A day in the life of a Cruelty Investigator

Today I had to wear a different hat.  Today I wasn't the head pooper scooper, mange manager, or keeper of the kibble. Today, I was the cruelty investigator for the Humane Society of LA - Livingston Chapter.  While my training and experience with dogs has made me stronger, one NEVER gets over seeing a dog nearly starved to death ON PURPOSE.  From time to time we find hunting hounds that have been either abandoned or lost in dreadful shape, but I rarely see an animal in such a condition in the backyard of a home in a nice neighborhood.  This home had boats, swing sets, and other "toys" around to indicate the family had means.  The yard was nice and tidy, the grass cut, and everything looked normal until you drove around to the side where a utility road abutted the property.  There was a dog in a pen.  A skeleton in a pen would be a better description.

I called the sheriff's office to have an officer meet me.  Once he saw the dog he agreed that the dog had to be taken today.  So he issued a Seizure Order and I took the dog to the vet.  At the vet, his body condition score was 1.  This is the lowest score possible.  His body temperature was 97.6. He is anemic,  mildly heartworm positive, full of hook worms and fleas, has a yeast infection in his ears, and a wound on his left front leg. The vet said there is no medical reason for the dog to be this thin.  The only reason for the condition of the dog is starvation. Yet, through all of this, this sweet dog just wanted to sit in my lap.  He weighs 39 pounds and he should weigh 65!!!

The poor dog will remain at the vet for 15 days.  The owner has that amount of time to contact the sheriff's office to claim the dog.  He will be given a summons for simple animal cruelty.  The most likely outcome is that the owner will surrender the dog to avoid going to jail or receiving a guilty verdict. The police officer is going to try to make it impossible for the owner to get the dog back. I will go to court to ask the judge to release the dog to the Humane Society.  If this does happen, we will need to raise money to pay the bill.

If any of you would like to help, please contact Dodge City Animal Hospital, 225-664-6441.  The dog's name is Buster.  Please tell them you want to contribute toward Buster's care.

Okay, I'm over being mad - A level head now prevails!!!

After much prayer, I have decided not to try to up the charges against my neighbor.  While the man acted in a totally unacceptable manner and is cold hearted, I do not want him to have a felony on his record. His actions were despicable, but his wife and family are good people.  I don't want them harmed by his inability to work.  So, I will ask the district attorney to negotiate a deal where the offender gets a psychological evaluation and does community service in lieu of upping the charges.  Hopefully this will put this matter behind us.  I have so many awesome dogs that depend on our care that I cannot let this overwhelm me.

And speaking of awesome dogs..... we have Lilly, a sweet, practically housebroken, little pit mix.  She is just the best puppy I've had in a long time.  She was found by a wonderful lady in Baton Rouge at her work place.  Lilly was cold, underweight, and had a skin rash.  The sweet lady took her to the vet, got her shots, some meds for the skin problem, and bought her tons of stuff!! For the month that she was nurtured back to health, Lilly received the best of care and lots of love.  Lilly's bed, toys, chew bones, food, leash, collar, etc. came with her to Swampy Paws. She is enjoying being with the other puppies and loves to play tug of war with Shadow.  Lilly doesn't bark, doesn't chew on your finger or toes, doesn't whine about being in the crate, and doesn't mind sharing her toys with her canine friends.  She is truly an AWESOME little lady!!

Do you remember our little Corgi/Chi mixes?  Well, we had one of them returned to us when I insisted on having her spayed.  The family who originally adopted her agreed to have her spayed when she was old enough.  When I called to give them the date, they said they wanted to let her have a litter of puppies.  I reminded them that our Adoption Agreement did not allow this.  So, rather than letting her have the surgery, they decided to return her.  Sophie is 4 1/2 month old and is potty pad trained.  We are working on her socialization skills.  Sometimes she doesn't want to share!!!  She loves to cuddle on your shoulder.  She has recently been spayed, so in a week or two she will be ready for adoption.  Sophie will require an experienced dog family who can continue to work on her "selfish attitude"!

Introducing ROCKY.  Originally Rocky and two of his friends came to Swampy Paws when their owner needed to reduce the number of dogs in her household.  The very first day Rocky escaped!  We searched but to no avail.  We found the other two, but Rocky evaded us.  We would put out food and call, but he would not come to us.  We would chase him through the field with no luck.  Finally, we set a live trap and caught him five days later!  He was frightened, so I just let him take his time coming out of the trap.  It took almost an hour for him to exit.  Once he was out, he was friendly and just wanted to eat a good meal. 

