Pet food coupon bank needs you!

There are a number of things that I can look to as reminders of the current state of our economy; the numerous yard signs showing homes for sale; the unemployment figures for our area; the increasing number of anecdotal tales about young adults moving home after college because they can’t afford to live on wages they didn’t expect to be making following receiving their diploma.

While some things didn’t surprise me all that much, one did --- the rise in pet food pantries across the nation, as rescue groups and concerned individuals try to find ways to keep pets with their families during these tough times. I find folks who take on these sorts of tasks to some of the very best, most thoughtful people on the planet. They use their time (and nearly always their own resources) to help others in need.

To that end, there’s a new group afoot, and you can help. M.J. Rogers recently created the Yahoo Group Pet Coupons Central. The premise is as simple as it sounds. They collect coupons for pet products and send them out to others who might need a little help making ends meet with the furkids. Currently they are collecting coupons for cat and dog food and treats, cat litter and pet odds and ends, as well as coupons for bird and small animal food, though those don’t come in nearly as often. Pet Coupons Central is willing to provide coupons to just about anyone who asks, including caretakers of feral colonies, shelters and rescues anywhere in the U.S.

If you can take a few moments out of a Sunday (or Thursday night, we’re not picky) and clip coupons from your local newspaper, magazines or web sites and forward them on for use, consider joining the Pet Coupons Central Yahoo Group. You can make a difference from the comfort of your dining room table. If you’re interested in clipping coupons but aren’t much of a “joiner”, you can clip, snip and send coupons to the following address. Coupons for cat food are especially needed:

M.J. Rogers

2001 East Cross Ave. # 104

Tulare, CA 93274

If you know of anyone who might be in need of coupons, have them send an email to rmissmeow@aol.com with the subject line “Coupons Needed” and someone from Pet Coupons Central will get back to them.

If everyone does a little, we can all do a lot.

Vanity can be a great thing for pets

Finally!

It’s the only word that entered my mind when I heard that on Tuesday, June 8, at an 11 a.m. press conference at the West Los Angeles Shelter, 11361 W. Pico Blvd, Pierce Brosnan, Bob Barker and the California Veterinary Medical Board will be announcing the launch of a California Spay/Neuter license plate!

This is wonderful, long-overdue news for our four-footed friends. The license plates will work much like the other specialty plates in California --- for an additional fee, people will be able to show their support for spay/neuter through the purchase of a plate made for that purpose. Obviously I don’t have all of the details at this time, but as soon as I do I’ll be sharing them, including the where and how to get your very own.

Right after I get mine, of course.

PEET paid my neighborhood a visit

While I was out running a few errands, the folks from the Kern County PEET (Public Education and Enforcement Team) Program stopped by my house. I know this because a nifty little bag of info was left on my door, waiting for my return.

For those of you not in the know, PEET is the program where a team of animal control officers canvass various county neighborhoods (I believe a city PEET program is supposed to begin as well, though I haven’t heard anything about its implementation) checking to see if dogs are properly licensed, as well as provide information on rabies vaccine clinics and lower-cost spay/neuter options in the area. The object of the game is multi-faceted; the more dogs that are licensed, the more money Animal Control has to provide the services the public is endlessly clamoring for; the more dogs that are licensed, the more money that is available for low-cost spay/neuter programs; the more dogs that are licensed, the greater chance a lost dog can be safely returned to his or her owners.

I know there are people out there who oppose this sort of thing, but I’m not one of them. Having seen the Bill Bruce presentation on how licensing provides the revenue for all of the other incredible programs they run at his Calgary, Canada animal shelter, and how low their euthanasia rate is (in large part due to the licensing initiative), I’m sold. I was a big proponent of licensing before Bruce’s presentation --- after the presentation I moved a notch closer to “zealot” on the critter-crazy meter.

I was sorry that I’d missed them. Had I been home when they arrived, I would have thanked them for coming by and told them how much I support the program and what it is trying to accomplish. I may have even introduced them to Darby, a shelter mutt in his own right, or spoke with them about my own local critter connections. But they did leave a bag of goodies, and being the critter junkie I am, I was eager to see the fruits of the program.

True confession time here. We moved into our current home last September, which was one month before Darby’s license was to expire, which also meant that he was due for his rabies booster shot. Seemed like a great idea to get it all done once we got settled into the house. Vaccinate the dog, renew the license. Easy peasy, right? Only when we moved, we left the city proper and ended up in one of the weird little county pockets that I swear couldn’t exist anywhere other than Kern County. I had no idea if I had to renew the license number on his little collar or if I had to get a whole new one. I, of course, did the most obvious of human things --- I didn’t get either one.

To say that I was disappointed that I wasn’t home when PEET arrived is the truth. I figured I could get an answer to my question about exactly what licensing procedure I needed to follow to get the little dude back into compliance. Yes, I could have called Animal Control, but funny thing --- I don’t think about calling about my dog’s license when I’m at work and his hairy little dog face isn’t staring at me. I think about it at night, when I’m home and they’re closed. Plus, have you tried calling Animal Control? No knock on them, because I realize how dreadfully understaffed they are, but I’ve jumped through fewer hoops calling Dell tech support on a Saturday night. Fortunately, I had the info bag they left behind, so I knew all would be good.

