Little Man

A woman that we know in the hood called the other day about her neighbor’s dog. She said that it was vomiting and having diarrhea and was very sick. Sounded like parvo. However, the owners put the dog in a pet taxi, set it out on their front porch, and went to work. The callousness of this act alone speaks volumes.

The neighbor was very concerned and Patty told her that I’d be right over. When I pulled up to the address, there was a small blue pet taxi sitting on the sidewalk. There were 3 or 4 people standing around. I got out and could see a cream colored, tiny dog curled up in the pet taxi. It wasn’t moving. I asked them if it was even still alive and they said, “we don’t know.” I said, “well, is it breathing?”.  I got  another “we don’t know”. I said, “You don’t even know if your dog is still breathing? “Get it out of the pet taxi”, I yelled at them. The girl looked up at me and said, “we don’t want to touch it”. I yelled even louder, “GET IT OUT OF THE PET TAXI! I need to see if it’s still breathing.” The girl pulled the little boy out of the pet taxi and laid him on the sidewalk. I didn’t see breathing at first. I truly thought he was dead. Then I saw his chest go up and down and I knew he was barely hanging on.  I told someone to bring him over and I ran ahead to get the car started up and off we went. I’ve had many races to the vet like this one, unfortunately, and every case is just as disturbing as any other. It’s a terrible thing.

I put him on my lap as I drove and just kept massaging him and talking to him. I knew he could hear my voice, so I was talking very reassuringly to him, just like all of you would.

I got the little man over to Kennedy’s Animal Clinic in Raytown just as fast as I could. I called ahead and told them I was coming, but told them I didn’t expect him to even live until I got there. His breaths were few and far between. All Dr. Kennedy needed to do was to give him a small amount of euthanasia solution to just help him finally let go. He was surrounded by love and lots of touching-something his owners were afraid to do.

These are rough days. We’ve had many sad cases lately. It’s depressing and over-whelming, but it’s also motivating. It motivates us to get up and get back out there the very next day and try to correct the injustices that are done to these animals- like Little Man. You did not die alone, Little Man. You were surrounded by love.

Our work is vital, so I sincerely mean it when I say thanks for keeping us going. It’s critical that we’re out there.

The Good Life

You might remember a beautiful white Boxer that was starved on the end of her chain. It only took us 5 days to get animal control to finally remove her. Please check out her story when I first blogged about her. The blog was called “The Battle for Callie” and that is exactly what it was-a battle to get this girl out of her hell hole:  http://chainofhope.wordpress.com/2012/03/20/the-battle-for-callie/

Callie had some medical issues to overcome, not surprisingly. Especially a horrible case of kennel cough after coming out of the shelter. She was one sick little girl. However, she was also in one of Chain of  Hope’s  fabulous, dedicated foster homes with Sarah and Nate. Sarah and Nate have fostered several Boxers for Chain of Hope. Thank you guys! They nursed Callie  back to health and fell in love with her at the same time (who couldn’t?). Callie began going to work with Sarah, which is like a dream come true to any dog, because Sarah manages the Three Dog Bakery Store on the plaza. It wasn’t long before Sarah and Nate decided to adopt Callie. They had had an unexpected loss of one of their dogs recently and Callie was like an angel sent to them to help them through. Callie has a sister, Lexi, and they go to work together. Lexi likes to lay on her bed, but Callie likes to man the counter! Especially if  she can get a treat out of it-which she does a lot, I suspect! Good for you, Callie!

Three Dog Bakery has always been so good to Chain of Hope and helps us feed the animals we serve in the inner city. This month they are doing a donation drive for Chain of Hope at their plaza location. For every $5 you donate, Three Dog will feed 5 dogs for Chain of Hope. Believe me, this is a great way to help us feed the homeless and neglected animals of Kansas City! Get on over to the Three Dog Bakery store on the plaza before May is over!! Spread the word to all your crazy dog friends and help Chain of Hope feed the needy animals in the urban core.

Thank you to the entire community for your support. We are totally focused on the animals and feel privileged that you believe in our efforts.  Callie’s life has certainly changed dramatically. She went from a horrible existence with apparently no help in site to living the good life and hanging out at Three Dog Bakery everyday with her mom and her sister. Thanks for keeping us out there.

