A crazy couple days of rescue

I really need to post to the blog more often so I don't have these huge posts to keep things up to date. Since I last reported we have had 5 new dogs arrive in WA and the big news is that 2 of them already have possible homes! Two arrived on Sunday and then 3 more flew in yesterday during one of the busiest rescue days I've ever experienced.

So here's a bit of info about our new crew in WA and I'll follow that with updates on the dogs who were already here.

Kanga: Kanga came from a Milwaukee shelter that is very low kill, however because of her luxating patella she was deemed unadoptable and scheduled to be euthanized. In stepped our WI state coordinator who pulled Ms. Kanga and fostered her for a week or so until we could get her transported down to Chicago for the flight. She had her first surgery yesterday and it ends up she had no groove for the patella to sit in at all! Not even a shallow one. That problem is now fixed and in 4 to 6 weeks she'll be ready for the other leg to be fixed. Special thanks to Edgewood Veterinary who always does such a great job on these surgeries and who are incredibly rescue friendly. We love you guys!! Kanga is shown in the picture above.

RJ/McLovin: This little 10 pound boy came from a rural IL shelter and is a little heart-throb. SOOOO cute! Poor boy had been in awful conditions at the shelter and had urine burns on his paws and worst of all, his testicles were like one big open sore. The shelter had reported that he didn't like to be held. Well would you like it if a person was holding you and squeezing your bloody McNuggets? The sores are already starting to heal and he will soon be neutered. This morning I drove him to his Eastern WA foster home where he'll get some TLC. It looks like one of Jett's overflow apps is interested in him so he should be able to go home in about 2 weeks when all the paperwork is done and his vetting is current.

Doc: Doc is a young, excited, big goofball of a boy. Although he can be wild, he does settle and will look at you with his big brown eyes and give a kiss. He came from South Bend IN and had been listed on New Rattitude's urgent list for a couple weeks. He also was shown to one of the apps who had been interested in Jett and may have a home with them.

Frisby and Nimh aka "The Dynamic Duo": Frisby and Nimh are rat terrier/chihuahua mixes who were surrendered together and have been together their whole life. This 4 year old pair does everything together, often in unison, and are very well behaved. Mr. Frisby is 10 pounds and is tan and white and Ms. Nimh is 8 pounds and is tan. Because they are so bonded our goal is to adopt these two out together. They came from a shelter in rural southern IL.

Okay so that's the new crew. Here's news on the old crew. Quimby has a great application and if the home visit goes as well as the interviews have will be going home this weekend sometime. She was spayed yesterday and came home in the evening. Today she has all her gumption back so we are having to keep her crated so she won't overdo it. McMuffin was adopted by a couple who had originally applied for Jett. I brought her back to the west side from her Yakima foster home and she will go home this evening. Lucas is meeting up with a possible adopter this evening. If all goes well he'll go home when they are back from vacation in a week and a half or so. Little Fleck, the 5 mo. old puppy from Stockton CA is available for adoption still.

Jett, Quimby and McMuffin

The dogs arrived from Georgia and everyone is doing great now. Poor McMuffin, who is actually heading to her foster home in Yakima tomorrow, has a whole host of shelter health issues that we are getting under control - ear mites, conjunctivitis, finishing treatment for a respiratory infection, skin issues and bloody stool. In spite of it all she is friendly and playful and some family is going to end up with an absolutely amazing dog once we get her all healthy.

Jett is such a sweet loving guy - about 5 years old and 18 pounds. He doesn't do well with big dogs or with any alpha male dogs but has been getting along great with our personal dogs. He is playful without being hyper, is housetrained, and loves snoozing on a lap. We are pretty fond of the guy.

Quimby is more cute than pictures can show but my lord, she's a little fireball. I took her to a friend's house who has a husky and a golden retriever and both dogs were a little perplexed by this tiny little bouncy thing with very sharp teeth. Maggie, the 1 year old retriever, played with Quimby until both of them were too exhausted to stand and could just bat at each other without actually getting to their feet. I'm guessing that she'll be the alpha of whatever house she ends up at. She is full of terrier 'tude. Jett likes to play with her but sometimes I'll see him walking along, tail between his legs with Quimby hanging from his cheek by her teeth. We have to watch her because the other dogs aren't the type to put her in her place when she gets too rough. Where's Franny when you need her?! LOL.

The photo above shows camera shy Jett and NEVER shy Quimby.

Lucas, a rat terrier dachshund mix, will be arriving on this coming Monday. He has a dachshund body but a rat terrier's markings (white with tan spots) and is great with dogs and people but afraid of children.

Empty nest...for 2 days

Our three fosters, Elvis, Gatsby and Emma, all went home in the last three days so now we are down to just the 2 house dogs. It is so calm! I can't say it's quiet since my personal dogs are louder than any foster I've ever had, but there is less movement as Elvis and Emma aren't staging regular wrestling matches in the middle of the living room.

On Wednesday we have a 2 year old girl arriving from Illinois - Jessie - who we'll have until Saturday when she heads to her foster home in Eastern WA. Then after a quiet weekend we'll welcome a load of 4 dogs at Sea-tac Airport on Monday the 2nd. One of those dogs, a 1-2 year old girl named McMuffin, will also head East to Yakima after spending a few days with us. The other 3 will be staying.

The plan was to just foster 2 dogs and all was working as planned. Jett is a 5 year old male who is being returned by his adopters because him and his pugly brother do not get along. The issue seems to be more on the pugs side but since the pug was first then Jett will be the one leaving. He'll be transported from his home in Virginia to Atlanta where the flight to SEA originates.

The other dog will be Tippy, who was pulled from a particularly awful shelter in Louisiana. She has been being fostered in LA but since that foster home has too many dogs right now and can only temp Ms. Tippy she will be heading here. Tippy will be ground transported from her foster home in LA to Atlanta.

McMuffin, the female heading to Yakima, was just pulled today from a high kill shelter in Georgia. When the New Rattitude volunteer went there to pull her from the shelter there was another rat terrier who had been recently dumped. This little gal was just a baby, likely around 8 weeks old, and it is always extremely risky for dogs of that age to be in shelters because their immune system isn't mature. The NR volunteer pulled her from the shelter and figured she'd find some place that could squeeze a cute little pup in.

Since the plane was already booked to be flying 4 dogs for New Rattitude and we only had 3 thanks to a transport falling through I decided we'd find room for this little girl. We're kind of looking forward to having a baby in the house again (1 is so much easier than a litter of 5). We've named her Quimby after the Beverly Cleary children's book character "Ramona Quimby".

So watch for photos coming soon of the new load of fosters winging their way to Washington. In the meantime, here's a picture of little Quimby at the shelter. She's safe at a temporary foster home right now.