There’s a lot of great info in those little PEET bags. Most prominent was the schedule for their next low-cost rabies vaccination clinic, information on the importance of spaying and neutering your pets, a card with the resources to call to report a lost pet, a card listing the frequently called numbers for Animal Control, a coloring page for the kids, along with kid-friendly set of info on what pets and people both need to be happy and information on why licensing your pet is great idea. A virtual cornucopia of critter-related tidbits packaged in a handy clear plastic hangar.

Except for one thing. One small thing was missing from the bag.

A license application.

Seriously? You all are going to all of this effort to ultimately get people to license their dogs, but you don’t include an actual license application in the bag? It’s the one piece of paper out of everything in there you folks actually want from us, but you don’t include it? For real?

It’s moments like that --- the “I can’t believe you brought me seven pieces of paper I don’t need, but not the one I actually do in order to make both of us happy” moments that make it awfully hard to continue to come to your defense without looking like a maroon.

Put the flippin’ license application in the bag. Bonus points if you include a paragraph about what to do if someone moves from the city to the county and vice versa, because it took two phone calls, two transfers and three on-holds (after navigating the phone “press-8-if-you-are-incredibly-annoyed” command system --- twice) to get my answer.

But I do thank you for stopping by.

To the critter moms

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you who are critter moms. You know who you are.

The mom who had no intention of becoming one, but couldn’t walk/drive past that kitten/puppy/cat/dog on the side of the road, and took it into their home and heart.

The mom who yearned for a fur-kid of her own and adopted one who desperately needed a loving home, and spent the time and money necessary to make sure their physical, mental and emotional needs were met.

For the mom who took one the special needs pet and was willing to make the necessary adjustments to give that pet the best life possible.

To all the moms who cancelled plans at the last minute to make the short-notice run to the vet, because their pet needed immediate care.

And let’s hear it for the moms who engage in the doubly-selfless act of fostering the very young and injured until they are ready to find their forever home --- and for letting them go when they do, only to bring in another and repeat the process.

There are those who say fur-moms aren’t the same as real moms, and while that may be true in the strictest sense of the word, it does not nullify the love, commitment and care you have given to the kids who walk on all fours.

Here’s to you, critter-moms, for having hearts big enough to mother those who will never send flowers or bring you breakfast in bed, but loving them all the same.

Happy Mother’s Day.

Enough complaining about Animal Control

It’s said that the only two certainties in life are death and taxes. In Kern County you can easily add one more: complaining about Kern County Animal Control, which is done so often and with such ferocity that it might qualify as a professional sport.

Residents complain that KCAC is too slow to respond to safety issues such as loose dogs, getting homeless dogs off of the street or dealing with pets being attacked by other animals.

Rescuers complain that the system is too difficult for rescues to get the animals they want and that they aren’t given enough notice to coordinate a rescue plan.

There are complaints when the adoptable animals section looks too full, or not full enough. There are complaints if someone sees an animal that appears to have a runny nose or inflamed eyes, and complaints when animals are euthanized due to illness. People complain that aren’t enough resources for low-cost spay and neuter, then when options are introduced they complain that it’s too far to drive/held on the wrong day/still not free.

Enough already.

Changing the situation requires two things: more volunteers or more money; preferably both. Kern County is as strapped financially as any other county in California and will continue to carve more money out of the already dreadfully under-funded KCAC budget, leaving even less available for necessary services. Not that the budget deficit is what got us here, since even during the “boom” years of 2003-2008 no one was rushing to give KCAC an extra boost to help service the additional tens of thousands of folks who moved into the area.

You want more from Animal Control? Then do your part:

• Get your animals licensed. I’m tired of hearing from people who complain about response times, short staffing and bad hours of operation who can’t be bothered to license their pets. Licensing, besides helping bring home the lost, provides critically needed revenue for Animal Control, revenue that can be used to provide the very services residents complain they aren’t getting. Even cat owners can get a $5 Identification Tag through KCAC. So do it, already.

• Spay and neuter your pets. Animal Control is not the reason there are so many homeless animals on the street --- we are. If there’s anything about companion animals that people in Kern County agree on, it’s that there are far too many of them. Folks, KCAC didn’t bring them into this world. That’s squarely on the shoulders of the community, and we’re the only ones who can reduce that number though spaying and neutering.

• Volunteer. Or donate. Or both. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. If you have time, give some of it. Being at the Animal Control facility too much for you? Volunteer through Friends of the Kern County Animal Shelters Foundation and help with off-site or fundraising events. Throw an extra bottle of bleach into your cart while it’s on sale and give it to the shelter. Donate gently used clothing to Kern Humane Society’s Thrift Store, which provides vouchers for spaying and neutering through the sale of their goods. Skip a trip to the coffee shop and give that $5 to Friends instead.

• Find a way to make your peace with a tax to help Animal Control. In all the years I’ve been here, there hasn’t been one time when Animal Control proposed changing their fees that people haven’t responded as though we were asking you to give up your remote controls. I still dream of the day that every household gets a $5 per year increase on their property taxes to pay for Animal Control services. In just a couple of years we’d have the money to build a first-rate low-cost spay/neuter clinic with just that one little change. We get what we pay for, or don’t pay for, as the case may be, but we can’t have it both ways. We either have to pony up for the services we want or stop whining about not having them.

I’m not saying that KCAC doesn’t have its issues. It does. But we community members aren’t exactly innocent, either. Before grabbing those pitchforks and torches, let’s take a good, long peek to make sure that our own house is in order before calling to bring down theirs.

I know I still have a couple of weeds to pull. How about you?