ORA Members: Help Launch and Share Edna's GoFundMe Campaign!

Spencer

ORA's gentle big boy loved everybody

On June 20th, 2012, at 4:40 pm, Spencer, ORA’s spokedog, succumbed to Cushing's Disease complications. He was over 12 years old.

Spencer came to us when he was still a puppy. Bought at a pet store, product of a backyard breeder, he was given up soon after by his original owners who found out that a dog was more work than they had anticipated.

Spencer immediately adjusted to his life with us. He had no issues, just an immense joy of life. As a puppy, Spencer used to run up to anybody he encountered in his long daily off-leash walks in the York Regional Forests. The forest with the ponds where he could swim in and fetch wooden sticks was Spencer’s heaven. His puppy cuteness and gentle social manners procured him great popularity amongst the forest hikers and horseback riders. Spencer, on his part, made sure that nobody ignored him. He was constantly in search of attention and affection. He would wait to be patted and complimented by passersby, and then, filled with happiness in his eyes, he would calmly return to us, visibly showing disappointment if anybody would ignore him.

Spencer grew up to be a medium large dog, but he still maintained his way to “greet” all passersby. However, as an adult dog, his rather imposing appearance occasionally scared some people and those were the only distressing moments in Spencer’s life. Spencer liked dogs, too, and he showed curiosity for horses (were they just oversized dogs?), but he was not too fond of cats, although he tolerated them.

Undoubtedly, humans were Spencer’s passion, the ones he knew as well as any strangers. This salient characteristic made him the perfect candidate to participate in all of ORA’s events: he joyfully accompanied ORA’s volunteers to fundraising events, participated in seminars and he was admired for his impeccable behaviour. Spencer was also the designated dog for ORA’s animal educational programs in schools as he loved children and he enjoyed to be hugged by them.

In his 12 years with us, Spencer saw many dozens of dogs, coming and going, of all breeds, small and large, with all kind of different temperaments. He befriended some, while he would just ignore the newcomers at other times. He was never aggressive towards any dog; he never felt that he had to affirm his leadership. He was Spencer, the “Star” behind any possible competition. He was right. Of all the dogs that passed through ORA, although some stayed with us for a long while, volunteers and supporters usually remembered only one name: Spencer. Just a week ago, a horseback rider stopped Corinne Thaw, the co-founder of ORA, and our main caregiver for ORA’s dogs, as she was walking the usual pack of dogs in the forest, and asked whatever happened to that cute puppy named Spencer. The rider had lived out of the country for a number of years, but she still remembered him. Spencer was a memorable dog.

ORA’s gentle big boy loved everybody, but recognized only one master: Corinne Thaw, who was Spencer‘s trainer and caregiver for 12 years. Corinne identified and developed his potential and Spencer dearly loved and followed her.

Although we are mourning Spencer’s death, and memories of him are all around us, we are comforted by the certainty that Spencer was a happy dog and that he had a wonderful, happy life. We just hope that wherever he is now, he can run in a forest and go up to people for a pat or a hug.

Claudia Vecchio, Founder

ORA-Organization for the Rescue of Animals

"For the love and respect of all animals"

http://orarescue.org

URGENT, URGENT: Please give Ari a home!

Claudia Vecchio, 19/05/2012
Founder of ORA

ARI was rescued in 2005 thanks to the Neighbourhood Cat Watch Program. This program provides logistic support to people who have stray and feral cats in their neighbourhood and are willing to cooperate with ORA to help them. The cats are sterilized and vaccinated and if tamable are placed in foster homes, otherwise they are returned to where they were originally picked up and the neighbours take care of feeding and looking after the released cats.

TNR (Trap Neuter and Return) is a practice universally used to provide a better life to the strays, ensuring regular checks and feeding - and no procreating. Feral cats are happier living outdoors rather than being taken indoors and having to live in strict contact with the humans whom they fear and mistrust.

Obviously released cats are still exposed to the risk of being killed in traffic or by dogs and wildlife and sometimes they may suffer abuse from people intolerant of animals.

Ari was part of a group of stray cats TNRed in Toronto's West end in a cat-unfriendly area. A neighbourhood leader with rescue experience took charge of deciding which cat, deemed tamable, should be housed in a foster home or await adoption, and which cat, being untamable, should be released back.

Ari, an older, large black cat, was going to be released. He was vaccinated and neutered; a tip of his left ear was cut off to indicate that he had been sterilized prior to release.

