Grooming is Coming to our Southbridge Location
We are now booking grooming appointments at our Southbridge location. Visit our Grooming Page for a full list of services available.
Call (774) 318-1101 to Book an Appointment!
Second Chance Welcomes Cats Evacuated from Florida Shelter
Tuesday we welcomed 10 cats evacuated to safety from a Florida shelter ahead of Hurricane Ian’s impact.
The cats, ranging in age from 10 weeks up to 4 years, arrived on an ASPCA transport plane at Worcester Regional Airport. They were greeted by our staff who brought them to the Almost Home facility in North Brookfield where the cats will get a check-up and receive any necessary veterinary care and complete their state-mandated 48-hour quarantine before they begin their search for a new home in Massachusetts.
Animal Relocation Director Wendy Hall, who was part of the team that welcomed the cats at the airport, said, “they appear in good health and will get checked over by our veterinary team prior to adoption. I expect these cats will find homes quickly.”
Second Chance founder and CEO Sheryl Blancato says that “as an ASPCA Emergency Placement Response Partner, we have been watching the storm and were expecting the call. We are so happy these cats are safe and sound, and soon they’ll begin new lives here in New England.”
Donations are being accepted to help with their care: secondchanceanimals.org/donate/ or checks can be mailed to Second Chance Animal Services, PO Box 136, East Brookfield, MA 01515.
For more information on adopting, visit Adopt a Pet.
Beagle Diary
UPDATE 9/7: We are happy to report that we all the beagles (from our recent rescue transport from the VA medical breeding facility) have found homes. Due to the volume of interest we received, we are unable to reply to everyone who completed an adoption survey, but they will be on file for 2 years for future adoptions.
If you are still interested in adopting please check out the other wonderful animals waiting for forever homes!
UPDATE 8/31: Over the weekend, the beagles were able to explore and experience many firsts. You can watch as two beagles roam freely outside on our Facebook page. Meanwhile, we were pouring over the hundreds of applications in search of interested adopters with the beagle experience these pups need and Monday, the adoption process began. Check out a few of the matches made. Notice the way the older beagle is looking at his new sibling:
UPDATE 8/25 6pm: Thank you for all the interest in giving one of these pups a home. At this time we have received far more adoption surveys than we have beagles. We will be reading each one and reaching out to adopters that best fit the special needs of these dogs. If you are still interested in adopting please check our website for all the other wonderful available animals, including other puppies!! https://www.secondchanceanimals.org/adoptable-dogs/
UPDATE 8/25: This morning all the beagles got a thorough check-up so we can make sure all their medical needs can be taken care of. As we suspected, they will all need to be spayed or neutered. A couple will need some additional minor medical care
UPDATE 8/24: The beagles arrived at our Almost Home transport facility yesterday around 4pm, just as much-needed rain arrived in North Brookfield. Danielle & Cheyanne brought them in two by two, to get them settled in for the night. They’ll spend the next 48 hours here, completing their state-mandated quarantine and will receive all needed medical care as they are prepared for adoption. All their lives, they’ve been known only by the tattoo on their ears. By the end of today, each will have a name to start their new life with.
Click the button below to to make a gift to help prepare these beagle for their new lives.
8/23: Second Chance CEO and Founder Sheryl Blancato and transport facility staff member Danielle are currently en route to Second Chance’s Almost Home Transport facility with 20 beagles rescued from the Envigo RMS LLC in Cumberland, VA by the Humane Society of the United States.
The beagles will their state-mandated 48-hour quarantine and receive any needed medical care before they are available for adoption. Donations are gratefully accepted to help provide their medical care as they are prepared for adoption,
The Story of Mazeikeen
Mazeikeen was approximately 6 weeks old when she was found by a Good Samaritan in a cardboard box next to a dumpster. Her rescuer brought the sweet baby kitten to Second Chance Animals Services for help. When she arrived at Second Chance, she was cold, dehydrated, and listless. She was having seizure-like episodes due to severely low blood sugar.
Our doctors worked hard to get this little girl feeling better. They found that her dehydration and other symptoms were due to severe diarrhea that was caused by an infestation of internal parasites – roundworms. These worms were literally sucking the life out of the little 1.2-pound sweet girl. We hospitalized Mazeikeen in hopes of saving her. They needed to treat her worm infestation and diarrhea while upping her blood sugar and rehydrating her.
