Newsletters for 2008
Rosie (August 2008)
August 2008
Chihuahua Rescue Haven for the elderly - Newsletter
How many times do you hear someone wanting a Chihuahua tell you that 4 years or older is too old? Thank goodness we have many understanding people who are prepared to face the sadness of losing one we love dearly. They take these little ones into their homes and hearts for their final days. Following is a story written by Judy, who saved a darling little Chihuahua from death row. Judy, you and your family are very special people - Bless you.
Rosie by Judy.
Rosie I still remember seeing your photo on the local pound's website and I couldn't believe that a sweet old lady like you would find yourself at such a place at your age.
I thought for sure somebody would come and claim you, but you remained there for the 8 days and you were out of time.
Something in your photo touched me and I couldn't bear the thought of you dying all alone, so I contacted my friend the ranger and instead of him taking you to the vet he brought you to my house.
When Neil took you out of the van I was shocked at your poor condition. I knew from your photo that you were old, but I had no idea that you had been allowed to get in such bad condition
Most of the hair on your back was missing, and I could tell from your toughened skin that your allergy had been allowed to continue untreated for years.
You constantly chewed and scratched yourself until you bled.
You had lost your spirit and I thought you might live for a month or two, but I was determined that you would be shown love and be comfortable for whatever time you had left.
Months passed quickly and you amazed us all with your improvement. Your hair was growing back and you gained weight.
It was funny because you never once showed any signs of aggression towards me, dad (my husband Mick) or the girls. But you hated everyone else and we had to warn all visitors to not touch you or you would bite!
Everyone who met you has told us that you knew that we saved you and you were protecting us to say thanks.
Time passed and it is now 2 1/2 years since you arrived.
Over the last few months we have noticed that you aren't your usual self.
Sadly your body and mind are failing you more and more.
My heart broke as I made your final appointment with the vet.
But please know my sweet ol' Rosie that I don't want to see you suffer anymore.
You will always live in our hearts.
Love you always you sweet old chook.
It was heart breaking to say goodbye to Rosie, but I don't regret one second of it. At least I know that she knew how special and loved she was in her final moments. She will be with us forever (she is buried in the backyard and I planted a gorgeous orange rose on her grave).
The vet was amazing, she was wrapped in her blanky, and then they placed her in a beautiful white coffin and tied a pink ribbon around it.
Goodness me, tears flowing again! I miss her so much.
Bad news comes in fours today (October 2008)
October 2008
We have just experienced four horrifying situations with very small Chihuahuas. Thanks to some caring ladies each of these four little dogs will be OK eventually.
The first phone call came through several weeks ago "two little Chihuahuas in a puppy farm situation in Bendigo". This lady paid to get the two little girls out and then delivered them to us. Both have had no contact with humans - apart from the woman who "chucked" their food into their pen! The elder one (now called Pippin) is the mother of the other one, Molly. Pippin produced Molly at six months of age, produced another litter at approx. 12 months and was taken out when she was 15 months old. From the surgery scarring it would appear that Pippin had a caesarean both times. Her tummy was a train track of scarring and when our vet operated to desex and clean up the mess on her tummy, he discovered her bladder was sewn to the uterus. It took almost an hour to try and release the bladder. Pippin has had many hours of handling and seems quite calm and secure, however, is quite hesitant with strangers.
Molly at 11 months appeared to have never come into season, thank goodness! What a wild little one she is, very cheeky, and not averse to giving you a good sharp nip (in play!) but will not let you handle her at all. Mayer and I have spent many hours (after physically catching her) just sitting and caressing her, but so far we have not achieved a lot with her. Molly will play with us, take food from our hands, dance all around us, and greet us with great excitement, but try to pat her or pick her up and she is just terrified.
I do not believe she has been treated badly, just never handled by anyone.
The second phone call was for a puppy who had been abused. Poppy is just so small. A neighbour went to the owner's home for coffee only to see the 7 and 8 year old boys snatching Poppy up by the front legs and throwing her from one to the other! Several times they dropped her. Finally the male got up yelling at the puppy to "shut up" (she was screaming in pain) and he kicked her across the room! Rescuer picked up the little one and told them she would take her to the vet. We immediately drove to her place and took the little one with the lady reassuring us she would tell the original people that the little one was too seriously injured and was put to sleep.
X-rays proved Poppy had a dislocated shoulder, a cracked front knee joint, and several broken toes. Leg splinted and plastered Poppy was feeling very sore and sorry for herself but not once did she bite, just such a loving lively happy little puppy. Our vet estimated Poppy to be about 12 weeks of age when she came in!! Thank goodness her bones are still soft enough that they will repair quite well and she should be perfectly normal.
Third phone call was another little battered dog, so debilitated and weak that a bump by one of the dogs and she toppled over with weakness. The last three weeks we have been feeding her three and four times a day to try and get some weight on her as she was too weak to administer an anaesthetic to do x-rays in an endeavour to discover just how badly she is injured. This little one was handed in by a family with five young children offering the excuse that the little dog is slowly starving "and will not play with the children"!!
Our vet said she would not eat as she is in so much pain, so pain killers helped overcome that problem for the time being. This Friday we will have her x-rayed and learn just what the damage is. During the years we have seen many hurt and damaged little dogs, but this little girl broke our hearts! She just looked so sad, weary and weak. This morning she is dancing around and wagging her tail, little eyes sparkling in greeting. We only hope the damage to her spine and hips will not be too severe that we are unable to fix it. The fairly severe brain swelling seems to have subsided a bit and her eyes are almost back to normal.
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