Fostering Again: Pooh Bear and Piglet

After a long hiatus, I am fostering kittens once again.  It was not an easy transition back into the world of animal rescue.

Helen brought me two 11 week old kittens from PACC.  The larger black kitten (Piglet) had gone into foster care briefly, but his diarrhea was diagnosed as roundworms and the fosters sent him right back.  FAIR loaned me a "kitty condo", a large cage suitable for a couple of small kittens while they heal from anything infectious, so I agreed to take them.  This is their PACC picture:

They were dirty and smelly and both had diarrhea. I will tell you more about them later.

Puppy Yoga?

So, our volunteers decided to trim the toenails on Tracy, one of the pups we had up for adoption today, and Chloe sat Tracy down on her lap. At first, Chloe was holding up Tracy's front paws, but when she let go and held Tracy by the torso, the silly puppy kept her front toes touching her hind toes in this doggy yoga pose. I showed the picture to another volunteer later that afternoon, and Helen's comment was, "That puppy looks like she's ready for a pelvic exam." Cracked me up!!

So Ugly They're Cute

I got to visit the bottle babies today, although they're not bottle babies anymore. They're very young, only about 5 weeks, and if they had a dog-mama they'd surely still be nursing, but they never liked the bottle much and were more than happy to wean. They gave me lots of kisses, but no one tried to suckle on my chin or nose today. They are fat and happy babies, and as much as I love them, I have to say that little Chex is one of the ugliest puppies I've ever seen! So ugly, she's cute, thank goodness. Chunky Chuck is still the biggest, and it looks like Chip is going to have blue eyes.

Skinny Ted

Ted was listed as a "cruelty impound", which means he was removed from his owner due to the poor treatment he received there. He went up for rescue at the county pound almost two weeks ago. He was too skinny and sick to go up for adoption. He has been on medication for over a week, but has not gained weight and still doesn't feel well. I'm worried he may have tick fever, or maybe valley fever. We'll be bringing him back to the vet soon.

What infuriates me about poor Ted is that the county pound neutered him before putting him up for rescue. They have recently begun "pre-altering" not just healthy, adoptable dogs but even the sick ones that are unadoptable. One of the primary reasons the county pound partnered with rescue groups originally was to give the unadoptable animals a safe place to recover BEFORE they underwent major surgery for sterilization. No ethical veterinarian would consider putting a sick, emaciated animal through elective surgery. Rescue groups provided the animal's foster home for the county, until the animal was healthy enough to undergo surgery. Once the animal was sterilized, it became the property of the rescue group. A few careless rescuers have neglected to keep good records and/or ensure that all of their county rescue animals have been altered before going to permanent homes, and as a result, the county has made this decision to "pre-alter" even the sick rescue animals. It's wrong to make animals suffer because of the failures of a few irresponsible people. Controlling pet overpopulation is extremely important, but not important enough to justify such inhumanity.

Just because an animal is on the rescue list does not mean that a rescue will be able to take it. Some of these animals will undergo sterlization surgery while sick, and then a day or two later, be put to death. It turns my stomach. I am dedicated to getting this horrible practice abolished.

The bottle babies sleep over

Tired... so, so tired... Suzanne went out of town for a week, so Helen and I each took three of her bottle feeder pups. Did I mention I'm TIRED? It's gotten a little bit easier with time, but I have to remember never to take bottle babies for more than 2 or 3 days ever again. The amount of laundry I have to do is unreal, and when they're screaming for the bottle, I want to cry. Now I know why I never had human babies!

Bottle Babies

A stray, possibly feral dog left two newborn puppies on a man's front porch. Later that day he found six more in various locations around his yard, and the mother dog didn't appear to be caring for them. Several of his neighbors came forward to help bottle feed the tiny pups, and they split them up between them, but very soon he and one of the neighbors became overwhelmed by the job, and called my rescue group for help.

Convincing puppies (and kittens) to take the bottle is not always easy; sometimes, even if they're desperately hungry, they squirm and cry and spit out the nipple. They also need to be fed every two or three hours around the clock when they're brand new. Finding volunteers with the time and energy for bottle babies is not easy. I love to bottle feed, but don't have the stamina to keep it up for weeks on end, so I get my fix by helping other fosters. Today my friend Lisa and I went to Suzanne's house to help her feed the six puppies turned over to rescue by the overwhelmed gentleman and his neigbor. My bottle leaked, and I probably soaked up as much milk as the puppies did, but it was still a treat for me. I even let one suckle on my nose for a few seconds, but not long enough to get a nose-hickey.

