Updates on the current crew

First off we have to tell everyone the great news. Nimh has found a home of her own and she is doing great! She now lives in the Capital Hill neighborhood of Seattle and is enjoying life as a city girl. Nimh has a rattie-chi sister that's even tinier than her and a 12 year old human sister who is really good at spoiling her. Congratulations Ms. Nimh on your new home.

The next news is on Skipper. We've continued working on training with him and he is doing great. He now spends most of his time upstairs in the living room hanging out with Frodo and although I can't say that they are best buddies, they do fine together. In the picture you see Skipper "uncorking" the squeakie wine bottle that he made quick work of. We're pleased to announce that Mr. Skippy has an application and his potential family is coming out tomorrow afternoon to meet him. Wish him luck - he'd sure love to have a family of his own.

Let's not forget Ms. Madeline. She continues to recover from her hip surgery, although she has had a little setback when something seemed to get pulled during her spay. We have her on an anti-inflammatory and some Tramadol for the pain and are hoping she will be 100% soon. Currently she has a couple people interested in her so we are just waiting and watching to make sure she will be healed up enough to head to a forever home.

Just a reminder - you can check out the latest on all the WA New Rattitude foster dogs over on Facebook - just look for the "New Rattitude - Washington State" community page. You should also "like" our National page while you're at it! Thanks everyone for your continued support!

Madeline's surgery

Things have been so busy that I am just now getting around to updating you on Madeline. She had the FHO surgery (femural head osteo-something) on Tuesday and the doctor said it was very routine and went great. She's already up and moving around in the kitchen and trying to play with Tilly which is great news.

I've had 5 different foster dogs go through surgery to correct luxating patellas and I have to say that the incision site is MUCH less dramatic looking for this hip surgery than for the knee surgeries that I'm used to.

She'll need to recuperate for several weeks before she can be adopted to a new home and it will be 4 weeks before she is ready for her spay surgery.

Maddie has shown herself to be an amazing little dog and the better she feels, the better she gets. Someone out there will be getting themselves a very special family member. I can't thank New Rattitude team members enough for all they do to make expensive rescues like this possible. Thanks to Edgewood Veterinary Clinic for their continued support and for being so pro-rescue and giving us a great deal on the surgery. It was half of what 2 other vet offices quoted us.

Goodbye little Frizzers

Frisby just went home and while I am ecstatic over the incredible home that he went to, I'll miss the little lovebug. He remembered his new mom from when she came to meet him last week and other than a little confusion over why I wasn't going with them when he left, he seemed to be relaxed. The day of seeing them off to their new homes is the only part of rescue that I hate. It's worth dealing with the sadness though to know how many more lives will be saved because I have that open spot for a new dog needing a temporary home. Madeline is alive today because Frisby found a family and there was room for her to move in with us while she gets healthy. So have a great life, Mr. Fris-butt. We love you and can't wait to hear how well you are doing in your new home.

Madeline Update: Yesterday I took Madeline to the vet for x-rays so we could see what is going on with her legs. Right off the bat the vet guessed what was going on and x-rays confirmed that poor Maddie's right leg was out of socket and has been since she was attacked by that dog on December 1st. Because it's been out for so long, moving around, it will not stay in, even if they put it back, so the ball of the joint will be removed and repairs will be made. This will allow her to keep her leg and use it pain-free although she may end up with a slight limp. She also had a fracture to her left pelvis but that has healed and isn't seeming to cause her any discomfort. So this is actually good news - things could have been much worse and required special orthopedic surgery. This is a fairly common operation that can be done right at the vet's office, no specialists involved. It's actually the same surgery that another new Washington foster dog, Edward, will be having soon. Maddie's surgery is scheduled for this coming Tuesday.

Welcome, sweet Madeline!

We are happy to announce that sweet 8 month old, 10 pound, Madeline has arrived in WA after a 1 - 1/2 day drive up from Northern California. Troy met her transport in South Tacoma this morning and brought her home.

We are happy to say she is a sweet, well socialized girl with a nice even temperament, especially considering that she is in pain. A big surprise was that she is in heat and I believe is about 12-15 days into her cycle. Since she's been in the shelter, kept isolated since December 1st, I think we're safe. Still, we're not enjoying the mess. If she is as late in her cycle as I think then she only has about 4 or 5 days left of the bleeding.

The bad news is that she is not using her rear right leg at all and it is obviously uncomfortable when she lays down. She moves around on her other rear leg okay, even though it was obviously injured as well. Her story is that she was brought into the shelter on December 1st after she had been attacked by a large dog. The owners asked the shelter to put her down as they didn't want the vet bills. The shelter refused and tried nursing her back to health in the front office while they attempted to find a rescue spot for her.

There are an amazing amount of lacerations on her legs that are healing very well - most are just scar tissue at this point. She has an appointment on Tuesday to see a vet for an exam and to have digital x-rays taken so we can see what the damage is and the vet can create a treatment plan. I am crossing my fingers that it will be something that can be fixed without orthopedic surgery as that would be heavy burden for the rescue, especially since we have another WA dog that will be needing hip surgery as soon as he is healthy enough to undergo anesthesia. Watch for her and Edward (the other WA boy who has a broken hip) to appear in the New Rattitude Clinic soon.

At this point Frodo, Frisby and Tilly are just curious about who the new girl is but Nimh is having absolute conniption fits over her. Since I know Nimh will try to start humping her if I let her near poor Maddie we are keeping everyone very separate right now.

Madeline

"In an old house in Paris that was covered in vines, lived twelve little girls in two straight lines ..." that is how all the books in Ludwig Bemelman's book series about the precocious Madeline begin. Well, it's not an old house in Paris and my rattie fosters would never be able to form straight lines but Madeline the rat terrier (named for the book character) will soon be joining us here in Washington.

Madeline was surrendered to a shelter in Northern California after she was attacked by a large dog. The 7 month old pup had a laceration on her inner thigh, abrasions, and was stiff and sore. The owners that brought her in wanted her euthanized but the shelter staff refused, saying that she should be fine with a little time and TLC. The owners left her and the staff kept little Maddie in the front office, working on nursing her back to health. As she recovered they called the owners multiple times, asking if they had changed their mind and each time the owners said to euthanize her. Since the owners where done with her and the shelter had no money for x-rays to check and see if there are any fractures to the bone that are causing her stiffness they began networking her to rescue groups hoping to find somewhere to send her where she'd get the medical care that they couldn't provide.

She was placed on New Rattitude's CA urgent list and that's where I first saw her. Catherine, the CA State Coordinator for New Rattitude found a ground transport that was driving from Ventura to Seattle, picking up urgent dogs for Seattle area rescuers along the way. Madeline will join 17 other dogs on the trek to Washington starting Saturday and we will meet the transport in Olympia on Sunday morning to pick her up.

So send healthy vibes to Miss Madeline and cross your paws that the x-rays don't show any serious breaks. I'll keep you posted.