Red

You may remember Red from a recent post on my blog. She was abandoned in her backyard. Owners moved away and there she sat. Finally, a neighbor just went down and got her and brought her to his house. She was shy and thin and had some terrible wounds or sores on her legs. It was so bad on her back left leg that her foot was deformed and twice the size it should be. It was bleeding and she limped. Her front legs looked like they had lick granulomas on them. She was in pretty bad shape.

We put Red on pain meds and antibiotics to clear up any infection. The vet did not hold out very high hopes, though, that she could keep her back leg-it was probably going to have to be amputated. She went back home with the man who had rescued her. Two weeks later, Dr. Kennedy was finally in her new building and I had Steve bring Red up to have Dr. Kennedy take a look at her-she hadn’t seen her before. The back leg was no better at all, it was still bleeding, too. Dr. Kennedy felt as well that that back leg was going to have to come off. The front legs looked a little better, but they were still bleeding and oozing.

We scheduled Red for her amputation. Red did very well. She didn’t really want to walk much the first couple of days, but she started feeling better and she enjoys going outside now and just sitting in the grass and feeling the breeze. She is a lot less shy, has put weight on and seems like a much happier dog. Red was able to go home a couple of days later.

During the surgery, Dr. Kennedy she did several skin scrapings and sent them into the lab. The bottom of  Red’s front legs were black with sores still in the very middle of them that were still bleeding. They just would not heal. The pathology report came back last Thurs. and Dr. Kennedy told me that she didn’t have good news for me. Red has skin cancer. We were shocked. She’s such a young dog, too. We all were terribly saddened by this. Red is terminal.  Her left front leg is already starting to look like the back leg did. Dr. Kennedy called Steve and explained everything to him. He said he didn’t think he could deal with that and he brought her back to Dr. Kennedy’s at 8:00 a.m. the next morning.

Red is comfortable. We have her on pain meds and she really is doing well, given her issues. We would like to find a hospice home for her, but that is a very specialized area and not just anyone can do hospice care. I think she would love to be in a home environment for however much time she has left. Dr. Kennedy thinks she has a few months possibly, but we just never know in these cases. If you think that you could offer Red a loving  place to live until the end, please give us a call at 816-221-8080. Thank God she is not in that backyard by herself, abandoned or picked up by animal control. We can help her right to the end and that is what we will do.

Thank you for your support. We never know what we’re going to face when we receive all of the phone calls that we do, but thanks to you we can respond and do the best we can for the animal. Thank you for continuing to keep us on the streets!

Little Lost Girl

I was at the same house that I had been at when we found Mia, the Weimx puppy (previous story) a couple of weeks before.  The couple that live there are wonderful, wonderful people that really care about animals. They had told us about Mia a couple of weeks before and that is how she was rescued by Chain of Hope.

I gave them some food for their own dogs and I kind of jokingly asked them if there were any more dogs around that they were concerned about. They said, “As a matter of fat, there’s a little stray German Shepherd puppy that has been around for about a week”. They told me that she usually laid up on someone’s front porch across the street and down a little. We walked down there and the woman said, “there she is!”. She called her and the most adorable little Shepherd puppy came down the steps. She was so cute and SO hungry. The people told me that this little girl loved to lay up on that porch with a male pit bull that was tied up.  They said she always tried to hang out with him, but that when people came out, they’d throw rocks at her and shoo her away.

We put some food down and this puppy scarfed it down. She was definitely thin and also pretty shy. I was finally able to pick her up and put her on the van. I took her back to Kennedy’s Animal Clinic and got her checked out. Other than being underweight, she wasn’t in too bad of shape. She stayed at Dr. Kennedy’s for a few days and then moved onto a foster home where she is now. She is not as shy as she was, but still has a little confidence to build up. Her foster mom, Georgia, is wonderful. She also fostered Mulligan, another Shepherd that Chain of Hope had that had a severe wound at the top of his tail. Mulligan healed and was adopted into a great home. Thanks, Georgia, for taking such good care of Mulligan and thank you for stepping up to foster Tehri. I’m sure you won’t have her long! Georgia’s girls named this little one Tehri, which means Precious in another language.

Thank you for supporting us so that we can save lives like this precious one’s!

Mia

Teena, Hannah (my daughter) and I were on outreach a few weeks ago on a stormy, rainy, cool day. We were dropping food off to some of my favorite people. They are an awesome couple that live in the hood and they often tell me about strays that have been hanging around, etc. They told me that there was a gray puppy lurking around and that it was scared. They said it’d been around for about a week and people were shooing it away. They pointed across the street from them to an abandoned house, so we walked across to check the backyard, etc.

