Posted in Dougie Gillingham at 9:52 pm by Lone Star Shih Tzu and Lhasa Apso Rescue
Whew, what a roller coaster ride this week was. I am just in awe of all of you all, the supporters of these little dogs, for what you did in just 48 hours for Little Dougie. For those of you new to this story CLICK HERE to see the original story of Dougie and HERE for yesterday’s big update.
So, here we are just 72 hours from the first time I set eyes on this tiny, 4 pound little adorable, completely broken fluffer and miracle of all miracles, he is all patched now. Amazing.
Here is his x-ray after surgery. He now is the proud owner of one plate and five screws holding his tiny broken bones together. I hope to go visit him tomorrow.
There is always a risk of Kennel cough for shelter dogs, but there are hard
to fight strains out there and we are experiencing it first hand. Not to
mention, Upper Respiratory are being taxed with the quickly changing
weather. When there is an epidemic, we have to ask for you help as it is
not cheap to get them cared for properly.
Hutch Hill, just a baby at 1 year came in with his sister, Helena, because
their family is moving. Not only did they not plan ahead, their
irresponsibility exposed him to disease and stress, a bad combination to
fight off pneumonia.
Romo Hurst, one of the seniors we could not turn our backs on just before
the holiday, has also come down with a bad case of pneumonia. He is 8 years
old, has horrible skin, dry eye, and now a hacking cough that is making him
miserable.
Diesel Worth, another baby less than 1 year, has obviously been on the
streets with the appearance of his skin and coat, but add to that a
horrible runny nose and cough. It doesn’t stop him from expressing his
appreciation, so we need to get him on the road to recovery soon.
Tyson Mills North is the tiniest HSNT Mill Bust pups cannot fully recover
from his pneumonia, nor his eye condition. We have to ramp up the treatment
to help him get over the hump and of course it continues to be costly to do
so.
This condition adds $250 – $300 more to the normal vetting costs of these
dogs. We need to receive $1000 – 1200 to cover the cost we have spent and
will need to spend to help through this condition.
If you can possibily donate a few dollars for these babies, use THIS LINK for paypal, or THIS LINK to send a check. Download the credit card form HERE and fax it to 281-754-4851, but be sure to email me at teresa@shihtzu-rescue.com to let me know to look for it.
Donations to date: $475
Thanks to Becky Caldow, Scott Lewis in honor of Susan Lewis, Michael Coniglio, Pat Heitmann in memory of her precious angel Winston, Max Pachar in memory of Brillo.
Posted in Dougie Gillingham at 5:13 pm by Lone Star Shih Tzu and Lhasa Apso Rescue
Wow, this is one lucky boy! Thanks to all of you, Dougie had the surgery to repair his ruptured diaphram yesterday, Wednesday. He is recovering today and if he is showing enough improvement, we are trying to get him in to the orthopedic surgeon to repair his pelvis.
I visited him today at lunch and took this very short video. He has lost weight – he’s under 3 pounds now, but since he probably didn’t eat from Saturday through today (pretty risky to force feed a dog whose intestines are smashed up next to his heart and lungs), it’s not unusual to see weight loss.
He is in pretty critical shape, as you can guess.
Dougie is close enough for us to say “good to go.” Thanks to:
There were over 100 people that donated for this baby boy. WHAT A LUCKY BOY THIS ONE IS!!
Posted in Dougie Gillingham at 9:49 pm by Lone Star Shih Tzu and Lhasa Apso Rescue
You just absolutely will NOT believe this! I’ve told everyone that we are just bursting at the seams with too many dogs right now. Our absolutely stellar foster homes are taking one/two/three more than they normally can handle because they KNOW it’s the HOLIDAY dumping season and there will be so many dogs in danger that they are going WAAAAAAAY overboard for these dogs.
Still, we are putting off all but the emergency and urgent, as in this-dog-will-die-today-if-you-don’t-take-it situations! I cringe when I see an email come in that says a dog’s name or “help this dog” or “please take this dog.” ETC.
Well, this morning, our Houston intake coordinator got a call ……….. oh how do I even write these words…………. the caller said “we have a hit-by-car shih tzu here, can you help?”
