Newsletter 01-2020 A Newsletter 01-2018

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OCAP RecapA Newsletter for Members of Ontonagon County Animal ProtectionWinter 2020President’s CornerPhysical address19504 M-38Ontonagon, MIMailing addressP.O. Box 315Ontonagon MI 49953Web siteocappaws.orgPetfinderpetfinder.com(location 49953)Facebookfacebook.com/Ocap PawsFor more information about ourdogs or to discuss volunteeringwith the dogs, call Anne Lundberg 390-0167 or 884-6722For more information about ourcats or to discuss volunteeringwith the cats, call Janet Wolfe884-2429To report neglected or abusedanimals, call the OntonagonCounty Sheriff's Department(884-4901).OCAP volunteers are notcertified animal control officers,but they do assist the Sheriff'sDepartmentwhenasked.OCAP's role is to operate asafe, caring shelter for lost,neglected, and abused cats anddogs and to help find options forother types of needy domesticanimals.Board of DirectorsOfficersDot Phillips - PresidentLee McCaffery- Vice PresidentJackie Dobbins - SecretaryBarb Braithwaite- Co-TreasurerMary Ross- Co-TreasurerTrusteesBarb MartinAnne LundbergJanet WolfeA happy and prosperous2020 to all you loyalOCAP supporters andvolunteers. As we enter anew decade, we have tokeep up our aggressiveand loving support for ourfour-legged friends. At ourshelter we received, treated, loved, and found forever homes for over 80cats and 30 dogs in 2019.Our cat and dog coordinators faced many challenges, but they alwayscame out ahead. Thankyou, Jan Wolfe (the catlady) and Anne Lundberg(the dog guru), for all yourdedication and extrahours. Thanks to LeeMcCaffery for learning allthe intricacies of our heating/cooling/ventilationsystems and keepingeverythingrunningsmoothly. The treasurersBarb Braithwaite andMary “Orange” Ross arekept on their toes dealingwith billings from severalvet clinics and a variety offood and other supplysources, but they producea good report everymonth that keeps usapprised of our incomeand expenditures. JackieDobbins, our secretary,keeps us on track withgoodminutes,andtrustee Barb Martin handles memberships andthank you notes for generaldonationsandmemorials.So you see, we havean excellent, dedicatedboard of directors wholeave little for me to do,and I love it. We havemany other volunteerswho do most of the dailycleaning of the dogs andcats in our shelter, but wecan always find a spot formore. If you prefer not tobe committed to helpingout at a specific time ofday, we can always usehelp in keeping up withlaundry or cleaning thepublic areas of the shelter. During the warmmonths, we’ll be lookingfor someone to do a littlepainting and trimming thelong grass around thedog yard fences. If youhave some spare timeand would like to help out,give us a call or come inon Saturdays between1:00 and 4:00, our regularopen hours. This is acommunity shelter, andwe welcome your visits.Is your membership current?Dusty knows that anOCAPmembershipbrings an OCAP RECAPnewsletter twice a year,and he’s happy that petscan have their own memberships so he doesn’tmiss an issue. OCAP’sannual memberships are 12.00 and run from January through December.That means your membership is up for renewalevery January unless youpay in advance for multiple years. The 12.00membership fee is forone person, and it entitlesthe member to receivetwo newsletters a year, awritten invitation to ourannual dinner, and theright to vote in elections,which are held at theannual meeting in July.We had stopped petmemberships for a fewyears, but we broughtthem back in 2020. (Ourapologies to our petmembers, but since fewLillie Pragacz photoof them are literate orhave proper table manners, we felt it best theynot have voting privilegesor attend the dinner.Service dogs are the dinner exception, sincethey’re on the job.)

