Tag: spca

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Thoroughly Vetted: Dogs and cats have an extra eyelid

If a pet’s third eyelid remains exposed, it means something is wrong with that eye.

At a glance, you wouldn’t even know it’s there. Dogs and cats appear to have the same two eyelids that we do. But look closer, especially if you find your pet half asleep, and you might catch a glimpse of their third eyelid. Properly called the nictitans, it’s a pink sheet of tissue that stretches diagonally from the inner corner of each eye, but which stays drawn out of view under normal circumstances.

The nictitans isn’t unique to our household pets. This membrane is common across the animal kingdom, and is seen in a variety of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians. It’s even translucent in some species, functioning as flip-up safety goggles. And while human beings don’t have a proper third eyelid, you can see the vestigial remnant of yours in the mirror—a little band of pink tissue called the plica semilunaris.

In dogs and cats, the third eyelid isn’t directly controlled by any muscles. Instead, it works as a spring-loaded protective device. When threatened or injured, the eye reflexively sinks backwards into its socket. This simply gives the nictitans enough room to pop up and do its job. Once the situation has passed, the eye returns to its normal position, forcing the nictitans back into its pocket.

This is important because if a pet’s third eyelid remains exposed, it means something is wrong with that eye. It could be a simple eye infection, or perhaps a scratched cornea. Sometimes I’ll find foreign material—perhaps a bit of grass or grit—stuck in there. And if both are exposed, it can indicate a wide variety of underlying causes ranging from dehydration to neuromuscular disease.

It’s not uncommon that I see an animal with an injured third eyelid. It’s relatively delicate, and the edge can easily be cut or torn. But these injuries are usually simple to manage, and serve as evidence that the membrane performed admirably. Better to have an injured third eyelid than an injured eyeball. These cases are the ocular equivalent of fender-benders.

At least a few times a year, I’m also likely to see a puppy with “cherry eye,” an ugly pink lump in the corner of one or both eyes. That lump is a wayward tear gland that is supposed to be tucked deep behind the third eyelid. In some dogs (and rarely in cats), the tissue meant to hold the gland in place is too loose, allowing it to pop up over the edge of the lid. Apart from being unsightly, this can damage the tear gland and cause chronic irritation, and usually requires surgical correction to put that little sucker back where it belongs.

Perhaps it’s a bit odd that our pets have a third eyelid that we don’t. But given its prevalence in other species, and how useful it can be in preventing injury, I think it’s more appropriate to wonder why we only have two.

Dr. Mike Fietz is a small animal veterinarian at Georgetown Veterinary Hospital. He received his veterinary degree from Cornell University in 2003 and has lived in Charlottesville since.

Ready to be adopted!


Penelope here. So, I got into some scuffles with my sister and ended up here. I’m real gentle, honest! I’d just prefer to be the only dog in your life.

Hey, I’m Puca. I’m not shy about asking for attention, whether you’re at the computer or lounging on the couch. I just want some pets. Can we snuggle?

What’s up? I’m Andy, and I’ve never met a stranger. Give me treats and I’m yours forever (and I’ll work on that whole leash thing—I’ve almost got it!).

Hi, I’m Franie. Around here, I’m pretty popular—I love attention and will stop at nothing to get it. Let’s have a chat or sit and bird-watch.

Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA, 3355 Berkmar Dr. 973-5959, caspca.org, noon-6pm, daily

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News

In brief: Solar salvage, dog-meat farm rescue and more

What's going to happen to the quarter-million-dollars worth of solar panels on the slated-for-demolition Main Street Arena? TBD. Photo by Skyclad Aerial

Hot topic

In 2012, the Local Energy Alliance Program floated a low-interest loan of $280,000 for Mark Brown to install solar panels on top of the Main Street Arena using a $500,000 grant from the city. Now that he’s sold the building and it’s slated for demolition, some are wondering what will happen to the panels on the roof.

The loan was paid in full when Brown listed the property, confirms LEAP spokesperson Kara West.

“The only reason we put those panels in was because the city wanted us to,” says Brown, who says he broke even on the panels. “Most of the savings came from them shading the building from sun on that side of the building.”

Solar expert Roger Voisinet says some parts of the system, such as the inverters, can be recycled more easily than others. As for the panels, “It depends,” he says.

There’s plenty that can be recycled from the building, he observes, such as the copper roof and the equipment that makes it an ice rink, which current owner Jaffray Woodriff pledged to donate to a business venture that would create a new ice rink in a different location.