What?????
I told Sherry, no way, no how, no no no, read my lips “NO,” did you hear me “NO NO!!”
Then, they sent the picture – those evil, evil people. Mean, mean, evil people!
And, he’s a PUPPY – only 10 months old. And, he weighs around SIX, yes 6 pounds. T I N Y.
“NONONONONONONO!!!” I said. Everyone will think I’ve totally lost my mind.
Ok, I said to myself, we’ve had some HBC that didn’t need much more than crate rest so maybe we’ll catch a break.
I called the vet where animal control had taken him SATURDAY (yes, three days ago). I talked to a very nice vet who said – nope, he’ll need surgery – he has a ruptured diaphram and his intestines are now sitting next to his lungs and heart. Oh no, Deja Vu – Andrew Garlander just this past year had the same thing. It’s fatal if not corrected.
Ok, so we took him immediately to Gulf Coast Veterinary Surgery just for a consult, you know, just to see, just to check on fixing his diaphram and stuffing his intestines back down in his abdomen. The news was not good.
Here is his x-ray with some markings where I tried to illustrate what the surgeons told me.
He has, in addition to the ruptured diaphram, two or three complete fractures in his pelvis. One on a weight bearing bone – if not corrected, he will never walk according to the surgeon. Another on the opposite side. They believe both must be plated to fix it. One side is also subluxated (I think that’s the word) meaning it is shoved several inches too high in his body and must be repositioned. He is in a LOT of pain. A lot of pain. Anytime we tried to move him, he screamed in pain. But, through all of the examination,etc., once he calmed down, he wagged his tiny tzu tail a bit.
Now, the good news is that it can all be fixed, the bad news is that if we do this, he will be our gold, no make that platinum,-plated dog.
The estimate for the ruptured diaphram is $2700-$3500. The estimate for repairing all the broken parts of the pelvis is $3400-$4200. What should we do? If we don’t do the orthopedic surgery, we shouldn’t do anything. So with him, it’s all or nothing.
We named him Little Dougie Gillingham – Dougie after the vet that kept him for three days.
What to do?
If we’re going to help him, he MUST have surgery to fix the diaphram tomorrow. He’s been like this since at least Saturday and cannot go on much longer. We need to know IMMEDIATELY. Please send this message to any and all shih tzu lovers you know. If we can get a good start on raising the money, we’ll do it tomorrow. I know it’s Christmas and Hanukkah, I know we all have tons of gifts to buy and holiday parties to throw and attend, but I’m so hoping you can spare a few dollars to help this adorable boy make it to 2008.
help? His name is Dougie. He is no more than THREE pounds. He is around 10 MONTHS old. He is a puppy and for whatever reason, got loose from his home and struck by a car.
I don’t know what else to say. We’ve asked a lot of you this year. But look at that face. We have to at least try.
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:38 am by Lone Star Shih Tzu and Lhasa Apso Rescue
While most people were out shopping for after-Thanksgiving bargains, several hard-working Lone Star Shih Tzu and Lhasa Apso Rescue volunteers were selflessly out braving the cold and even SNOW to help save a few more dogs.
Two volunteers in the DFW area spent Saturday picking up three little fluffers who wouldn’t make it until Monday.
Peggie and Missie went doggie shopping. Their reward was these three.
The first two are about a year old, we named them Hutch and Helena. They were turned into a shelter by their owners because they were moving to an apartment and wouldn’t have a backyard to keep them in. Helena has recently had puppies. They were getting a bit grumpy in the shelter so did not make adoption. But just after a few minutes of magic, they allowed Peggie and Missie to pick them up and within seconds were giving kisses. They were scared when being groomed, but didn’t try to bite. Good saves!
The third boy, Diesel, is only about 10 months old but has HORRIBLE skin and hair loss. He has crusties all over under his neck and lots of fleas. Thank you Peggie and Missie and thank you foster homes and supporters. This rescue “business” is a tight chain of great people. Without each and every one helping, the chain wouldn’t hold up and we couldn’t save any of these deserving fluffers.
