Wretchedness of the human species....

Periodically we hear complaints about our adoption policies....

"Why are you asking for all of this information?"
"How DARE you turn me down for an adoption!"
"HOW much is your adoption fee?  OMG! It's cheaper at the shelter!"
"Why not give these dogs away for free - you'd adopt more!"

After 30+ years doing dog rescue, I've probably heard it all by now... All of us on TEAM TLC smile politely, shake our heads and walk away when we hear these things... Me personally?... I don't have a lot of patience with the human species after all of these years... I don't even think I have any friends who are pet-less as a matter of fact!  (smile)... Something about not having a pet in your life that keeps you on a different wave length than me, I guess... 

Last week we pulled a cute little female dog out of Camarillo... TLC heavily supports and advocates stepping up and pulling our county's dogs in the shelter whenever we are asked, and Camarillo had gotten too close to capacity... So we pulled 7 dogs at one time, and Layla was one of these saves...

The officer at the Simi Shelter, Rebecca, told me that she thought Layla might have an urinary tract infection so once at the rescue shop, we immediately put her on the appropriate antibiotics, lined her area with white towels so we could track any urine and its color, etc...

Observing her and after interacting with Layla, we could not quite determine what was really going on with this dog... Sometimes she would be fine and at other times, she would let out a blood curdling scream without warning... As we tried to isolate what was causing the pain --- was it previous abuse or something physical --- we continued to monitor the results of the medical care she was getting... The pinkish hue to her urine was disappearing but the behavior was not changing or continued to be unpredictable or sporadic...

After a week of meds and several volunteers recommending that she go in for Xrays, one of our volunteers took Layla in yesterday...

We were told by the vet she had never ever seen such a huge bladder stone in a dog before... 

But ya know what is the worst about all of this?... Without a doubt, the previous owner that dumped this dog into the shelter system most likely had known about this... We recognized within the first few hours of being around her there was something going, and it takes months (a year or more?) for a dog to grow a bladder stone the size of this one... 

If this gives you a comparison of JUST how bad and painful this bladder stone must be, here's an image of what a normal full bladder looks like in a dog of Layla's size - this bladder stone must be at least 2-3 times the size of her bladder when full!

Now folks, I'm not talking about a 'mean junkyard dog' here... Layla is a sweet, sweet girl with a loving heart and great disposition...  Why would you not seek out help in getting the medical care this little one needs and deserves???... And if you couldn't afford to get the medical care for her, why would you dump her into the shelter system without advising them of what is going on and what she needs???... At least give her a chance with quick and proper medical care... 

No, the owner took the coward's way out and without honor, expecting Ventura County taxpayers to either pay to kill this dog or for an unsuspecting potential adopter to fall in love with Layla, adopt her, bring her home and then discover what we did... 

Obviously Layla had given the owner tons of love and this is how you return that unconditional gift of love?... I don't get it, folks... Like I titled this blog post - the wretchedness of the human species... This is what jades rescue folks and why we grow into the kind of people we are - extremely passionate and committed to giving every animal the kind of care and compassion they deserve... 

So, where do we go from here?  Well, we don't abandon this dog to a short life of misery - we have the surgery done the owner SHOULD have done and didn't... The two estimates we got yesterday ran between $1,200 and $1,500... We will need a stone test run afterwards to determine which kind of stone formed (reoccurring or the one time kind) so that Layla's new owner will not be blindsided like we were... 

It will be a long recovery period as she heals from the surgery and then she will go up for adoption once she is healthy again... Dogs are situational thinkers so my guess is that once she no longer has the stone, she will not fear urinating... Unlike us humans, things like this imprint upon us and we think ourselves into fearful situations... As for me?...  I will keep trying to understand why people allow such bad things to happen to these precious little ones, but for today?  I don't have a clue why this happens...

If you would like to donate towards Layla's surgery (or our huge medical bills), you can do online at our website via PayPal and/or your credit card.

Stay tuned to our Facebook page and this blog for further updates on Layla.