Search Results for: pet loss
Does Your Pet Love You?
When I was young, I was taught that the way “we” distinguished humans from animals was that humans used tools, and animals did not. It wasn’t long after I saw pictures of chimpanzees using sticks to pull insects from decaying trees. “Tools!” gushed National Geographic, “Now we would have to re-think everything!” Today, of course, we know that there are a dozen or so species that use tools, including lowly crows and octopuses.
We used to think a lot of things about animals that weren’t true — usually things that would diminish their existence from our own. We now know that many species have excellent memories, strong family bonds, feel a sense of loss, and possess many other attributes that we once held as a part solely of our own human existence.
But do animals love? I’m talking about love here, not mere attachment, as there is little doubt that is a part of an animal’s experience. Now, there is a lot we don’t know about the emotions of cats and dogs, and without delving too deeply into the nature of love, John Bradshaw, a researcher at the University of Bristol contends that dogs do “love” their owners. He suggests that cats admire us, and show the same kind of behaviours they show other cats that they like, but like the person you dumped in college, “they just don’t get us.” This is probably because cats have only been living with us for about 10,000 years, and most of their breeding has been to produce colour and style. This is opposed to dogs, who settled down with us 30,000 years ago and have been selectively bred ever since to get along with us better. Had that date in college been selectively bred to get along with you better, maybe he or she would still be around.
In the end, I wonder if it matters. It feels like they love us. We certainly love them. And love, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder, no?
Bruce Roney
Executive Director
Social Work for the Animals
If you’ve ever watched someone say a final goodbye to a loved one, you’ll know how heartbreaking that is. The emotions often reserved for airports and hospital rooms are strikingly similar to those witnessed every day by the OHS admissions team. After all, pets are our family. Saying goodbye to a beloved pet is like saying goodbye to a piece of ourselves.
As confusing and stressful as it can be for a pet to enter a shelter, we know it can be just as hard for their person. This is just one of the heartbreaking situations we see every day: Owners who come to the OHS over and over, desperately searching for their lost pet. Owners struggling to find a way to keep a beloved family pet, who may not be aware of the resources available to them. Those who need help to accept a decision that saying goodbye is the best option for their pet. And then there are those who we must contact, to tell them that their pet has been found, deceased.
While we have many compassionate staff and volunteers dedicating their time to care for and comfort the animals at the OHS, we know that helping more animals means helping their people, too. The past years have seen the OHS step up to fill the need: dropping surrender fees to remove barriers from what is already a heartbreaking situation; launching a pet food bank to help keep pets with their owners; and continuing our popular pet loss support groups, recognizing the grief we experience when we lose a creature who has been so important in our lives. But the need continues to grow with greater urgency than ever. The time to do more is now.
Today, I’m proud to announce our next step in supporting our community’s animals and their owners: the introduction of a veterinary social worker to our team.
Social workers have played a critical role in the research and understanding of the human-animal bond for decades, but the move to incorporate social workers into shelter settings is relatively new (and absolute genius).
At the OHS, our veterinary social worker, or “VSW”, will help the OHS focus on where it can best apply its resources to support the human-animal bond and prevent pet relinquishment – from developing an OHS emergency pet housing program to creating a network of resources for frantic pet owners. Where relinquishment cannot be avoided, the VSW will be a resource for our teams and the clients they are serving, to help make the most difficult situations just a bit more bearable.
Just as importantly, our VSW provides a support to all our staff, who so fiercely and tirelessly work to help every animal, but who all too often risk the compassion fatigue that accompanies this work. A VSW can help us to design programs to ensure we’re protecting our teams, and helping them to remain resilient, so they can continue to be here to meet the need.
This is the start of a new tomorrow – and a better one, for the animals and our community.
Sharon Miko
President & CEO
2024 Program Guide
Check out all the awesome events and programs for you, your pets and your family!
Welcome Back: Programs Reopening
This morning, I got to do something I haven’t been able to do for a year and a half: I greeted a volunteer. She was so happy and so was I. During the pandemic, to protect our staff and thereby our ability to care for animals, all but our super-essential foster volunteer program were suspended. Slowly, though, volunteers are returning and it’s wonderful!
