Tuesday, September 27, 2011

OCTOBER WILL BE BUSY! ALL HANDS ON DECK!! VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

I had an opportunity to visit with the events coordinator at Cabella's.  They are having a couple of special weekend events that would be a wonder venue for showing off our dogs.  So, please save the dates and help when you can. The staff at Cabella's is very excited to have adoptions at the store and we greatly appreciate the opportunity.

We were also asked if we wanted to participate in the Home and Garden Show in Gonzales at the Lamar Dixon Expo Center.  Several groups are planning to attend.  Yelp, APAWS, and others will have dogs available.  This is a weekend event, but we will only participate on Saturday, Oct. 15th

Oct. 1 - Saturday - Cabella's - This is the Water Fowl Weekend.  There will be booths with duck callers, dog trainers, and everything you need for hunting.  They will also have special events for the kids.  We will be there most of the day on Saturday.   10 am to 3 pm   Volunteers are treated like vendors!  We will be given a free lunch, and you can buy at discounted prices!  Thank you Cabella's!!!

Oct. 7  - Friday  5 to 7 pm - Petco - Denham Springs

Oct. 8 -  Saturday  9 to 3 -Tractor Supply in Hammond.

Oct. 13 - Thursday 6:30 -  General Meeting - Springfield Library - Hwy 43 

Oct. 14 - Friday 5 to 7 pm - Petco - Denham Springs

Oct 15 - Saturday - Home and Garden Show  (times to be announced)

Oct. 21 - Friday - 5 to 7 pm - Petco -  Denham Springs

Oct. 28 - Friday - 5 to 7 pm - Petco - Denham Springs

Oct. 29  - Saturday - 10 - 3 Cabella's Fall Festival!  This should be a lot of fun.

Wow, with all these dates we should be able to find great homes for our dogs.  We really need to reduce the number of dogs before winter.  When it is really cold, I bring some of them inside and then we also put visqueen around the porch and heat it.  However, it will only hold 12 large crates.  So we have to reduce our numbers enough to make sure everyone is warm and cozy when the temperatures drop below 45 degrees.  Ofcourse the big labs and double coated dogs can stay in their dog houses unless the temps get below freezing.  Most of our current "guests" will need to be protected from the weather and a few of them will need to be inside.  Roman, our lab and Great Dane mix, has a steel plate in  his front leg.  If the temp fall below 50, I bring him inside.  He just doesn't have any fat to protect that leg.  My human friends that have plates or screws say cold weather can be painful.  So poor old Roman ,with a 4 inch plate and nearly a dozen screws, must be kept warm.

This past week has been very active. Six dogs were either spayed or neutered and I responded to a couple of cruelty cases.  Our senior Walker Hound, Lady, was scheduled for spaying but due to an elevated enzyme in her blood work the vet decided it was not in her best interest to put her under the knife!!  I wasn't even going to spay her because she has been here a year and hadn't had a heat cycle.  Then, suprise!!!  Coco, our only intact male dog, noticed that Lady was "available".  I don't think she is pregnant, but it was a wake up call.  Old dogs can still have a cycle.

  So Lady must have a special diet and her bloodwork repeated in 2 weeks.  This could be serious.  At her age, kidney failure is a possibility and we will have to monitor her closely. 

Our little German Shepherd mix puppy, Ebony, has a hip problem.  The ligaments holding her right hip in place are too lax and the hip keeps popping out of socket.  It is a bit painful for her and she doesn't use her back legs much.  To keep her muscle tone in her hind quarters, the vet has recommended swimming.  Poor little Ebony doesn't like it, but she has to exercise somehow.  We hope to get a video of her exercising in my tub!  When she is older she may need surgery to correct the problem. We just have to wait and see what happens as she grows.  If it continues to be a painful joint, some hard decisions will have to be made.  She cannot stay on anti inflammatory meds for her entire life.  We had two orthopedic surgeons give us an opinion and both say her hind leg may have to be removed if we cannot get the hip joint to work properly.  There is an alternative survery, called an FHO - they reduce the size of the femoral head to fit into the socket better, but it may not be successful.  So we will play a wait and see game with this ligament!!!  Keep little Ebony in your prayers.

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