Nip, Tuck, and Snip Snip

Busy days here in Casper Wyoming as we headed into another low cost spay and neuter clinic. We have a vet out of Jackson who arranges with several other vets around the state for a traveling clinic that comes into several communities a couple times a year to run this event. They coordinate with several rescue groups to gather volunteers and arrange for a location to pull off the event.

In short, it's complete chaos. The dogs come in excited, scared, out of their heads to be out of their own house and just sheer bouncy

And Sometimes they just need held down.

Just a warning, if those SPCA commercials make you cry, this posting may tug at the tears. However, we make this event happen to try to limit the need for those commercials. This year with the help of the local animal control shelter we were able to offer many of the procedures for the dogs normal licensing fee of $5.00. Many of these dogs come from families that it's fairly obvious that the normal cost of a spay/neuter is out of their reach.

No matter the economic background of the owners of these dogs, we gather for one main reason. To provide much needed population control measures under the care and observation of vets. This year we had 5 vets and 7 techs who spent the day operating on and overseeing the recovery of these animals. We also had close to 2 dozen volunteers who did everything from cleaning out kennels, sit and assist with dogs, and checking in and out animals through out the day. In two days we were able to provide over 60 procedures to both dogs and cats... forgive me, I worked with dogs all day so that's what you get pictures of. We just didn't have any wonderfully adorable boxes of kittens this time around.

So, just a few of our critters...

Miss Lola was just sheer sweetness

Before and after her spay

Oscar was as laid back and easy going as Great Danes come. A pure lover boy.

And he enjoyed his drugs too...

I just love me some cute heeler pups and Mr Pudge was no exception

And him and his household brother Blue were as cute as they come. I promise, they're still breathing here, just waiting for them to wake up a bit more.

Speaking of cute and cuddly pups, Mr Kane and Miss Bella were sweeties. I don't think Kane ever got placed back in a crate since he figured out if he just lay here quietly, people would pet him.

Ricco here was as quiet as he got for the day awaiting surgery after his pre-meds. He cried from arrival to departure singing those neuter blues. We always have one big male that is the biggest wimp of all.

Speaking of whiners, can't forget the sisters Heidi and Chloe. Bigger just means louder sometimes.

And who expects someone named Scraps to be such a love?

What is it about a sweet faced goldie? Krista was no exception, as was her sister sweets.

I love working with these guys. I may be sore and stiff after a day of getting up and down off the floor and toting unconscious dogs of all sizes, but it is rewarding at the end of the day when you realize that each of those procedures could have stopped at least one unwanted litter that may have never found good homes, or worse, we put down due to other circumstances.

I know many people don't care to "fix" their animals and I've heard all the arguments. I'm not going to get into it, but I am going to state that if you have an animal you need to get as I call it, broke, we have another clinic coming up in September. We'd be happy to help you.

And if I were just able to have another dog, I think this little huggable and loving sweety named Oakley would have come home with me right then and there.

I only got one days worth of pictures. I was just too busy the second day to get the camera out. We had our hands full of pit bulls that just refused to come out of anesthesia correctly, and one lab that had complications. We got everyone home that night but it made for a busy night.

As for Friday, while Bob and I were at the clinic, the cops called and told us that they thought someone had broken into our house. He ran home to deal with that and as an hour slipped by and no word came I realized that I had left my cell at home so I ran home myself.

As I was walking up to speak to one of the many cops present (3 cop cars, 1 k9 unit, a fire truck and an ambulance), they were bringing someone I didn't recognize out on a stretcher. I was praying there were both dog bites and that they weren't too badly hurt when I was informed that my dogs were okay and that the intruder had not been bit that they knew of and that instead my dogs had kept the cops away from the idiot as he climbed into our ceiling downstairs and took all his drugs and OD'd. It seems that he was on drug fueled breaking and entering spree and had come through our dog doors (Who in the hell goes through a Great Dane sized dog door?) where he was then cornered by the cops. Teaches us to volunteer... kidding. I'm just glad that the kids were unharmed and that no one else got hurt in all the drug induced drama. I just thought I'd share the story of my darwin award guard dogs.

Hope you all had a great weekend and have a fantastic week.