Keep the donations coming to keep animals’ bellies full
Have you ever gotten that phone call at the last minute letting you know that 10 people are coming over tonight for dinner? You immediately start worrying that you won’t have enough food to feed everyone. (You probably also want to pull your spouse aside and ask them exactly how they thought inviting 10 people to your house for dinner tonight without speaking to you first seemed like a good idea, but that’s another conversation for another day.)
At the Aiken SPCA, we’ve got lots of mouths to feed. Some days we have as many as 200 dogs and cats looking to us to provide them with breakfast and dinner each day. As you can imagine, that’s a lot of kibble to have on hand at any one time.
We sometimes get to “cook” for goats, horses, rabbits, birds, iguanas, ferrets and pot bellied pigs. Our kennel staff “chefs” are responsible for preparing specialized meals for all of these animals and boy can they eat!
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Whom do I call regarding concerns about animals in City and County?
Our phones ring off the hook each day with a variety of questions.
As a 74-year-old animal welfare organization that is well-known by many residents of the CSRA, the Aiken SPCA is usually the first point of contact when an animal question arises.
People call to report their dog or cat missing or that one wandered in their yard or was found in a parking lot or on the side of the road.
There is a network of people who help get the word out to reunite pets.
We take the information and post it at the shelter, as does Aiken County Animal Control. We inform City of Aiken Animal Control, as well.
At the new website, http://aikenpetsreunited.org, information and photos are posted there, as well as on www.twitter.com.
Local veterinarians also usually have space in their offices to post lost pet reports.
Local vets and shelters can also scan these found pets for microchips, which, if they have one, will greatly speed up the reuniting process.
The other types of calls we frequently receive are reports by people who are concerned for the well being of an animal.
It may be a thin horse in a pasture, a dog left outside without shelter, a potential fighting ring or a potential hoarder, someone who may have vastly more animals than they can properly care for.
These issues need to be investigated by the animal control department that has jurisdiction in the area.