But he was not in the best of shape. He had spent many years already on the streets in an hostile neighbourhood. I had never seen him, but as I became acquainted with his story, I intuitively felt that Ari should not be released back to the streets, that he deserved a quiet, protected place to live out the last part of his life.

With all the ORA’s foster homes being full as always, and having to find a place for Ari on a minute's notice, I e-mailed and called anybody I could think of and finally found a place with a rescuer in Bayfield on Lake Huron. Ari spent one full year there, but he was not happy and over time he developed acute kidney issues.

We needed to take Ari back to Toronto right away to get him proper diagnostics and treatment. Again we did not have a single space in any of our foster homes, but we had Bev Smith, one of our best foster moms ever, who was always prepared to find a way to house a cat in need. When Ari arrived at Bev's home, his prognosis was not good, and it took quite a few months for Ari to reacquire his health under Bev’s vigilant eye.

This period gave Bev and Ari a chance to bond and Bev eventually decided to adopt Ari. Although she had quite a few cats in her lifetime and she had quite a few already at home when Ari came into the picture, she considered Ari her best cat - “My Big Boy,” as she used to call him. Ari spent plenty of time in Bev‘s lap and at nights, he would follow her upstairs and lie in bed close to her. Ari finally found happiness.

Unfortunately, Bev passed away, on June 23, 2011, and for Ari, there has been no peace since. We at ORA have taken in all of Bev’s cats, but due, as always, to lack of space, Ari has ended up at a foster home in Stratford. The new fostering woman is trying to do her best, but she has large dogs and Ari is afraid of dogs (probably due to some bad encounters during his previous life on the streets). To avoid the dogs, Ari spends all of his time in an unfinished and unhealthy basement sitting at the windowsill, looking outside, probably wondering what happened to his loving mom.

Ari is an old cat, probably 13 or older. It breaks our hearts that he is spending the last part of his life in such an unhappy situation and we are also upset that we cannot provide a proper home to Bev’s favourite cat. “Ari is very undemanding," his new foster home says, but we know he just wants a quiet home with someone to love him. If you do not have large dogs, please consider fostering or adopting Ari. He has had such a tumultuous life, please help him; Bev will smile to you from heaven.

Spencer retires from ORA's Work, but not from Life.

MEMBER NEWS: ORA’s well known “demo dog,” Spencer, an eleven year old Australian Shepherd mix, was recently diagnosed with Cushing’s Disease (hyperadrenocortism). Dogs can live several years with Cushing’s, though, and ORA has no intention of losing Spencer before his time. To that end, Corinne and Claudia are working tirelessly with vets to find the right treatment that will control Spencer's disease and improve his quality of life long-term.

As loving pet advocates, we may be at least somewhat biased, but we really mean it when we say that Spencer is a genuinely good dog. Claudia and Corinne fondly remember taking Spencer with them into local area schools to talk to students about animal rights, and to espouse the need for truly committed pet ownership. Spencer never, ever minded being admired and petted by so many children, and he especially loved to be hugged!

On another occasion, Spencer spent a memorable day at Humber College's fundraising program sitting quietly next to Corinne. He was a good student for most of the day, except when he got bored in one class, and started snoring... We’re sure Spencer picked a good one to nap through, though.

For many years now, Spencer has proudly been ORA’s one and only demo dog at countless pet nutrition seminars and other fundraising events organized by ORA. He has also participated in several demonstrations emphasizing the benefits of massage, Reiki and Tellington TTouch® on animals. He is such a great dog, and his near celebrity presence at future ORA events will be keenly missed.

Dogs can live for several years with Cushing’s, and we hope that Spencer will be one of the lucky ones. In the meantime, multiple diagnostics and vet visits are crushingly expensive. ORA spent over $600 for just one day’s worth of diagnostics last Friday. Spencer has since returned to the vet for a blood test on Tuesday, and is already scheduled for another consultation this coming Monday. Hundreds more dollars in bills to come.

That said, ORA will not let Spencer go untreated, and we hope that you won’t, either.

If you’re a friend of Spencer’s, please feel free to contact Corinne at 416-726-8895 to find out more about his condition, as well as news about his treatment. If you would like to offer Spencer your personal and immediate assistance directly via sponsorship or donations, please call Claudia at 416-726-5762.

ORA Project SPENCER

ORA-Organization for the Rescue of Animals
http://ora-animalsrescue.org