Bill Arnold's Daily Straydog Log

SATURDAY August 27 2005

5:15 A.M. UPDATE

5:00 P.M. UPDATE

     Erin reported by phone that it was a slow Adoption Day session but that two different families were each interested in possibly adopting one of the pups. Later Erin emailed the following to me:

Erin reports ...

     Puppy Brownie (a female) and Puppy Huey (one of the larger male pups) had two separate couples interested in them near the end of our day at Petsmart. Both couples wanted to think about it more as adopting a puppy is such a big commitment. The folks interested in Puppy Huey have had a three-year-old Lab mix since she was six weeks old, and they remember about puppy training and how hard it is. They thought their Lab could use a friend though.

     The couple who liked Puppy Brownie had to put down their older dog last Tuesday. The woman held Puppy Brownie for a long time at Petsmart. She wants her next dog to be a brown dog with floppy ears. One of this woman's earliest memories was picking out her first puppy when she was three years old! She hasn't been without a dog for longer than a week or so for 46 years! Her dogs have lived to the ripe age of 15, and that's why she wants to think about this for just a little bit longer.

     Contributors and fellow rescuer/helpers Jeffrey and Debra Hartman rode their motorcycles from Mesquite to give us money from the donation jar at salon owner Joe Gordon's place of business. We thank you Debra, Jeffrey and Joe!

     It was a pretty slow day at the adoption center at Petsmart today. We thank all the volunteers who helped us with our animals.

Juana reports ...

     Today I really want to give you all a little glimpse of what happened in a 12-hour period today here at the shelter from about 3:30 a.m. till about 3:30 p.m. We have a daily log where we write everything at the moment that it happens (or as soon afterwards as possible):

   Randy Hopkins wrote:

3:30am Randy Harris just called in and said that he is very sick and will not be able to come in to work this morning.
I'm fixing to call and tell Juana so we can figure out what to do.

4:00am Just got off the phone with Juana, and we think things will work out OK today. I'm finishing walks and
then will go start fixing bowls for morning outside feeding.

4:15am Last two dogs are in park. Angel and Puppy will be alright for a little while. I'm going on over to start outside feeding.

4:45am Back in hospital. Everything is ready in feeding office. Only need to mix up gravy and heat up grains and mix up
bowls. Now checking Noble and Julie's blood sugar.

5:00am Julie did eat good. She ate 1 cup W/D dry and 1 cup of grains. She is at 372 on sugar count, and I'm giving 13 nph and 11 reg. insulin. Noble ate full meal and I'm giving 6 nph and 4 reg. insulin. He was at 243 on sugar count. Radio show on. Jorge is here.

5:20am Juana is here. Went to kennel office to check on crew. Everybody starting to feed on time.

5:25am All dogs back inside hospital. Everybody should be OK for a while. I'm taking out trash.

5:30am I'm going home. Will be back tonight before five o'clock.

   Juana wrote:

5:45am Everybody is thru feeding. All doggies ate good. Now Pablo is starting walks. Asking him to take Ginger to Bill's
RV yard. Jose and Roberto are cleaning kennel office. Then they will start on kennels.

6:45am Going outside. I read the log and talked to Jorge, who's working on computer. He got deposit ready. Not too many contributions in the mail.

7:00am Everybody to break. We need more rakes. I wrote it on Wal-Mart list. Going to open Bill's RV so I can let Ginger inside. [Bill's staying at his dad's house in Richardson, Texas.]

7:30am Back in hospital. Ginger went to sleep right away on Bill's couch.

7:40am Pablo is here to start hospital walks now.

7:45am Tina is here to get ready to drive van to Adoption Day. I'm doing laundry. When Pablo brings Cici, I will do her eyes (she gets eye drops).

8:10am Doing Cici, Blackie and Angel's eye drops. Also giving Angel's meds--oral drops.

8:30am Tina got dog food list ready. I will look at it now. Getting paperwork on dogs ready for Tina to take to Adoption Day.

8:40am Going outside to take pix of puppies going to adoption day. Bear (who's in the hospital) will go to the park with Fluffy and Muffin's turn. Meanwhile I'm putting him outside in small ken. Noble 's back inside so Bear can have that kennel.

9:00am Tina is ready to leave for Adoption Day. I gave her my phone, gas card, check for dog food, doggies' paperwork. She is taking all six pups, Scruffy, Manchas and Jimmy. Bill calling, checking in.

