Lynchburg Humane Society Blog

April 24th is the big day! Get ready for Lynchburg Humane Society’s 4th annual Paws on Peaks View Dog Walk and Show-Off. We promise a howling good time for everyone! I decided to survey some Lynchburg canines to get their take on the event. These canines are all a-bark with excitement. “Oh, boy, oh boy, oh boy,” yapped a Jack Russell. He jumped and spun in a circle. “I can’t wait to see all my old buds and meet new pals! My human said there were over 150 dogs there last year. I can’t wait, I can’t wait!” I chatted with a particularly striking Poodle. “Well, I’m thrilled about the Dog Show-Off. I’ve been looking at the categories and I really wish there were one for ‘Most Beautiful’. I’d be sure to win. After all,” she batted her long eyelashes, “have you ever seen a more gorgeous dog than I am?” “Humph,” growled a Beagle mix, “too bad there’s not a ‘Most Conceited’ category.” “Oh, stop it,” yipped a good-natured Lab, “there are categories for everyone: Musical Sit, Best Costume, The ...

As we move into warmer months we will begin to see more and more cats coming out of hiding. I am truly amazed at the amount of cats in this community and how much of a problem we have with feral and free roaming cats. I am not sure how cats became disposable in our culture and I am not just talking about here but across the nation. We get many calls a day from people trying to find a solution to their stray cat problem. We hear a lot of, "someone just dropped them here", when more than likely they came across a food source and wandered to the location. It is very apparent to us with the amount of kittens we see each spring through the fall, many coming in way too young to survive on their own without their mothers which means, we will get more next year because the mother was not spayed or the father not neutered. It is a chronic cycle each year that we want to stop. So how do we stop it? I think knowledge is power and if you have a problem you should read up on the top...

It is funny to think that people don't know what to do when they see a stray or if they pick up a stray, but more times than not we hear, I just can't keep it, like they are guilty about bringing it to us. Our main priority is to the lost pets of the community so you should never feel guilty about bringing us a lost pet, that is why we are here. So what are your options when you pick up a stray dog/cat. First and foremost call the animal shelter and see if anyone has reported a lost pet matching the one you found. We can sometimes re-unite people with their pets without them coming to the shelter. If you are able to keep the pet in your home and put up posters in the neighborhood saying you found the pet. The main thing is that you have already contacted a local animal control to let them know you found the pet. Bring the pet to your local animal control facility so that the owners can find them. It is important to take them to the county/city in which you FOUND the pet. If...

The story of Bandit is both sad and happy at the same time. For the first 3 years of his life, Bandit lived on a chain that was too short for him to get into his dog house and out of the elements. He was discovered by the concerned people in his neighborhood during our first December snow storm. He was not getting fed by his current owner because him along with 3 other dogs were left at the home while the owner resided at another location. In an effort to ensure the dogs were taken care of two neighbors began feeding all the dogs. From what we were told, Bandit seemed vicious and scary on the chain but who blames him, he was stuck out in the worst of weather for 3 years. I am sure he was trying to get someone's attention. Outraged at how the animals were living the neighbors contacted Animal Control and the dogs were removed from the property and brought here to the humane society. When I first saw Bandit he was scared to death, cowering close to the ground unable to walk o...

We get a lot of lost pet reports but this one made me think that if someone had done something then the dog might still be alive. A woman stopped in to see if her dog was here and brought us a photo in case we got him in and she went out searching her neighborhood. She called the next day and reported that her dog was found on a local city street dead on the side of the road, hit by a car. Obviously she was very upset and so was the LHS staff and I got to thinking about it, do people even know what to do if they hit a pet with their car. I wondered how many people drive off because they are afraid of being shouldered with the expense or don't know the basics of how to handle the injured pet. The first thing is to STOP your car and see how bad the injuries are on the pet. First and foremost, use caution, injured animals may bite out of pain or shock so always approach slowly and carefully until you can asses the behavior. If you are able to, wrap the injured animal in a towel ...

When I foster I always have to ask my husband and make sure it is a dog that I know my almost 4 year old can be safe with. My husband is experienced in my last minute call asking to foster and it is a mutual agreement that the foster will mesh well in our home and lifestyle. So I called him Friday asking if we could foster a little 1 year old whippet/hound mix that we named Lila. She had come in very very thin, you can see all her ribs and her hip bones. I wanted to bring her home because she was shaking in her kennel run, scared of all the other dogs barking around her. So home she came. We normally don't let dogs on the sofa or chairs and we don't have dogs in our bed unless one of us is away. But as you see in the photo that didn't hold true with this girl. She was so loving and just so wanted to be touched all the time that she immediately found the one person who would give her constant attention, my son Sam. Then as we go to bed she bounces herself up on the be...

Even though this first picture is two years old, it is one of my favorites. It just shows you how my cats (I have 6) are part of our family. My husband and I have a four year old and two year old triplets. You see their child seats here. The loveable orange tabby is Freckles Juice. Freckles is the best lap cat and snuggler in the house. He sleeps with us every night and follows us where ever we are. Given our busy lifestyle I fell vicitim to the easy round the clock "food available" way of feeding my cats. Yes, they are all overweight. Yes, I know this is my fault. But I continued. Juice weighed in at 14 pounds and was the biggest. I know there are much fatter cats out there, so I thought we were okay. I was wrong. I noticed that in a few months he had lost some weight(turned out that he had lost 4 pounds). He also was thirsty. All the time...in the shower, drinking from the dog bowl, drinking from his water fountain...I made him an appointment at our vet. Sure enough, Diabet...