Straydog UPDATE posted THURSDAY 5/15/03 at ~9:47 p.m. CT

Pat's Daily Dog Log

THURSDAY MAY 15 2003

Puppy Willie is here

     Today's plan was for the young woman who was temporarily caring for Willie to bring the little pup to our vet clinic this morning. The woman had told me that time was running out for the pup--his days were now numbered. No one wanted him because he had come down with a terrible case of mange, and now we were the puppy's last hope, which is why we agreed to take him. We were to meet at the clinic at 10:00 this morning.

     I left our shelter early so I could do the weekly shopping for the dog supplies before I arrived at the clinic, and when I did get there, the young woman had not yet shown up. While I waited I asked the receptionist to gather up the prescription medicines we needed for some of the dogs, and during this time the young lady and her fiancee arrived with little Willie.

     I thought the pup was supposed to be a Lab mix, which he could very well be, but he looks much more like a Shepherd/Rottie mix to me (with possibly some Lab in there too). The young couple handed Willie over to me, and they expressed their feelings of gratitude that we would care for the pup as they left.

Willie seems to be a healthy puppy

     This little puppy is almost three months old and during this visit to our vet he had his first puppy vaccination and skin scrapping to check on demodec and sarcoptic mange. The good news is that Dr. Morton didn't see one mite, and he thinks the mange problem is already under control now.

     The couple said that they had given the pup several baths in the dip solution the SPCA had given them, as she and her fiancee tried to take care of the problem while they were trying to find the pup a home.

Willie comes from the clinic to our Happy Home for Strays

     We had to do some mighty fast arranging for a kennel to make room for the little tyke when I arrived back to our shelter with him. He is a "new arrival" and even tho he appears healthy, he can't go into a kennel with any of the other puppies for two weeks while we watch him closely to see if any health problems do develop.

An Instant Kennel goes up for the pup

     The only vacant kennel we have right now is our Puppy Emergency Kennel (which is seven feet by seven feet square and four feet high), which we actually can "roll" on its side from one place to another for such puppy-emergencies, and this small puppy kennel, which is a good size for one or two very small pups, really has come in handy on many occasions.

     Guy rolled the Puppy Kennel to an area that is near our trailer house, and also near the play yard. We moved in a nice, big Igloo dog house, a little bucket of drinking water and the fellow had an "instant kennel" set up in a matter of minutes--complete with toys! We later added a sheet of plywood across the top of the kennel to give shade. It's just perfect!

Willie settles in and then gets a much needed bath!

     Willie is cute and cuddly, and the little fellow really needed a bath! The "citrus" puppy shampoo did wonders, and Willie soon smelled like fresh oranges as I dried him with a towel.

     A bowl of puppy food was next for the little tyke, and he gobbled it all up as fast as he could. Then came the holding and petting, which he liked much better than the bath.