After a few hours of rest, he was ready to go outside.  I could not trust him on the deck again, so we started walking.  He walked on a leash so well!  He was a bit nervous, so I let him sleep with me the first night.  Well, he soon because my velcro dog!  He wants to be where I am at all times.  He follows me throughout the house and is not happy when I leave.  He has settled down a bit and has adjusted to the crate at night.

Rocky was doggie door trained, but he will need to be watched carefully in a new environment.  He has tried to mark a crate or two, but when corrected, he stops immediately and looks up as if to say, "Oh, I forgot".  He is so sweet.  He will make a wonderful addition to any family. 

Don't forget, Friday night at the Denham Springs Petco - Adoption Event from 5 to 7 pm.

JOJO Is a Victim of Animal Cruelty

I am so upset  can barely type.  Our sweet energetic JOJO was shot my by neighbor, Mr. Gary Quave, at 2 pm yesterday.  Below is the explanation of what happened that I sent to the Dead Pelican.  I also intend to send this to other newspaper outlets.  Feel free to pass this along to let the public know what we will not tolerate this behavior.

JoJo was a lab mix, female, about 10 months old and weighed approximately 25 pounds.  She was sweet, energetic, and a fence jumper so she was always inside so I could train her to be a great house dog for a future owner.  While I was cleaning kennels, I let her out into the yard.. She wandered off to a neighbors house. She was not off my property for more than 10 minutes when I heard a gun shot extrememly close to my house.  I ran to where it came from and saw my neighbor crouching down and carrying something black into the woods. I asked him if everything was okay.  He said yes.  I looked around and no JOJO,  I called her.  She did not come.  She was the most reliable dog I had for recall.  I ran to the woods where I saw him throw something.  I found her body. He was getting into his running truck when I confronted him.  He said he didn't know it was my dog and that she had growled and snarled at him.  He said he thought she was a stray. I did not hear her bark or growl or him hollering at a dog to chase it off and I was 75 to 100' away.  He is lying. He just shot her in the head with a shotgun at close range.  I've never had a complaint from this man about any of our dogs. I do not let any of them roam free nor do they bark excessively. Even the police officer said she never hears the dogs barking when she makes her daily ride through our area. From his demeanor when he was taking her into the woods, I know he thought I might see him.  Now I am afraid he might do something to my other dogs. He knew we operated a rescue and his grown son even had one of our labs on a trial basis.  Why didn't he just yell and ask me if she was one of our rescues?   He clearly knew I was in the yard with the dogs. The only answer to that question is that he intended to kill her.

He was given a summons for simple cruelty to animals.  He was not charged with aggravated cruelty eventhough I believe it was malicious intent. He was only given a warning for discharging a weapon inside the city limits.  I was given a summons for a dog at large - no warning ticket.  I have never been cited for this offense so as a first time offense one would think I should have received a warning. This is a rural area.  I have 12 acres and at no time do I allow a dog to roam. 

I am afraid the local police department and judge will not take this seriously.  If this man thinks it is okay to just shoot a dog at point blank range then I fear he will do it again.  He should have been given a summons for a weapons charge.  He is a quiet man with a family who has a job and pastors a church.  He may seem like a mild manner fellow, but I have serious doubts about his mental status.  I think the law requires a psychological evaluation when someone is convicted of cruelty to animals. I need the press to push for this because I am afraid to live next door to the lunatic.  The court date is 11/28/11 at 6 pm at the Killian town hall.

I don't know if you can help, but I would like the public to know what happened.  I want the local police department to know that the public is watching and will not tolerate this kind of behavior.  I want the judge to know we expect more than a slap on the wrist.  But most of all, I want my JOJO back.  That will never happen because this lunatic took her life.

Homes found for Mr. Beagle, Pumpkin, Happy, and Sheeba!!!

Yahoooooo.....  This past weekend was a huge success.  We were able to find homes for 4 of our smaller dogs.  I have to admit I miss Mr. Beagle.  He was my couch potato snuggle buddy.  Pumpkin and Happy have families of their own and Sheeba is with a couple that have a few grand children as her playmates.   I just knew Lucky would find a home, but unfortunately he will have to wait.

