Maggie Takes A Trip

The wonderful organization of Pilots N Paws has helped once again.  This time pilot Jim flew down from Minnesota to pick up Maggie the Old English Sheepdog at an airport near Alton, Illinois, before flying back home to Minnesota with her.

Maggie and Pilot Jim

Maggie had a good flight and is now settling in well at her new foster home with Midwest Old English Sheepdog Rescue.  Huge thanks go out to Jim the pilot and Nancy the rescuer for saving Maggie!

Long Overdue Foster Pet Updates

Ziggy the deaf pit bull is doing well.  He's attending Rally classes each week, and enjoys finding yet another way to earn treats.  I've also discovered that he and Jefferson are good playmates.  They love to play chase and wrestle with each other.

Chloe the pit bull is my girl.  She's like the best dog ever.  She started heartworm treatments and is now on strict rest for eight weeks.  She's pretty lazy though so she's happy to lay around on the couch all day.

Ace the deaf Dogo Argentino mix is now adopted!  He went to a home with another dog who is a therapy dog, and his new owner plans to train Ace to be a therapy dog as well.

Fanny the Basset Hound mix did really well in her beginning agility class.  She loved going to class, but had to cut her beginners class session short because she found her forever home!  She's even happier now to be in a home where she gets all the attention.

Maggie the deaf Old English Sheepdog is getting ready to get on a plane.  She has some aggression issues that need special help, so she's going to be traveling to Minnesota, to Midwest Old English Sheepdog Rescue.  Pilots 'N Paws will be helping her to get to her final destination.

Jefferson the Shepherd/Lab mix is his same silly self.  He has been to the vet twice in the past two weeks because he has caused his tail to start bleeding by wagging it so much.  He can't help it, he's just a happy guy!  He loves to play and wrestle with Maggie and with Ziggy - they are his two best friends.







And that's all the time we have for updates today!  More updates coming soon!

Charlie's Story

With every foster pet that comes in, a small part of me always keeps in mind that they are just a foster - they aren't staying.  But every once in awhile, no matter how much I try to keep a bit of distance, one of the foster pets just captures my heart and won't let go.  This is what happened with Charlie the cat.

I took in Charlie last October after he had been diagnosed as FIV+ by an area shelter.  He immediately decided that he owned the house, and should be allowed to do whatever he wanted.  This included things like decorating the Christmas tree, stealing my food as I was trying to eat, and sneaking out the door every chance he got, so he could go climb a tree:

Recently Charlie was re-tested for FIV since sometimes kittens who test positive will test negative as they grow older.  Unfortunately in this case Charlie tested positive again, but for Feline Leukemia, not FIV.  Feline Leukemia is a very serious virus that is the main cause of cancer in cats.  There is currently no cure, and most cats who test positive for Feline Leukemia don't live more than a few years.  Charlie was most likely diagnosed incorrectly at the shelter when he was a kitten, and was never FIV positive, but has been positive for Feline Leukemia all along.  Once I learned this news, I knew then that I'd be keeping Charlie for whatever amount of time he had left.  He had captured my heart from the moment he came here, and cats with Feline Leukemia are very difficult to find homes for.  

So I left Charlie listed on the website with information about Feline Leukemia, and accepted that he was basically my cat.  Charlie is the best cat - not because he is well behaved - he isn't - but because he is always affectionate and always purring.  He loves the dogs, and cuddles with them every chance he gets:

He sleeps with me every night, and entertains me every day.  At least he did, until a couple of weeks ago, when someone saw his information on the website and ended up adopting Charlie!  I am happy that he found a permanent home, but oh how I miss my cat!  I hope he has many more happy years in his new home. 

Charlie

Introducing Maggie

I love fostering different breeds of dogs, and on Saturday I brought home my first Old English Sheepdog.  Maggie is a one year old female with one blue eye and one brown eye.  She is deaf, but she is learning some sign language.  I don't think she'll be here long enough for me to teach her very much, because the Old English Sheepdog is pretty rare in this area and I think she'll be adopted quickly.  This is Maggie at her previous owner's home: 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Her owner had to give her up due to a change in family circumstances, and she had Maggie shaved down recently, so now Maggie looks like this:

I wanted to keep her until her hair grew out again, because I love the look of the long hair, but I know that wouldn't be fair to Maggie, so I'll just have to insist that whomever adopts her lets me visit her once her hair is grown out.  That's not too much to ask, right?

