our programs for the week. Adoptions continue, but at a slower pace.
You may have heard that Quebec recently introduced some progressive changes to its Animal Welfare and Safety Act. If the legislation passes, some of the biggest and most long-standing animal welfare concerns will finally be addressed in that province.
Prong collars? Gone. Tail docking, ear cropping and declawing of cats? Gone. Gas chambers for euthanasia? Gone.
There’s a persistent rumour going around the country that the many thousands of people who acquired pets during the pandemic — mostly dogs — are surrendering their pets to shelters in droves because those people are now going back to work. We receive regular calls from the media wanting us to talk about the story, but the story isn’t true; not in Ottawa, and not in any part of the country that I am aware of.
Ever heard of National Little Pampered Dog Day? How about International Pooper Scooper Week? There are a lot of awareness days, weeks and months in animal welfare. They range from the mildly amusing to the very serious, like National Pet Fire Safety Day and Immunization Awareness Month. At the Ottawa Humane Society, we often leverage these events to get our animal welfare messages out to our community.
Growing up, my only pet was a goldfish named Stanley.
It wasn’t until I married that I had my first dog, Brandy, an amazing golden Lab mix.
Brandy passed when she was 14 and I was devastated. I cried every day. At first, I swore I’d never get another dog, that my loss of Brandy was something to never be repeated...
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