Tag: Animal Stories
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The Siamese
After the big move to Florida, I started working for the sheriff’s department here. It was in the records department, five days a week, in an office building. I soon realized that I made a mistake. Why did I think I could work in this setting after my career with animals out in the field?…
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Haunted
This morning I woke up at 02:45, wide awake, having a hard time processing what I had just dreamt. I was in the company of two ex-coworkers from the shelter. Someone had just brought us a large garbage bag full of live cats. We started sorting them out, deciding which ones we could put up…
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Social Hour
Visiting the dog park is like walking through the halls of a high school. So many characters, so many personalities. Just like us humans, each dog has their own personality and tolerance level. Some are social butterflies; some are bullies and some are wall flowers. Since moving to Florida, Ruger and I have explored the…
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At The End.
You come home from work and your dog is excited to see you as if you left a year ago. You get home from vacation and your cat acts as if they thought you left them for good. Pets are part of our life, but to them we are their whole life. Humans have families.…
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The Welfare Issue.
Case in point – the happy Golden Retriever mix. We received multiple calls on a dog kept in a kennel all day, every day. I made contact with the family and concluded that the dog has always been an outside dog for them. I went over some basics with them regarding proper shelter in Michigan…
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A Special Hell: Part 2
The scalpel cuts deep into the stomach lining making a perfectly straight line and splitting the organ wide open. Her gloved hands pry apart the stomach allowing us to peer inside. Rocks, leaves and undigested dirt make up the hollow cavern. It is Tuesday morning and I find myself kneeling on the floor of the…
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Not the usual suspects
“What is the most unusual animal you’ve had to deal with” is a question I’ve heard many times over the years. While most of my calls involve dogs and cats, you can imagine I’ve seen my share of random other animals in the past 15 years of doing this job. Responding to a rogue pet…
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DOA
Will you die one day? Of course you will. We all will. Do you have pets? Do you know who will take care of them when you are no longer here? I was called to a house where police were on scene with a man who had passed away in his house. DOA (Dead On…
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Meatball
I almost made it through this summer without a foster kitten. Almost. Today I received a call from a man that saw a truck slow in front of his home and dump out what appeared to be some kind of small animals. The truck took off before he could get a closer look or a…
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The Bond
It was a sunny Wednesday morning. The call I received was that EMT’s are requesting an animal control officer at their location to assist with a dog at the residence. I arrived and was told they need to transport the elderly female in the home to the hospital but there is a dog in the…