While it might appeared that I have died, from the lack of blog posts, it isn't true. I am still here.
I came across this today and wanted to share it. It's a simple idea but could be really helpful for lots of dogs. Some dogs need their space, for whatever reason. I had a Great Dane as a patient and kids in public made him nervous. Especially if the kids were loud, excited to see him, wanted to hug him, or they had some physical challenge or a mental or emotional disability.
They made him nervous and his owners had to be extra careful with him in public, if they were traveling, to keep someone from getting bit.
The Yellow Dog Project would have been perfect for him.
If you remember a long, long, long time ago- in the 1990's- you'd remember my first dog, Jezabelle. She was old and had to be put to sleep in November 1999 with cancer. She was little pit mix, white with a patch over part of her face and eye. She was a pound dog. The hospital, where I was working at the time, served as a holding facility for the city animal control officer. Had a home. Didn't have a home. Tied to a tree. and eventually made her way back to the veterinary hospital, a few months later, only because of her Rabies tag on her collar.
It seemed like it was meant to be, so I ended up keeping her.
Below is my business card that I still use today.
So when I saw this girl below, you know who I immediately thought of.
This is Fancy. She is a from a animal shelter on the other side of Athens, about an hour away.
6 years old. 55 lbs. Obviously has had several litters of puppies.
She was running out of time and options. So I contacted a local rescue group to foster her for them.
She was surrendered by her owner, so I was told that she is about 6 years old. For 6 though, she has a rather young spirit and a sweet soul. She's had a couple of medicated baths for her skin, and will probably be getting spayed the end of this week or maybe the first of next week.
If you want to see all her photos, click on these links to see the Flickr sets. Set 1.Set 2. Set 3.
This is Zorro. He was brought in the other day for euthanasia because his hair was matted. There is (was) too much cat hair in his house according to his owner, and her landlord. ( Never mind that there is another cat and a Yorkie dog that live there too. Booooo. )
He's about 12 years old according to the owner. He went to the vet for his vaccinations 11 years ago. (Boooo some more.)
Me- Is he sick?
Her- No.
Me- You've lived there for 3 years plus. Does he have to leave today?
Her- Yes.
Me- Have your tried to find him another home?
Her- No.
Me- And your other dog and cat is fine to stay there?
After His Haircut
Her- Yes.
Okay, got it. I'll stop asking questions before I blow a gasket.
She let me keep him to see if I can re-home him with someone who appreciates him.
He seems like a really quiet cat. Would be perfect for an older person who might not want to deal with the antics of a kitten or a younger cat. I think he prefers inside. I am not sure he is happy about living in a cage though, even temporarily, as he hides in his sleeping box, or his litter box. You find him peeking over the top during the day. If you go in the cat room late at night, when it has been quiet and dark, he is out of the boxes then.
We took his photos the day he arrived, and after he had a haircut to get the matted fur off of him.
You can more photos on Flickr. Here or Here.
If someone local would like to foster him, while his photos go up on Petfinder.com and Adopt a Pet, that would be fine too. I'll update his booster shots- Feline Leukemia, FVRCP, and his Rabies.
Contact the office and we'll work out the details.
I have been taking a break from blogging for part of the summer. Working on some other projects. And not having to much to say.
One project that came about partly with the passing of Jimmy, and then Bert a monthly later, was thinking about how can more homeless pets find homes. The internet and social media is great for sharing photos of pets needing a home, but I got to wondering was their more that could be done.
And what sort of fell into place during June was the idea for a digital magazine on iPad. To help homeless pets find homes, to increase awareness about adoptions, and spay/ neuter to reduce the number of unwanted litters clogging animal shelters. A magazine not written directly for rescue groups and those involved in animal rescue. But a magazine that is more mainstream- sort of like a cross between Chicken Soup for the Soul, Guidepost, and photos and videos thrown into the mix.
Apple Newsstand became available last October and it looks just like a newsstand on your ipad or iphone. So I shared my idea with a few people to get their opinion, set how to have an app built, and a preview issue published. It went live the end of July. You can find the preview issue in iTunes by clicking this link.
If you don't have an ipad, you can find a pdf of the preview issue, in a blog post on a new site. I am a Shelter Pet. It also explains why the issue is only available on iPads. At least for the time being.
It has been getting 40-60 downloads per day through the App store. And to various countries. USA, China, Australia, Europe, and South America. Which is sort of fun to see where it goes each day.
or so it might seem as I have been neglecting my blog for the past
few weeks.
I am still around working on a few projects. One that I am
super excited about, but still waiting on it to come together. You'll
be the first to know, I promise.
Happy Friday Everyone. I have been neglecting my blog for a month or so, working on other projects.
But I wanted to give a shout out for Toyota's program where they give away cars to various non-profits. 100 cars in 100 days. Have you been following this? or voting?
Alley and Bama came in today for their 2nd kitten vaccinations. and a toenail trim as they have learned to claw up the furniture despite have scratching posts and pads all around.
Hello all. I've put this post off for the past few days. You'll know why in a second. But if you've been following the stories of Jimmy, Ginger, Bert, and Rosie, I feel that I owe it to you.
Jimmy passed away this past weekend. Early Sunday morning. Exactly 6 months to the weekend, that they first arrived. They arrived on Friday night late, and on that Saturday in November, I walked into the office, and started cleaning them up and working with them. "Here we go", I said to myself.