Loving technicians even took her home overnight to ensure that there was never a moment that she was left alone and without care. After three and a half days of supportive around the clock care, this little girl’s body just could not fight any more. The worms left her very sick despite all our efforts. In the end the Second Chance team had to say goodbye to this girl that they poured their hearts into over the last few days.
While we are devastated over the loss of sweet Mazeikeen, we want to make her story a learning opportunity.
It is never okay to dispose of an animal on the streets, in a box, a dumpster, etc. There are always resources to re-home animals of any age and condition and organizations like Second Chance can and will help!
Internal parasites (worms) may not seem like that big of a deal but can be detrimental to puppies/kittens and even adult animals in high volumes. It is always recommended to bring a fecal sample for parasite testing to each yearly wellness examination to ensure that your pet does not have a worm that may require further treatment. Puppies and kittens are at higher risks – not only can they pick up these parasites from their surroundings, but they can be passed from their mothers. It is always recommended to get puppies and kittens dewormed several times during their first few months of life to help treat these worms before they get out of control and cause serious health concerns. All Second Chance locations offer deworming at our low-cost vaccine clinics and during office visits at our full-service hospitals. Talk to your veterinarian about deworming your pet and testing a fecal sample to ensure your pet does not need treatment for parasites.
Dr. Jackie Celmer
Second Chance Animal Services Veterinarian
UPDATE: Perla is Recovering Well after Surgery
UPDATE: Perla did wonderful! She is recovering really well. One of our vet techs took her home overnight to give her some extra love and care. We are so grateful for all the well-wishes and support for this girl and all our shelter pets. Thank you!
It’s not too late to make a gift to help Perla and shelter pets just like her get the urgent care they need. We couldn’t do it without you!
We need to get help quickly for this girl. Perla was surrendered through a local animal control officer (ACO). She has a badly fractured leg and the ACO has turned the 1 y/o over to Second Chance so she can get the help she needs. X-rays reveal a complicated fracture of both the tibia and fibula that cannot be repaired. She also has an open wound on her ankle. We kept her as comfortable as we could overnight. Today our vets hope to perform an amputation so we can get her on the road to recovery and her ‘second chance.’
Perla did great overnight. She is a very sweet, happy girl. She will likely be going to surgery within the next two hours or so. We will update you once she’s out of surgery.
We’re asking for help. With all the shelter pets we are seeing who need extensive medical care, we would greatly appreciate any help if you are able – your support will help Perla and pets like her get the urgent care they need.
Baby Yoda’s New Best Friend
A shelter dog who had amputation surgery for a birth defect has found a forever home with an eight-year-old boy who can relate.
11-week-old Baby Yoda arrived at Second Chance on transport last month from a crowded Missouri shelter with a congenital defect. He was born without a radius in one leg. As you can see in the photo below, his leg was abnormally shaped and shortened. He could not bend it or place weight on it and when he tried to use the leg, it caused him to contort his body which put him at risk of arthritis and injury to his body.
Baby Yoda’s surgery was successful. In no time, he was hopping around like a champ, ready for his ‘second chance.’ That chance came when a family saw him on our website and rushed to meet him. It turns out their eight-year-old son had something in common with Baby Yoda:
“We were browsing the shelters and came across Yoda. My eight-year-old son had an above the knee amputation due to being born with a birth defect, more specifically, with only one bone in his leg rather than two. Baby Yoda would make a perfect addition to our family.”
We are grateful to everyone who contributed to the fundraiser to make Baby Yoda’s surgery possible, and we are thrilled that Baby Yoda has found such a perfect forever home.
Finian Overcoming his Past and Ready for His Second Chance!
Finian was just 25 lbs when he came to us, severely malnourished, dehydrated and anemic. He had been eating anything he could, just to survive and was living in extremely harsh conditions when he was seized by local law enforcement and signed over to Second Chance. He weighed only 25 pounds when a dog his size should be 45 pounds. He also tested positive for heartworm, Lyme disease and anaplasmosis, but we had to focus on getting his weight up slowly so we don’t make him sicker after not eating a good diet for so long.
He’s made great strides and last week he came in for his first immiticide treatment for heartworm. He did great. And he is over 40 lbs!!
He got love from everyone at the hospital and was excited to see all of us. We are so grateful for all the support to make his second chance possible. THANK YOU!