Maggie is a very sweet dog - she is great with all the other dogs and good with the cats.  She's fitting in really well around here!

My Day: Guest Post by Jefferson

Hi everyone, I'm Jefferson, but everyone calls me Jeffy.  My foster mom is the lady who usually writes this blog.  She said I could tell you about my day!  Today is Saturday which means it is an Adoption Day!  Every Saturday we all get loaded up in the car and we go to PetSmart where people come to admire us.  I was so excited to go to PetSmart today, because it's the best place in the whole entire world!  In fact, I got so excited that I wagged my tail really hard and it started bleeding.  My foster mom took me over to the vet and they fixed me right up, but my foster mom told them I had better wear a lampshade on my head or else I'd take off the bandage they put on.  So now I get to wear a lampshade all week!  This is me in my stylish lampshade.

Me looking Most Handsome.

There were about 287 dogs at the adoption event today!  I'm not very good at counting, but I'm sure there were at least that many.  Only two of them found homes, but that's still better than zero (hey, maybe I am not so bad at this math thing!)  My foster mom wanted to take home this dog:

Greta

but decided that she'd have too many dogs if she did that.  Apparently Greta is very affectionate and deserves to be in a home instead of a shelter, where she is living now.  Greta didn't get adopted so hopefully she gets adopted soon before foster mom goes and gets her and brings her back here in spite of the 43 other dogs here.  Oh, wait - foster mom said that there are less than ten dogs here.  I guess I need more math practice after all.

I got to meet a dog named Breeze today!  She was at the adoption event waiting to be admired by people.  My foster brother Bogey is her real brother, which is probably why they look so much alike.  Breeze has a lot more hair than Bogey though.  And she smells better.  I'm just sayin'.

Breeze

I also saw my pal Toby again.  Toby has been in foster care almost as long as Ziggy (like, forever!).  He is real good at getting attention from people by doing crazy stunts like trying to chew his way out of his crate.  He is my role model!

My role model.

My foster mom says I should try to get attention by being cute, like this puppy:

Macy

The puppy slept like this for hours!  I told my foster mom that first of all, since the puppy didn't get adopted, this tactic was obviously no better than Toby's brilliant method of getting attention.  And second of all, how could I possibly sleep for one second while at the most exciting place in the world??  My foster mom just isn't too smart sometimes.

Thanks for listening about my day, and I hope you had a GREAT day too!

Hairless Dogs - We've Got 'Em!

Charlie

My foster dog Charlie went to the vet to get checked out for some missing hair, and we learned he has demodex mange.  This is not contagious to other dogs, but it will require several months of treatment.  So in addition to medicine for the mange and medicine for secondary skin infections, Charlie will also be receiving weekly baths.  Poor guy is not very happy with me right now!  

 Charlie's not the only hairless dog around here though.  Meet Bogey, a Shar-Pei mix.  He's missing a lot more hair than Charlie, but he doesn't have mange or any other skin conditions that the vet can find.  They're doing some tests to try to determine the problem, but it may just be that Bogey is going to always be mostly hairless.  

Bogey

Bogey came to my house after escaping his previous foster home and going on the run for a week.  He had countless volunteers out looking for him and was spotted several times but was too shy to approach anyone.  Eventually he was caught in a live trap and came here.  He used to be best friends with Charlie at the shelter they both lived at, so I thought they might like seeing each other again.  However Charlie seems to think that since he was here first, he should get all the attention and he's not making Bogey feel welcome.  Poor Bogey is very afraid of me, doesn't want to play with the other dogs, and just looks really sad all the time.  

He's also getting medicine for ear infections and an injury he received while on the run, so I'm playing doctor a lot these days.  Hopefully Bogey will start to settle in soon and feel better.

In happier news, we've had several adoptions lately, including Allie the Border Collie mix puppy, Roo the pit bull mix, and Molly the Min-Pin/Puggle mix!