The Connection

A loud meow hangs in the air as the brown tabby struggles against the small needle inserted in his hind leg. Deidre Seifried, animal care technician, says, "This blood test is part of the intake procedure that also includes vaccines if necessary, inserting a microchip and a ‘snap detail’ physical exam. It starts with the mouth, nose and goes all the way to the end of the tail.

“Looks like the ear is a little sensitive; it seems irritated," she observes as the cat twitches this ear back and forth to avoid the cotton swab. She says, "I don't know if this one is a stray or surrender."

Meg Price, the veterinary care coordinator at the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria Shelter who is helping with the cat, is also recording all of the results in a computer database. The animals receive vaccines if needed and a behavioral evaluation with behavioral modification if necessary. People want to know if a pet is good with children or if they get along with other cats or dogs. The animals receive two physical examinations, one when they come in and one before adoption so they can see if anything has changed.

Seifried moves to the "healthy hold" that is lined three-deep high with cages where cats are waiting to move up front to the adoption area. She thoroughly scrubs out the empty cage, puts in a new food and water bowl, removes the old blanket to send to the laundry. "This is for the next cat." Each cage has a chart which has times and dates of food, water, litter change and some of the spaces have yellow stickers with notes. "Grain free," "Staff Only." Seifried says, "This one hiding inside the box is skittish, possibly feral." Upfront in the Ready for Adoption section, the visitors can walk inside the cages so they can meet the cats up close.

At any one time the shelter can have up to 100 cats and 60 dogs plus a number of small animals such as rabbits, turtles, parrots, chinchillas, and fish. Seifried has been at the Alexandria Animal Shelter since May 2013 and was trained on the job. "I was an engineer," she said and then I worked in construction. But I adopted my dog, who had come from a puppy mill, and I decided to help animals." She added that her dog has come a long way in two years from hiding in another room to sleeping on her bed.

As she moves by the kitchen stacked high with cans and bags of food and a super size jar of peanut butter, she picks up a large rubber Kong. "We can put peanut butter inside the rim of this toy, and it takes the dog a while to chase it around and eat it." Out in the hall a pile of laundry is waiting to be washed and returned to cages. "That's my job, too, but the volunteers help a lot."

At the end of the hall she contemplates a stack of pillows, blankets, pet toys and cans of food. "That's for me later this afternoon — to put the donations where they go." She points to a large white board mounted on the wall with responsibilities by day and by hour. A medical transport person hurries down the hall to take a dog to a contract vet for a special procedure,

Barking in all sizes greets Siefried as she opens the door to the public dog area with rows of large cages lining both sides. "The dogs have a wonderful support from volunteers," she says. "They take the dogs out for a walk, have enrichment activities where they try to teach the dogs things — even some play groups to help with some behavior." And each dog has access to a dog run on the outside through a door in the back of his cage. As she walks down the aisle of dogs, she points to Ben, a tricolor mix beagle with a proud sign on his cage, "I have just been adopted." Across the way is an empty cage. "Yup, that's La Fonz. He just left last night." Seifried says a lot of people come in and get depressed. "But the upside is that the animals are living somewhere where they are well taken care of.”