Jimmy's last day here.
This past Saturday, the 19th, I came in to walk everybody, we had several boarders staying too. Everything was fine. Rosie went out. Bert went out. And while I was putting Bert back up, I saw Jimmy throw up at the door to his cage. It was dog food mixed with lots of fresh blood. Too much blood.
I looked at the floor. And then at him standing in his cage waiting to go out. Back to floor. Back to him. And these questions came to mind. WHERE did that come from? WHY are you throwing that up? and WHAT are we going to do about it?
I took him out . . . he seemed okay. His stool was a bit loose. He drank a little water and kept that down. By lunch time, his stool had turned to bloody diarrhea. I called my brother who is also a vet to make sure I was being rational in my thinking, as I left the realm of veterinarian and moved to frantic pet parent.
All 4 of them tested positive for heartworms when they got here from the pound. The drug to kill adult heartworms was not available in the States at the time due to a manufacturing problem. But, heartworm guidelines have changed over the years, and while we used to use the drug immediately, now it is recommended to use a slower treatment protocol. I should do a whole blog post one day to explain that in more detail. Ginger, Bert, and Rosie started their treatment in November, and Jimmy had to wait till mid February, as that was when we could get out hands on him enough to test him while he was anesthetized to be neutered. So we knew he had heartworms. From the outside, it's difficult to tell how bad the worms are and what damage they are causing.
So we quickly ran narrowed down possible causes. If it came from the lungs, it could be pneumonia, it could be from the heartworms. If it is from his stomach, not sure.
The other problem is Jimmy himself. While his social skills had been improving, and he looks better on video over the past few months, he is still far from a normal dog. A NORMAL dog would lay still for an xray. Sit still for bloodwork. Get in a car if they need to go to the University to have some test done. Be fine around strange people. Be fine with strange people handling them in a strange place like the teaching hospital. Be fine being hooked up to an IV pump.
Jimmy didn't like to be picked up to be put in the tub for a bath. Or to have his temperature taken. Anything out of the ordinary, would stress him out. I was going to have to treat him here, and wing it, without the luxury of having test results.
The other rule out for his vomiting and bloody diarrhea, was hemorrhagic gastroenteritis. Also know as HGE. It happens quickly, no one knows quite how or why, but it is suspected to be a Clostidial endotoxin much like botulism or tetanus.
So I loaded him up on fluids for the dehydration and diarrhea, 2 different antibiotics for possible pneumonia, along with anti-inflammatories and cortisone for possible problems from the heartworms. Shotgun therapy- treat for everything, hope something works.
By late Saturday night at midnight or a little later, with all his meds and fluids on board, I kissed him on top of the head, which "Normal Jimmy" would not have allowed, and told him, "I hate to put you to sleep without know exactly what is going on with ya', as that sort of feels like I'm giving up on you. But I don't want to watch you suffer either. You have to help me out a little if you want to stay."
By early Sunday morning, he was gone.
Jimmy had a little bit of a fan club on my hospital facebook page. So I had to tell them the news. They were as shocked and saddened as I was. You can read the posts and comments from Sunday, you might have to scroll down or back a few days. Here's the link.
I took his body to the diagnostic lab for an autopsy. On Monday, I sent his blood sample, that I pulled on Saturday, to the lab. The pathologist called on Monday afternoon late, and said Jimmy had a heavy heartworm burden with lots of damage to his heart and lungs. There was bleeding in his intestine and they would be doing some tests to determine the cause of that.
The bloodwork I sent to the lab, showed a severe low platelet count which is consistent with DIC. Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation. It is never a primary problem, it is always secondary to something else, but the prognosis is grim with DIC.
The pathologist called today and said the intestinal bleeding was caused by Parvovirus. Which isn't common in adult dogs, and Jimmy was vaccinated, but can sometimes occur. Parvo is bad, but not always fatal. Heartworms are bad, and not always fatal. Both Parvo and Heartworms can trigger DIC. But Parvo, Heartworms, heart/ lung damage, and DIC is just too much to overcome.
I had no idea when I walked into the office on Saturday morning, the 19th would be Jimmy's last day here. 6 months to the weekend that he arrived.
The video that I shared last Friday, the 18th, was clips that I had
collected over the past 6 months. I put it together on Wednesday, the 16th. The wrestling clip with Ginger and
Daisy, towards the end, was from Mother's Day. A week before he passed away. I think Ginger and Daisy have missed him this week as much as I have.
And even though I shared this last week, I am posting it again as a tribute to him. It is how I want to remember Jimmy. I hope other remember him too. And I hope it encourages people to consider adopting shelter and rescue pets, no matter how unadoptable they seem at first. Please feel free to share it, if you wish, if you didn't share it last week. Feel free to share it 2 weeks from now, 2 months from now . . . next year . . . whenever you want.
It's a new video, but put together from his photos and videos. I see him everyday so I forget what he looked like when he first got here and how much progress he has made.
It does tug at your heart a little, I'll be honest, but in a good and happy way. You might want a tissue handy, though, I don't want anyone blowing their nose on their shirt sleeve.
I hope by sharing his story it encourages people to adopt shelter pets or take a chance on those who might not seem so adoptable at first.
This is Alley and Bama. They are about 9 weeks old and rescued from a storm drain. Their owners brought them in yesterday for their first vaccinations. Guess which team their owner pulls for?