Then, we have Sherry. Sherry who volunteered to drive from Houston to El Paso with a couple of adopted dogs plus several going to new foster homes in Phoenix. We’ve recently tried to expand in Phoenix because there seems to be demand for small doggies but little supply. We NEED more avenues where dogs are needed – we have way way way too many in Texas.
So, Sherry started out Saturday morning with eight lucky pups heading west. Her plan was to hit El Paso that evening and meet up with one of the adopters who would pick up all eight dogs and transport back into Phoenix. Unfortunately, the weather had other ideas. Mid afternoon Saturday, Sherry ran into a really, really bad snow storm in Ft Stockton. In fact, the storm was so bad, they shut the freeway down at this tiny west Texas town of population 8,000. Of course, all traveling either way on I-10 were STOPPED. The hotels filled up unbelievably quickly. I was on the phone with all the hotels and motels in Ft Stockton but ALL were totally full.
At that point, Sherry was facing the prospect of sleeping in her CAR with eight dogs. Well, finally Travelocity came through for us and found her a room in a La Quinta, that also accepted DOGS. YEAH. As Sherry was checking in, there was a lady with a 9 year old son who was also stranded without a room. Bighearted Sherry invited the lady and her son to share the room with her. What a generous, nice lady!!
Here’s what one of the cars at the hotel looked like when Sherry checked in.
Of course, for some of you that live where there is snow, this probably seems pretty light. But, for us here in Houston, where Sherry lives, it doesn’t snow. It rarely even freezes. In fact, when the temperature gets below 32 for any amount of time, the pipes in our homes start bursting because we just aren’t prepared. For us, this amount of snow is pretty scary. Sherry reported this morning that the roads are now open and she headed out early. She expects to be in El Paso by noon. Go Sherry!!
I have to say, some of these volunteers just amaze me. What they will do to save just one dog is unbelievable. They so freely give their time for these babies.
BOBO BURKE checking in at Stafford Oaks Veterinary Hospital.
You guys are the greatest!! Thanks to those that stepped up to foster some of our little Houston dogs, we were able to save FOUR from the shelter in south Houston. And one, little Bobo, is fighting for her life right now.
The three that were confiscated in a cruelty case, Bobo, Harvie and Wilson were all covered in fleas and severely anemic. We expect the two boys to stabilize quickly, but little Bobo is in critical condition and may not make it.
Anemia is measured by PCV or HCT which measures the level of red blood cells in the total blood volume. Normal is 35-45%. Little Bobo has a PCV of only EIGHT, that is 8%. We have had dogs die with higher pcv than that. The only dog I know of that had a lower PCV and lived is my own Cherie.
We had to do an emergency blood transfusion for Bobo last night (yes, Thanksgiving eve when most sane people are already enjoying turkey dinner with family, our vet was pumping blood into Bobo). She is stable today, but that can be short lived. If her body is not making red blood cells any more, the transfusion won’t hold and she will die. But, we had to try. She is just too cute.
Her expenses for this weekend, including the transfusion, are around $600. You know what I am going to say next, right…..
I was afraid to even write this blog message. How can we come back again with a PROBLEM?? Don’t some of these problem children find their ways to other places. Well, yes they do, but a lot find their way here for one reason – YOU – your generousity has made it known that we take in hard cases. So, here we go again….
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:24 am by Lone Star Shih Tzu and Lhasa Apso Rescue
I’m sure you all know that our little “business” is all about throughput. We have to get dogs through our system so that others can be saved.
In this past year, we have been absolutely overwhelmed with dogs – the WORST summer in history for dogs being dumped, two breeder confiscations – one five dogs and another 11 dogs – several breeder dumps – this is when a breeder gets tired of having dogs for whatever reason and needs to get rid of them – we had one of those in June, another in September, six and three dogs respectively. Another group from Abilene in May – four then.
We do this because we love the dogs. It’s a shame to think of one dying simply because there isn’t space, but unfortunately, that’s what happens.
We have just been asked to take in three from a small confiscation in Houston. And four more showed up in the local Houston shelters today. What are we to do?
We need foster homes for these dogs. We just have no more room to squeeze, shove, shoe-horn in another dog in our current totally saturated foster homes.
WE NEED YOU to foster!!
