Happily Ever Afters

Sometimes we all need to hear about the Happily Ever Afters.  When things are tough, it always helps to remember why we work so hard to save homeless animals.  The reward of seeing them with their new family, or in their new home, makes the work and the heartache of rescue worth it.  

This is Amber the Pointer mix with her girls.  She's a happy dog, and her family says everyone who meets her just loves her.  

And this is Scout (now named Henry) the Beagle/Shih Tzu/Brussels mix with one of his girls.  He's a very snuggly 43 pounds!

And then there's Casey.  He is loving his life with his best friend Noel the cat.  Casey started out being rescued after being hit by a car and having both of his front legs crushed.  He had steel plates put in his legs, and had a long recovery.  He also had to recover from a tick-borne disease and heartworms.  It was expensive to save him, and a lot of work to nurse him back to health (thanks Leslie!), but he's so happy in his new life and it makes all of the work worth it.

These stories give me hope.  And right now, I need hope.  I have to believe that Shelby will pull through and get her own Happily Ever After too.  Last week Shelby tested positive for heartworms, so she'll need several months of heartworm treatment before she'll be ready for adoption.  That made me sad for her, because heartworm treatment is painful for dogs.  But then to make matters much worse, she started having seizures on Wednesday.  I knew she had a history of seizures before she was turned into a shelter, but she had not had any problems until Wednesday.  I woke up when she had a seizure while lying next to me, and immediately called the vet.  Shelby then went outside and crawled under the deck.  I couldn't get to her so left her there until it was time for her vet appointment.  I still couldn't get to her and she just stood there looking confused but wouldn't come to me so I finally had to break out the wood lattice under the deck to get to her.  We went to the vet and they started her on seizure medicine.  Then a few hours later she had another seizure.  And after the vet closed, she had three more seizures, each one worse than the last.  She had convulsions, emptied her bladder and bowels, did paddling of her limbs, and ended up stumbling around in circles, running into things and doing "head pressing" where she would press her head against a wall for long periods of time.  At midnight we went to the emergency clinic where they gave her more drugs.  She stayed there and I went home alone.  She had more seizures at the emergency clinic, and between seizures is still not herself.  She's temporarily blind and still confused and hurting.  We aren't sure if the seizures are caused by a brain tumor or something else, but at this point we just have to wait and see.  She may come out of it with no ill effects, or she may end up with permanent brain damage, or she may not make it.  I'm worried about my girl.  I so much want her to have her Happily Ever After.  

Casey and the Snow

I love hearing from the people who adopt dogs I have fostered.  I recently heard an update from Casey's mom, and thought you might enjoy it as well.  Casey has always been an easy dog to care for.  He even tries to keep his yard nice and neat.  Here is what his mom sent me:

Casey Jones is sure a creature of habit. I noticed all the snow in the neighbor's yards was all messed up from their dogs. Then I looked at mine. This is a picture of my back yard four days after the big snow. Maybe Casey is afraid he will not find his way back to the door.

Flashback Friday: Casey Jones

Casey is one of my previous foster dogs who was adopted a month ago.  Casey had been bounced around a lot before that - he was in a few different adoptive homes and a few different foster homes, but he's finally found that home that he was waiting for all along.  He has the best family, and she's even been kind enough to help him post a comment on a previous post on my blog!  I hope that continues, and maybe someday he'll decide to start a blog of his own.  In the meantime, I wanted to share with you the 30 Day Update that I just received from his mom.  She said...

Casey was doing great... until he was eaten by the monsters that hide under the deck.

Okay, she didn't really say that.  I just love this picture she sent of him lying under the deck, and I made up my own caption.  But she did say he is doing great.  Here is her e-mail:

---start of e-mail---

Casey Jones Top Ten List:

1. I could have not gotten a better dog had I ordered him from a Sears catalog.


2. He settled in immediately and Noel is glad to have an 'animal' friend. I forgot to mention she thinks she is a dog.

3. He lets me sleep as long as I want. In 30 days he only wanted out one time during the night. At night he beats me to the bed and stretches out across the center. He does move to give me some room when I get in bed.