9:30am Giving zell pill to Bear and Laura, also bringing her in, gun shots going on. Alice and Jackie (the other two who are most afraid of loud noises) doing Ok. Also will apply some Animax on Cici's sore (by eye). Looks like she's been scratching, and it got more infected. Still doing laundry. Jorge going to see if we have a good fax machine stored in the shed. Bill thinks someone gave us one a long time ago. (The one we have hooked up isn't working well.) Erin called, we talked, she got bit by one of her cats yesterday, had to go to emergency room for stitches, but doing fine.

10:00am Jorge and kids are starting hospital dog walks. Everybody else to lunch. Crew (who started at five a.m.) doing a very good job today.

10:30am Tina called and said that no volunteers were there at PetsMart yet. I'm calling David B. and asking him if he can help us today. I left a message. He called back and said not a problem, he was on his way, let Tina
know, I did. [A little later we found out Erin was there.]

10:35am Jorge done with walks. Patch had runny stool, but seems fine. Will keep an eye on him. I'm changing some bedding in hospital kennels. Very few beds need changed because Randy changed most of them during the overnight. Still doing laundry.

10:36am Crew back to work. Roberto taking over on walks. Pablo will bleach puppies' kennel while they're at Adoption Day. Jose will put up a shade board for Tiger. I'm sweeping kitchen floor and deck, very sandy. After I finish with deck, I will give Julie her solidago drops.

11:00am Doctoring Misty's sores (on wrist) with Animax, Angel's eyes, Bear privates with Animax also. Giving Trixie and
Betsy a Rimadyl. We didn't give one this morning.

11:45am Time to do Noble and Julie. Noble at 116 (blood sugar count). Feeding him half meal and giving 3 reg. insulin. Julie at 217. Will try to feed her first, trying regular old food and she's eating. Good Julie! Will give 11 reg. insulin plus meds and thyroid pill. Roberto brought in Teddy Bear earlier [to get the old boy out of the heat].

12:00pm Everybody to break. I'm taking Julie and Blackie to the park. Noble in outside small kennel. Taking Rudy
his thyroid pill.

12:15pm Everybody back from break. Julie and Blackie back in. Roberto continues walks. Pablo will start caregiving Housers. ["Housers" are the dogs in the kennels closest to the hospital trailer--Pat always referred to this section as "Housers."] Jeff got here on time and will caregive Central Section. I'm helping him to do 3rd meals and will show him the order to caregive them. Had Jose caregive Fronts, but Gordo will do them so Jose can help us to build a new shade board on the puppies' shelter. Has a big hole in it, and it looks very bad.

1:00pm Back in. Everything going OK. Outside very hot like yesterday. Now getting together some bills so Jorge
can take with him and drop them off at P.O. when he leaves. I asked Roberto to walk Ginger to the park and put her back inside Bill's RV. He did.

1:30pm Jorge's going home now. [Been here since five o'clock this morning.]

1:45pm Everybody fixing to go home in a while [at two o'clock]. I'm going outside to make sure we have all water hoses straight, all poop buckets empty and clean and tools in place.

2:05pm Gordo taking over on caregiving walks for Roberto. Everybody [on 5am shift] going home. Jeff taking a little break, then will continue till 9:30 p.m.

2:30pm Bill called. Giving him the list for Whole Foods, where he gets the Glucosamine, Chondroitin & MSM Complex for the dogs joint care and other supplements. Bill will be here this afternoon. I'm fixing to feed hospital doggies. I almost got laundry all done. Jeff reports that Melly or Boomer has runny stool. We will give acidophilus with pm meal this evening.

3:10pm All hospital dogs ate good. Calling Jeff to help me to do hospital walks. I will clean kitchen later on after I type up this report in an email to send to Bill for today's update.

     Well, as you all see, we have fun and are always busy here. This is my life and I enjoy doing this. There is a lot more to write but I've run out of time. ...

Bill Reports ...

     My dad's wearing what look kind of like boxing gloves to keep him from pulling the feeding tube out of his stomach, and we spent a lot of the morning explaining to him why he couldn't take the gloves off. He would look disappointed and sulk for a while and then fall asleep, and then when he would wake up, he would again try to talk us into taking off the "boxing" gloves.

     Other than that he spent a calm Saturday sleeping a lot of the time. I have to keep reminding myself that we must simply take this whole thing one day at a time.