Adopt-a-Cat Month in Arlington

We’re all excited about the challenge we have set for ourselves this month: find permanent, loving homes for 100 cats! June marks the beginning of the season when kittens are brought in to the League in droves, and we still receive plenty of adult cats. Our cat room gets very full, and many of our adult cats don’t get visitors’ attention because of all the cute kittens. So we’re creating incentives to find adopters for all of them!

On June 7 the League will host the Saturday Scoop. Visitors that day will get free ice cream and a 20% discount on any retail purchase. Also, anyone who finalizes the adoption of an adult cat will get 50% off the normal cat adoption fee on this day only. So come in, get some ice cream, and take a look at our adult cats that are waiting so patiently for someone to give them a loving home.

Also, all month cat adopters’ names will be put in a bowl, and at the end of June we will draw names to receive terrific prizes, including a pair of Nationals’ tickets. So June is a great time to find a new love: one that will be forever grateful that you opened your heart and your home.

One great example is Misty pictured above. She is approaching an anniversary. She has been with us for almost a full year. Why has she been overlooked by all our visitors? She is quiet and a little shy, but very friendly when she gets to know you. We hope that someone with a kind heart will want to take Misty home this month.

Wildlife Aid Brigade to the Rescue

On Sunday, May 17, volunteers rescued a mother and four baby ducks in the launch of a pilot program called the Wildlife Aid Brigade. The project involves volunteers interested in directly helping wild animals. It was created by Sue Lunson Farinato, a Maryland wildlife rehabilitator, to protect wild animals and to assist animal shelters with the wildlife calls that they receive every day.

The Animal Welfare League of Arlington is the first shelter in the metro region to implement the new program. So far one AWLA volunteer has completed the wildlife training and two more are in progress.

On Sunday afternoon a caller from a pool at a large high-rise apartment complex in Arlington reported that a mallard female and her ducklings were unable to get out of the pool. Our Wildlife Aid Brigade volunteer, Tracy Coppola, accompanied by Sue Farinato, responded. Sue described the rescue:

The staff at the apartment complex was very helpful and accommodated our every request. We rigged up a raft in the corner, covered it with towels and waited for the babies to find it. They were getting tired, and mother kept hopping in and out of the pool. Finally she got out of the pool near the raft and the ducklings hopped onto the raft then out of the pool.

Meanwhile I had contacted Lee Prouty, one of the WAB instructors very experienced in waterfowl rescue. She called a Virginia rehabber, Jim Snyder, who came out to assist us. We could not leave the mother and babies there, because the pool ourtyard was entirely surrounded by a 3' wall. The mother could not have led the babies to food, and there was nothing but concrete inside the courtyard. Jim arrived and we came up with a plan for capturing them.

Extremely careful work allowed us to get within a few feet of the mother, and Jim netted her. Tracy and I caught the babies, and they all were put in the same carrier for transport to Roaches Run Waterfowl Sanctuary, only a short distance away. …. While we can't actually relocate most species, waterfowl is one which we can!

This rescue demonstrates the time, care, and knowledge required to help wildlife in our urban environment. We hope more volunteers will join this exciting program.

Rabid Fox in Arlington

A gray fox ran up to a woman in her south Arlington yard and bit her on May 9. A neighbor drove the fox away by throwing an oil can at it. Police, emergency medical technicians, and animal control responded. When animal control officers arrived, the fox was under an emergency vehicle biting the mud flaps. Officers netted the fox and brought it back to the shelter and euthanized it. It was sent for testing at the Virginia state laboratory, and on May 13 the lab reported that the fox tested positive for rabies.

The woman who was bitten is receiving anti-rabies treatment and is expected to have no long-term effects from the bite. The Arlington County Public Health Division sent an alert to local Civic Associations to identify any other people or animals who may have been exposed. While a rabid fox attack is extremely rare in Arlington, it illustrates the importance of keeping our distance from wildlife.

“Rabies is endemic in our area. People need to be aware that there are wild animals, including foxes, in many of our neighborhoods,” said Richard Cole, chief of the County’s Environmental Health Bureau.

We receive calls every day from Arlington residents concerned about wildlife. As more and more land is built over, wild animals are forced to live closer to human beings. Wild animals play an important role in our environment: for example, bats eat mosquitoes and foxes eat insects, rats, and mice. Also, observing our native species is an exciting way to connect with our natural world.