There she was! A beautiful little gray puppy that was soaking wet, shaking and skinny. Poor, poor little thing. Hannah crouched down and started talking to her and offering her a few treats. Slowly, slowly, Mia (as she is now called), came over to Hannah and allowed Hannah to start petting her. She was scared, but at the end of her rope, you could just tell.

Eventually, Mia allowed Hannah to slowly pick her up and carry her to the van.

This wet, cold little girl was sure lucky to be scooped up by Chain of Hope on this day. It was miserable out there. We took her back to Kennedy’s Animal Clinic to get her checked out and Teena offered to foster her! Mia was about 4 months old and we believe is a lab/weim mix. Her coat is a gorgeous gray/blue color. Even though she was scared at first, you can see all of the TLC she received that has helped Mia to heal and trust.

Dr. O’Donnell that works part-time at Kennedy’s Animal Clinic has a Weim. She fell in love with Mia and adopted her! Now Mia has  a wonderful new home, a great mom and a really fun new sister!  Have a great life, Mia!

Thank you for keeping us out there to find the Mias!

Moose Goes Home!

Many of you remember Moose. He is a Bull mastiff that we trapped in KCK that had a horrible embedded collar in his neck. He had been staying in some woods and around a business when Chain of Hope was called. 

We rescued Moose on March 12, 2012. He was very scared and unsure of everything. He has had a long 2 months, but he is healing. It really did take a village to help this boy. Thank you, Christina, for making the phone call to Chain of Hope. You saved his life. Thank you for keeping him in doggie daycare, Crystal. Thank you for washing his neck and medicating him, Tanner. Thank you for fostering him, Amy, and giving him a special place to hang out.  You got him much further down the road. Thank you Shawn for giving Moose his forever home, finally. It’s been a struggle for this boy, both physically and emotionally. He was a pretty broken dog. So many people came together and helped this boy. Most of all, Dr. Andrea Kennedy. Thank you for all of the care you gave Moose and the excellent repair job on his neck. You’re the best!

Shawn picked up Moose today from Amy and brought him over to Kennedy’s Animal Clinic before taking him home. Moose wasn’t very photogenic today-he really is a happy dog now!  He has a sister to play with and they get along great. Shawn and his girlfriend are wonderful pet owners. Their other dog, Lilly, was in really bad shape when they rescued her. She had mange and all sorts of issues. You wouldn’t even recognize her before and after pix.  This young couple knows how to rehabilitate a dog! It takes lots of love and patience and I know that Moose has that in them.

Moose-a lot of people love you, buddy. You have a scar on your neck and a bigger scar on your heart, but they will both heal and one day you won’t remember the bad stuff.  You are finally home.

Thank you to all of our supporters for enabling us to save Moose’s life. We couldn’t do this without you.

Gus

About 3 yrs. ago, by going down an alley, I came across a house in the hood that had 2 dogs chained up. One had a piece of plywood to lay on and one had about 1/2 of a wooden box-type thing to get in. Their yard was filthy. This was such blatant neglect that I just  called it into animal control. They went out, wrote some citations and told the owner to clean up his act for these poor dogs.

Animal control gave Richard, the owner, our number to call for some help. I took 2 dog houses over there, tie-out cables, etc. I got the dogs all set up, we took them in for spay/neuter and things were much improved. Richard had a black female pit mix named Chaos and a Chow mix named Chewbacca. The dogs were very shy and unsocialized, especially Chaos. We put this house on our monitor list and got by there every week or two to make sure things were ok. Richard and his son stepped up and we would find clean water in their buckets, the ear gel we gave to the owner would be on both dogs’ ears. He was really doing better.

About that time, we moved into the house on Tracy street and Richard would come by about once a month an pick up food and treats for the dogs. I had been thinking about Chaos and Chewbacca a lot lately. We hadn’t seen them because Richard had been picking up the food. I decided to stop by and see if the dogs were ok. Thank God I did. When I pulled up in front of his house, Richard was in the front of his house talking to someone. He told me that about 3 weeks ago, Chewbacca was shot by the police. Of course, it was all drama and centered around a domestic dispute, but  regardless, the police  shot Chewbacca as they went around to the backyard. I don’t know the details and I don’t want to know. Animal control came that night and took Chewbacca to the shelter. Richard picked him up the next day from animal control and took him to the vet. He was shot clean through the leg, between the knee and the foot. By the grace of God, it went clean through and didn’t really damage anything severely. He was put on antibiotics and sent home.

