Every Day, Our Community Relies on the Cheyenne Animal Shelter

Written by: Britney Tennant, Cheyenne Animal Shelter CEO

It was one of those early fall days when the sun deceptively implies warmth. As I walked to the doors of the Cheyenne Animal Shelter early that morning, I remember putting my hands in my pockets to shield them from the cold.

I went to our front lobby, quiet still, as the shelter had yet to open to the public. A tall gentleman hugging a small brown bundle was standing outside the shelter’s front door.

This man was obviously in distress. He explained he had found the 6-week-old puppy huddled next to his tire in the driveway. He scooped the tiny baby up and made a plan to help. Since the puppy was lethargic and obviously freezing, he opted to submerge her partway in a warm bath. For a minute, she became more active and alert, and he decided his next best course of action was to bring her to us for additional care.

The man had no way of knowing we would still be closed, that our veterinarian was off for the day, that because of the pandemic we were running on a skeleton crew and our services had been drastically scaled back. He only knew she needed help.

I took the tiny puppy from his arms to find that in the drive over and during their brief wait in the cold, she was, again, barely hanging onto consciousness. I called for help and realized no one on our medical staff had clocked in yet. I asked for dry towels, a heating pad and a warm water bottle. The puppy was still wet from her bath, and we had to dry her quickly. She also needed feeding — low blood sugar in puppies can lead to death — so I put some peanut butter on my finger and smeared it on her gums and tongue. She slowly came back to life.

Baby Kris, as we came to call her after the kind man who rescued her, spent the day getting warmed sub-q fluids before moving to a foster home. Three weeks later, happy and healthy, she was adopted.

That was three years ago, and it was my first day as the new CEO at the Cheyenne Animal Shelter.

The story sticks in my mind because it was my first day, but these events aren’t unusual — it turns out, it was just another day. The fact is that every day our community relies on the shelter to be there for moments like this. That relationship, that trust and partnership, has been more than 50 years in the making. And it continues today, thanks to the generous support and commitment from so many of you.

With your help, the shelter has become a thriving and critical part of the fabric and infrastructure of our community. Through its animal sheltering, outreach and education, and community and animal health programs, over 5,000 companion pets’ lives are improved and enriched each year.

Though the shelter’s roots lie in the care and housing of unwanted and displaced animals, it is increasingly called upon to lean into the part of its longstanding mission statement, which includes contributing to the quality of life for people. Every day, our team is confronted with the various challenges individuals and families are facing. Whether that is housing or food insecurity, substance abuse, domestic violence, unemployment or economic strife, they all end up here. Most people consider their pets part of their family, so when help is needed, that includes those animals.

The bond we share with our companion pets is powerful. It is unique in that it is something experienced nearly universally by those who choose to invite animals into their lives. They are with us in our most private moments, they love us when we are at our best and our worst (and maybe most importantly, cannot even seem to tell the difference). More than two-thirds of the friends, neighbors, family and co-workers who live within the shelter’s service area own companion pets. And when those people need help, for whatever reason, their pets often do, too. People in crisis have various places to go, but their pets have the shelter. That reality and responsibility fuels our work here every day.

This is the first of a monthly series I am writing to reintroduce you, city of Cheyenne and Laramie County, to the Cheyenne Animal Shelter. In the coming months, I hope to share more stories and to write about the ways the organization is adapting to the needs of our community. I honor the trust you have put in us for so many decades and hope that you will write to me with your questions. Thank you for caring enough to come along.