Woodriff’s Taliaferro Junction LLC bought the property in early 2017 for $5.7 million, and the arena, as well as the building that houses Escafé, are all coming down to make way for a tech center. That won’t happen until the Board of Architectural Review approves the site plan, probably not before this summer, according to city planner Brian Haluska.

Details are not final on what will happen with the solar panels, according to a Woodriff spokesperson.

The solar panel loan was controversial at the time, says Brown. “I don’t think there were any real losers. It wasn’t an Omni bailout deal.” That’s a reference to the city pumping $11 million in taxpayer funds to the hotel in the ’80s and secretly forgiving the loans in closed executive sessions a decade later.

Says Brown, “I’d assume [the panels] will be thrown in the garbage.”

“There are people in Virginia history that I think it’s appropriate to memorialize and remember that way, and others that I would have a difference of opinion on.”—Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax speaking to reporters after he declined to adjourn the Senate January 22 to honor General Stonewall Jackson

New city flack

Brian Wheeler, executive director of Charlottesville Tomorrow, will take over as spokesperson for the City of Charlottesville, a position Miriam Dickler most recently held. Wheeler starts the $98,000-a-year-plus-benefits job (more than $5,000 above Dickler’s salary) February 20. He co-founded the online news nonprofit in 2005 and implemented a groundbreaking partnership with the Daily Progress. He will devote the remainder of his time with Charlottesville Tomorrow to finding a fundraising successor.

Paw patrol

The Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA is housing a group of canines that Humane Society International rescued from a dog meat farm in Namyangju, South Korea. Many of the animals suffered eye infections, skin disease and have leg and paw sores from standing and sitting on thin wire mesh. HSI rescued 170 pups in total, but it’s unclear how many are up for adoption locally.

Police Academy director dies

File photo Jen Fariello

Albemarle resident Hugh Wilson, creator of “WKRP in Cincinnati,” died January 14 at age 74. He was a writer for “The Bob Newhart Show,” and he broke into directing with Police Academy in 1984. He also directed Guarding Tess and The First Wives Club, and in 2001 made Mickey with fellow Albemarlean John Grisham.

#metoo for UVA board member

First lady of New Jersey Tammy Murphy says she was sexually assaulted while a second-year student at UVA. Murphy, who graduated in 1987 and sits on the Board of Visitors, revealed the attack at a January 20 Women’s March event in Morristown, New Jersey. She says she was pulled into the bushes walking home alone and managed to escape. Her attacker was later jailed for a different crime.

Another counterprotester arrested

Six months after the Unite the Right rally, police arrested Donald Blakney, 51, for malicious wounding near the Market Street Garage melee. He was released on $2,000 bond.

 

 

 

 

 

Worst headline about a UVA alum

“Another sycophant trashes her reputation” was Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank’s January 16 piece about UVA law’s Kirstjen Nielsen, now secretary of Homeland Security, who denied hearing President Donald Trump use the term “shithole” to describe the countries he doesn’t want immigrants from in the infamous meeting at which she was present.

Killed bills

Here’s what legislation has died in the General Assembly so far.

  • SB360 would allow localities to ban firearms at permitted events.
  • SB385 limits handgun purchases to one a month.
  • SB444 allows localities to remove war memorials, and it died in Senate committee on party line vote 7-6 January 16. House Minority Leader David Toscano has a similar bill in the House of Delegates.
  • SB245 prohibits conversion therapy for LGBTQ youths.
  • SB665, carried by state Senator Creigh Deeds, adds Charlottesville and Albemarle to the list to localities where it’s unlawful to carry certain firearms in public places.
  • SB744 makes not wearing a seatbelt a primary offense and requires backseat passengers to be belted. Currently police can’t pull over a driver for being seatbelt-less and can only ticket if they observe another primary violation.
Categories
News

#justiceforprofit: Pig larceny, maiming case moves to grand jury

Pam Rivera photographed the pig July 3 when it was found wandering around her neighborhood near Proffit Road. Courtesy Pam Rivera

The couple who took a wandering pig that police delivered to the Charlottesville Albemarle SPCA and who had plans to turn it into a Fourth of July barbecue, according to a Newsplex interview, had their charges certified to the grand jury in an August 25 preliminary hearing in Albemarle General District Court.

