When Pups Fly

This morning, I drove on over to Sugar’s grooming and boarding business to help out with all the pups.  They are boarding, in addition to ordinary boarders, a mother dog and her ten pups, aged four weeks old.

I considered pulling right in front of the front door, because the folks that are going to the spay/neuter clinic next door will many times park right in front of Sugar’s business, and take up a spot that rightfully is not theirs.  I thought that I’d claim the spot to save for the first client of the day, but thought better about it because, after all, I’d have to move my car and I might be far too busy helping pups to have the presence of mind to move the car.

So I pulled through and around and parked by the play yard, and stared at the mass of pups already in the yard.

How was this possible?  How did those boarding puppies get outside?  Why were they huddled in a mass outside?  How had they climbed out the window?

Well, this was weird.  I went over to the fence, and saw that I did not recognize them.

One of them growled at me.  Poor scared pups.  I know I look a little rough in the morning, but this was doing nothing for my self esteem.

So perhaps you’ve realized that if I had parked in front of the front door, and not pulled around, I would not have known the pups were in the yard, and I would have let boarding dogs out into the yard.  All the boarders are harmless, sweet dogs, but the pups wouldn’t know that.

People worry about stray animals  bringing disease.  They probably have intestinal parasites, like roundworms, which I learned from an animal rescue specialist about ten years ago – all puppies have worms – but if your dog is on monthly parasite prevention, not to worry.  Actually, the bigger danger is to the pups themselves.  They are too young to vaccinate, and I estimate their age to be younger than the four-week-old pups that are boarding.  I mixed up a concoction of dry kibble, water, and canned food, and they could not eat the kibble at all until it became soft.

After they ate their fill, Sugar and I took them to the animal shelter, and told what little we knew about them, and bade them good-bye.

Far better to fly over a fence than to fly into a river.

Lucille Catches A Break

You might remember Lucille, the ancient pit bull that ended up at Richard’s in Garnett.  She just showed up, like many of his dogs do, and she was old when that happened four years ago.

Lucille has arthritis, like some other of us older citizens (clearing throat here), and she benefits from carprofen, an anti-inflammatory.  However, Richard doesn’t have the resources to provide it for her, and Sugar has been the one to see that she gets it.  He’s also been providing heartworm and flea prevention, but lately things have gotten out of hand at Richard’s.

He’s taken in 15 dogs.

He started with three:  Creech, Little Bear, and Molly.

Over the years he added a few as they showed up.  Some stayed, some did not.

The crew he has now includes Lucille, Lady Jane, Marsha, MoDo, Ziggy, Sweet Tater who was walking along the railroad track, Neighbor’s Dog who abandoned him, Hound Dog with no name, Choco, and two feral dogs that live under the house.  There’s a red pit bull that is living outside his fence.

*****

We back up a few days to a few weekends ago.  Richard called to say that Lucille was dying.

Dying?  Could he be more specific?

It seems that she is dying of arthritis, and that she is rickity and decrepit, and she wants to lie in front of the fireplace or in the sunshine.

So the next day Sugar called to Richard to say that we would be out to pick her up and take her to the vet, and how was she?

“Oh, she’s fine”, was his reply.  Note that this was a daytime response, which is generally different from his nighttime response after he’s had a few.

So, dying, or not dying?  I usually say that we’re all dying, but that doesn’t really qualify Lucille’s condition.  So we went out to check on her.

She was lying against the house in the sunshine, and I didn’t even recognize her.  She was emaciated.  The rest of the dogs were milling around and making a commotion, eager to get the treats that Sugar took.

Lucille could hardly walk, and as we drove her to the vet we conjectured what was wrong with her.  Bad arthritis makes you feel like you want to die, but she wasn’t dying from that.  I guessed that her arthritis was so uncomfortable with the cold weather that she couldn’t get up the stairs into the old house to the dog food feeder, and even if she could, she probably couldn’t compete with the other dogs for food.

We stopped at the grocery store across the street from the vet’s office, and Sugar bought some canned food.  Lucille ate the contents of one large can.

The vet performed some bloodwork, and the results didn’t look too bad, so Novox was prescribed.  While we were waiting for the results of the bloodwork, Lucille ate another large can’s worth.

Both the vet and the vet tech thought that Lucille shouldn’t go  back to Richard’s.   But there were no other options.  Sugar has 7 dogs and 2 cats.  I have 3 dogs, 4 cats, and the feral cat station, AND I live in an RV – there’s nowhere for her to stay and keep warm.  Richard was just going to have to step up and do better.

