The past few months have been very interesting….

Adi and Bina, who arrived last summer are moving forward, healing emotionally and physically.

Adi the Cattle dog had her leg amputated in October and within a couple of weeks was

running around, behaving as though she had always had three legs. The pain caused by

the non-healing broken leg was a distant memory…and although no more than 9 months

old when she arrived, by not having to deal with pain and incapacity, she was able to

become a puppy for the first time since she had been 4 or 5 months of age. By now, at age

15 months, she is mellowing, playful, somewhat hyper…in other words a normal little Cattle dog.

Bina arrived a month or two before Adi. Feral, fearful, high strung, suffering with a missing foot

which had either been deliberately cut off by a sadist or lost in a trap-hold of some sort,

Bina at 18 months of age trusted no humans and had little use for most dogs. None the less

my husband, partner in all things animal, Jeff worked with her daily and slowly she came to

trust and accept him into her limited world. She learned where she lived and that it was a

safe spot for her.

Adi and Bina slowly grew to become best friends. Adi taught Bina how to play with toys and

how to dog-wrestle. Although she merely “accepts” me, knowing I am the one who provides food,                                  Bina

she is learning how to become a dog. It is a major step in her ongoing journey.

                                                                                           Sohvi found a forever home with a wonderful woman and two other Border Collies. Although we miss                                                                                             her terribly, we know she has the best possible life she could have!

 
                                                                                          In October we took in Bella, a 8-10 year old Chihuahua with two huge inguinal (abdominal) hernias.

                                                                                          She  also had Tick Fever which had to be cleared before surgery could be done…or she might bleed-                                                                                           out. Locally in SoAZ we were not able to find any Veterinarians willing to work on her. Our Vet, Dr.                                                                                                  Heist, thought the surgery could be too complex and the chance of bleeding too great. Even the local                    specialists were hesitant and refused to work on Bella.


                             


The hernias were huge! …but gratefully we met with Dr. Brett in North Scottsdale.

His practice is a 450mile round trip from our facility….but I brought Bella up for                                                                                   '

an initial consult and  then drove up again on a Tuesday a few weeks later to leave

her for several days for the surgery. On Friday evening that week I drove up again

and picked her up.

In order to make room for her organs, Bella’s spleen had to be removed or it might

rupture from the pressure of insertion into a tight space.

Today we are working on her weight, attempting to get two pounds off the chubby Chi

so that she can be spayed and have a small re-opening of the hernia (on one side)

repaired. We plan on bringing Bella back up to Dr. Brett for what we hope is her final

bought of surgery in another month.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Bella 

 

                                                                                                                                      During the period of time, we accepted an elderly, toothless Chihuahua with a                                                                                                                                             broken jaw named Feo…which means “Ugly” in Spanish. He was an owner turn                                                                                                                                         in to Pinal county and, not surprisingly, no one wanted him….

                                                                                                                                      Crystall a lovely young woman I work with at Pinal kept telling me about him and                                                                                                                                         hinting how much it would mean to everyone there if we were to take him….So                                                                                                                                           we did. Little Feo has turned out to be the sweetest little guy, full of vim and                                                                                                                                                   vinegar…Although he is fed a specialized slushy diet of soft dog foods, he is                                                                                                                                               doing great, gaining weight, making friends and hanging out with our elderly little                                                                                                                                       Chihuahua named Princess.

                                                                                                                                       We were also able to pull a pure little Dachshund we named Demi from a                                                                                                                                                      euthanasia list at Arizona Humane Society in Phoenix. She was found to have                                                                                                                                            Valley Fever, which made her unadoptable. Since we already have three dogs                                                                                                                                            being treated for VF, we accepted her into the pack.
                                       

                                           Feo


Bari Mears, founder/director of PACC911 has a number of little Doxies. After sending

her pictures and stories of little Demi, she agreed to foster…and now adopt…

little Demi who has been renamed Ellie Mae. The sweet little red dog is doing very

well, recovering from Valley Fever and making friends at her new forever home.

 

In early March we accepted a little 10+ year old Chihuahua we have named Little

Red Fox, or “Red” for short. She is a sweet little girl who we believe was neglected

by not abused. She came from the Maricopa pound. Blind, Red has with the worst

cataracts I had ever seen. Sadly, when we took her to see Dr. Merridith at Eye Center

in Tucson, she was found to have detached retinas so that cataract surgery would

not help her see again. A frightening side effect of cataracts in dogs ic Glaucoma, the

painful disease which builds pressure up in the head. We are putting specialized

medicated eye-drops in Red’s eyes daily in an attempt to avoid Glaucoma. Red will

go back to see Dr. Merridith again in September and will have regular checkup to

insure the drops are working.
                                                                                                                                                                                                 Ellie Mae (formerly Demi)


                                                                                                                                               Two weeks ago, when we took Bella up for a check-up, we took Red up to                                                                                                                                       see Dr. Brett and had the last of her few remaining rotten teeth removed.                                                                                                                                Today, eating soft foods, she is happy and pain free.

 

                                                                                                                                                The most recent addition to our menagerie is Henry, a year-old Cattle dog.                                                                                                                               Henry is a “lethal white” also called a Double Merle, which is simply stated                                                                                                                                       very bad breeding. Henry arrived about ten days ago.

                                                                                                                                                Henry was born with deformed eyes which have left him blind. Next week                                                                                                                                       Henry goes up to see Dr. Merridith as we believe he might have “some”                                                                                                                                     sight in his left eye. If he does have residual sight, we will do whatever we                                                                                                                            can to preserve that sight for as long as possible. Of course we might just be                                                                                                                             not overly hopeful….

                                                                                                                                                Although breeders know that merle markings on Aussies and Cattle dogs is                                                                                                                                     a recessive trait, breeding merle to merle will produce more merle-marked                                                                                                                                    expensive pups. But 25% of these double merle babies will be deaf or                                                                                                                                             blind or have seizures or any combination of these three genetic maladies.

                                                                                                                                              My first “lethal white” dogs were 4-week old Aussie X Cattle dogs.                                                                                                                                                     Both pups had been tossed into the desert when the breeder realized                                                                                                                                                they were both deaf and had serious vision issues. They were                                                       Little Red Fox                                                                             named Henry and Murphy. Henry was mostly blind, totally deaf and                                                                                                                                                  he began having seizures at 6 weeks of age. Even with major medicalmedical intervention, he lived                                                                                     medical  care he only lived two and a half years.

                                                                                                                                               His brother Murphy was deaf and slowly went blind as he grew older.                                                                                                                                                Murphy died at 11 years of age.

                                                                                                                                               Henry2 seems to be fully hearing, and at a year is not showing signs of                                                                                                                                            epilepsy. We hope he will have a long, happy and healthy life.

                                                                                                                                                He is already making friends with Adi and several other dogs here in our                                                                                                                                      crazy dog pack.



   

             Henry the first                                                          Murphy




 

Our Happy Henry (the second) within  days of his arrival at CCR. It is rare to see Henry without a bone, ball or toy in his mouth!

Update on the Animals at CCR  

May 3rd 2017