(In his 'day' bed)

4. So glad I spent so much on his collapsible crate. He has not spent one minute in it. But it is being put to good use.

5. He is unbelievable about 'people' food. I have NEVER had a dog that did not sit and stare while I was eating (and who's fault was that?). Casey will be on an all dog diet.

6. Totally housebroken. He must have a bladder the size of a basketball.

7. He LOVES his outdoor space. The deck, the lower deck, the patio, under the steps or out on the grass. He can sleep anywhere.

(Lower deck)

(Under the steps)

8. Rides, hummm. All he needs to see is me getting my purse. We did have to come to an understanding with that. He would go the laundry room door and push to get out. I have trained him that "No" when I enter the laundry room, means "you are not going" and "Sit, Wait" means "you are going, but I have to open the door first". Then when given the "OK, you can come".

(His NEW ride)

9. Walking is done after the sun sets. I am not a hot day, sunshine kind of person. We move slow, you know we do have to say hello to every adult and dog along the way. Kids get special kisses.


10. He loves to be brushed, he almost purrrs. I can clean the mud off his feet with a washcloth, even between the toes and under the nail.

Thank you for bringing him into my life.


----end of e-mail---
Thank you, Dee, for giving him such a happy life!   

Casey was Adopted!... and other news

My foster dog Casey was adopted last night.  I got an update from his new mom within a few hours. She reported that Casey quickly settled in after checking out his new home, and he just as quickly made friends with the resident feline.  The cat's name is Noel, and she is 17 years old!  It appears that she is quite friendly with Casey. 

Unless of course the cat is just pretending to like Casey so she can trick him into some sort of mischief later.  You can never really tell with cats.

  

 I felt immediately comfortable with his new mom.  She has a lot of experience with animals, and spoils her pets like crazy.  I think Casey is one very lucky dog, and I am so happy for him.  I knew it was going to be extra hard to let him go, but I feel great about this adoption and couldn't ask for a better home. 

In other exciting news, I do believe that Mira the kitten is making a full recovery, and is going to grow up to be a perfect candidate for the Naughty Kitty Club.  This is partly my fault - I have been spoiling her and granting her every wish, and she has become a bit too accustomed to this treatment.  Dry food is no longer palatable - now it must be the premium canned food to be worth her while.  The food should be given as soon as she is hungry - no waiting for specific meal times.  Play time must come several times a day, and any delays will result in a lot of meowing and complaining.  Affection must be given whenever requested, and will be rewarded with loud purrs.  Cuddle time is required before bed, and is also rewarded with loud purrs.  Overall, she's doing great and I am happy to spoil her for as long as I can - I am just so grateful to have her here. 

Last night I also met with some friends for dinner, and we discussed the most recent breakthroughs in particle physics... oh no, wait.  That's not right. We mostly discussed animals, and I explained about Noelle's Vanishing Spot Disease, and how sometimes I live in my own reality (where I discuss things like particle phsyics and I diagnose fake dog diseases like vanishing spot disease).  I'm not sure why they put up with me, but I'm glad they do.  Noelle's spots have not reappeared, so it is still a mystery as to what caused them in the first place.  Although I think it might have something to do with particle physics. 

Update on the kittens

I'm sorry to say that "Spot" did not survive, and he has now joined his brothers at the Rainbow Bridge.  He fought hard, but even with medicine and force feeding, his little body just couldn't fight off the parasites. 

We finally have a definitive answer on what caused the kittens to become so sick.  They tested positive for a parasite called tritrichomonas foetus.  It causes diarrhea and while it can affect both adults and kittens, it is usually not fatal.  However these kittens are so young and frail that they just weren't strong enough to survive.   Regular dewormers and antibiotics don't work against this parasite, and we actually had to order the only medicine that is shown to be effective against it from a pharmacy several states away.  They are sending the medicine by overnight mail, so hopefully it will get here later today in time to help the last surviving kitten - the one I was temporarily calling "Trickster" (because she was always escaping from her room).

