∙SPAN Thrift Store is now open to the public and looking for donations of adult clothing, household items and tools if you’ve got items you no longer use.
SPAN Thrift Store regularly provides $10 spays and neuters for low income households with cats and dogs.
Two upcoming clinics in October are: Friday, October 9th at the Albert H. Soliz Library – El Rio, 2820 Jourdan St., Oxnard, 93036 and a second on Friday, October 23rd at SPAN Thrift Store parking lot 110 N. Olive St. (behind Vons on Main).
Please call to schedule an appointment (805) 584-3823.
∙The HSVC (Humane Society of Ventura County) would like to recognize our Director of Veterinary Services Dr. Christina Sisk for her recent outstanding work in reconstructing the face of a severely injured feral cat.
Affectionately known as Black Balls, this injured cat was brought to the shelter by our rescue partners, Foundling Kitten Society. His mouth and lips were completely torn open and he had a huge gash up the side of his nose. It is unknown how the cat received these injuries. Dr. Sisk performed a facial reconstructive procedure on Black Balls and was able to repair nearly all the damage on the injured cat’s face. As an added bonus, the shelter was able to cover the cost of Black Balls’ procedure and the Herman Bennett Foundation was able to cover the cost of his neuter surgery.
The HSVC has many resources to assist those wanting to help reduce the overpopulation of feral and stray cats in our community. We accept feral cats for TNR (trap, neuter, and release) surgeries for free every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The shelter also provides feral cat traps to those wanting to trap local feral and community cats for spaying/neutering. Please call the shelter at 805-646-6505 for more information or to make an appointment to bring in a feral cat for spay/neuter surgery.
∙A vet nurse has recently been made aware of the toxicity for pets, of a fairly common prescription cream for humans. Veterinary Nurse Kaylene Doust, said that losing one pet can be heartbreaking, especially if they are young and their death is sudden. “Losing two young pets within a few days of one another is even more tragic.”
Doust said that these were the circumstances faced by a local pet owner after her dogs accidentally ingested Fluorouracil 5% topical skin cancer cream (in this instance marketed as Efudix 5%).
In the early evening, soon after applying this cream to her skin from a nearly full tube, the owner left the room to answer a phone call, leaving the capped tube on a nearby coffee table. When she returned, she noticed the cream all over the blanket on the lounge and found the oldest of her three dogs had the punctured and the near empty tube in its mouth.’
The woman removed the tube and placed the blanket into the washing machine. With all three dogs yet unaffected, no clear idea of which ones were exposed, and no sense of the danger posed by ingestion of this chemical, no veterinary advice was sought at this time. After a few days two of her dogs died.
∙September is National Preparedness Month, and planning ahead is the key to keeping yourself and your pets safe if disaster strikes. It is important to remember: If it’s not safe for you, it is not safe for your pets.
You can follow these tips to make an emergency plan for your pets:
1. Microchip your pets: Microchip identification is one of the best ways to ensure that you and your pet are reunited if you are separated. Be sure to keep the microchip registration up-to-date, and include at least one emergency number of a friend or relative who resides out of your immediate area.
2. Keep a collar and tag on all cats and dogs: Keep several current phone numbers on your animal’s identification tag. Identification on indoor-only cats is especially important. If your home is damaged during a disaster, they could easily escape.
3. Plan a pet-friendly place to stay: Search in advance for out-of-area pet-friendly hotels or boarding facilities, or make a housing exchange agreement with an out-of-area friend or relative. Never leave your pet behind if you evacuate!
4. Use the buddy system: Exchange pet information, evacuation plans and house keys with a few trusted neighbors or nearby friends. If you’re caught outside evacuation lines when an evacuation order is issued, your neighbors or friends can evacuate your pets for you.
5. Prepare an emergency kit for each animal: To help alleviate some of the stress that happens during an evacuation, we recommend creating and taking an emergency kit for each of your animals if you are forced to leave unexpectedly. You should keep your kit in an easy-to-grab container or bag, and periodically check and update as needed. Here is a list of suggested items to keep in your kit(s):
6. Identify emergency veterinary facilities outside of your immediate area: If a disaster has affected your community, emergency veterinary facilities may be closed.
7. Plan for temporary confinement: Physical structures, like walls, fences and barns may be destroyed during a disaster. Have a plan for keeping your animals safely confined. You may need a tie-out, crate or kennel. Caregivers of multiple cats or other small animals may want to use an EvacSak instead of a carrier, which is easy to store and use for transport. Read more tips for ensuring your pets’ safety during an evacuation.
8. Comfort your animals: Your animals will appreciate your calm presence and soft, comforting voice if they are stressed following a disaster or while evacuated, and you may find it comforting to spend time with them, too. Some animals, especially cats, may be too scared to be comforted. Interact with them on their terms. Some animals may find toys, especially long-lasting chew toys, comforting.
9. Know where to search for lost animals: When animals become lost during a disaster, they often end up at a local shelter. Keep the locations and phone numbers of the shelters in your area readily accessible.
10. Get children involved in disaster preparedness plans: The book Ready or Not, Here it Comes! by RedRover Responders Team Leader, Howard Edelstein, discusses how to prepare for all types of disasters to safeguard families and the animals in their care.
To learn more visit https://redrover.org/resource/pet-disaster-preparedness-2/ and download our 5 Animal Disaster Preparedness Essentials checklist (PDF) here.
