Straydog UPDATE posted THURSDAY 5/1/03 at ~9:44 p.m. CT
Pat's Daily Dog Log
THURSDAY MAY 1 2003
Laura and Rosie go for spay surgery
Mama-Laura is one of five dogs we rescued from a golf course in Dallas, and when she came to us, she was extremely sick, plus she had an advanced case of heartworm disease. We didn't think she'd live through the first week she was with us, but with lots of tender loving care she did survive, and she has continued to get better. Soon Laura became healthy enough to begin a very mild treatment for her heartworm disease. Seeing that she was doing well with her heartworm disease treatment, the next step was to have her spayed, and today was her scheduled appointment for the surgery, along with Mother Dog Rosie, the Black Lab mix mom of the eight little pups, one of whom is Rex, who's been reported on in several stories lately. (The puppies are now 11 weeks old, and they are not so little any more! These fellas are growing fast.)
Puppy Rex goes for his second puppy vaccination, and is adopted immediately!
Puppy Rex, who had been returned to our shelter last Saturday, needed to go for his second puppy vaccination, and he made the trip with us.
I took pictures of the dogs and pup at the vet clinic, but only one picture turned out (the photo of Laura above) due to a bad disk in the camera.
What was so cute was the photo of Dr. Morton as he cuddled little puppy Rex next to him, telling me what an adorable, healthy, happy pup the little fellow is. Rex passed his puppy examination with flying colors, received his second puppy vaccination (which he had missed during the time he was previously adopted) and the doctor added that little Rex is just as sweet, gentle and lovable as all his six siblings are--the ones I had brought to him for their vaccinations a week ago.
Rex's new mom waits for the call that Rex is fine
Rex has a new home all ready to go to, and the little tyke was officially adopted this afternoon. Rex has now become a much loved puppy to his new mom and dad, and he has a new little dog friend to play with too, a female named Sadie, an adorable furry little black Chow. We're so happy that Rex has finally found his forever family.
LATE AFTERNOON UPDATE
Checking on the two girls who were spayed today
Later this afternoon I called the vet clinic to check on how Laura and Rosie were doing after their spay surgery, and Dr. Morton said both the dogs had done just fine. We were concerned about Laura because of her heartworm disease, but Dr. Morton said that Laura had come through the surgery with no problem, and he added that it will, of course, be important that we keep a very close watch on Laura for the next several weeks.
Nikki has another coughing spell
Nikki had another bad coughing spell this afternoon, and per the doctor's instructions I gave Nik another injection of the prepared syringe the doctor had given me for such emergencies, and immediately Nikki's coughing stopped. She has been fine the rest of the afternoon and early evening. We check on her often, and we all continue to watch her very closely.
I've been in close contact with Dr. Morton about Nikki because of her advanced heartworm disease, which is causing these coughing spells. (I, of course, stay in close contact with the doctor about all the other dogs who are in recovery for one reason or another).
LATE, LATE AFTERNOON UPDATE
Just as the last employees were getting close to their quitting time for the day, we all could tell from the approaching rumble of thunder and a few streaks of lightening that a storm was heading our way. The dogs all knew it too and most had already headed for the security of their dog houses inside their small individual shelter buildings.
Alice becomes frightened about approaching storm
While Guy and I were finishing up making sure the kennel grounds were all secure and the kennel drains clear for the possibility of a storm, we heard from several hundred feet away the sound of one of the dogs tugging at her fence in a panic because of the approaching storm.
It was Alice, who shares a kennel with her best buddy, Sally, at the far west end of the kennel compound (at the top of the aerial photo above). She was frantically pulling at the fence with her teeth, trying to get "away" from the storm. Caregiver Danielle who was just about to leave for the day, stayed over to walk Betsy for her evening potty walk so that Guy could hurriedly fix the fence problem, which he did by wiring a big piece of wood over the bottom part of the fencing where Alice had been tugging. I went in to stay with and comfort Sally and Alice. We sprayed the board and the bottom of their entire fence with Bitter Apple, hoping the taste of this would put a stop to anymore fence biting and tugging.
I think that because we were all outside (Guy, Danielle, and myself), Alice wanted to get to one of us for "safety." She had made it okay through the severe (tho short) lightning and thunderstorm that had passed over us last night when none of us were outside.
After we had all finished our dog duties for the evening and our entire shelter was secure for the night, I watched Alice and Sally in their kennel from our kitchen door. Soon Alice realized that we were "gone" for the night, and she and Sally went right inside their shelter.
Fortunately the storm turned out to be another short one, and there were no more emergencies for the rest of the night.