Bill Arnold's Daily Straydog Log

MONDAY MAY 17 2004

NOON UPDATE

We talked with Dr. Reeves about Rocky at a little before 11:00 this morning: Rocky can come home Tuesday!

      Dr. Reeves says Rocky's doing fine, and we can bring an extra crate along with us tomorrow for Rocky when we take Toby, Katie and Angel for their acupuncture treatments and Gretchen for her new arrivals check up, which Dr. Reeves said he'd donate to us since we took Gretchen from Dr. Reeves after the dog had been left there by her previous "guardian" to be euthanized.

Skipper, Erin's latest rescue, has developed a big swelling after his neuter surgery

      Skipper was first seen licking his stitches Saturday, after which we quickly put an E-collar on him and brought him inside to stay in one of the hospital kennels until we can get him to the vet. Most neutered males have no problem after the surgery, and they usually heal quickly, but we have seen this happen with a few of the dogs--Russell being the most recent example.

Erin reports on Angie and Jessie:

Angie, the 63-year-old woman who rescues dying dogfight losers (among other helpless dogs), is planning to rescue and bring the Pit Bull named Tiger to Straydog; also Patch is going to get his necessary surgery

    Tiger

      Tiger is the dog whose "guardian" is to be let out of prison soon. Angie and the "guardian's" father both want to get the dog out of the home (and situation) she's in before the convict comes home and starts entering the poor animal into dogfights. We've got one kennel spot open after our recent adoptions, and we'll put Tiger in that spot--Macy's old kennel in front of the barn. The only problem with that kennel is that it shares a common fence with both Sandy and Baby Girl's kennel and with Misty and Fritzer's kennel, and if the five dogs don't all get along, we'll have the problem that Pat used to call "fence wars." Because of this "fence war" problem Pat had stopped using Macy's kennel a few years ago, and all subsequent new kennels were built as stand-alone kennels with no common fences--more expensive, but fewer skirmishes between neighboring kennel dwellers.

    Patch

      Angie is having more x-rays done on Patch today. Then, all the doctors and surgeons involved will decide when and how to proceed with the operation.

    Perry

      Angie told me today that she probably also needs to have Perry's eye removed. Perry is a dog who recovered from distemper 4 years ago (when he was a puppy) but has always had eye problems. His eye has recently closed, so she will get him to the vet right away too.

    Contributions toward Angie's vet bill

      For those who would like to contribute directly toward Angie's vet bill, please send funds to:

City Vet Uptown
Angie Manriquez Account
3101 McKinney Avenue
Dallas, Texas 75204

      City Vet Uptown's telephone number is 214-953-1001. I called the clinic and confirmed the address and said that we had funds on the way for Angie. Thank you, dear contributors, for helping Angie and her rescues! She is in the process of taking in more pups too this week.

Jessie, the 73-year-old dog (and cat) rescuer, is overwhelmed with the generosity of some of our Straydog supporters

      Jessie was overcome with tears when I told her about the help that Sara and Lana have offered. I got Jessie's address and will send her the funds that come earmarked for her. She told me that a friend gave her four vouchers from the SPCA but that the vouchers don't cover vaccinations, and that the vouchers wouldn't cover all of the spaying/neutering operations she would need, so she was overwhelmed with thankfulness for our help! (She has only three male dogs who need neutering; all the rest have already been fixed.) I told Jessie that if she ever needed help for specific needs in the future to please contact us. I also think we'll be in touch regularly to share positive stories about our many dogs. Jessie sounds to me a lot like my mom's mother, Grandma Nell Stevens, who died at age 80, 13 years before Mom died.