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Flower Girls help inaugurate new vet clinic
Feb. 18 -- Today our vet, Best Friends Animal Hospital in Pueblo West, opened the doors of a brand new clinic. First thing this morning, our five Flower Girl shelties graced the new premises and became the first pets to have surgeries there.
Since tiny Zinnia already had an emergency spay last week (along with a dental in which she lost 19 teeth and had a double dew claw surgery), she just had a bandage change today. But the other four -- Columbine, Bluebell, Marigold and Petunia -- all were spayed and received dentals. Bluebell lost 16 teeth. It also was apparent during her spay that this poor little blue merle sheltie could not have carried any more puppies. She was saved just in time from her life as a puppy mill breeding dog. Amazingly, Columbine and Petunia did not lose any teeth, and Marigold just lost one molar. We are wondering how fairly healthy, normal dogs like Marigold and Petunia end up at a puppy mill, and fear that perhaps a puppy mill owner got them from a shelter not too long ago.
Dogs used for breeding at puppy mills have bad teeth because they are fed a mixture of cheap dog food and animal feed like silage. Their food also is often remnants swept off the floor of commercial dog food plants and delivered to puppy mills by the truckload. It is so devoid of nutritional value that a dog's teeth rot at an early age.
Our Flower Girls are not listed on Available Dogs yet, but we already have received interest in and applications for them. If you have been following their stories and they speak to your heart, we would like to hear from you. By now, our director Hope (who is also their foster mom) knows their personalities a bit and can help gauge what type of home will be the best for them. Columbine, for example, is the shyest of the lot and would be best with an experienced sheltie person in a quiet, adult household. Marigold and Petunia are amazingly normal. They have their quirks, but don't we all. Tiny Zinnia had such a major surgery last week that it is taking awhile for her personality to show, but she is getting there. The same could be said for the little Bluebell, who is a shy but sweet little thing.
As you can imagine, our vet bills for these particular dogs are adding up very quickly. If you would like to play a part in their recovery and be part of their cheering section, a tangible way to do so would be to make a donation toward their vet care. We do certainly need it. Your tax-exempt donation can be made out to Pueblo Collie/Sheltie Rescue and sent to 234 S. Hacienda del Sol Dr., Pueblo West, CO 81007. Please let us know it is for the "Flower Girls." Thank you.
Update on Our Flower Girls: Blooming Lovelies
Valentine's Day, Feb. 14 - As of today, our vet clinic, Best Friends in Pueblo West, has seen all of our "Flower Girls" and almost all have been bathed and groomed. We are starting to see these lovelies bloom!
Zinnia needed an immediate spay the day after we got her due to a badly infected uterus. She also had a dental done at the time and lost 19 teeth. All of these dogs will need dentals and we believe all will lose teeth due to their terrible neglect from their years as puppy mill breeding dogs. All but one are on some form of antibiotics for various conditions.
Marigold has a staph infection (not contagious) and about half of her back coat is missing. Petunia, a sheltie-Pomeranian mix (we are guessing) is the healthiest and friendliest of the lot. Bluebell, the tiny blue merle, also was at ICU at our vet for two days due to dehydration. Columbine, the larger blue merle, had a bad toe injury, just as the others had lesser toe injuries. This is due to their being confined to metal wire cages their whole lives, where they slept, ate, eliminated, gave birth, nursed puppies and "lived," if you can call it that. These shelties have splayed toes because they did not have a solid surface to stand on.
The good news is, we can see life shining from these dogs' eyes for possibly the first time in their lives. Petunia, in particular, is a sweet, happy, rolli-poll girl. Marigold will get face to face with you and look you right in the eye with an expression of trust. Columbine is the most timid of the lot, but we have seen worse. Zinnia and Bluebell, who were the most ill, are starting to show their personalities now that their health is improving. The dogs' foster mom, our director Hope, believes that Zinnia used to be someone's pet at one time. "Somehow, she knows what love is," Hope says.
Believe me, it is with immense relief that I write this. When Zinnia and Bluebell were in ICU at the vet, we were plenty worried. The idea that these poor shelties could possibly die as they were finally on the cusp of freedom, love and a home was heart-wrenching. But they are all holding their own and making strides every day. They will soon be posted on our Available Dogs section.
From 'Puppy Mill Nobodies' to 'Our Flower Girls'
Feb. 9 -- Today, three of us from PCSR -- Hope Hemperly, Donna MacDonald and me, Jen Munch -- joined Colorado rescue groups and Utah's Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Colorado Springs to give new hope and new lives to 130 dogs.
All of these dogs -- dachshunds, pugs, terriers of all sorts, poodle-mixes, Italian greyhounds and many others -- had been used all their lives for breeding at a Missouri puppy mill. The Black Forest-based group, Mill Dog Rescue Network (http://www.milldogrescue.org), had gone to Missouri just days before to get these dogs from an auction, where they were being sold for dirt-cheap after a lifetime of being used as a commodity. Rescue groups like ours were asked to help these poor dogs get a new start in life.
Mill Dog Rescue volunteers spent a long day and did an amazing job getting all 130 dogs to their proper rescue group, foster home, volunteer or adopter. They closely cared for each and every dog while it waited to be transferred, had an on-the-premises vet check, plus photographed and logged each outgoing dog into their records. These folks are to be commended for such a tremendous and well-organized effort.
We brought back five shelties -- two blue merles and three sables. On the drive home we decided they deserved to have flower names -- to reflect the things of beauty that they are in our eyes. Soon you will see information on the Available Dogs page on Columbine, Bluebell, Marigold, Petunia and Zinnia.
As I write this, we have just settled "our flower girls" into Doggie Central at Hope's house. More information will be coming soon. The photos give you an idea of this massive effort on the part of Mill Dog Rescue Network, and the once pathetic little shelties that now have better things in store.
Let us hope and pray that someday puppy mills will be a thing of the past.
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