Chip’s StoryOne July night, just as itwas getting dark, the catcoordinator’s phone rang.It was a call about a catwith a broken leg that aGood Samaritan wantedto rescue but couldn’t getclose enough. Did OCAPhave any humane traps?Off went the coordinatorwith traps plus cat foodand other supplies. Twodays later the cat was inOCAP’s hands and beingseen by a vet. Yup – bothbones in the cat’s lowerleg were snapped off, andthe leg was dangling anduseless. During a thorough examination, the vetsaw that the cat’s eyeswere swollen shut, eitherfrom an upper respiratoryinfection or a more serious medical condition.She referred to cat toanother vet with a largerpractice and an advancedsurgical suite equipped toprovide more options forsaving the leg, and bothvets agreed to treat theeyes medically beforejumping into surgery.Once the leg was setand held fast with anexternal stabilizer, the catwent to a foster homewith drops for earmites,antiseptic for his legwounds, and antibioticointment for his eyes.Chip was a mess at first, but he had a lot of spiritand was friendly and affectionate, even when hiswound was being cleaned and his eyes and earstreated.Chip became an uncle to the kittens sharing hisfoster home.When the swelling in hiseyes went down a bit, thevet could see that it was,as suspected, entropion,a condition in which theeyelids roll inward andrub on the corneas, oftencausing ulcers. So Chip,as he was now called,was not only fighting tosave his leg, he was indanger of losing his sight.Despite all his problems, Chip was a sweetie.He chirped rather thanmeowing(Askhim,“What’s your name?” andhe’d answer with something that sounded muchlike “Chip!”). He alsobecame the Uncle orHouse Dad for kittens thatwere sharing his fosterhome.Chipstartedbathingthekittens,because they were tooyoung to clean themselves. They were learning to eat solid food andneeded baths after everymealtime, which was several times a day. Evenafter their foster momsponged them off, theystill had slightly sticky fur,which Chip took care ofwithdedicationandgusto.OCAPsupporterscame through with donations to help cover abouthalf of Chip’s vet care,and eventually his legsupport was removed, hehad surgery to correct hisentropion, and the earmites cleared up. Todayhe has a loving home witha sister cat – who getsregular baths from cleanfreak Chip.After surgery to repair his entropion, Chip lookeda bit like Frankenstein. Fortunately, his eyeshealed well, and the lids no longer scrape on hiscorneas.His new sister Blue gets the benefit of regularbaths from clean-freak Chip

Seven subtle signsyour cat is mad at youIf your cat hisses andgrowls or lashes its tailback and forth, you canpretty much figure you’rein the doghouse, butthere are other signs thatcan tell you your cat isannoyed. Cats have aright to their preferences,and just because we consider ourselves their“owners,” we shouldn’tbelieve that gives us theright to control everyaspect of their lives.When they’re annoyedwith us, it’s best to givethem some space to chillout.Pupil size. When thepupils dilate to the pointthat that block out most ofyour cat’s eye color, it canmean kitty is in fight-orflight mode. Treat kittycarefully.Ear direction. If a catis feeling threatened oruneasy, its ears mayrotate; but if kitty’s flat-outangry, its ears will go flatout to the sides. Flattenedears could even signifyit’s considering an attack.The tail tells. A tailflicking back and forthcould certainly mean yourcat is in no mood forwhatever is going on or isready to pounce. A catthat holds its tail low whilestanding could also beannoyed about some-thing. It might not be thebest time to reach out tostroke it or try to pick itup.Fluffy. If your cat islooking particularly puffedup, it probably means it’sangry. Making itself lookbigger is intended as anact of intimidation. Givekitty some space.Purring. This is a hardone, because purring sooften means a cat ishappy. However, if a cathas exhibited other signsof stress and is purring,don’t take it as a signalthat all is well. In thiscase, it’s a signal thatthings are not OK, andthe cat doesn’t want anymore of your attention.Too many people end upwith scratches in the mistaken belief that a purralso signals calmnessandcontentment.(Remember – a cat inpain or afraid such asduring a vet exam willalso purr.)Staring at you without blinking. If a catstares at you from a distance without breaking itsgaze, it could be perceiving itself to be initiating aconfrontation. Often thatunwavering gaze meansit’s annoyed with you andwants to settle who hasthe upper paw.Prominent whiskers.If a cat’s whiskersbecome prominent andthe muscles of its facebecome tight, it may feelthreatened and defensive. It’s definitely time togive it some space.And the winner is !At our annual spring dinner/auction fundraiser,we introduced the beautiful and special patrioticquilt made and donatedby Dorothy Sharkey. Thequilt pattern was from the“Quilts of Valor” programthrough which a percentage of the pattern price isdonated to provide quiltsfor veterans in appreciation for their service. Thatfundraiser ran until thelast square on the quiltboard was sold, whichtook place at the Quartersfor a Cause fundraiser inOctober. Roberta O’Connell of Greenland was thelucky winner.OCAP thanks all whobought chances, Dorothyfor her hard work, and theCitizens Bank for displaying the quilt and sellingtickets all summer.Planning to mail somethingto OCAP?Our post office box number is 315, which is wherewe get our mail. The physical address is 19504M38, but there’s no mail receptable there for security reasons. Please send all correspondence to thepost office box. If you are sending a package,please let us know so we can watch for it or suggestone of our home addresses instead. For cat packages, contact Jan Wolfe at 906-884-2429 orjwolfe2@jamadots.com and for dog packages, contact Anne Lundberg at 906-390-0167 or annelundberg79@gmail.com.