On Thursday I take the General to Mississippi to meet the transport to the East Coast.  It has been a challenge to get all the paperwork and additional tests done to meet the requirements for transport.  He had to have a lyme and erhlichia test in addition to the normal stuff.  At least we will soon be able to put the kennels back together so Jupiter and Willow will have their space back. 

Don't forget - Friday night adoptions at the Petco in Denham Springs then Saturday at Tractor Supply in Hammond.  I was buying dog food today at Tractor Supply and the manager there brought out a big box of stuff for us.  Wow, what a treat.  It has all the type of stuff we use - ear cleaner, stainless buckets, vitamins, poop bags, brushes, etc.  These were all discontinued items so they collect them for us.  Every item donated helps us continue to feed and provide medical care for the dogs.  THANK YOU TRACTOR SUPPLY!!  We will be taking Jupiter, Lucky, Amber, and Dixie to meet all the folks at Petco and Tractor Supply.

Our little Ebony is doing a bit better, although she still doesn't use her back legs properly.  I spoke with Dr. Smith at Dodge City Animal Hospital about her and he wants to examine her and the xrays to see if perhaps we can do an early intervention with a minor surgical procedure.  I have stopped swimming her because she gets so sore.  The morning after her swim she always seems to be in pain.  Hopefully Dr. Smith may have an answer.  He has performed surgery on two of our other dogs and both were great successes. 

Our regular vets are not orthopedic surgeons so they cannot treat Ebony.  Dr. McCormick at Hickory Small Animal Hospital has been Ebony's advocate.  She sent the xrays to two different orthopedic surgeons (one of which is from LSU Vet School) and both of them say that at this age the hips look normal and let's take a wait and see approach since she is a rescue and we don't have a lot of money.  However, after a little research I think perhaps Dr. Smith's approach may be beneficial.  If she continues to use the leg improperly there will be permanent damage to the joint and she will develop arthritis.  If we can get it so the ball of the hip isn't popping out of the socket, then there is less opportunity for damage to the joint.  So later this week we will see him and try to find an answer for Ebony.

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.

I am technically challenged!

The family that is interested in the General asked me to send them a few more pictures or videos.  I take the videos and then Yahoo won't let me attach them.  Bummer...  No problem, I think I will upload on the blog and just send a link by email to the nice folks.  I have to say, I have never had this much trouble before.  Everything is taking sooo long.  Just to upload this 1 minute video it is taking over 10 minutes.  What am I doing wrong??? 

Thank You for Your Support!!!

Last night we had an adoption event at the Petco.  While we didn't move any dogs into permanent homes last night, we did have a few very serious prospects.  I really like it when people take the time to think about adopting.  Adding another dog to the household is like adding another child!  Our hope is that people seriously consider the commitment and then make a decision. 

But the big new of the night came from a wonderful lady who gave us a generous donation!  We certainly appreciate her help.  (I forgot to ask her if it was okay to use her name, so I won't publish it!) The 12 puppies we have had over the past few months have really added to our spay / neuter costs dramatically.  The money will be used to offset this expense. 

Another bit of good new is that we may have found a home for General.  The folks at American Lab Rescue have a potential home for him.  We have worked with them before and they do a fantastic job finding the right home for the dogs.  It seems as if there aren't many big dogs up East.  As soon as he is neutered, we will put him on a transport to Connecticut if the adoption is approved by them.  Thank you American Labs!

And a big thank you to Dezzi Falgout and Lilly Manuel for helping with the adoption event.  I couldn't do it without you!!!

Well, it is now daylight and I can start my day!  Kennels have to be cleaned, dogs feds, eggs gathered, goats, donkeys, chickens, turkeys, ducks, and rabbits tend to, fall veggies planted,  and the list goes on and on.........

Is this a dog or a pony?

Look at the size of this Great Dane!  His name is General, The General, that is....  He weighs 135 lbs. and is such a sweetie.  Yesterday afternoon I received a call from the Denham Springs Animal Shelter about a man at the gate with this huge dog.  Unfortunately since the man didn't live in Denham, they could not take the dog, so they called me.  Although we can't take any permanent residents now, we will be the temporary home for The General until he can be placed with another rescue group.  Not every facility or foster home has the space for such a large dog.  I put him in our 10' x 10' run, which seems very spacious for our large 85 pound lab/dane mix and this dog absolutely fills the space!  He can't get inside the dog house, so at night he will have to come inside.  Fortunately, he is housebroken and very well behaved.