Last week, I wrote about the Shirley Kearns Memorial Adoption Centre reopening to visitors on September 8, and the life it will breathe into the OHS. But the OHS is much more than the adoption, centre and there are many other programs that need to be revived.
Of course, the new programs that were launched during and because of the pandemic: the Emergency Pet Food Bank and Partner Support Program will continue for the foreseeable future. Some other programs were moved online. Our Pet Loss Support Group will remain virtual for the coming months, as many participants have preferred this model. The OHS Scouts/Guides Program has continued successfully online and so we have not yet identified a date to resume in-person. Seminars will remain online until November.
Other programs offered on-site will require staff training and re-training and confidence in our ability to offer them safely, and so will be re-launched over time.
The OHS Newcomers Program, helping those who are new to the country navigate urban wildlife and pets in Canada, is expected to resume in fall 2021 for adults and in January 2022 for children.
Obedience Classes are expected to be available in-person in October and Pet First Aid Classes are expected to be available in late fall.
Pet Savvy, the OHS’s educational program for low-income pet owners, will restart in January 2022 and we are planning to resume the LEAD program for at-risk youth in November 2021.
Registration for programs for teens — the OHS Animal Advocate Program, Leadership Camp and Apprenticeship Program — is expected to resume in December 2021. For younger children and youth, the OHS is planning to resume school-based humane education programming and animal welfare clubs in January 2022.
Because of the unknowns associated with the Delta variant in children, camps and birthday parties as well as field trips and child and youth tours will remain on hold until January 2022, with adult tours planned to resume in December 2021.
Sadly, for the safety of our staff and clients, and to comply with restrictions from the province and Ottawa Public Health, the Mobile Spay/Neuter Service will remain suspended for the time-being. We are eagerly planning to resume this important service safely as soon as possible.
Because of concern about the ongoing risk to seniors, at this time, we don’t have a planned date for when Brightening Lives Animal Visits or Seniors Days at the shelter will resume.
The pandemic has taken a toll on all of us. It has affected every part of our lives. It has affected the OHS and our plans to build a caring and compassionate community. I can’t wait to get back to those plans, because right now they are needed more than ever.
Bruce Roney
President & CEO
OHS Events
Come to an OHS event and have a great time while helping the animals!
OHS events and help the thousands of animals who we care for each year. Check out our event calendar for all of our upcoming events or organize one yourself and raise money for Ottawa’s animals!
Upcoming Events:
Flea Control
Some pets or people may be allergic to flea saliva, which causes flea allergy dermatitis (think super-itchy spots with hair-loss); young, sick or elderly pets can become anemic from too much blood loss.
These wingless insects are capable of jumping long distances. While cat and dog fleas prefer to feast on animal blood, they will turn to a human host if needed.
The lifecycle of a flea has four stages:
- Eggs, which fall from the host into the environment
- Larvae, which live off of the fallen fecal matter of adult fleas found in carpets and in lawns.
- Pupal stage, which is the cocoon. They do not emerge until a host is detected (via warmth / vibration)
- Adult stage, which feasts on blood.
If you do have a flea infestation, it is important to treat the pet’s environment as well to eliminate flea eggs and larvae.
There are many over-the-counter and prescription-only products that help solve flea problems.
Over-the-counter: Flea sprays both for the pet and environment, shampoos and collars.
While the costs may be lower for over-the-counter products, they often need to be reapplied to solve a flea infestation.
Prescription only:
- Topical treatments such as Advantage or Revolution
- Pills such as Program or Sentinel
The newer prescription products are more expensive. They are usually dispensed in a six-month package, to be applied monthly for the flea season. However, they are safer, easier and more effective than over-the-counter products. These products often have additional benefits, such as heartworm protection, preventing tick, lice and mite infestations. Because of their ease of use, their safety, and their efficacy, they are highly recommended.
It is important to read all of the instructions carefully before using any flea-control product. Follow all the instructions. Never use flea productions designed for dogs on cats, and vice versa. When in doubt, contact your veterinarian.
