Bill Arnold's Daily Straydog Log

THURSDAY MAY 27 2004

NOON UPDATE

Erin reports ...

Patch and Whiskers won't join us till Friday

      Erin drove to Dallas to pick up the two dogs at their respective clinics yesterday, but she decided after seeing Patch and talking with his doctor that she would leave both dogs under professional care at the two clinics until Friday morning, when Erin will pick them up and bring them to Straydog.

Erin reports ...

Update on Patch and Whiskers

      When I stopped at Sherrill Vet Clinic to possibly pick up Patch, Dr. Arnold said Patch was bouncing off the walls, being his normal puppy self. He's probably only a year old or less, the doctor said. Patch is putting as much weight on his just-operated-on leg as he does on his other leg, and this may be too much! The doctor decided that Patch needs to be kept quieter, and he has him on a medium dose of a tranquilizer ('ace-something) that calms him but doesn't knock him out.

      "Patch is still alert when you go in to see him," Dr. Arnold said.

      "Does the tranquilizer help with pain too?" I asked.

      "Only in that it causes him to sleep more and forget about the pain," the doctor said. They've been giving Patch Rimadyl for pain, a medium regular dose. I asked the doctor about a product called "Dog Gone Pain", which Dr. Reeves had given us, and we're using this with Katie instead of the heavier medicines. Dr. Arnold said that he hadn't heard of that and would like to see the ingredients.

      "Anything else we can give Patch to help him out?" I asked. "He should probably be on MSM/Glucosomine-Chondroitin," Dr. Arnold said.

      "We have that and use it for many of our dogs at the shelter," I told the doctor.

      "Good," said the doctor. "Patch should probably take that for the rest of his life."

      We decided to keep both Patch and Whiskers in hospital for one more day. I have two crates in my car and will be bringing the dogs back to Straydog tomorrow (Friday) on my way back to Straydog from the city.

Two people need some fencing for their dogs

      One lady has homeowners' restrictions about building a large fence around her property, but she is allowed to have dog kennels. She would like to know where there might be a place she can get low-cost kennel fencing. She needs two separate dog runs, or dog kennel areas and would need about 60 to 70 feet of fencing. (She is caring for 10 rescued dogs.)

      Another poor family along the highway from Straydog to Dallas has six dogs that are not enclosed. I saw them on the highway in the middle grassy median recently. I thought they were a pack of wild dogs. I stopped at a nearby friend's home, and both the friend and I went back to see if we could help the dogs, who had by now crossed over to the far side of the highway. "That's them," I said.

      "Oh," our friend said. "Those are Mr. M___ 's dogs. They are older dogs and he doesn't have money to fence them in." The dogs, all sizes and shapes, now decided they wanted to cross back over the highway to go home, and they began crossing the east-bound lanes back to the median. One ... two ... three ... whew! Zoom, zoom went the cars, which were starting to slow down. Four ... five ... Oh, dear! ... Whew! ... Six.

      "I thought they were smarter than that," our friend said. "It looks like they aren't paying any attention at all to the cars!" The dogs luckily made it across to the median. We held our breath as the dogs began to walk and run across the north bound lanes of the highway. One ... Two ... Stop!! ... Whew! ... Three ... Four ... Slow down, cars!! Five ... and ... six! All were safe. Good thing the grass had just been cut and that it was light outside so the cars could see the dogs more easily. I thanked our friend and continued on toward Dallas, happy that no dogs had gotten hit, but sad that there is a possibility that they could get hit by a car the next time they try to cross the highway. I just wish we could help this family get some fencing.

Rocky's doing better, though he stays inside sleeping most of the time

      His appetite is still very good; his stools are still very good; he wags his tail and walks briskly outside. He's still wanting to stay out for only about five minutes at a time. Then he comes back in and sleeps for a couple of hours before waking and wanting out again for five minutes.

Old, Sassy Katie's still hanging in there

      Though Katie often looks like she's nearing the end, she continues to bounce back and display that she's happy to be alive. She and Toby spend a lot of time in the park together (but ignoring each other) every evening from just before sunset till after dark.

So far one high school student has answered our "help wanted" ad posted in yesterday's update

      We'll be having Whitney Heart out for the "audition" (which includes going into each kennel with and meeting with each and every dog for their approval) as soon as school's out.

      Any others out there who may be interested in working for Straydog this summer?