What a Week!

I must admit I normally handle stress very well, but this week is trying my patience.  First the death of Daphne and the potential for other young dogs to get sick and now a tropical storm that has threatened to flood the kennels.  If the water comes up another 2 feet I will have to move the dogs to wire crates on my porch or other parts of the yard. I really prefer to keep them in the large kennel runs so lets pray for the wind to come out of the north and blow the water out of Lake Maurpas.  Then things will begin to drain properly.  Right now the water is draining away from the kennels, but it is close!  We made a few trenches to relieve the situation.  The back side of the big dog kennel is near a large drainage ditch. It is overflowing and beginning to creep up into the yard! 

If we get too much rain tonight, I will be moving dogs in the dark and in the rain.  I can put two or three medium size dogs in the 10 x 10's and just move two large dogs into wire crates on my porch.  Still, I'd prefer to leave them where they are.  Everyone is dry, and nobody is barking and carrying on about being locked up in a crate! 

To add to this misery, my condo on the Tickfaw River is probably going to get a few inches of water in it.   We have been through this before with Hurricane Ike.  Fortunately, I planned ahead and the cleanup will not be so bad this time.  When I remodeled, I knew we would get water again at some time.  We have vinyl wainscoating with no fiberglass insulation in the first 12" from the floor.  The floor is vinyl and can just be washed off!  The furniture is up on blocks so hopefully we will not have too much of a mess.

Stress, stress, stress,  thank goodness I can take a few minutes and pray.  God always seems to relieve my worries.  He reminds me it is just stuff!  He reminds me that family and furry friends are far more important!

Stay dry everyone!

IN LOVING MEMORY OF DAPHNE

My heart is heavy tonight.  A sweet little 13 week old puppy, Daphne, contracted Parvo a week ago and died tonight.  She was the best new friend to a wonderful family and now she is gone.  I feel so helpless and so responsible.  I could have waited to have her spayed. We did everything right. The moment she was listless the foster family called me and we rushed her to the emergency clinic. Their quick response to her decline in activity gave us a real sense of cautious optimism.  The recent spay surgery was not progressing as we had hoped.  She had developed a huge seroma and we were afraid of infection.  She was given antibiotics for the infection.  She ate well that night,  but the next morning she was throwing up.  We  took her back to the vet and  she was tested for parvo.  Unfortunately it came back positive. She had the best medical care and attendants 24 hours a day to monitor her.  This afternoon she was holding her own - no improvement, but no decline.  Then just hours later the doctor calls me to let me know she had crashed and they could not save her. Normally if they make it past the 3 day period, you begin to feel that they are going to make it.  But she fought hard for 4 days before she lost the battle.

She probably contracted the virus here.  This is the nightmare of every kennel, shelter or rescue group. This just shows how deadly this virus can be on young dogs.  She had two series of vaccines before she came down sick.  It just wasn't  enought to counter the infection from surgery and parvo.  So, to the family, I am so very sorry.  In her short time with you, she received much love and affection.  You are absolutely the best.  You gave a rescued dog a chance.

I can truly say I understand the feeling of losing a pet.  I've lost several over the years.  It is never easy.  We never get over it.  But time does heal and God is faithful to restore us.  Our memories of our lost friends are more precious as the years go by.  While Daphne's time on earth was short, she brought laughter and love into the lives of many. 

.  We had one other young adult dog that came down with parvo at the same time, but he was strong enough to fight it.  He spent one night in the hospital. It is possible he was shedding the virus before he exhibited any symptoms. He was an owner surrender and we were told he was fully vaccinated.  He never came in contact with Daphne.  So we presume we humans brought it into the house to her unknowingly.  My biggest fear now is that I have 5 other young dogs that have not finished all three vaccines that were in the house with Daphne.  None of them appear to be ill at this time.  We have one more week to go before we can say they are probably going to be okay.  The dogs in the kennels next to the young adult had all been fully vaccinated and those who had contact with him in the exercise yard had all been vaccinated so they will be fine.

Our rescue will be closed for adoptions for 2  months.  We will only take foster dogs who have not been on the property to Petco for the next month.  The following month we will only take adult dogs.  All the young dogs will remain here until they have had all three vaccines and have had time for them to work properly in their systems.

Thank you all for your understanding.  Please keep us in your prayers.