Residents can take steps to discourage wildlife from living in their yards: remove attractions, such as garbage or pet food, and keep your yard free of debris that could serve as habitat. Neighbors can work together to make their community less inviting to wildlife. If your neighbor is leaving pet food outdoors or intentionally feeding wildlife, educate them about the danger of coming into close contact with some wildlife. Even bird seed that falls on the ground can attract mice and rats, and these attract foxes. We can also take the essential step of keeping our dogs and cats current on rabies vaccinations.

The likelihood of encountering a rabid animal is extremely rare, but there are cases of rabies every year. Animals that test positive most often are raccoons and feral cats. We haven’t had a rabid fox in Arlington in years. The great majority of wildlife seen in Arlington is healthy, but signs of illness include having trouble walking, walking in circles, and staggering. If you see an animal exhibiting these signs of illness, call the League immediately at 703-931-9241.

Farewell to Brutus

Last week we experienced the most difficult part of pet companionship: loss. Our shelter mascot, Brutus, died last Friday. Brutus was a handsome and supremely confident Ragdoll cat. He was surrendered to the shelter in August 2001 because his owner was moving. His name at the time was Brutella because when he was a kitten his owner thought he was a female. Of course, he was a neutered male so we thought the name Brutus was much more appropriate.

We had been without a mascot for two years since our long-time shelter cat, Wilson, had died. A former staff member campaigned for Brutus to become Wilson’s successor, and he certainly proved himself worthy. At first he spent his days at our front desk greeting (or not) all our visitors. But he proved to be somewhat moody and was not always as welcoming as one might want. Therefore, we decided that Brutus would be better off spending his time in our offices.

He kept a strict eye on all our activities and helped out sitting on papers and keyboards. His most important job, however, was that of dog behavior evaluator. All the shelter dogs would meet Brutus before being made available for adoption so that we could see how they reacted to a cat. These encounters helped us inform potential adopters about whether their prospective dog would do well with cats.

Brutus, of course, was no ordinary cat and did not react the way an ordinary cat might. He never ran. He would stand his ground while facing the (leashed) dog and dare it to annoy him. Some dogs weren’t even worthy of notice, so he would turn his back to them. Most dogs needed only a scowl from Brutus to back off, but the pushy ones were met with a smack from his hefty paw. I once saw an unfortunate puppy stick his nose in Brutus’ food dish. In a split second Brutus had bitten him on the top of the head, and the puppy ran squealing away.

Brutus did play favorites among our staff. Lisa was his prime source of food, and he followed her wherever she went. Ann, Alice, and Rita were his executive assistants charged with brushing his long fur and arranging his favorite cat beds. When none of the four were available, he visited with others of us who could provide less desirable attention.

During his seven years with us (he was about seven years old in 2001), Brutus had several health problems that were carefully treated and monitored. So it was shocking when we found him unable to stand last Thursday morning. We took him to his veterinarian at Caring Hands Animal Hospital, and after examining him he referred us to SouthPaws Veterinary Referral Center. But Brutus continued to decline. On Friday morning, in consultation with the veterinarian at South Paws, we decided to have him humanely euthanized.

We weren’t prepared for Brutus’s death, and even if we had been it wouldn’t make it any easier to walk in the shelter offices in the morning and not see him. Like any well loved companion, Brutus made his mark on all of us. It will be a long time before we look at his large gold chair and not imagine him lounging in it.

Many, many animals pass through our shelter and make lasting impressions on staff and volunteers, but one that we will think of for years to come is Brutus, the Ragdoll cat.

A Flood of Homeless Kittens

It starts as a trickle and quickly becomes a flood. Homeless kittens, that is, come flooding into animal shelters every spring, and it doesn’t stop until fall. At the Arlington animal shelter the trickle has begun. We have 26 unweaned kittens in six different volunteer foster homes already. We receive kittens from many sources: owners who haven’t neutered their cats and many, many stray kittens rescued by good Samaritans. Some come in with a mother cat, but most do not. Some can’t eat solid food yet and must be bottle fed. Some have never experienced human contact and must be handled and socialized. Most of these tiny kittens would not survive without the special care (sometimes round the clock) of foster caretakers.

Once these kittens are eight weeks old and weigh at least two pounds, their foster parents bring them back to the shelter for adoption. All of them are spayed or neutered before going to their forever homes so that they do not perpetuate the cycle of increasing numbers of homeless cats.

