Jananas

After my last post, I had a rather nasty run in with the Quinte Humane Society. That’ll be a blog post in an of itself. For now, because Lila is microchipped and because her owners had called to report her missing we legally had to give her back.

I contacted the OSPCA to place a cruelty complaint. They agreed to come down here (from Newmarket to downtown Toronto) to pick her up. The lady I spoke with was open about the process and what would be done and took my concerns seriously. It was a relief. Even though I still feel guilty about returning Lila to a situation where I believe she isn’t being cared for, surrendering her to the OSPCA is the best way to ensure that their process is followed properly and that her care is followed up.

This is the email I sent to the cruelty investigator. Because there was such a gap between when we found her and when she was picked up, the investigators hadn’t seen her initial condition or how much she’d improved.

“Dear Name of Coordinator,

We found her around 8pm on Friday June 11th wandering on Highway 37 between Belleville and Tweed. She was weaving between the two lanes of traffic. She was lethargic and her head was hanging low. We were able to get her to come to us. That was when we saw how thin she is. At that point, we were able to clearly make out her ribs, pelvis, and even her vertebrae. We had dog food and treats in the car and so we able to give her a first small meal right there at the side of the road. She was so hungry that she took my partner’s entire hand in her mouth in her desperation to get to the treat/food.

We brought her with us up to the cottage. She drank 4 large bowls of water (think the giant bowls that are used to serve chips at parties) in the next 12 hours. By the Saturday morning she was hydrated enough that we could no longer visually make out her vertebrae. She also had enough energy to jog through the woods and come tearing back around the side of the house when called.

We spent the rest of the weekend feeding her small meals every few hours so that we didn’t upset her stomach. You can hear her digesting. She also spent time outside with our dog and at no point did she attempt to run away from us or the cottage.

On our drive back to Toronto on Sunday we stopped to take the dogs out to stretch their legs/for a bathroom break. She managed to wiggle out of her collar and ran immediately back to the car, looking to be let in. Again, she had an opportunity to run away/escape and she didn’t.

We made an appointment to visit our vet on the Monday evening. At this point she weighed 23kg (approx 52lbs) and the vet thought she should weigh more in the range of 45kg. We did basic bloodwork to test for heartworm so that we could deflea her. We also provided a stool sample to test for parasites, which came back negative.

By Tuesday evening she was no longer desperate for food. She didn’t take off your hand in an attempt to get a treat. She even left some food in the bottom of her bowl after dinner (i.e. was able to self regulate rather than wolfing her food down in less than a minute).

When I spoke with the Quinte Humane Society on Tuesday (at 1pm), I was told that she had escaped on the Friday and was reported missing on the Sunday.

If in the end the owners decide that they do not want her or are unable to care properly for her, we will gladly accept her back into our home. She has charmed us thoroughly and living with her has made us feel lucky.

Sincerely,
Jana”