"Hard cases" - Part 2

And then there are the moms... Few folks realize it is LEGAL under California laws to kill either a pregnant mom, mom with pups or pups alone under the age of 8 weeks... Our law says that no rescue or shelter can give away, adopt or sell any animal that is still intact (meaning they have not been spayed or neutered)...

Many people will not knowingly adopt a dog that's pregnant... Others realize their female dog is pregnant and don't want to deal with her giving birth and having those puppies to deal with... Yet others surrender their female dog with newborn puppies, believing that "everyone loves puppies... these little ones will go in no time flat!"... And finally, there are folks that go through the birthing process and then surrender the litters to the shelters once the puppies are weaned at 5 weeks old...

The shelter environment is fatal to many of these newborn pups... As hard as the shelter staff try, there is a condensed environment of 'uggly mugglies' that take out fragile pups quickly... Some shelters contact their partners immediately when they realize they have a pregnant female or when a nursing mom comes in with a litter... But until both mom and all of those puppies are able to be spayed or neutered, they are deemed 'un-adoptable' by the CA law and subject to being legally killed...  And two breeds (Chihuahua/Chihuahua mixes and Pitties) are the first that run into that ticking death clock...

Maria at the shelter when we found her

Most of our shelter partners or friends in the humane community will contact us when a preggers or mom with pups come in... They know we do not believe in spay abortions, and we will go through Heaven and Hell to find room or a foster so that a mom and her pups do not have to die... This alone makes it a 'hard case' because besides the birthing process, you have to have room and manpower to keep things sanitary for at least 8 weeks or more until the puppies are old enough and healthy enough to be spayed or neutered...

But when the mom or puppies have health issues?... They have the pleasure of being killed almost immediately...

Maria's 4 puppies

Such was the case with Maria... We were alerted a mom with 4 newborn pups was at a local shelter... All five had demo (something we do well) and although we knew at the outset this was going to be a long-term pull, we still went ahead and saved Maria and her four pups...

Maria was in pretty bad shape when we found her in 2010... She'd had demo for a LONG time to the point that we thought she'd never grow back in a full fur coat... But her four puppies?  Oh my... My heart broke when I saw how badly these pups were in their demo battle... Their poor faces were inflammed, their bodies naked and their poor pads swollen... After a month of treatment only one (Mickey) had hair growing back in...

Treating a mom with demo is one thing, but a litter at the same time?  With all of those meds and medicated baths every 2 to 3 days?  It is a TON of work and we struggled with this save, for sure...

Maria now

Eventually Maria's coat grew in beautifully as did the pups... The two girls got adopted fairly quickly but the two boys were with the rescue for a long time... In fact, Mickey is still up for adoption almost three years later and thankfully, he has a foster home that loves him dearly...

Another kind of 'hard case' is a small dog that's over five years old... Especially the closer they get to 10 in these small breeds... Despite the tinies having a life span of 15-20 years *(the smaller the breed, the longer they live), most folks won't adopt a dog that is older than 5 years...

For myself? These are my favorites!  I don't have to go through all of those potty training months and picking up non-stop poop, chewing up my favorite pair or shoes or teaching them canine manners, stopping them from the crazy puppy barking periods, teaching them obedience commands, etc...

What if canine adoption standards were applied to humans?  You shouldn't have to die if you are in your thirties or forties as a human... Most of us look forward to our 'golden years' of being sixty or seventy, hopefully making it into our eighties alive and healthy... But for these tiny breeds, the general public believe a small dog 10 years or older is nothing but vet bills... Not true... And on the other side of the coin, they are more apt to fit into a human's lifestyle easier... They are content to just be with you, sit on the couch and watch TV, build their world around you as their BFF...

Finally, we take on the broken legs, the unsocialized, the 'no-longer-wanted' dogs that were adorable as puppies and gotten on an impulse, 'thrown away' by their owners...

Baby Holly when we found her

And despite all of this, we still find the time, room and resources for those very bad 'hard cases' like Baby Holly...

A plea came in from a dear fellow rescue friend of mine, complete with video... What a sweet girl she was despite being in horrible, horrible pain from all of her health issues... Ahead of time I knew we were probably looking at having to remove her left eye eventually, but that didn't stop the 'little rescue that could'...

BabyHolly had a skull cap of scab and pus with her entire head torn apart by secondary infections spawned by the demo she had had since she was but a wee pup... It had spread almost across her entire body and into her left eye... Her poor feet were swollen to the point she could not walk on them... So sad... So very, very sad... 

4 weeks into treatment

We took on Baby Holly in the fall of 2011 (and yes, she's still with us and up for adoption - sigh)...  I've seen some bad health issues, but simply doing those medicated baths every 2 days gave me nausea every time... The skull cap of scab and infection needed to be softened up with warm compresses and purged... The smell was absolutely dreadful (and I have a fairly strong stomach)... More than once BabyHolly patiently sat on my kitchen counter under the towel with the meds working on her skin as I puked up in the sink... She'd give me this look as if to say, "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... I can't help how it smells and looks... " and my heart would break all over again...

We got BabyHolly up and running - well enough to be spayed - and her coat looking so much better... She'll always have a scar across the side of her head from the skull cap, but we were able to save her left eye...

And still she's with us, a year later, with no one willing to adopt her and give her a great furever home... Because we are No-Kill, BabyHolly will stay with us (and ALIVE with love and care) until she's adopted... She's beautiful now, but because she's a black dog, they are the last to be adopted... And we know this going in on each and every hard case that is black...

It doesn't stop us from doing what we do... What stops us in TLC is a lack of volunteers willing to put in the time to run the rescue shop and financial donations to pay the electric bill, vet bills, bailout fees, etc.

If you would like to read about more TLC 'hard cases', simply CLICK HERE.

If you'd like to become a shopkeeper volunteer, we'd LOVE to have you.

And if you can't volunteer hours, maybe you can donate towards the cause of saving these hard cases!