I went in the backyard to check the dogs. I saw Chaos, sitting there with flies buzzing all around her. I saw Chewbacca sitting in the mud in his area, which was disgusting. His head was hanging a little and he was pressed up against the side of the house. I thought he was acting strange, but both dogs had been shy and I hadn’t been here in awhile. I got all of the fly products from the van and I hung fly bags, put on ear gel, sprayed fly spray, etc. Chewbacca’s area, in particular, was all muddy, his dog house had a big hole in it-it was disgusting. I was talking to Richard about their conditions again when I saw Chewbacca get up and walk around the side of the house, where his tie-out would reach. As I glanced over and as he moved, I saw a bunch of red on his neck. I said, “Richard, what is wrong with Chewbacca?”. He mumbled something about when Chewbacca came back from where ever he had a tight collar on. I don’t know what the hell happened, but I told him to bring Chewbacca over to me and let me see him. Richard grabbed a bottle of peroxide that had had sitting there and pulled Chewbacca back around the house. I went over and saw that he had a terribly embedded collar, a bloody neck with flies all over him. I told Richard I had to get Chewbacca into the vet asap and we loaded him up.

I took Chewbacca to Kennedy’s Animal Clinic. Poor Chewbacca went to surgery. While he was knocked out, I had them heart worm test him and of course, he was positive. This little boy had been through so much-no wonder he was shut down emotionally. When the collar came off, there were maggots in the wound. The smell coming off of these embedded collar necks is horrendous and will make you lose your lunch sometimes. It was disgusting. I asked Tamara, the vet tech, if she could just completely shave him and she did. We got him all cleaned up, including putting him in the tub and thoroughly washed him.

Dr. Kennedy called Richard, the owner, for me and discussed Chewbacca’s situation. He had no money and I sure as hell didn’t want to send Chewbacca back to him. Richard decided to sign  Chewbacca over to Chain of Hope. Thank God! We now have a chance to rehabilitate this baby. I named him Gus because these dogs always have to lose their name from their previous life and move on to a happy life. Gus is healing both physically and emotionally. He ever so slowly wags his tail once in a while now. We haven’t tested him with other dogs yet, but we will in a few days. He could really use a foster home to recover in. He’ll need a lot of TLC. We will continue to monitor Chaos-this house went back on our closely monitored list.

I can’t imagine how much Gus has suffered. It is unbearable sometimes to think about how much pain, discomfort and fear these animals go through out there. Gus is at Kennedy’s Animal Clinic. If you’re interested in fostering this special boy, fill out an application on our website chainofhopekc.org and go to the “Adoptions” page.

 These animals come into Chain of Hope broken and sad beyond belief. But Gus is smiling now! It will be a real privilege to watch him blossom, heal, and come out of his shell.  Thank you for keeping us out there. This is why I formed Chain of Hope.

Red

Chain of Hope received a call back in March from a man needing help with a little red heeler. The man said that people down the way had left this little dog in the backyard when they moved. A far too common story, unfortunately. Thank God he noticed her. This wonderful man finally went down and brought her back to his house. He named her Red and she was pretty scared. She was also terribly injured. Her back foot was terribly deformed with a horrible wound on it. Her front legs were raw, licked almost to the bone. She had apparently started out with some licking granulomas. No one had cared for her, gotten her to the vet, really done anything for this poor little girl, until this caring man went down and got her. I am so thankful that he decided to do something to help little Red.

He called and said that he couldn’t afford vet care, he had 2 dogs of his own and he really couldn’t take on another dog, but he wanted to get her some help. We agreed to help Steve and Red and I told him to meet me at the vet later that day. I met Red and she was such a tiny little thing, only weighing 25 lbs. The first vet that we went to was really recommending euthanasia, but I said no. I wanted to try treating her. I wanted to give her a chance. She was a young dog, probably about 1 yr. Steve left the vet with Red and some meds for her. He had antibiotics and some spray that he was to keep on the wounds to help them begin healing and keep her from licking them. The vet didn’t hold out much hope for the back leg, but we were sure as heck going to try and clear up those front legs.

I told Steve that he would have more time to care for her than we would at this point (in the middle of moving) and so he took her back home. He was retired and he cleaned and medicated her wounds daily, gave her her antibiotics, loved her and gained her trust.