Alternatives:
- Use a flea comb several times a week on all pets.
- Vacuum frequently, disposing of bags immediately after use.
- Long grass can host fleas: keep lawns mowed.
- Wash pet bedding weekly.
- To protect cats from fleas and ticks, as well as a host of other outdoor hazards, cats should be kept indoors at all times.
Animal Tips
We all love our animal companions but sometimes we need information on their behaviour. Our pet care information will help you develop and maintain a long and rewarding relationship with your furry or feathered friends.
Note: Some of the tip topics below are available as web pages on our website, some link to information on other websites, and others are PDFs.
General Animal Tips
- Avoid Pet Peeves
- Cold Weather FAQs
- Coping with Pet Allergies
- Common Household Poisons to Avoid
- Dogs Die in Hot Cars
- Don’t Litter – Spay or Neuter
- End of Life Care for your Pet
- Explaining Pet Death to Children
- Fire Prevention Tips for You and Your Pet
- Flea Control
- Grieving the Loss of a Pet
- How Much Will My Pet Really Cost?
- Holidays and Pets
- Microchipping
- The Multi-pet Household
- Pediatric Spay and Neuter from the ASPCA
- Pets and Babies
- From the HSUS: Pets at College: Not a Prerequisite
- Preparing an Emergency Plan for Disasters
- Prevent a Lost Pet: 5 Things That Will Help You Protect Your Pets
- Summer Safety for Pets
- From the AAHA: Toxic House and Garden Plants
- Twelve Pet Tips for Christmas
- Vaccinating Your Pet
Our Ten Year Challenge
There has been a small phenomenon going around the internet lately: the ten year challenge. The idea is that you post a picture of yourself today and from ten years ago. Notwithstanding Wired Magazine’s theory that the trend was started for the express purpose of calibrating facial recognition software, the idea is kind of fun. It certainly got me thinking about where I was and where the OHS was ten years ago.
2009: The OHS is still residing in a fairly decrepit and definitely inadequate building on Champagne Avenue. The space was designed to accommodate only about a third of the animals that we cared for in 2009.
2019: After seven years, we are fully settled into our West Hunt Club Shelter. The additional space and amenities have allowed the OHS to not only vastly improve animal care but also to develop numerous new programs for animals and for our community: day camps for children and youth, seminars, obedience classes, tours and open-houses, a pet loss support group, workshops for newcomers to Canada, and many other initiatives are now launched, all made possible by the new location and the generosity of our donors.
2009: While an OHS internal clinic assures that all animals adopted out by the OHS are spayed or neutered prior to adoption, the range of medical intervention possible is restricted by our limited space and resources. The OHS offers no medical intervention to the community.
2019: A larger, better equipped clinic allows the OHS to address more complex medical issues, and bring more sick and injured animals to health and forever homes. The OHS has been offering its Mobile Spay Neuter Clinic for three years, offering subsidized sterilization for the pets of low-income people across Ottawa.
2009: While our community clearly loves animals, not everyone knows or is sensitive to the right thing to do for them. The numbers of cats at large is rampant.
2019: In part because of our sterilization, education and outreach programs, fewer cats are at large and fewer are admitted to the OHS. Shelters and other animal welfare groups are now the number one source of pets all across North America.
So, while I may be even greyer than I was ten years ago, and the bags under my eyes have become more pronounced with the passage of time, I think the OHS has blossomed, and the animals along with our whole community have benefited.
Bruce Roney
President and CEO
For the Love of Pets
It occurs to me that animals — pets, at least for those of us who have them — are a huge part of our emotional lives.
For those of us who grew up with animals, often they were our first loves. And they were our first loss. I can still feel the sting of the loss of my first dog. Most of us can.
Love for our pets can be a tremendous consolation. Which one of us has not hugged a beloved pet after a break-up, a divorce, a death? We swear they can sense our pain and they probably can.
Some souls have only experienced the love for a pet and never for another human. And for some, it is the only love and companionship that is left in old age.
So as we celebrate our love and our loves this St. Valentine’s Day, let’s set aside a little of the celebration for our pets.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Bruce Roney
Executive Director
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