w w w . S t r a y d o g. o r g U p d a t e
POSTED EVERY DAY AT NOON CENTRAL TIME U.S.A.
Straydog Inc., The Late Pat Arnold's Happy Home for Strays, a No-Kill Dog Shelter
P.O. Box 1465, Gun Barrel City, Texas 75147 * (903) 479-3497 * EMAIL: straydog@straydog.org

Bill Arnold's Daily Straydog Log

SATURDAY MAY 8 2004

NOON UPDATE

Rocky's doing better!

Rocky was sure glad to see Joe yesterday afternoon

      When my (and Pat's) son, Joe, and I arrived at Dr. Reeves' clinic in Tyler Friday afternoon around four o'clock, Rocky was lying on the examining table receiving IV fluids containing "vitamins and other good stuff," the doctor said. Rocky's eyes brightened the moment he saw Joe, who had rescued Rocky as a puppy over 12 years ago and had kept the dog at his home in Dallas for the first four years of his life until Joe moved into an apartment on the SMU campus where no pets are allowed. At that time Joe's mother (Pat Arnold) graciously offered to keep Rocky here at Straydog for as long as Joe lived in the SMU apartment. After Joe had rescued and made a home for Rocky, he had also adopted Ginger (from Straydog) to be a companion for Rocky, and Ginger, of course, came back to Straydog with Rocky . During all these years Joe has visited his dogs (and his mother and me) at Straydog almost every weekend, and you can tell by the photos I took yesterday that Rocky loves Joe very, very much.

      Dr. Reeves said that Rocky's appetite has returned (again), and he's once again enjoying his potty outings, sniffing the grass and the bushes, looking all around and at times wagging his tail. Mrs. Reeves had bought some baby food "chicken sticks" to try on Rocky earlier in the afternoon, and Rocky had gobbled them up, so the doctor suggested that Joe and I go out to a nearby grocery store and get some more baby food "chicken sticks," which we did, and when we got back, Rocky, still lying on the examining table receiving his IV fluids, once again gobbled up the "chicken sticks."

      Dr. Reeves reiterated that he cannot reach a definitive diagnosis of Rocky's illness. The spleen was not cancerous, and the doctor said he saw no cancer on any of the other organs he had quickly looked at while doing the surgery this past Monday.

      If Rocky continues to improve, and if the results of the next blood test (Dr. Reeves was planning to send off to the lab Friday evening) are good, Rocky may be able to come home Tuesday afternoon.

      Please continue to pray for Rocky.

Joe holds Rocky's head in his hand as the old fellow looks lovingly at his dad.

Joe looks at the liquid dripping down the I.V. tube.

Rocky's interested in the "chicken sticks" Joe is cutting up for him.

Rocky's eats almost the whole jar of baby food "chicken sticks."

 

An email from a reader concerned with the possibility that Rocky might be suffering

Subject: Rocky
Date: Fri, 7 May 2004 23:15:50 EDT
From: Scott
To: straydog@straydog.org

As much as I hope he does well, I also hope that his suffering and pain will be ended shortly. Either way, he will win. If he does not do well, he will rejoin Pat in heaven. I'm sure that she is anxiously awaiting his arrival.

He is in my prayers tonight and every night, just like all the sick animals.

Just a thought,

Scott M.

Please be assured, Scott, that we are ever conscious of the possibility that a dog might be in pain and/or might be suffering

      And when the spark of life is gone from a dog's eyes, we will let him go, as we have done so many times in the past. We have to be very careful, however, that we don't make the decision to choose euthanasia too soon, as there's no going back.

 

A tiny kitten with a very sick eye (that must be removed) needs a home

      While we were visiting Rocky, we noticed a tiny kitten with a badly deformed eye (caused by an infection) in one of Dr. Reeves' kennel cages. We asked what was wrong with the kitten, and Dr. Reeves said that a man had found the kitten in the road, rescued it and brought it to Dr. Reeves. The man said he would pay all the medical expenses if Dr. Reeves would please bring the kitten back to good health and try to find it a home. Any ideas on how we can get this kitten a home?

The rescued kitten

Dr. Reeves will be removing the kitten's bad eye soon.

A 73-year-old woman with 20 dogs calls

      The woman (whose name is Jessie) told me she has been rescuing and caring for stray dogs for many years, and like us she sees no end in sight to the overpopulation problem. But she's getting too old to keep doing all the necessary hard work to maintain such a large population, and she has a heart condition now, and the doctors have told her not to exert herself, which is an impossible request to follow when you've got 20 dogs to care for every day.

      I told Jessie about Pat having died at age 63 after just 10 years of intensive labor caring for up to 80 dogs. The woman was so sorry to hear about Pat's premature death, and I told the woman we would be happy to publish photos and bios of each of her dogs on this website and that Erin would be calling her about possibly taking some of her dogs to our Saturday Adoption Days.

      There must be thousands of people throughout the world rescuing and caring for homeless dogs (and cats). God only knows how many of them are sacrificing their retirement years and in many cases their lives for this cause.

      Jessie told me she preaches spay and neuter wherever and whenever she can, and she said that many people argue with her that animals have a God-given right to procreate. The woman and I both agreed that we humans have a God-given duty to control procreation and maintain a sustainable population.

 

Today's Adoption Day Roster:

(1) Macy, who's scheduled for a home visit;

(2) Baby Girl;

(3) Puppy Holly;

(4) Little Boomer; and

(5) Tipper