We took her home, and Sugar talked to Richard, and told him that she needs to eat the canned food that Sugar bought for her, and to take her daily meds.

She goes back in two weeks.

The Dog in the Road

Yesterday morning I saw a dead dog in the road.  I was driving along to work, and wasn’t very far from home, and wasn’t even yet on the main highway.  I didn’t stop and move his body because I thought his owner would be out driving around looking for him, and would discover him there, and so would have resolution to what happened to his dog. 

Friday is a short workday for me.  I finished by 10AM and headed back home with two kittens in crates that I would take back to their owners.  (I was doing a good deed, and transporting kittens to be spayed and neutered, and then back home, which is another short story in itself.) 

The dog was still in the same spot.  I slowed down, and pulled off on the shoulder, and turned on the emergency flashers.  The car behind me drove around the dog and kept going. 

I walked over to the dog.  He was a fully grown, intact male pit bull, wearing a collar without identification.  He was probably out roaming, looking for a girlfriend, and I’d guess he previously had probably been tied out and had broken free.  I dragged him out of the middle of the road and kept pulling him until he was way off the shoulder near the ditch.  That way, I thought logically, if his owner drives by, he can see the dog’s body.  I considered bagging his body and taking him to the shelter, where they would dispose of him, but my little car was full with the two kittens in crates and I’d have to backtrack to get to the shelter.  So I left him there and went on home.

Soon I headed out to return the kittens to their home about 45 miles away, and before I got to where the dog’s body was, I saw the buzzards.  The buzzards had found him before his owner had. 

A crappy ending to a crappy life.

Sue Nami, the Charm School Graduate, Part 2

Two years ago, I met this girl.

Occasionally, she visits the vet’s office.  On the last visit, I could not resist taking her photo.  People just love to let you take photos of their pets. 

If you click on the link above, you’ll see when Sue Nami arrived at the vet’s office, all ripped and torn and sad.  Here she is today.

What a beautiful girl!

Roscoe’s Last Stand

Last week a client called with an issue regarding her eight-month-old pit bull.  She and her boyfriend had just gotten the dog in January.  They had several other pit bulls, and one of the female pits had a new litter, and the woman herself had just had a baby.  She said that she should have brought the dog sooner but didn’t have the money until that day.

Her concern about the dog was that he had been bitten by fire ants, and she was worried that the dog would not survive.  He had been bitten about five days prior to her calling the vet’s office, or at least, it was five days ago when someone noticed the dog needed medical care.

When the dog arrived at the office, he was in sad shape.  He had not been bitten by fire ants, or, perhaps more correctly, if he had been bitten by fire ants, you couldn’t tell it.  His skin was raw from demodectic mange.

*****

Demodex is a treatable condition that is caused by mites that live in the skin. You can learn more about demodectic mange, sometimes referred to as “red mange”, by clicking on this link.  There’s another type of mange called sarcoptic mange which is contagious.  Demodex is not contagious, but the tendency to develop demodex could be inherited.  If you have a dog that you want to breed, like a pit bull, you should not breed the dog if he develops demodex.  Small issue for some backyard breeders, but many breeders don’t plan on holding onto puppies, so they might sell them at a reduced rate.  Like Roscoe.  The new owner said that they drove to Tennessee to get him, which was no easy drive at about seven hours, and that he was on sale for $500 instead of the usual $2000 that a pit with his rare coloring could command.  It was impossible by the time I met Roscoe to tell what color he really was.

*****

The vet told the woman that this condition had been going on for a long time.  She seemed confused about that, like perhaps she had lost track of time.  She also seemed shocked that the condition wasn’t caused by fire ants, because she knew that the dog had gotten into fire ants.

We talked about what to do about the dog.  With a severe case of demodex, it could take up to six months for the cure to work.  It involves giving the dog a minute dose of ivermectin every day, in some cases twice per day, and usually antibiotic is prescribed for the infected skin.  The woman was pretty sure she wouldn’t be able to follow the regimen.  She didn’t seem to be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but she did seem to understand that this dog was owed more than he was getting.  She was considering euthanasia, and I asked if she would consider giving him up if a rescue group would take him.  She agreed that she would.  I made a phone call, but the answer was what I already knew it would be:  the group was full, there were no spots available, and no foster families to be had, not even for a sweet young pit bull.

If you have a squeamish stomach, you might not want to look at the following pictures.  It’s not too graphic, but then I see this kind of stuff fairly often, so what is not so graphic to me might just be paralyzing to you. 