I've officially named her Mira.  It's short for Miracle... because that is what she needs.  Not only does she need to survive these parasites, but the medicine we will be giving her to help her fight them off is very dangerous and known to cause neurological problems so I will be monitoring her closely and if she has any side effects we will have to quit the medication.  Thank you all for your well wishes - I will keep you updated on how she is doing.

On another note, I have some happier news to share.  Last night I met with a lady who is interested in adopting Casey.  She met Casey and everything went really well, and she will most likely be taking him home next week!

I explained to Casey that he was going to be adopted and get to live with a wonderful new mom.  I was hoping the news wouldn't be too hard on him and he wouldn't mind going to yet another new place.  I shouldn't have worried.  He said "Next week??  How about right now?!"  Oh wait, nevermind.  That was my husband Dave who said that.  But Casey did seem excited to hear he would get to live with the nice lady he met tonight.  Or perhaps he was just excited at the thought of getting away from Remi and Noelle and Tripoli and Ziggy.  Either way, he is one happy dog. 

Relaxation

On Saturday after the flea market I collapsed on the couch and didn't move for several hours. Then I took a few pictures of the dogs, ate some kettle corn, and went back to the couch where I remained for the rest of the evening. Fortunately the dogs were tired from being at the event all day too.

This is Casey. He looks happy to be back home, don't you think?  Greeting people all day is hard work!

Remi got to visit the event for a few hours, and it really tired him out.  He wasn't on his best behavior and got sent home early.  I think he knows he is in trouble. 

You might think that having only three legs would make Tripoli get tired more quickly.  But this three-legged dog can hop all over, all day long, and still have energy to wrestle and play at the end of the day! 

Noelle was the only dog that didn't get to go to the event. This made her very sad.

I think if she keeps working on her "woe is me" look, someday she'll be as good at it as Mayzie! 

Ziggy only barely made it in the door before collapsing in the laundry room. Of course he made sure to pull the lid off of the recycling container before collapsing. Even when he is too exhausted to stand, he's never too tired to chew on something.

Disappointment

Disappointment is a constant part of rescue. I hear it in the voice of people when I talk to someone who wants to turn in an animal and I tell them I don't have room. I see it in the eyes of the shelter dogs when I walk by their kennels without time to stop and visit with them. But more than any other time, I feel it when one of my foster pets is returned. It feels like I failed. And I know that returns are a part of rescue. We can't see into the future and know what is going to happen. We just have to do our best to place our fosters into homes with responsible people who are a good match for that foster pet. Unfortunately sometimes even when we do everything right, the home is still all wrong.


Six weeks ago I adopted out Casey Jones to a family who seemed perfect. They had another pet and were responsible pet owners. I did the vet check and the home visit and could not find any reason at all to think it wouldn't be a perfect fit. And for six weeks everything was fine. Then I got a voice mail message that Casey had attacked the other dog in the home, and he "had to go". I contacted them and said while I would of course take him back, I was willing to go to their house and evaluate the situation to try to determine what happened and if anything could be done to prevent it from happening again. They didn't give me details, but I don't understand how Casey could have lived with this other dog for six weeks without a problem and then just attacked him without provocation. Dogs have a reason for their actions, even if we don't know what it is, and I wanted to help them figure it out. I was very nice in my message, and was feeling bad for them that this had happened. Until I found out that instead of replying to my message they took Casey to the nearest animal control facility and left him there. And I am furious with them for claiming to love Casey and then doing that to him. Because if they had just called me and said "no, he has to go immediately", I would have left work and driven over to pick him up right then. Instead I got a call from the shelter just before the shelter closed, so Casey had to stay there overnight. It would have been so easy for these people to do the responsible thing and hold onto this dog they claimed to love for 24 hours while we communicated and worked out a plan to return him. The shelter told me the husband wanted to just open the door and let the dog run loose to get rid of him but the wife insisted on taking him to the shelter, so I guess I should be grateful for that much.
The good news in all of this is that Casey is now back with me, where he is truly loved, and he'll have another chance for a much better home. Hey Frankie Flirter Furter (sorry, Puddles is a bad influence) - today is the 14th and I now have 14 dogs and cats at my house. But I think we're going to try to reverse the numbers now, because otherwise I will soon be homeless with thirteen dogs and cats (my husband will keep Noelle and send the rest out the door with me)! And then we'll come knocking on your door - all fourteen of us - and your mom and dad might not appreciate that.