What does it mean to foster – well, sometimes it isn’t easy – these dogs have been abandoned for one reason or another, perhaps they aren’t housetrained, or perhaps they are just the wrong color. Who knows? But, when we take them in, we take them as is – we are dedicated to rehabilitating all that we accept responsibility for. So, as a foster, that sometimes means getting creative about dealing with issues – housetraining, overcoming shyness, fear of other dogs, separation anxiety - lots of different things. We need foster homes that can take a dog as is and make it a “silk purse.” We provide as much support as possible – counseling from many, many people, but sometimes it takes YOU to figure out what to do to help your little charge. They aren’t bad on purpose, they’ve just never been taught how to act right and desperately need you to communicate with them to make them a better dog.
We pay all vetting, you provide a home, a loving, nurturing environment, comfort, food, treats, limousine service, answer adoption inquiries, etc.
The dogs provide love, gratitude, comfort, soft fur, the chance to buy new shoes, a reason to exercise and a great deal of personal satisfaction.
Here are the dogs that need a foster home:
Kammie
Mugsey
Escriva
Braxton
Alessandro
Puddin
These are all adorable little dogs. Alessandro is special needs. He has minor seizures controlled by meds.
Please email me asap so we can get these guys into foster homes. If you are an adopter, you are approved to foster. If you’ve never gone through our approval process, please understand that we do have to go through this process.
WE NEED YOU!
Here are the dogs we need to pick up from the local animal control facilities THIS WEEK:
If you are up to taking one of these right into your home, we can work with that too.
10 year old female -missing an eye
6 year old male
6 year old male
6 year old male
unknown
unknown
I can’t promise that these will be perfect dogs, but I can promise that if you foster one of these and help rehabilitate him/her, you will feel a great deal of pride and satisfaction.
Email me asap. The shelters are overflowing right now because of the holiday. Dogs don’t have much more than their regulatory stay – 3-5 days.
Thanks for reading
Yes, I know we can’t save them all, but we will try!!! NEVER GIVE UP, NEVER GIVE IN!
As you all know, over the last weekend, we met the $500 NYC matching challenge!!! YEAH. That added $1000 to our fundraising for theses fluffs below. But, as you can also see, they still need a lot more.
Two extremely good friends of LSSTLAR have issued an additional match challenge last week. For each dollar donated through the weekend, they will match it dollar for dollar up to $2000. WOW!! That will get all of these babies at least close enough for us to go forward. We really need to get Amaretto’s surgery done asap.
Thanks to the following people who donated and made the NYC challenge a success:
Rosemary Cody, Janet McLeland, Cat Martindale, Pam Glass, Lael Ward, Anonymous, Leanne Little, Cynthia D’Antoni in memory of Lucy, Kenda Stacy in memory of Gus, Joan Samara, Judy Florence, Kirstin Gerstley.
Thanks to Martin Howard in memory of “Killer,” Cat Martindale, Anon, Rosemary Cody, Wyatt Edenfield, Patricia Heitmann, Bruce and Gay Yancey, Barbara Grabell, Natty Products, Janet McLeland, Kaye Wyly, Claryce King, Rosemary Cody, Fur Kids, Janet McLeland, Pam Glass, Lael Ward, Leanne Little, Jean, Larry and Jose Smith in honor of Jose, Lauren Crosby, Lorraine Bucklan, Digital Auction,Larry and Bonnie Cox in memory of Anthony and Pita, Lorna Van De Wiele, Mary Grassi, Linda Morse, Cathy Hite, Kristy Formella, Bettie Asher, Joyce and Mike in memory of Abbi Worth Tate, Pam Glass, Barbara Detwiler, Anna Dee Lastick, Carol Lundemo, Janet Bello.
Thanks to NYC Challenge, Marty Howard in memory of “Killer,” Gloria Parrent, Amy Sandhagen, Cat Martindale, Cynthia D’Antoni in memory of Lucy, Cathy Hite.
Thanks to Gay and Bruce Yancey, Cat Martindale, Kirstin Gerstley, Bea Bockmann, Cheryl Oyaski, Anna Dee Lastick, Anna Winter in honor of Leann Little and Clara, CHIH YUH KUO