He LOVES to play ball and is looking for his forever home. To learn more, visit: secondchanceanimals.org/adoptable-dogs/
Does Your Pet Need to Drop a Few Pounds?
Dr. Jackie Celmer explains why it’s important to help your pet maintain a healthy weight and what to do if your pet needs to drop a few pounds.
Obesity amongst domestic dogs and cats in America is becoming more common than veterinarians would like. A recent study showed that in America about 60% of cats and 56% of dogs have been classified as obese by a veterinarian. So what makes my pet obese? A pet is classified as obese if it is deemed at least 10-20% heavier than their ideal weight. Obesity is not only a primary issue but can predispose our pets to many secondary issues like diabetes, thyroid disease, heart disease, joint pain which can worsen arthritis, and weakening a pets immune system making them more susceptible to secondary illnesses.
So what do we do if our pet is overweight? The first recommendation is to evaluate what we feed our furry friends at home. Step one is to actually measure what we are feeding our pets. Most of us use a “scoop” that is some unknown measurement and we provide a scoop or two into the dish. It is very important to quantify how much we are actually feeding with an appropriate measuring cup. Secondarily it is good to mention that most commercial dog and cats foods have feeding recommendations on the back of the bag which should be fed for the pets age and ideal body weight. Ideal body weight is our “goal weight”, so if our pet is 15 pounds and we want them to be 10 pounds we need to be feeding for a 10 pound animal and not a 15 pound animal. If you are having trouble knowing how much you should be feeding your pet feel free to reach out to one of us for a more precise diet plan.
Not only is dieting key but like in humans, diet needs to be paired with exercise. We should try to take our dogs for walks or exercise them in the yard daily. If the weather is bad try to play with them in the house for at least 15 minutes a day. Cats are a bit more challenging to get to exercise on demand. Getting a tall cat tree can entice our furry felines to jump and climb more which can aide in weight loss. Additionally wand toys and laser pointers can be used to get our cats moving. I usually recommend having them chase the laser dot for at least 10-15 minutes once to twice daily.
Only about 10% of pets diagnosed with obesity are successful at losing weight and over 40% of those who lost weight gained it back within a year. It is important to remember that weight loss takes time, do not get discouraged, it is a lot of work but your furry friend will thank you in the long run!
Second Chance has 4 Community Veterinary Hospitals to help you care for your pet – call to schedule an appointment today.
Celebrating Milestones: 65,000th Spay/Neuter Surgery
Second Chance hit a milestone recently, performing our 65,000th spay/neuter surgery.
The procedure was performed at our Worcester Community Veterinary Hospital. The recipient was an 11-month-old bubbly cavapoo named Jax who was brought in by a local animal control officer through the nonprofit’s Helping Hand Program. This program lends a helping hand to other animal welfare organizations, providing veterinary care at a significantly reduced cost.
Jax was accompanied by his new friend, a dog named Tyson who was recently found abandoned in a Salvation Army shed. Tyson was seen for his own care and plans to return to Second Chance soon for his neuter.
Second Chance began our low-cost spay/neuter program in 2005 at the East Brookfield shelter to help stem pet homelessness in the surrounding community. Today, hundreds of pets come to the nonprofit’s hospitals each month for spay/neuter surgery in state-of-the-art surgical suites made possible by grants and generous donors. Second Chance’s new educational hospital in Southbridge plans to begin low-cost spay/neuter later this year.
COO of Hospitals Amanda Normandin says she is extremely proud of this milestone and the work the spay/neuter teams have accomplished. “We know just how important spay/neuter services are. Not only does the program help prevent pet homelessness, but it also improves the lives of pets receiving the surgery. Many of the emergency surgeries we perform are on female pets suffering from pyometra, a potentially deadly infection of the uterus. Routine spays and neuters can help protect pets from many life-threatening conditions including pyometra and testicular cancer.”
Second Chance surgeons are specially trained to perform the highest-quality high-volume surgeries. Pets check in early morning and are discharged later the same day so they can recuperate in the comfort of their own homes with their owners.
Second Chance founder and CEO Sheryl Blancato is proud of the longstanding low-cost spay/neuter program and said, “Thanks to these surgeries, less pets are ending up in Massachusetts shelters, which means more pets in shelters are getting a second chance.”