The Alphabet Soup of Rescue
In a previous post on the “Ava’s Mom” page, I mentioned that I stumbled into the world of animal rescue and welfare after adopting my first furbaby, Apollo. When I started there were tons of terms that I didn’t understand, at least not in the context of this new world in which I had involved myself. One of the hardest things for me was the acronyms. I love acronyms. I use them all the time. (OFC, you probably do too. LMK if you are OTW to google those. LOL!) I often make up my own just because I am too lazy to type whole words, much to my friends’ dismay.
But I digress…back to the topic at hand. Lots of times I had no idea what people were saying in texts, social media posts, and emails. Being shy, it was sometimes hard for me to ask people what they were saying, so I spent lots of time trying to figure things out on my own. Maybe you’re new to this world as well, or maybe you are Facebook friends with rescuers who seem to be having coded conversations with one another and you’d like to know what they’re saying! Whatever your reasons for needing to know, I compiled a cheat sheet for you. This is by no means a complete list.
OTI (Owner Turn In) – This is the act of an owner relinquishing his or her pet to a shelter or rescue organization voluntarily. You see this term a lot when an independent, non-open-admission organization is determining whether or not to take an animal into their program. Not all OTI’s are alike. While the pet may legitimately belong to the person with whom the rescue is conversing, sometimes all is not as it seems. Bitter exes, for example, have been known to “rehome” a pet who does not belong to him or her in order to hurt their former partner. It’s hard to believe but we’ve seen it…way more often than you could possibly imagine.
HW (heartworm) – Heartworm disease is transmitted by mosquitoes and is particularly prevalent in warmer, southern US climates. This disease is exactly what it sounds like. Mosquitoes transmit larvae into a dog and then the larvae develop into worm-like organisms that live in the heart causing a host of complications up to and including death if not treated. Heartworm treatment is incredibly painful and terribly hard on a dog’s body. Heartworms can be prevented by administering an inexpensive monthly chewable pill prescribed by a veterinarian. Unfortunately, some dog owners, whether irresponsible or just uneducated about the disease, don’t do this. Most commonly you will see “HW” in conjunction with a + or – behind it, meaning a dog proves either positive or negative for heartworms when tested. A HW+ dog has the disease and must be fully treated before adoption is possible. Not only is treatment hard on the dog, it’s very expensive and puts quite a burden on a rescue’s resources. Many dogs in rescue come in as HW+.
UTD (up-to-date) – A pet that is up-to-date usually means he or she has had all vetting appropriate for the animal’s age. If a rescue is approached about taking in an animal, the first thing they ask is usually if that animal is UTD. If this information is known and vet records can be provided, it gives the organization a base with which to start the animal’s treatment.
BSL (Breed-Specific Legislation) – Breed-specific legislation refers to laws put in place to target a certain breed or breeds of dogs. In today’s world that generally means Pitbull-type dogs, but it has covered, and in some places still does, other breeds deemed “dangerous” such as Dobermans, Rottweilers, and German Shepherds. Generalizing attributes by maligning an entire breed or breeds by calling that breed “dangerous” is irresponsible and, well, dangerous. This gives people a false sense of comfort by inferring that breeds that are not covered under BSL must not be dangerous. Every breed, every individual dog, can be dangerous, just as any breed, any individual dog, can be sweet and kind. Just as with people, each dog needs to be judged based on his or her individual attributes and behaviors.
TNR (trap-neuter-return) – TNR is the practice of controlling community or “feral” cat colonies. It’s exactly what it sounds like. Cats and kittens are trapped, taken to a veterinarian for basic medical care, spay/neuter, and other testing, and then returned to their colony. Some organizations will work with cats and kittens who appear to be friendly, or less feral, if they have a foster or shelter who can house the animal. The caretaker of the colony then feeds them to keep them from becoming nuisances to local businesses and neighborhoods (if they are regularly fed, they are less likely to scrounge for food in dumpsters and outdoor trash cans) and monitors the them for additional medical needs.
These are all the acronyms I can think of as of this writing. Drop me a line at avathepocketpittie@yahoo.com if you can think of more. I could probably do another whole post with the ones I’ve forgotten.
