Gainesville Pet Rescue

Rescuing Rover: Dogs and cats get pet oxygen masks thanks to donations to ...

To lose all of your earthly possessions in a house fire would be undeniably devastating. But, to lose your house, everything you own and your beloved cat or dog would be especially heartbreaking.

Although the U.S. Fire Administration doesn’t keep specific statistics on how many pets die amid the flames and panic of house fires, industry professionals estimate that more than 100,000 perish in this way annually.

Tragically, many of these pets are actually rescued by firefighters, only to die minutes later from the effects of smoke inhalation.

Now, pets in East Naples can breathe a bit easier.

Thanks to a donation from Jill McKee, owner of Invisible Fence of Southwest Florida, each East Naples Fire Control and Rescue Department’s stations is now equipped with a set of pet-specific oxygen mask kits.

McKee’s donation of five kits, each of which contain a small-, medium- and large-sized mask, a leash and instructions on using the masks, was made Friday on National Pet Fire Safety Day, during a donation ceremony at Humane Society Naples.

The donations are part of a national initiative by Invisible Fence, named Project Breathe, which to date has donated 3,000 masks to fire stations nationwide.

But for McKee, the project is personal.

“I couldn’t imagine the horror of losing my dog on top of losing everything else,” said McKee, adding, “they’re members of the family.”

With her at the donation ceremony was her blue-eyed 6-year-old border collie, Jack, who gamely modeled the masks for a photo op.

Collier County now has masks in three of its fire districts, and Mckee hopes to soon have masks at all of them. In April, McKee donated seven masks to the city of Naples Fire Department and she plans to give six to Marco Island’s stations and three to the Isles of Capri’s stations later this month. In August she hopes to donate five to the Estero Fire Department.

And the firefighters are happy to have them.

“In the past we’ve had to improvise very quickly with limited resources when we had a rescued pet suffering from smoke inhalation,” said Assistant Fire Chief Kevin Nelms. “You could try to get a human mask to fit a dog, but it didn’t really work, especially with a terrified or uncooperative animal.

“When we have products designed for their anatomy, it’s a win-win,” said Nelms.

In a fire, the process of combustion both eats up available oxygen supplies and produces noxious gases such as cyanide and carbon monoxide as a byproduct. The inhalation of these poisonous gasses, coupled with a lack of available oxygen and the severe respiratory burns caused by the sheer heat of the smoke can cause life-threatening pulmonary damage.

Gainesville Pet Rescue in need of donations and foster families ...

Facts How you can help

To help Gainesville Pet Rescue, go to its website at http://www.gainesvillepetrescue.org or call 692-4773.

The public can see the dogs and cats available for adoption at Gainesville Pet Rescue Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. at GPR's headquarters at 5403 SW Archer Road, next to the dog park.

To help Second Chance Rescue in Levy County, visit its website at http://www.second-chance-rescue.org or call 386-206-9566.

To help the Alachua County Humane Society, go to http://www.alachuahumane.org/home.

“So we can make sure they're fully recovered and doing well,” said Heather Thomas, executive director of Gainesville Pet Rescue, one of several nonprofit organizations dedicated to saving area animals from euthanasia at local shelters.

Until the fire, the dogs were being fostered by Chris Carney, who has worked with several pet rescue agencies for the past 12 years. He had eight dogs, including two of his own, at his north Gainesville home when the fire broke out Monday. Those two, Julie and Chewy, plus five others, lived. But one dog, Mowgli, could not be resuscitated by Gainesville Fire Rescue workers.

Carney is one of about 50 people locally who volunteer with GPR to take in pets until the agency can find a permanent home. He also takes in dogs from Second Chance Rescue in Levy County, along with a Labrador Retriever rescue organization.

The Alachua County Humane Society, Second Chance Rescue in Levy County, Helping Hands in Gainesville and Puppy Hill Farms in Melrose are among the other programs locally that use the animal fostering system as a way to help save animals and find them permanent homes.

“We foster animals that are underage or are in particular need of socialization or in-home care, particularly underage kittens,” said Eric Van Ness, director of the Alachua County Humane Society. “We can't adopt them out until they're eight weeks.”

He said they have about 30 core volunteer foster homes and an additional 20 or 30 more who help. They currently have about five animals in foster care.

Van Ness said they see about 400 to 500 cats and an equal number of dogs come through their facility each year — a sad statistic that he said spaying or neutering a pet would solve.

The Humane Society gives vouchers that most area vets honor for discounted spaying or neutering.

In addition, No More Homeless Pets facilitates Operation Pet Snip at the Humane Society office. The charge is $40 to spay or neuter a cat and $60 for the operation on dogs.

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