Tuesday, January 11, 2011

What No Kill Means (by someone way smarter than me)

I've been harping on lately about Homeward Bound City Pound - and how I'm worried that even though they're saying that they're "no kill" - they might not actually be what the current no kill philosophy defines as "no kill".

Today I read a super-duper fantabulous must-read blog post from one of the leading "no-kill" leaders in the movement today - Ryan Clinton - his bio reads as "Ryan is a writer, appellate attorney, and civic advocate with a passion for saving lost and homeless dogs and cats. In 2005, Ryan founded FixAustin.org with the goal of ending the unnecessary killing of sheltered animals at Austin's Town Lake Animal Center." Enuf said.

In his blog post posted today titled "What No kill means" - he says that no kill must include things like -

Bottle baby programs for preemie kittens - HELLO! Has anyone heard of Inge Sadler and Pick of the Litter? Nova Scotia would be a much poorer place without that one woman preemie saving machine. That lady is a SAINT! Thank kitten for her - and the SPCA works very closely with her. I can only pray that Homeward Bound does too.

Innovative and cost-effective parvovirus treatments that save 90% or more of puppies diagnosed with or exposed to the virus in shelters.

I know that this is something that a LOT of shelters have a lot of work to do to succeed at, that's for sure. This is definitely a work in progress - and it includes STOPPING OVERVACCINATING.

Improved and welcoming customer service that treats every person who enters a shelter as a potential adopter, volunteer, foster parent, and donor.

Reducing shelter intake by helping solve routine behavioral and medical problems encountered by pet owners considering surrendering their dogs or cats.


He goes on with a lot of other great things of what no kill means - its a very timely blog post.

You should go read it.

2 comments:

  1. 'STOP VACCINATING'! Amen to that sister! Everytime I see someone advocating less vaccinations I am thrilled. Pet parents more often than not feel immense pressure to re-vac when in reality it's completely unnecessary. Example: our 5 yr Basset Hound and 5yr old terrier mix had annual check ups during which it was suggested we revac for parvo, distemper and lepto...we opted for a titer test which came back POSITIVE. Which means the parvo, lepto and distemper shots my dogs received as puppies WERE STILL PROTECTING THEM!

    And DO NOT get me started on Heartworm prevention: HELLO there is NO HEARTWORM IN NOVA SCOTIA!!!

    Less vaccinations, flea-control/prevention alternatives like diatomaceous earth...these are critical ways we can have HEALTHIER and better behaved pets!

    As always Joan, thanks for keeping everyone on their toes!

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  2. Heartworm! Double amen to that! You're right about that - that's just a big money maker for the vets - although I am worried about the rescues that are being brought up from the States - that they're going to eventually bring it up with them and we'll get it here eventually from them - although it's my understanding that we don't have it here because our climate it too cold for the actual worm to survive so that's why we don't have it.

    And the rabies vaccine - that's another one - we don't have that one here yet - we've had like under 5 cases in 10 years and only one has been in a dog - yet every dog has to have it every year? PLEASE! I say get it for the dogs first 2 years and then that's good enough.

    As for parvo - the problem with puppies getting it is because they get the vaccine every time they move between a shelter - so they are getting parvo from the vaccine, not from a virus. It's sad.

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