More than a dozen supporters of a pig they’ve dubbed Profit (because it was found on Proffit Road) showed up in court. Petition organizer Debbi Torres made an audible gasp when a veterinarian pathologist testified the pig had 31 stab wounds, and others, wearing T-shirts that said “#justiceforprofit” on the front and “Who will help the next pig?” on the back, dabbed tears from their eyes.

Jerelyn Aymarie Sutter, 27, and Lee Edward Oakes Jr., 33, were charged with maiming or killing of livestock, a felony, and misdemeanor cruelty to animals. Both had been charged with petit larceny, Oakes for the third time, and Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Matt Quatara amended those charges to felony theft of livestock, “to wit, a pig.”

Two Albemarle County Police officers had taken Profit into custody July 3 after he had been found wandering in the Proffit Road area. Animal control Officer Larry Crickenberger testified that when he came in to work July 4 and had a report of the “livestock animal,” he went to the SPCA to find a place to relocate it, because the shelter does not take livestock. That’s when he learned that Sutter, an SPCA employee, and Oakes had taken the animal.

“Mr. Oakes stated he had given the pig to a friend who had taken him to a butcher,” said Crickenberger. “I said for him to stop immediately.”

Oakes contended it was a feral pig that had tusks and charged him, according to Crickenberger. Oakes, who has a long, auburn beard, and Sutter, wearing a purple T-shirt, did not testify.

Crickenberger said he and SPCA operations manager Jennifer Kilby drove to Verona to the meat processor, a very large, “state-of-the-art, very clean” facility, to retrieve the remains.

Dr. Jaime Weisman, a veterinary diagnostician at the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services in Warrenton, conducted the necropsy—an autopsy for animals. She testified to the 31 stab wounds, and under cross examination, said most were in the neck.

She also said it was difficult to tell whether a pig is domesticated or feral, especially after a domestic one spends a few months out in the wild.

Weisman estimated Profit was around 6 months old and weighed between 50 and 60 pounds.

Video footage from the SPCA was shown in court, and Detective Michael Wells narrated what was occurring. The pig was removed from a crate and an unnamed SPCA staff member helped put a harness and leash on. Oakes walks and pets the pig, said the detective.

“There starts to be an altercation with the pig,” said Wells. “The pig is laying there. He has to be subdued.” Later, a white sheet is put over the pig, which is still moving, he said.

“It appears the pig has been stabbed out of the frame,” said the detective. Sutter backs the car up and the pig is put in the trunk. On video from inside the shelter, the two appear to be cleaning up. “Mr. Oakes carries a trashcan full of something outside,” said Wells.

At that point, the commonwealth rested, with three of eight witnesses not testifying, among them, Jose Zamora, owner of Profit. According to Crickenberger, he’d been canvassing the neighborhood where the pig was found looking for its owner when he noticed Zamora’s residence, which had other livestock, including goats.

Outside the courtroom, Zamora said he’d bought a pig in the spring at Tractor Supply, and the person selling it gave him a second pig, even though Zamora said he didn’t have room. “He said, ‘Don’t put it in the corral,’” said Zamora. “We’d leave food for it and find it in the woods. Then we don’t find it. A couple days later an investigator came, saying the pig was killed.”

Oakes’ attorney, Bonnie Lepold, argued that the commonwealth did not prove that the pig was livestock, nor that it was owned. “No one comes forward,” she said, and no one said, “That’s my pig.”

Judge Steve Helvin said the pig was clearly in the possession of the SPCA. “I have no problem certifying the larceny cases,” he said.

He also wasn’t convinced Profit was a feral pig because it was put on a leash. “I’m not buying it,” said the judge. “You might have the right to kill an animal, but not maliciously with 31 stab wounds.” He certified the livestock-maiming charges to the grand jury as well.

After the hearing, #justiceforprofit supporters were pleased.

torres
Debbi Torres, who runs a pig sanctuary in North Carolina, gasped in court when she heard the animal had been stabbed 31 times. Staff photo

Torres, who had collected 1,060 signatures on a petition she turned over to the prosecution demanding the maximum sentences—16 years—for Sutter and Oakes, said, “We want to tell people there are a lot of pet pigs. Not all are feral. Hundreds of people care about these animals. They’re not just food.”

Said Torres, “There’s a network of people who have sanctuaries. When there’s a lost pig, we’re on it.”

Following the August 25 hearing, the CASPCA provided a statement dated July 23 that noted two employees involved had been terminated. Chair Glenn Rust said, “Since the incident is currently under a criminal investigation, we are not able to make further comments at this time.”