Susie’s StorySusie came to the OCAPfamily after being foundwandering on a busyhighway in OntonagonCounty. She had a collar,but it had no identificationinformation, nor was shemicrochipped. Thoughshe was heavily advertised as a stray on Facebook and on our localradio station, Susie’sowner was never found.Susie was named afterher kind-hearted rescuerwho came upon her onthatbusyhighway.Though Susie was verymuddy and smelly, shewas invited into her rescuer’s car and brought toOCAP. Unfortunately, during the intake examination that is given to allincoming dogs, Susiewas found to be slightlyunderweight, a senior dogwith muscle wasting,visualandhearingdeficits, and she also hadsome hard tumors in hermammary glands andabdomen.She wasobserved to anxiouslypace the perimeter of herroom and was noted to behand shy (cringing at thelift of a human hand in herdirection).Although we did notknow for sure, we fearedthat Susie’s life had notbeen an easy one. Andthoughshewasunclaimed and a seniordog that was not in thebest of health physicallyor mentally, we wanted tobe sure we could provideher with her best life during whatever time shehad left. She deserved toexperiencelove,patience, and compassion while we monitoredher quality of life.She was given manybaths and daily coat careto help her skin feel better. A cost-effective medication regimen was prescribed by Dr. Griffin ofDeepwoods vet clinic totry to help alleviateSusie’s anxiety and man-she had never experienced running before.With her progressunfolding, we wantedmore for Susie and knewthat OCAP’s sheltercouldn’t provide the leastrestrictive environmentfor her. Unfortunately, afoster home was notavailable. Our Dog Coordinator reached out to Sil-age any pain she wasexperiencing. Soon wewere gaining her trust –she was coming to us fortreats and found sheenjoyed her neck andchin scratched. Her facialexpressions were lesstense, and she wouldoften be seen running inthe dog yard as thoughver Muzzle Cottage inRapid City, MI, and afterassessing her further,Susie was found to meettheir requirements. SilverMuzzle Cottage takes indogs that are 10 years oldand over, as well as dogsneeding hospice care(among other requirements). Susie fit thoserequirements, as well asmeeting their behaviorrequirements. Silver Muzzle Cottage is a fosterbased rescue. They relyon fosters to house theirdogs, as well as most oftheir dogs living amongeach other (not in kennels) in the Director’shome, which is the site forSMC. This was perfect,becauseSusiewasdrawn to be near otherdogs – it seemed to helpher anxiety to have apack.Last fall, Susie wasour first dog transferred toSilver Muzzle Cottage.Unfortunately her battlewith cancer was humanely ended sooner than weall expected it would needto be. Susie’s breast cancer was found to haveaggressively spread toher lungs. Though wewere all saddened by thenews, we would like tobelieve that throughOCAP and SMC Susieknew love, compassion,and felt purpose and joy.While we wish her “bestlife” weren’t so short, weare happy to know she atleast left this world with ahealthy taste of being valued through compassion,love, and understanding.Please take a momentand go to www.facebook.com/silvermuzzlecottage where you cansee the joy and purposein the faces of dogs likeour Susie-Q. Hats off tothe volunteer staff of SMCfor all the end-of-life care,love, and compassionthey selflessly give everyday.

2019-2020 OAHS Student VolunteersWhat’s your dog trying to tell you?1. If your dog holds her tail straight out from herbody, she’s likely:a. Curiousb. Defensivec. Nervous2. Your dog can tell if another dog wants to play bythe direction his tail is wagging.a. Trueb. False3. Dogs are the only animals besides apes andmonkeys that can:a. Communicate through speechb. Know you’ve had a bad dayc. Understand your facial expressions(Ken Raisanen photo)This year’s high school volunteers are (L-R) LilliePragacz (with Twitch); Dakota Laingren (withPaddy); Brandon Westie (with Remy); and AustinWalters (with Rico).Students enrolled in the sweeping, and socializingOntonagon Area Schools with the cats when time(OAS) Senior Service permits.NospecialProject class are again “busy-work” is created togaining valuable experi- make the job easier forence by volunteering one them than it is for theclass period a day at our adult volunteers. OCAP’sshelter. The students do

radio station, Susie’s owner was never found. Susie was named after her kind-hearted rescuer who came upon her on that busy highway. Though Susie was very muddy and smelly, she was invited into her res-cuer’s car and brought to OCAP. Unfortunately, dur-ing the intake examina-tion that is given to all incoming dogs, Susie was found to be .