Poor sweet Roscoe ate cookies out of my hand, then walked over to me and rested his head on my arm. His poor, bloody neck leaked bloody pus on my hand.

I lifted his chin to photograph his neck.

His right side matched this view of his left side.

It occurred to me that, even with a good foster situation and medical care, at the end of the treatment, you’d still have a pit bull that needed a home. 

Good night, sweet Roscoe.

Sue Nami, the Charm School Graduate

 Remember this girl? She is now a charm school graduate, certified adoptable from a trainer who guarantees to take the pit bull out of a pit bull. She is available for adoption and will return to Maranatha Farm until she finds a home.

Sue Nami Xmas 2010

The Law Regarding Abandoned Animals Left at a Vet’s Office

Some of you folks reading this blog are interested in what will happen to Zero.  She’s still at the vet’s office and has made a home for herself there for the time being.  Monday, July 12, 2010, is the 10th day in our care.  I found online the law in the state of SC regarding animals that are abandoned at a vet’s office.

Yesterday, I bought Zero a pink collar.  Today, I emailed sad pictures of her when she first came to us to the rescue group, Maranatha Farm, who has network ties to other rescue groups.  It looks like the legal system will work in our favor and that she can be re-homed. 

http://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t40c069.htm

The South Carolina Legislative Council is offering access to the unannotated South Carolina Code of Laws on the Internet as a service to the public. The unannotated South Carolina Code on the General Assembly’s website is now current through the 2009 session. The unannotated South Carolina Code, consisting only of Code text and numbering, may be copied from this website at the reader’s expense and effort without need for permission.

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(Scroll down to the section regarding abandoned animals…)

SECTION 40-69-280. Abandoned animals; notice to owner.

(A) An animal is considered abandoned when the animal has been placed in the custody of a licensed veterinarian for boarding, treatment, or other care and is unclaimed by its owner or the owner’s agent and the owner or the owner’s agent has not paid the charges for the boarding, treatment, or other care within ten days of notice of these charges being provided to the owner or the owner’s agent in accordance with this section and no other payment agreement with the owner or the owner’s agent has been reached.

(B) The notice required in subsection (A) must be given to the owner of the animal or the owner’s agent at his last known address by registered mail or by certified mail, return receipt requested, and must contain a statement that if the animal is not claimed and if the charges are not paid within ten days after receipt of the notice, the animal may be sold, donated, turned over to the nearest humane society or animal shelter or otherwise disposed of as the person having custody of the animal considers proper.

(C) The owner of an abandoned animal is deemed to have relinquished all rights and claims to the animal by virtue of the abandonment.

(D) Providing notice to the owner or the owner’s agent pursuant to this section relieves the custodian of the animal of any liability for the sale, donation, euthanasia, or other disposal of the animal.

SECTION 40-69-285. Liens for payment of fees. A licensed veterinarian has a lien on each animal treated, boarded, or cared for while in the veterinarian’s custody for payment of charges for treatment, board, or care of the animal. The veterinarian has the right to retain the animal until the charges are paid by the owner of the animal.

What is Better Than Zero?

And in our continuing saga of Zero opportunity…

Today the pit bull breeder’s mother dropped in to bring the meds and to plead her son’s case.  She claimed to be checking on the welfare of the dog.  Her son is really a nice easy-going guy and he wants to take good care of his dog, but no one explained a payment plan to him.

Whoa, lady, stop talking NOW, because you are just making me mad.  And I hate being mad. 

1.  The man signed off on an agreement that payment would be due at the time of the animal’s release, and he elected to pay by credit card.

2.  The animal control officer explained the situation to him, and told him that he would need to take care of the needs of the animal.

3.  The veterinarian’s wife spoke to him on Monday, July 5, 2010, when he came in to pick up the dog, and he agreed that he would pay $50 every week, but maybe he couldn’t pay it the first week.  He also stated that he would take care of the animal, yet when I counted out the antibiotics that the man’s mother returned in the original bottle, none were missing.  NONE.  No one had given the dog her antibiotics, and her wounds were gooey with infection.

4.  There is a sign on the entrance door and another sign in the building that states that payment is due at the time of service.

The woman further stated that we had spelled the dog’s name wrong.  The dog’s name is actually Zorro, which in my opinion is a stupid name for a female.  The woman didn’t know how to spell the dog’s name on Friday, July 2, 2010, but now the vet’s practice is the one at fault.  They clearly wrote the dog’s name as “Zero”.  How sad to be ignorant and blame someone else.