Adoptions!

Saturday at PetSmart, we had 12 dogs available for adoption, and too many cats to count.  The following dogs were adopted:

Rocky and Benson - the last two Poodle/Pug puppies finally found homes on Saturday!  Just in time - we have several more puppies coming in to our rescue this week, and will be trying to find homes for more puppies very soon!

Buddy - this cute puppy received a lot of interest, and may be going home this week after a home visit.  I hope he gets adopted quickly - he is like Ziggy, only much smaller and cuter and more well behaved.  Plus he's not deaf.  Ziggy doesn't have a chance of getting a home with Buddy around.  Although I bet Buddy can't do the Ziggy Dance! 

Buddy has a brother named Freckles that is still waiting for adoption.  Tomorrow I'm picking him up from the shelter where he's been living recently, and he'll be going into foster care with another foster family until he gets adopted. 

Casey - Casey was adopted!  A nice couple came up and visited with him, then left to go talk about it.  I didn't think they were coming back, but shortly before the event ended they returned with their son and their other dog.  And everything went very well, so they decided to adopt Casey.  I visited him in his new home on Sunday, and he seemed very happy. 


The other eight dogs that were there did not get adopted this weekend, but they'll be back next Saturday to try again.  Now that I'm back down to just one foster dog, I'm ready for another foster.  There is a purebred Great Dane at a local shelter that I may take home to foster if she is not adopted today.  Or there are some Corgi pups that I received an e-mail on, so I may be getting those.  And of course I have a constant list of other dogs waiting to come in, including one more deaf pit bull.  And with an upcoming visit to a shelter scheduled for later today, it will be a real challenge to only end up with one more foster dog instead of several. 

Barking Dogs

I try not to let my dogs bark like this often. But this time instead of distracting them I decided to record them on video to share with you. So you can see why I love them so much. Or not.

Warning - you may want to turn down your volume before pressing play.



I love how Casey just lies there the entire time, pretending nothing is happening. I bet he's imagining that he's in a home with no other dogs, where the only noise is from his new mom who is telling him how much she loves him while she pets him and gives him treats. He's no longer lying on a rumpled futon, surrounded by barking dogs -- instead he is lying on a giant soft fluffy pillow that smells slightly of chicken. He has just returned from a long walk in the woods, and the only thing on the agenda for the rest of the evening is a lot of one-on-one attention from his mom, a steak dinner, and a nap. Casey has a great imagination.

That is why he looks so relaxed in spite of the commotion going on around him. Well, that plus he really did just get back from a long walk in the woods - and he'll settle for whatever he can get. It's also why Remi is barking - Noelle and Casey got to go for a long walk, and Remi and Ziggy had to settle for a quick trip around the block. Remi is wanting to go back out and walk some more. Ziggy is just trying to get someone to play with him. Anyone who thinks deaf dogs don't bark? Now you know - sometimes deaf dogs don't STOP barking!

It's 4 a.m…. do you know where your pets are?

I thought Casey was ready to stay loose in the house by himself. Unsupervised. All night. Sure, it’s only been five days since he came here. But for those five days he has been given incrementally more freedom each day and he hasn’t had any problems. So last night I left his crate door open when I went to bed. And then I was woken up at 4 a.m. by a lick to the face, and when I opened my eyes, I saw him looking something like this.

I was worried at first, but I quickly figured out he was just waking me up because he wanted to go outside.  Nothing was destroyed, and he didn't do anything wrong.  Whew.  However, the events that transpired after I let him outside at 4 a.m. have made me regret not crating him last night.

