Uncategorized Archives - Napa Humane https://napahumane.org/category/uncategorized/ Fri, 31 May 2024 17:21:43 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 Insights and Inspiration from Animal Care Expo 2024 https://napahumane.org/insights-and-inspiration-from-animal-care-expo-2024/ Wed, 29 May 2024 23:05:32 +0000 https://napahumane.org/?p=13531 I recently had the privilege of attending The Humane Society of The United States Animal Care Expo in San Antonio, TX, from May 14-18. With over 2,500 attendees, Animal Care Expo is the largest international educational conference and trade show for animal welfare professionals and volunteers. It brings together experts from all facets of animalKeep Reading

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I recently had the privilege of attending The Humane Society of The United States Animal Care Expo in San Antonio, TX, from May 14-18. With over 2,500 attendees, Animal Care Expo is the largest international educational conference and trade show for animal welfare professionals and volunteers. It brings together experts from all facets of animal welfare around the globe to learn about the latest programs, share best practices, gain inspiration, and build lasting connections through educational workshops, learning labs, networking opportunities, and social events.

Animal Care Expo 2024 offered nearly 100 workshops across 12 tracks, an expansive exhibit hall to engage with animal welfare organizations, vendors, and sponsors, continuing education opportunities in a variety of disciplines, and numerous networking opportunities to share knowledge, gain advice, and draw inspiration from the experiences and outlooks of our global colleagues. These opportunities provide professional and personal dividends for attendees that last throughout the year and beyond.

Over 100 Workshops!

While there were 100 workshops to choose from, I specifically attended sessions discussing high volume spay/neuter, community veterinary wellness, and community cats. Alyssa, Napa Humane’s Pet Education Manager, who attended as an exhibitor for another organization she is affiliated with for dog training, focused on sessions about behavior and training, which are most pertinent to Napa Humane’s work.

With over 18 years of experience in animal welfare, I always find myself re-energized by these large conferences! It is rewarding to affirm that we at Napa Humane are on top of best practices and offering some cutting-edge programming. And even though we do what we do well, there are always takeaways that we are excited to implement.

 

Significant Theme

A significant theme throughout all the sessions was the emphasis on keeping animals out of shelters in the first place. While this has always been the goal in animal welfare, this year’s sessions placed more emphasis on prevention rather than creating programs for animals already in shelter care. This aligns perfectly with Napa Humane’s mission to prevent pet homelessness and keep pets in their homes.

Hot Topic

One hot topic that continues to impact our work is the veterinary shortage, which negatively affects pets and directly impacts animal welfare organizations. A statistic that stood out to me was the pre-pandemic estimate of a 2.7 million spay/neuter deficit in our country, which has now doubled to a 5 million deficit after many veterinarians retired during the pandemic. This is significant because every animal not spayed/neutered is more likely to reproduce, with community cats being at highest risk. This leads to more kittens entering shelters or dying in the community. Additionally, shelter animals are waiting longer to see a vet or be spayed/neutered, increasing their time in the shelter and their chances of becoming sick or behaviorally deteriorating. The challenge of keeping animals out of shelters or getting them into homes quickly is becoming more difficult to achieve given these current challenges.

While perfect solutions come with trial and error, it is comforting to know that there are so many amazing people working in animal welfare to address these issues. I am grateful for the Napa Humane team and the role our organization plays in solution and prevention-oriented programming.

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Loss and Love https://napahumane.org/loss-and-love/ Tue, 27 Oct 2020 02:15:31 +0000 https://napahumane.org/?p=5764 Dear Friends, I had intended to write a story this month about the experience of losing my two cats, Bijou (17) and Meesie (16). I planned to share how, for the first time since I was a child, I’m not a cat mom – and how strange that feels. I was going to write aboutKeep Reading

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Dear Friends,

I had intended to write a story this month about the experience of losing my two cats, Bijou (17) and Meesie (16). I planned to share how, for the first time since I was a child, I’m not a cat mom – and how strange that feels. I was going to write about the perils of having four senior pets at the same time, knowing I’m likely to lose them all soon, and how sad it makes me to think of saying goodbye to any one of them. The youngest of the old is my dog Mei. I wish I could say that I had a few years left with her, but that is likely not the case. My dog Mimi is 18 now. She is incredibly thin and sleeps a majority of the time, but she still smiles, she can walk on her own, and she’ll greet me at the door if she actually hears me enter the house. I am positive that Mimi will be the hardest one for me to handle, and I sense that loss is very near.