I think most puppies who still have their eyes closed look a lot more like woodchucks than dogs, and the fat little brown guy in the picture above is a great example. Apparently Suzanne agrees with me, as she named him Chuck today.

Tidbit is no longer suffering

Tidbit's troubles were not caused by a relapse of Tick Fever. He was admitted to the vet hospital yesterday, where the vet who examined him suspected a foreign body in his sinuses. They anesthetized him this morning and using a scope and x-rays, were able to see a large mass in his sinus cavity. Cancer. They didn't wake him up, just put him out of his misery.

Tidbit was 7 years old. Much of his life was spent in neglect, suffering, illness, and abuse. About a year ago, Dr. Stofft and his staff worked very hard to bring him back from the edge of death; when he was stable enough to come home, my partner Liz and I worked hard to help him complete his journey to health. We fed him good food and watched his gaunt frame fill in with muscle. We gave him medication to keep his allergy symptoms minimal. Our dog Darby did a wonderful job befriending him, putting him at ease, playing with him for hours every day, and showing him that humans give good ear scritches. It took many months, but eventually he learned to enjoy human touch. He started coming to me many times per day to get his scritches and give me a kiss. He would dance with joy at dinner time. He would take naps cuddled up with our dog Andie. He would chew a Nylabone with great gusto. He would stalk and pounce foster-cat Mia, occasionally letting out a hound-like BAROO! He would howl his mournful baritone howl when the pack got going. He was part of the family. We loved him, and he loved us.

What I wished for Tidbit was that he could have at least as many years of love and good health as he had of suffering and neglect. At the very least, I wish he could have passed without suffering for as long as he did before we figured out what was wrong with him, and let him go. I wish that all of the precious lives that must end could do so suddenly and gently, that each one of us, animal and human, could pass quietly and painlessly in our sleep with no pain or fear before hand. Life is hard enough. Why does losing it have to be so cruel? Doing animal rescue has taught me that suffering almost always precedes death. I'm so tired of seeing so much suffering, and of death so often being the only way to end it. Tidbit's suffering is over now, but we who loved him suffer on.

Today's Rescue

It's been a long time since I've been able to go down to the county pound and rescue a large, adult male dog. We've been adopting out a lot of puppies and small dogs lately, and our large adult dog adoptions have really slowed down. A foster home came available this weekend, and for once, there were no returns pending, and no other foster homes that needed to move a dog out. So I went down to the pound to scout out the dogs that had been placed on the rescue list. Any animal on the list is euthanized after 5:00 if not rescued.

The only adult male on the day's list had a note on his kennel card that stated, "Aggressive to small dogs." That was a deal-breaker: the foster has a little Brussels Griffon. But in the kennel next door, I spotted another male dog with the big "R" for rescue marked on his card. He wasn't on the day's rescue list because he was from the previous day's list. Technically, he should have been euthanized last night. Why was he spared? Maybe in part because the kennels were not very full, so space was not an issue; and maybe in part because he was just so nice. He had the typical depressed demeanor of a dog with a slight case of kennel cough that has been languishing at the pound unclaimed for two weeks, but when greeted, he wagged and kissed. A note on his card read, "Placed in kennel with small dachs x and large pit, OK, no aggression." Perfect!

He seemed bewildered and surprised when I opened his kennel door and led him down the aisles to the office area to complete his paper work. When I sat down to wait for my copy, he came alive with excitement, wiggling and kissing everyone within reach. It was as if he realized this was really it, he was finally leaving the bad place! As we walked out the door, I asked the prancing pup beside me, "What's your name, doggie?" and it hit me immediately: Dougie. Today was Dougie's lucky day, and he knew it!

Tidbit's Troubles

Poor Tidbit started feeling sick a couple of weeks ago. At first we thought it was an upper respiratory infection, picked up at the adoption center from another rescue dog. He snorted and "reverse sneezed" several times a day, and didn't want to play with Darby anymore. He began snoring more than usual at night, and finally we noticed his nose was very congested even in the day time. When his inner eyelids began to show, we knew he was getting worse instead of better. On the day of his vet appointment, we noticed a pinkish tinge to the irises of his eyeballs, and a slight haze. He was bleeding into his eyes. My stomach lurched with dread.