In the meantime, I have called the dog every variation of the name Zero, like Zorro, Czara, ZsaZsa, Cera, and Sarah.  And she responds to none of those names. 

In the meantime, she loves life now.

Zero Tolerance

Zero models a fashionable medical collar on Monday, July 5, 2010, the day she went home. Ears still look infected.

Too afraid to look at the camera. Compare this to the photo at the end of the post.

On Monday, July 5, 2010, Zero‘s owner came to pick her up.  We went over her care instructions and emphasized the importance of keeping her wounds clean and maintaining her meds and keeping the medical collar (also known as an Elizabethan collar or e-collar) on her at all times.  He said that he had a room to keep her in.  Then I gave him the total and he dropped the bomb.  “I don’t have any money.  Can we do a payment plan?” 

Crap.  Everybody wants a payment plan, but no one actually wants to COMPLETE a payment plan.  He and I had talked on Friday, July 2, when he brought Zero in, and we absolutely discussed how payment would be made.  He said, when offered a choice of paying by cash, check, or credit card, that he would be paying by credit card.  (Red flag.)  Arrangements for payment are best made before we are at a standoff at the checkout desk.  He said that he had no money to put down and wouldn’t have any money until Thursday.  I suppose we all recognize the futility of a promise to pay by a pit bull breeder, and I told him that I would have to talk to the vet. 

I’d like to insert here that the vet had been in constant contact with Mr. Pit Bull Breeder, and at no time did the said breeder announce any problem with paying.  Hellooo, he’s a pit bull breeder.  He should have money.

So, back to our story, I went to talk to the vet and announced our dilemna.  I said that I would take care of her at no charge to the practice for my time until Thursday when Mr. Breeder got paid.  The vet said it would be better for the dog to stay and receive medical care, but the bill would continue to mount because of the added fees for room and board that would be charged to the owner. 

So Zero went home with the owner paying zero money. 

The next day, Tuesday, July 6, 2010, I went to lunch as usual.  When I returned, Zero was back looking the worse for wear.  The animal control officer had paid a surprise visit to Mr. Pit Bull Breeder and found Zero outside under the porch lying in the dirt.  Mr. Breeder said that he had just put her outside, but his protests were to no avail as Zero found herself in the animal control van on her way back to the vet’s office. 

She was happy to see all of us at the office.  She loves the “two hots and a cot” living arrangement, and she tolerated a warm saline bath to soothe her wounds.  Her cuts were packed full of dirt from lying outside (apparently a room outside is considered inside if it’s under a porch).  She was starving and acted like she hadn’t eaten in 24 hours, and probably hadn’t, so she probably hadn’t had her antibiotics either. 

Today, we went for a stroll.  Happy dog.

See the pimple-like spots on her rear legs? Those are bite wounds which cover her entire body.

Right About Zero

On Friday, 7/2/10, a car pulled up outside the vet’s office. A man, an older woman, and a small child emerged. Somehow I knew that they would extract a sick pit bull from the car. And they did.

The man explained that he didn’t know what happened to his dog.  He got up this morning and something had attacked his dog.  She had severe wounds on her head and shoulders, her ears were bleeding, and she had a six inch long gash on one sagging teat.  She had obviously given birth recently. 

The man, when asked, stated that he was a client but hadn’t been there in a long time.  When he said his name, I recognized it as a local pit bull breeder.  I also knew that the day prior to this, our office had received a call from a rescue group who had received three of his pit bull puppies who were treated for hookworms, roundworms, and coccidia.  The sheriff’s department advised the rescue group that they had to return the puppies, even though they were found by the side of the road, because everyone knew that the puppies belong to Mr. Linwood N., the pit bull breeder. 

When I asked the woman what the dog’s name was, she said, “Zarra.”  I said, “How do you spell that?”  She said, “I don’t know.”  I said, “Like Czar, only Czara?”  She agreed that that was the dog’s name.  I asked the man to fill out some paperwork as a new client, since I didn’t have anything on file for him except an old file in the computer, and I wanted his signature on the paperwork that he was the owner of the dog and would be responsible for payment.  When he returned the form to me, I saw on it that the dog’s name was Zero.

I escorted the man and dog into an exam room, and went to the back to make a phone call on my cell phone.  That call was relayed to the sheriff’s department, and soon the animal control officer came by for a chat with the man.  The ACO is a wiry little woman, and she does not play.  The man was informed that he would do the medical care necessary for the dog.  He left the dog in our care.

The following photos might be a bit graphic for some, even though she has been cleaned up and treated.