My daily search on line for Golden’s in need of a new home a couple of days ago was going along as it usually does…more often than not, there seems to be very few actual free Golden’s available.
As I was trolling the Las Vegas Craigs List I stumbled upon the following ad:
Two family dogs free
We have a cocker spaniel and mix of lab and golden retriever dogs that are great family dogs free to a good home. They are both around 10 years old and good around kids. E mail me if interested.
It just breaks my heart when I come across senior pets who are being given up. They have been loyal companion members of the family and when they need care the most their days are often numbered. In this case the owner’s wife had a medical condition that did require them to relinquish their dogs.
Reading the ad several times, I was still unsure if the Cocker Spaniel was mixed with Lab or the Golden Retriever was, so I requested a picture from the pet owners. The picture was texted over to me almost immediately and by what I could see on my semi-crappy phone was what appeared to be was a very old pretty Golden.
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| Amber Text Photo |
I sent the information on to Jen who promptly made contact and arrived to pick her up. Upon getting there she went ahead and took the 10 year old Spaniel as well. The owners donated $50.00 total for the dogs medical care. Luckily Jen pulled some strings with another rescue who gladly accepted the old Cocker and gave them part of the donated money.
After dropping the Spaniel off Amber went to get some much needed medical attention. See Jen’s email below:
Hello all…
Amber was being giving away by her owner free on Craigslist, she was about 10 years old. She sure was pretty. Her rear end and hips were so deteriorated and so weak she could barley stand or walk, and she had serious dementia and she was biting anyone close to her. Stupid owner hadn’t taken Amber to see a vet in seven years. She was in obvious pain not to mention her nails were inches long.
The vet gave her a good go over and it was best to put her down to reliever Amber of her pain and suffering
This was a very difficult intake for me, and then to have that outcome. Hug your dogs! Take them to be groomed if needed, trim their nails and give kisses on the nose for me.
Jen
When I got the news that she had been put down, I kept asking myself if earlier vet intervention would have helped…I am pretty sure with pain medication and an obvious long overdue nail trim would have alleved some if not all of the arthritis pain that she was suffering from. The doggie dementia is entirely a different story. So Jen bravely made the decision along with our vet to humanely end her suffering.
Jen sent me an email late last night and this is what she said, so very true.
We were suppose to get her; this is the way we helped her. An adoptable dog isn’t always why they need us. Thank God you found her. I wanted there to be hope but I knew I was fooling myself. I’m sorry Nancy 🙁
Sadly, I see animals in deplorable states of neglect way to often. Usually they are running loose in the streets. In the worse cases I or another grooming friend together will spend hours, if need be to catch them and ultimately, I or we usually end up having to shave the entire coat off. Sometimes it can take several days to accomplish this tedious and often dangerous task. In the grooming industry the photos you see below are what we call a “helmet”. That is when the coat is so badly matted you can almost knock on it just as if you were to rap your knuckles on an actual helmet. These animals pictures below are some of the ones that I have helped over the past few years.
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| Chase before |
This little boy I slowly followed in my car for over 45 minutes a couple of summers ago. He was in such a desperate state that I was not about to give up. Every time I would get out of my car to grab him, he would growl at me and take off running again…Finally he laid down in a mud puddle on the side of the road. I grabbed a quilt from the back of my car, said a prayer, “please don’t bite me” and threw the quilt over his body, picked him up and put him in the back of my car where he promptly crapped himself!
My friend did the grooming on this poor little one while I sat and watched. She has more skill with biters than me. But then a miracle happened, as soon as the clippers were turned on he sat there like a well behaved angel.
After he was all cleaned up and of course named “Chase” he lept into my lap and started licking my face! My groomer friend adopted him afterwards!!!
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| Chase After |
These two boys I found last summer on the hottest day of the year. They were wandering around Stallion Mt. where there is virtually very little shade. I found them walking on the street on the hot hot pavement mid-day. Very sweet pair they let me pick them right up after luring them over with a cup of water. I was absolutely swamped that day so thankfully FUPI stepped up to the plate and took them over the their groomer. They were eventually adopted into a wonderful new home.
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| Joey and Jimmy Before |
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| Joey After |
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| Jimmy After |
Next is Scruffy who lived in a feral cat colony, I asked the caretaker of the colony several times to trap this cat, have her sedated and get her shaved. Sadly it was never done. One day, I just couldn’t take it anymore so I walked up behind the cat and I realized she didn’t hear me. Hmm, I thought she must be deaf. Bending over to pick her up wearing only shorts and a tank top that day, I again said another prayer, “please don’t rip my face to shreds!”.
Holding her at arms length, I carried into the house and started to groom her. After a few minutes she turned head around to my hand and I thought, here it goes, she is going to sink her rotting teeth into my hand. Did she! NO! She began licking me…
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| Scruffy’s back underneath nearly two inches of solid helmet matting |
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| Scruffy, renamed Angelina Jolie |
It took me three days and over six hours to safely remove all the mats from her little body. She became a house cat after that!
So everyone, what can I say to you, not much really other than, be the voice of the little ones for they often need our help. Do something, call someone, BE THE VOICE as they do not have one.
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| In Loving Memory of Amber… |
