The ACN received a call about a dog and some cats in very bad shape. The caller was concerned about their welfare and wanted to remain anonymous.
The Animal Care Network had had the dog and the cats spayed and neutered a year earlier and they were treated for fleas at that time. The owner was told very sternly by the veterinary clinic and our volunteers that the dog and the cats ALL needed to be treated monthly for fleas or it would become dangerous, even deadly.
This famil…y moved and we lost track of them until the complaint call came in…we sent our volunteer Sue to check the situation out. She spoke with the owner for nearly an hour trying to persuade her to give up the dog and the cats….after much debate and persuasion
Sue was able to get the dog and one of the cats surrendered, these two were in desperate condition.
To make a long story short, this is the condition of the cat, this is the severity of the flea infestation, and this is the reality of what can happen to dogs and cats living in a flea infested environment when
no action is taken.
God Bless our Sue, Angie and Dawn for working on this amazing cat and dog for hours to tackle the flea situation. It was unbelievably horribly nasty and beyond comprehension the condition that Sweet Pea and Peaches were in.
Sweet Pea the cat completely participated and enjoyed her multiple baths ,flea combing, skin conditioning and never fought or objected!
Angie wrote:
“My shirt was even covered in blood at first. but most washed away” Pure blood, nothing but blood filling up an entire bathtub from one small cat.
Yes we do educate, we repeat ourselves over and over again. The owner was told for over a year about the flea situation and the skin condition that follows, multiple volunteers talked to them, multiple volunteers kindly educated them, informational packets were given on the issue and resources to treat the animals.
After another cat actually died, the owner had the remaining cats treated for fleas and bombed her house and the remaining cats are now doing better.
Please remember, our volunteers cannot force people to surrender their animals.
www.michigananimaladoptionnetwork.org