His vet feared the worst: she suspected a relapse of tick fever, causing immune mediated hemolytic anemia, a grave condition where the immune system attacks the platelets in the blood, so the blood no longer clots. She drew blood for tests, and sent us home with doxycycline for the assumed relapse of tick fever, drops for the inflammation of his nose and eyes, and prednisone to suppress his immune system's attack on his own blood. She said we would know in a few days if the medication was helping; if he got worse instead of better, his prognosis was very poor.

A few days later, his breathing seemed a little bit easier, and his eyes a little bit clearer. His vet called with some puzzling news: according to Tidbit's blood work, his platelets were just fine. She decided the blood in his eyes was probably due to vasculitis, a condition that can cause small blood vessels to rupture. This meant his situation was less dire; he was no longer in immanent danger of dying. She thought the nasal congestion might be connected to swollen blood vessels as well. She told us to reduce his prednisone dosage by three quarters, and continue with the other medication.

Several days later, his congestion was as bas as ever; a week later, his eyes were just as bad again, too. Off to the vet again, who added another antibiotic, in case of secondary infection, and restored the prednisone to its original dosage. Let's hope a few days of the new regimen will ease his suffering. I miss his happy, prancing "Tidbit dance".

Pupdate: Winter Star

I love it when we get updates from adopters, especially on our animals that were adopted as puppies or kittens, and especially when they send pictures! This is one of my puppy-sitting clients that I weaned from the bottle for our foster mom, Cathy. She was just adopted 9 days ago, but I swear she looks like she's grown! You can see her picture in the "Great adoption weekend" post, and in the "Puppy sitting" post. Here is what her new mom wrote in her e-mail, sounds like this puppy is living the high life:

"The puppy, Laney, is doing so well and so happy in her new forever home. I've attached a photo of her playing with my husband at his airplane hangar yesterday. You can see who's the boss!"

More rescue that isn't

My county's animal control center has been experimenting with a program that opens animal rescue to private parties, rather than limiting it to established rescue organizations. If an animal is unadoptable due to illness or injury, an individual may pay a reduced fee and sign a contract stating that the animal will receive the veterinary treatment it requires, and be brought back to the shelter's spay/neuter clinic to be altered within 30 days, or as soon as it is healthy enough. Sometimes everything goes well and the rescuer abides by the contract, but all too often, these individual rescuers don't follow through on their commitments. At least a dozen of these private parties have brought their rescued animal to a local vet, only to abandon it there when it became apparent that the illness would cost money to treat. Some have abandoned the animal rather than pay $35 for antibiotics.

It's apparent that some of these so-called rescuers never intended to honor the contract they signed. A young woman was at the county shelter, looking for a small dog for her sister. She left with a shepherd mix puppy with an injured leg. She took them because no rescue group had spoken for them, and they were about to be euthanized. She signed the contract that stated she would provide for the treatment of their medical issues and bring them back to be altered in 30 days, but two hours later she was at PetCo trying to give the dogs away to anyone who would take them. When confronted by a county shelter volunteer who happened to be present doing adoptions, she took them home and offered them free to a good home on the internet, and sent e-mails to rescue groups begging them to take the dogs. Someone informed her that many of the vets in town will give a rescued animals a free vet visit, so the next day she took the dogs to a vet, where she was told that the puppy's injured leg was badly infected, and would probably have to be amputated. They prescribed an antibiotic and a pain killer, which cost about $100, but the young woman couldn't afford them, so she took the puppy home and left the medications behind.

Thankfully, a concerned volunteer from one of the rescue groups she had contacted (the one I volunteer with) was able to contact her and offered to come pick up the puppy that night. He was brought directly to an emergency veterinary hospital, where the diagnosis was confirmed by x-ray. The vet felt that the infection was so severe, the puppy would die of blood poisoning within a day or two if the leg was not removed immediately. He went into emergency surgery that night. It took over a week for the pus to stop oozing was from his incision, but he finally beat the infection and was able to go to a foster home, where he learned to walk and then run on three legs. About a month after his surgery, he was adopted.

Pupdate

It's amazing how much bigger Maxine's pups have gotten already. Maxine is a champion milker. She is always full of milk, and therefor, so are the pups. They were 11 days old today, and one of them is beginning to open her eyes. They are also starting to try to stand up on their legs instead of just squirming on their bellies. Three of them managed to crawl over the lip of their crate door today, and I was amazed at how fast they could scoot across the floor!