Please help me help my animals! On Saturday, May 5th, many wonderful people and their dogs will be walking in 17th Annual Wag n' Walk, a walk to help end pet homelessness. I hope you will sponsor me (and four and two legged animals) as we work to raise awareness for barn animals and raise essential money for The SPCA for Monterey County and all their important services. Last year's walk raised over $100,000 for all the SPCAMC animals and we hope to break that record this year! |
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Please help me help animals find forever homes This is Owen, getting his bandages changed. He suffered from rope burns on his hind legs, but thanks to our wonderful vets and the great support network at the SPCA of Monterey County, Owen's outlook is bright. He may not be a tail wagger, but he is certainly helped by all you donors and supporters. (And he can't wait until he gets to run instead of just walk!) |
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So Many Happy Endings! This is Paris, who spent 2 weeks in the equine ICU where we weren't sure if she would survive. Paris was resilient, won the hearts of staff and volunteers, was a star in training, and then she stole the heart of a lovely young girl and mom. She has since been adopted and is living a wonderful life with a fabulous family. At four years old, she is completely healthy, well trained, and has a great life ahead of her. |
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Thoughts from the Barn
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This Week's New Barn Addition
Last Saturday, Ali, Cecilio (Humane Investigations) and I met Dr. Baker of Monterey County Equine in the field to do an initial exam of a horse that was being surrendered to us. While he was scheduled to be dropped off on Tuesday, we figured some pre-planning couldn't hurt, and Dr. Baker wanted to run blood anyway.
When we arrived there, the horse had a nice shelter and was being fed quality food. But something was off - not just the fact that he had a cloudy right eye, or that he was bald in giant patches. He was skinny - a BCS (Body Condition Score) of 2.0. Once Dr. Baker opened up his mouth, we realized what was going on. The poor guy had massive rostral hooks. Most people don't realize that dental care is as important for horses (maybe more) as it is for humans. As grinders, horses wear patterns on their teeth. Their teeth continue to erupt throughout their lives, stopping around 25 years or so. If they don't have their teeth, they can't eat.
This horse couldn't grind his hay enough to get nutrition from it. He was covered in fungus and lice. We went to work immediately. One of the joys of working with Monterey County Equine is that they are a complete mobile equine vet unit. When we got the Long Valley horses, MCE was there in the field with us, doing exams as we loaded them into the trailer - preg checks, age exams, and initial vaccinations. They had a generator, portable ultrasound, and of course, their digital x-ray machine if needed.
So there we were, and Dr. Baker started performing a dental while I started giving him a bath - using a whole bottle of ketchlor. He was doing a whole lot better when we left him for the night, with arrangements for Dr. Baker to meet me the next day for vaccinations and sedation if needed to get him in the trailer.
We named him Ashoka, after the great Indian emperor. Ashoka also means "without suffering", and since that is our goal for him, it seemed appropriate. Soon his coat will grow back! He has gotten multiple baths and is doing better. He loves his lunchtime meal of satin finish, lixotinic, and equine senior.
While we have to use gloves all the time still, Ashoka is in love with people. He is so sweet, and caring. When his hair grows back, I know what a star he will be. He enjoys having his ears scratched, nuzzling against your shoulder, being bathed, and spending time with people. He is blind in his right eye, but it's clearly something he's lived with for a long time because he compensates amazingly well - if his eye didn't look so cloudy (tentative diagnosis is a detached lens), he could probably fool most everyone.
So that is Ashoka, our latest surrender and addition to the barn. Your donations will help Ashoka stay on his protein rich diet, help us give him his baths, get his teeth rechecked in 10 weeks, keep up with his vaccinations, and get his feet back in shape.
Ashoka, and I, thank you.
by Stephanie Nicora on Mon, Mar 19, 2012 @ 12:23 AM
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You can also mail donations directly to The SPCA for Monterey County at: P.O. Box 3058, Monterey, CA 93942. Click here for a printable donation form!
Please make a notation on your check designating where the donations should go such as: participating walkers name/team, Wag n' Walk. Thank you. Your contributions will help more than 12,000 animals whose lives are touched each year by The SPCA for Monterey County.
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