Our foster caretakers have room in their hearts and in their homes for defenseless creatures that need their care to survive. Although they may have a hard time letting go of their “babies” when it’s time for adoption, foster parents love to see their kittens going to loving, permanent homes.

And we can't forget the adult cats in our shelter. Some of which have been waiting for months for the right person to give them love and security in a permanent home. In the summer when there are many adorable kittens for adoptions, these adult cats are often overlooked. They need homes just as much as the kittens do.

Finding a Friend

We are all romantics at the shelter. We love to see people fall in love (especially with animals). It makes our hearts glad and we get a warm feeling all over when someone walks into our shelter and makes a connection with one of our animals. We love to see happy people adopt a new best friend.

What’s really nice is hearing from people after their adoption(s). We often get letters like the one from OC girl that show how besotted with love people are with their new animal companion. Our staff and volunteers work hard to help visitors find the right companion, and success stories like this one make our day!

German Shepherd Rescued

One of our current shelter residents is Nicky, a young German shepherd mix that has had quite an eventful life so far. He started coming in to our shelter in 2006 when he was only a puppy. He kept running loose and being brought in as a stray. We returned him to his owner four times before the owner decided that he couldn’t take care of Nicky and decided to surrender the dog to us to find him a new home. That was in November 2007. That same month one of our volunteer visiting veterinarians examined Nicky and found problems with both his knee caps.

The malady is called LUXATING PATELLA. The patella is the knee cap which glides up and down when the knee joint is bent and protects the knee joint. It also guides the action of the quadriceps muscle in the lower leg. A normal dog knee will have two bony ridges that form a fairly deep groove in which the patella is supposed to slide up and down. If this groove is shallow,
either because of malformation or trauma, the knee cap will jump out of the groove and move sideways instead of up and down.

When the patella luxates from the groove of the femur, it usually cannot return to its normal position until the quadriceps (muscle in lower leg) relaxes and increases in length. This explains why the affected dog may be forced to hold his leg up for a few minutes or so after the initial incident. While the muscles are contracted and the patella is luxated from its correct position, the joint is held in the flexed or bent position. The dog will feel pain caused by the knee cap sliding across the bony ridges of the femur. Once out of position, the animal feels no discomfort and continues his activity.

If not corrected, the groove will become even shallower and the dog will become progressively lamer. Arthritis will prematurely affect the joint, causing a permanently swollen knee with poor mobility. Surgerymay be required and is the treatment of choice, but is not necessary in every dog with this condition.

A grade 2 luxating patella, which is what Nicky had, means there is frequent patellar luxation, which, in some cases, becomes more or less permanent. We kept him on medications for pain and inflammation.

Nicky had been available for adoption for since last November, but no adopter wanted to take on the expense of surgery. The League decided to use our Woody and Mickey Healthy Pet Fund to get the surgery that Nicky needed. We investigated several options and worked out a reasonable cost with the Washington Animal Rescue League Medical Center for the surgery.

On February 29 Nicky received his needed knee surgery. After surgery he spent a week of cage rest at Ballston Animal Hospital where he could be checked regularly by a veterinarian. Then he came back to the shelter. But he needed very special treatment for his recovery.

Nicky needs STRICT CONFINEMENT which means he must be kept in a crate for 30 days and ONLY taken out to eliminate. He is staying in a large dog crate in our Kennel Manager’s office. Assigned staff and volunteers walk him directly outside for bathroom trips and bring him immediately inside once he is done. At first they used a sling under his tummy to help keep weight off his leg.

Nicky had his sutures removed on March 14. After suture removal, we began passive physical therapy including limb flexation and extension for one minute 3-4 times a day.

After the 30 day strict confinement, Nicky will need an additional four weeks of confinement with low impact, non-acrobatic activity and slow progressive leash walks to build muscle and stamina.

Through his entire ordeal Nicky has remained happy, friendly, and eager to please. Our biggest problem at first was keeping him still when he saw anyone that he recognized. He would wag his tail and try to stand up if he saw one of his favorite volunteers. He tolerates the physical therapy without complaint.

I am happy to report that he is now available for adoption again. He is still in his crate in an office, and we will escort interested applicants to meet him there. We hope someone will respond to his sweet personality and take him home to complete his recovery. He’ll make a wonderful companion.