We were waiting for Dr. Kennedy to open her new clinic so that we could get Red in to her. Steve had had Red back home about 2-3 weeks when Dr. Kennedy was finally open. I called Steve and asked him to bring Red up to Kennedy’s Animal Clinic for an evaluation.

I could not believe it was the same dog that came walking in there! She was confident, curious, and very happy! Her front legs looked much better! Unfortunately, her back leg was very damaged and the damage had deformed the entire foot. It was decided that her back leg, or at least part of it, was going to have to come off. Her back foot was beyond repair. Red went on 2 more weeks of antibiotics in preparation for the surgery. She will be fine.

It was more than apparent that Red loves Steve and Steve loves her. She really doesn’t leave his side. He told me that he can walk all around his property at home without having her on a leash and she stays right beside him. I can tell she adores him. I would rather help this kind man hang onto this dog and help him get her well than to rehome her. Besides, Red already knows she’s home!

Garfield

There is a woman in the hood that has several of her own cats and she feeds many others, of course. A year or two ago, she had called me about a cat that had been severely injured by a car. The woman had called animal control as well. When I pulled up, animal control pulled up, too. The cat ran under the house and hid. I said that I could go get a trap and trap it and we’d take care of the medical, so animal control left. When I caught the cat and took it to the Humane Society of Greater KC (where I had taken many emergencies), the vet tech told me that that was the worst case that I’d ever brought them and believe me, I had brought them some horrible cases.

The woman moved and we got a call from her the other day about one of her cats. She said she thought it’d been hit by a car and she said it had a wound on it’s leg and it had pus and junk coming out of it. I headed over to her house and this was one of her personal cats. It’s leg was injured, but I couldn’t see it well. She had already had it ready in a pet taxi.

I took the cat over to Kennedy’s Animal Clinic. They immediately sedated the cat to be able to look at that leg really well. As soon as we could see it good, it was easy to see that another animal had probably gotten hold of this cat and ripped it’s inner front leg. It was pretty bad and getting infected.

We thought the kitty could go back home in a few days, but this wound has been severe. Garfield is still at the vet and I am looking for rescue or adoption for him. He is neutered and vaccinated and we will combo test him today. The woman can’t deal with the care needed by Garfield or keep him safe in the future, because he will continue to be an outdoor cat.

Let Chain of Hope know if you’d be interested in either adopting Garfield or taking him into your cat rescue program. He’s a sweet boy that is accepting his bandage changes like a champ! Think good thoughts for Garfield and thanks for keeping us out there!

Alvin

Chain of Hope received a call from a KCPD homicide detective about a Rottie that was abandoned at a house. The people had up and moved and left the dog there. This sounds shocking to those of us that love our pets and would never do anything like that, but this, unfortunately, is quite common in the hood. We are just thankful when a neighbor or someone is concerned enough to call us or even animal control.

We were swamped, per usual, but I swung by the next day and that’s when I saw Alvin. He was laying up on the front porch of an abandoned house with notices on the window and heaps of trash on the curb. Police line tape was thrown on the trash pile. I don’t know what went on over here, but those idiots left behind a GREAT dog. Alvin is already neutered, he was at good body weight, friendly, etc. He had a tag on, but it led to nothing concrete. What a sweet, sweet boy and how sad just to see him  on the porch, waiting for his people to come home.

I went on the porch and pet him. I fed and watered him, gave him a rawhide and put a blanket down on the porch from him. The street was very quiet, very shady with lots of trees, etc. and 1/2 of the houses were boarded up and empty. Alvin pretty much stayed right on the porch of walkway up to the house. We were not in our new facility yet, we already had a lot of our dogs in boarding, so I left to figure something out and see if we could get a foster home lined up for him.

We put it out on facebook and while we were looking for a foster home, we went over the next day to check on him and we couldn’t stand it. We didn’t have a foster home yet, but we had to get him out of there. We loaded Alvin up and went to the vet to get vaccinations, de-worming, flea meds, etc. He was a super dog, very sweet.
Since he was already neutered and in good shape, we took him to our adoption event the next weekend. He recieved lots of love and scratches and a foster home!

Alvin is doing fantastic! He is being fostered by the  family that adopted a Rottie from Chain of Hope a few months ago (Roxie!). Thanks for stepping up for Alvin!

Thank you for continuing to support our very critical work in the inner city.