Beginning to panic about what you’re going to do with the kids this summer? If your child is an animal lover, we have a suggestion.  The Animal Shelter League sponsors our Kids ‘n Critters summer camp and it promises fun and learning for kids in grades 2 through 7. Camps run Monday-Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., with each one-week session geared to a different age level. That allows your child to make age appropriate friends who share their interest in animals. The appropriate session is determined by the grade level your child will be going into next fall — the 2012-13 school year. …

Are you a Giant’s fan? Do you love everything Giant? Then we have a special offer for you — all of our giant cats (and we have some big ones) will be on special this weekend, May 12 and 13, for just $45. Bring your mother down and let her select a cat companion for Mother’s Day so she can’t complain about how lonely she is anymore. Tell her she can think of you as she pets her new BFF. People often comment on the size of our cats up for adoption.  We do grow them bigger in Rohnert Park! Not on purpose of course, but being in a cage doesn’t allow for a lot of exercise and I do believe that …

  We will be celebrating “Be Kind to Animals” Week from May 6 - 12 with a unique offer to our residents.  Get your pets current on their licenses with no late fees!  We know that there are many people out there who have either not licensed their pet yet or have let the license lapse and are reluctant to correct it because of the additional penalties.  Here’s your opportunity to make your pets legal and to avoid the surcharge.  Did you know that in Rohnert Park both dogs and cats (even indoor cats) are required to be current on their rabies vaccines and licenses?  There are several reasons for…

April 15-21 is National Volunteer Week this year. I’m always behind so it’s no surprise that we’re a week late in holding our volunteer appreciation event!  This Friday, April 27 is our annual volunteer appreciation dinner and awards ceremony. With close to 200 volunteers, we have a lot of appreciation to show! Volunteers are really the backbone of the shelter — even before the downturn of the economy and budget cuts tightened up things and reduced staffing levels, we depended on volunteers for helping us provide all of the auxiliary programs offered. With only two full time and six part time…

If I had a dollar for every time some walked through our shelter and commented on the number of pitbulls and chihuahuas that are available I could easily solve our budget problems. Walk through any animal shelter today and you will be amazed at how prevalent those two breeds are — and every combination of mix you can think of. Personally I hold Paris Hilton responsible. She was one of the first celebrities to make the small dog a popular fashion accessory. Suddenly every young woman wanted a little purse-sized dog to carry with them shopping. At just about the same time came two series of …

Once a year, rabbits get the spotlight. That attention can be a mixed bag — both good and bad. First though is to weed through the confusing information and images that Easter brings. I pity the child who gets a bunny and is disappointed that he doesn’t lay chocolate eggs! Where did that myth come from? And no adult rabbit is going to sit still in a basket for long — give a bunny a basket and he has a fun chew toy! Images of rabbits have always been connected to Easter. I think it has more to do with Spring and rebirth (we all know how prolific rabbits are at reproducing!) than with religion…

Bergin University for Canine Studies has moved in to the school district's former district offices in Rohnert Park. In fact, it’s within walking distance of the — which is exciting news for us.  Bergin is home of the Assistance Dog Institute, a training program for service dogs to assist the disabled. Bonnie Bergin first invented the concept of the service dog and created Canine Companions in 1975. She left the organization in 1991 and founded the Assistance Dog Institute, which has grown into the Bergin University — offering accredited associate, bachelor and graduate degrees in various …

With experience as the shelter supervisor, being a renter in the past, and now being a landlord, I have heard and seen it all in regards to renting with pets.  "The landlord won’t allow" is the number one reason animals are turned into the shelter, followed closely by the similar but more vague reason of "I'm moving."   One might ask why you are moving to a place that doesn’t allow pets if you have animals as part of your family? I have heard many people say they would never move someplace that wouldn’t allow my pets too, but they are usually not the people faced with an eviction or …

Neighbor’s dog driving you crazy with his barking? It can certainly be annoying!  What would you do if that became a problem? There was a letter to the editor recently on just this topic.  The letter writer had just adopted a new dog and left him home alone for the first time while she went to work. She asked a neighbor if the dog had been noisy or a problem and was told that he hadn’t been. The next day when she came home from work there was an anonymous angry letter stating that the dog had barked all day and that the next time it happened they were going to call animal control. With that …

This year’s World Spay Day falls on Tuesday, Feb. 28 — which is very apropos since it falls on the day of our monthly "fix-it clinic." So coincidentally, we are participating in this global day promoting spay and neuter of pet animals.  Personally, I feel that every day is spay day and we do what we can year-round to promote this important concept. Spay Day USA started in 1995 by what was then called the Doris Day Animal League (now the Doris Day Animal Foundation). It has since joined forces with the Humane Society of the United States and more recently with the Humane Society International …