I let Casey outside, so Noelle and Remi also wanted outside. Then in my sleep-deprived state, while I was trying to get Remi to go outside without my foster cat Rudy getting out, Merlin came out of nowhere (it’s his best trick) and darted out the door. So there I was, standing in the doorway, with three dogs and a cat in the backyard. I tried to decide if I would be able to run out and grab Merlin without anyone seeing me. After all, it was 4 a.m. But there was a full moon, and it was very bright. And Merlin was about 10 feet off of the patio, right in the middle of a big mud puddle. So since I wasn’t really wearing enough clothing, not to mention any shoes, I elected to go back in and find some sweatpants and shoes, hoping all the while that Merlin remained in the middle of the mud puddle until I returned. Of course he didn’t. When I got back, Merlin was long gone, and Remi and Casey were barking at something on the other side of the fence (possibly the rogue Merlin). I got the three dogs back inside and went out looking for Merlin – no luck. So by this time Ziggy has woken up and also wants to go out. I figure maybe he’ll help me find Merlin, so I take him out too. Instead, after taking care of doggie business, he proceeds to “help” by continually jumping up and trying to get me to play bitey face. By this time I was very ready to “bitey-face” him! But I restrained myself, and put him back inside to continue the search for the missing cat.

We never let our cats or foster cats outside. It’s just too dangerous. In addition to the obvious risks like traffic, there are predators like coyotes, foxes and birds of prey, risks of poisoning by pesticides, and risks from dogs or feral cats. The average life span for indoor cats is 15 to 18 years, compared to only 3 years for free-roaming cats. So as much as Merlin loves to be outside, I just don’t like to take the risk. That is why I was walking around my backyard at 4 a.m., whispering “Merrrlinnnnn” and feeling rather foolish. And by the way, even with moonlight that makes the whole landscape bright, it’s still too dark to avoid stepping in any dog piles. So my whispering actually went something more like “Merrrlinnn….. where are you?.... ewww, what’s that smell?....oh no…. darnit!”. If Merlin was still within hearing by that time, he probably figured he’d be safer not answering me! Eventually I called off the search and decided to wait for daylight. But even once daylight came and I resumed my search, there was no sign of Merlin. So I went inside and fed the dogs.

Noelle is a food guarder. She doesn’t guard it from people, but she does like to make sure no other dogs or cats get too close to her food bowl. So after I fed her, I was standing in the kitchen and I saw Noelle go running across the room, barking at the front door, then running back to her food bowl to eat. That was her typical guarding behavior, but there were no dogs or cats by the front door. My hopes rose and I ran to the front door and looked out the window, and there he was. Merlin. Just sitting there patiently waiting for me to open the door. So I did, and he came in.  He didn’t apologize; didn’t say thank you; just pretended that running away from home and then showing up at the front door the next morning was an everyday occurrence for him. Cats these days.  They just have no idea what they put their parents through. 

Introducing Casey

A few days ago I brought home another foster dog. Like so many others, he has a sad story. Casey was hit by a car, and both of his front legs were crushed. He was taken to the vet and they put two 3-inch steel plates in his legs. They also found he had heartworms and a tick-born disease. So they treated him for that as well as his injuries from the car accident. His foster mom took great care of him and got him ready for adoption, and now he's ready for a permanent home. So since his foster mom can't get him to adoptions each week, I am taking him to my house until he is adopted. He is such a sweet dog, and so easy-going, that I hope it won't take long to get him a perfect home.

This is Casey at an adoption event recently. He was so happy and loved to greet everyone. You may remember he recently had his picture on here in the popular one-ear pose. He's always going along with the crowd! But that makes it easy for him to fit in at my house. He is doing great with Remi and Noelle and Ziggy, and just follows them around for the most part. Well, it might be that he's following me, not them - its hard to tell since they all follow me. Constantly. Maybe I should stop walking around with food all the time.

Casey has healed completely, and has no long-term ill effects from the car accident or the heartworms. My neice came over and we took all four dogs for a long walk last night, and Casey had more energy than the other three! He is probably around 5 or 6 years old, which will make it a little harder for him to find a home, but he also is past that whole puppy chewing stage, and is already housetrained, so that will help. And in the meantime, it's kind of nice to have a foster dog that is already so well trained and doesn't require constant supervision!