I had planned to tell you all about my little crew, and the impact they have had on my life. How Mimi helped raise more than 20 foster puppies for the Napa County Animal Shelter. How Meesie taught each one of those puppies how to respect cats. How we joke that Bijou must have been a 100th generation feral, because even though we got him as a tiny kitten, he was skittish and afraid of all people, and lived virtually his entire life in a dresser drawer or closet. I’m not sure my kids even realized we had two cats! I was going to write about how lucky I feel that my boys got to have Mimi and Mei as their childhood dogs, because my childhood dog Buffy has forever had a special place in my heart, and I hope that Mimi and Mei will live forever in my children’s memories.

I had everything planned and decided for this newsletter. But the only thing I’d planned to write about that I will actually share today is grief and loss support information. Losing a pet is haaaard, and feelings of grief can be overwhelming at times. If that is the case for you or someone you know, helpful resources are here.

When I woke up today, I decided that instead of all my personal pet stories, I wanted to talk about a little dog named Mondavi. 

A few years back we noticed that my dad was having some significant changes in his behavior; he was later diagnosed with ALS and dementia. My parents went from an amazing retired lifestyle of volunteering, traveling, and a large social network, to a constricted one of illness and caregiving. Enter Mondavi.

My parents brought this little dog into their lives to provide companionship, and he rose to the occasion, 100%. As my dad lost more and more of his mental and physical abilities, Mondavi remained a faithful companion, always nearby, radiating love and companionship. Though we originally thought Mondavi would be good for my dad, he quickly became a great comfort to my mom, as well.

On Thursday, October 15th, my dad took his final breath with Mondavi right by his side. Mondavi would not leave him, even after his death, except to come check in on each of us periodically, and then go right back to my dad’s side. At one point after my dad had passed, Mondavi even lay right across his chest, which is not something he did while my dad was alive. It was beautiful. While I’ve always known dogs to be sensitive and intuitive, I was amazed by how Mondavi exemplified this – knowing in that moment exactly what each of us needed, even as he seemed to feel a loss of his own.

Since my dad’s death, Mondavi has started sleeping on my dad’s side of the bed. Quite possibly it’s just because he’s moved into the empty space available, but I wonder whether he’s there for other reasons. When my sister and mom were going through my dad’s closet, Mondavi came and curled up on the pile of clothes. Many, many piles of laundry have been folded in the three years my parents have had that dog, and he’d never lain on the clothes before. I have to believe that Mondavi, like the rest of our family, was wanting to feel closer to my dad.

One of Napa Humane’s vision statements for our mission says: “An increased animal understanding allows people to form life-long, healthy, loving bonds with their companion animals.” I believe that anyone who watched Mondavi with my mom and dad these past three years would have recognized this incredible bond between human and animal, and the enormous value it brought to everyone involved.

As painful as the end of life can be, it happens to all living creatures. I feel blessed to have had so many amazing years with my furry family of Mimi, Mei, Meesie and Bijou. And I am incredibly grateful that my mom and dad have had Mondavi in their lives during these last few really tough years.

Recognizing how much animals enhance our lives is what drives me to work in a job that helps ensure we enhance theirs.

Through loss and love, be well. ~Wendi

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Say Hello To Our New and Improved Website https://napahumane.org/say-hello-new-improved-website/ Tue, 07 Nov 2017 21:00:40 +0000 https://napahumane.org/?p=2402 We launched our first website 12 years ago with the help of our animal loving web designers at designthis!. While the site’s information was still relevant, technology had evolved so much that we really needed a redesign to ensure compatibility with smartphones and tablets. So, we seized the opportunity to have designthis! refresh our look,Keep Reading

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We launched our first website 12 years ago with the help of our animal loving web designers at designthis!. While the site’s information was still relevant, technology had evolved so much that we really needed a redesign to ensure compatibility with smartphones and tablets. So, we seized the opportunity to have designthis! refresh our look, feel, and functionality as well as the underlying code.

Our goals were easy navigation, enjoyable visuals, clear priorities, and educational content. We wanted a cleaner, more contemporary look with a more intuitive organization of our programs and services. With the new site, you can see at a glance our five key programming areas, and more easily access the information you’re after. The simplified navigation menus make it much simpler for people to Donate, and learn more about the many other ways to Get Involved and make a difference in the lives of Napa Valley companion animals.

Thank you so much to Amy, Kim and the whole team at designthis! for making our dreams come true. Check out the new site and let us know what you think!

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