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the dangers of letting your cat go outside.  Naturally, I heard all the reasons that your specific cat has to go out — he was a stray and cries at the door, or our young cat is too destructive if locked indoors. I hate scooping a litterbox and this way he just does his business outside, and how unnatural it is to lock an animal indoors with no chance to enjoy the sun and grass. I hear you.  Certainly there are thousands of cats living indoors and enjoying the good life.  But I have to admit, even though I’m 100 percent against free-roaming cats, I felt …

We’re hearing more and more about dogs with separation anxiety.  It seems to be an epidemic! Or is it just a popular term being misused to label all hyper, active, young dogs? Just as many children on the high end of the energy curve are being called “ADHD” and given medications to calm them down, the same is happening to dogs.  How can you tell real separation anxiety from normal exuberance? There is no formal test, but some of the differences are in the degree of anxiousness and the amount of damage done. And to distinguish separation anxiety from other forms of anxieties, the biggest …

I recently received a very sad email from an acquaintance who knows that I’m an animal person. It said “My beloved cat was killed by a speeder going over 50 on our quiet residential block last Wednesday. He was only 5 1/2. Lots of grieving over here.”  How completely tragic — not just because a young cat was killed, but because it was so preventable. We’ve all seen dead animals, including pet cats and less frequently dogs, along the side of the road. So we know that cars kill. But no one thinks that his or her cat is going to be a victim. Why is that?  Is your cat so much smarter than all …

Did Santa bring your family a new dog? Congratulations! A new pup or dog is lots of fun but also a fair amount of work. The sooner you roll up your sleeves and begin, the better — and I’m not talking about shoveling poop! Get your new family member off to a great start by enrolling in obedience classes so you can both learn together, the right way.  I know. You’re busy. The kids have after school activities and sports, it’s dark early, it’s cold in the evenings, you’re working, there’s just too much going on — the list of excuses goes on and on. You’ll do the training in the spring, or maybe …

Do you read the Pet Connection, a weekly column in the Press Democrat? If not, I’m going to share with you an idea that Gina Spadafori, the column’s author, started a few years ago. Just like the fire department wants to get us to associate checking our fire alarm batteries when we change our clocks, she encourages all pet owners to do a collar/tag check on New Year’s day. What she is suggesting is that all pets be checked for having a proper, and a properly fitted, collar with a current, legible ID tag attached. Know how many pets would be saved by this simple task? Imagine if every lost pet…

  You don’t normally think of baby animals this time of year.  Most critters wait until spring to have their young.  To me, this shift in nature’s rhythm is the most compelling evidence of global climate change.   If you think about it, as recently as ten years ago you wouldn’t be able to find a kitten for Christmas, and yet this holiday season we not only had a shelter full, we had some so young that they had just reached the two pound mark (which is required so they can be altered and put up for adoption).  That means the Rohnert Park Animal Shelter still has kittens and it’s after new …

  2011 was a busy year at the Rohnert Park Animal Shelter.  I think it was a pretty good year overall.  Although our final counts aren’t done yet it appears that we are continuing the trend of lowering the number of animals that come in.  That’s one of our goals, to decrease the number of animals that are surrendered to us. One way to do that is through an aggressive spay and neuter program.  We continue to offer free surgeries for cats in our community and, in fact, with the generous support of FAIRE (Friends of the Animals in the Redwood Empire) we will not only be offering free cat spays …

Have you been following the articles about a potentially dog aggressive 110 lb. Mastiff named Cash at the Healdsburg Shelter? Raise your hand if you want that dog living next door to you. Not even Douglas Keane, the celebrity chef fighting for his release, wants to keep him. He is just willing to pay for his rehabilitation and hopes he can then be adopted … to someone else.  Then if an incident occurs, it can be blamed on the new owners, who obviously didn’t manage him properly! Do you want to be that person? And if he does hurt someone’s pet, who will be blamed? We know we live in a lawsuit …

Would you know what to do if your dog were choking? Do you know when a cat injury deserves a trip to the emergency room or when it can wait until the next day? Are you comfortable administering medications to your pet? Would you like to learn? The more you know about pet first aid the better equipped you are to help your pet through an emergency. Often it’s what’s done during the first few minutes after an accident that can make the difference between life and death. Learn pet first aid and CPR at a two-hour workshop being offered at the Rohnert Park Animal Shelter on Saturday, Oct. 15 from …

My friend Joann passed away over Labor Day weekend. A single woman living alone, she leaves behind her three faithful cats. In fact, her three companions comforted her throughout her illness and they were with her in the end. It’s nice to know she wasn’t completely alone but was surrounded by warmth and love. Cats can bring so much comfort and companionship to those who are single or ill. There is nothing like the warmth of a feline curled up in your lap to ward off the chill of a cool evening. It has been scientifically proven that petting a cat can lower your blood pressure and for some …