The Worst Dog Injury We Have Ever Seen

Sometimes, you just refuse to give up.

It took Equeria weeks to get the scruffy brown dog to trust her.  She would leave food out for him, then watch him scatter if she tried to get closer.  Maybe you know the feeling.  You see a hungry little face with darting eyes, and find yourself determined to see that first wag of a tail.  

Once he decided to call her friend, she gleefully brought him into the house and named him Chocolate.  And even though Chocolate was coming out of his shell, he still had a long way to go--fear and trauma don't heal completely overnight.

Over the weekend, Equeria's kids had some friends over, and as the sounds of children having fun sometimes do, they spooked Chocolate and he darted through the fence.  He chose a poor space to escape though, because there was a piece of metal sticking into the gap between the poles.  Chocolate was torn down the whole right side of his body.

Equeria loaded him into the car and took him to her vet.  The vet could see the damage; could see the air coming in and out of the opening in his chest cavity, and told her Chocolate needed to be euthanized.  Equeria looked down at her scruffy, injured friend.  She had worked too hard for his trust to break it now.  She said, "No", and loaded him back up in the car.

The next vet she went to told her something similar.  Again, she said, "No", and loaded him back up in the car.  Equeria refused to give up.

As a last resort, she took him to Dallas Animal Services to see if there was anything they could do--anywhere to tell her she could get help.  And they did.  They called a group called Sponsor Adoptions to help the single mom find a vet and funds to save Chocolate.  She took the last $250 out of her checking account, and they started an online fundraiser to cover the rest.  They also called us at Mazie's Mission.

Dr. Shults had never seen an injury like this, even in her practice that specializes in taking animals with special medical needs.  She wasn't sure if she could save him, but she also refused to give up.  It took her hours to carefully stitch up Chocolate's right side and place drainage tubes, to suction the fluid out of his chest cavity.

Chocolate is alive today because so many people refused to give up.  Funds are still needed to cover the (greatly discounted) cost of his treatment.  If his story has touched you and you would like to donate, the link to his fundraiser is here:

https://www.youcaring.com/sponsor-adoptions-veterinarian-487161 

Due to the graphic nature of Chocolate's injuries, we have chosen to only show the ones after he has been stitched up, and at the bottom of this post.  So if you want to see them, you can keep scrolling.

The cooperation between Dallas Animal Services, Sponsor Adoptions, and us illustrates the best of what can happen when we all work together.  We take our responsibility in this community seriously.  Thank you for reading, and as always, thank you for your support.

S.O.S. Help!

Here at Mazie's Mission, our number one goal has always been to lower the euthanasia rates in our local shelters.  So far, we have gone about accomplishing this goal in two ways.  1).  Our adoption program, which takes in special medical needs animals that many rescues simply cannot afford to care for properly.  2). Our non-profit veterinary clinic, which offers excellent vet care at reduced cost to rescues and shelters.

Today, we are proud to announce a third way that we are serving the DFW rescue community.  We're calling it the S.O.S. (Shelter Outreach & Support) Program, and it works a little something like this.

When one of our partner shelters gets a sick or injured animal that they normally would have to euthanize, they bring it to us.  We accept the animal into our foster program and treat it's illness/injury.  Once it is well enough for adoption, it is returned to the shelter for adoption.  This is with the specific condition that the animal may NOT be euthanized.  It must remain at the shelter until it is adopted.  Currently, our two partners are Lewisville Animal Services and Irving Animal Services.  If you are with a municipal shelter and would like more information, email us at vet-care@maziesmission.org Attn: S.O.S. Program.

With this program, we increase the number of animals we can help.  Our first S.O.S. beneficiary has a face you will fall in love with.

His name is Pickles, and his little jaw is broken.  He is a Sharpei mix puppy who came to us through one of our S.O.S. partners, Lewisville Animal Services.  He has gone through one round of reconstructive surgery, and is doing well.  He will need at least one more surgery, which will have to be done by a specialist.  Through no fault of his, he will need a new foster on Friday, so if you can help, please fill out a foster application on our website (link below) ASAP.

In order for this program to be successful, we need your help!  We need short term fosters to take in these medical cases.  We also need donations.  September 17th is North Texas Giving Day, and for this one day, donations of $25 or more will be amplified.  Visit their website any time between 6am and midnight and show your support at  http://www.northtexasgivingday.org/#npo/mazies-mission

We have huge plans for North Texas Giving Day and you can visit our website for all of the details www.maziesmission.org. Follow us on Twitter @maziesmission1 --be sure to use hashtag #NTXGivingDay for any tweets because we could win additional prizes--and Facebook www.facebook.com/maziesmission for updates throughout the day.

One of the best ways you can help is by sharing!


XOXO,

---Pickles and the Mazie's Mission Family

Ways We Lend a Helping Paw That Might Surprise You

Sometimes we are asked why we help animals instead of people.  If you're in animal rescue, you've probably been asked the same question.  After my feathers unruffle a little, this is the first thing I tell them.

Mazie's Mission participates in several community outreach programs and we love them all, but this one has a really special place in our hearts.  We partner with an organization called Hope's Door.  They specialize in helping families affected by domestic violence.

In some cases, the last piece of the puzzle that must be sorted before a woman will leave her abuser is, "what will happen to my dog?"  We are privileged to offer help with that last piece.  When Hope's Door calls us, we offer a 30 day foster to pets displaced by a domestic abuse situation.  We take dogs, cats--we even took in a bird once--as long as we can find a foster home.

Usually, we will post the need for a foster on Facebook, and there's not much notice.  These situations, as you can imagine, are tricky to navigate.  We can post a description of the animal, but not an actual picture for safety reasons.  A volunteer goes to the Plano Police Department to pick up whatever animals we're taking, and they stay with a foster for the 30 day term.

The paws you see above belong to a precious little lady who came to us yesterday.  We can't show you her face or tell you her name, but it starts with an "M".  I think I'll call her Minerva (because I'm a Harry Potter fan and this is my blog!)

By helping Minerva, we helped her family leave an abusive situation.  We will do our best to make her as comfortable as possible until her family is ready to take her back.  If you would like to help both animals and people, you can sign up to be a Hope's Door Emergency Foster.  Visit our website: www.maziesmission.org, fill out a foster application, and indicate that you'd like to be contacted when we have a Hope's Door case.

"You have two hands, one for helping yourself, and one for helping others."  ---Audrey Hepburn


Thanks for reading and sharing!


XOXO,

Mazie's Mission and Minerva

WANTED: "After" photos

We have a series of "Before" dogs in shelters right now that are in desperate need of someone to give them "After" photos.

The key to being able to foster a dog with medical issues is the ability to see potential.  You simply have to be able to look at this:

and see something more like this:

It's all about perspective (and usually amoxicillin).  People think that we do this mysterious and amazing thing by taking in dogs with physical ailments that make them less adoptable.  The sad thing is, we aren't working miracles.  We're just doing what common sense dictates!  If a dog is sick, we give it medicine.  If a dog has a skin condition, we give it medicated baths.  It obviously takes a little longer when a dog needs healing, and as much as I would like to give myself credit for waving a magic Harry Potter wand and healing the dogs I foster, it just isn't case.  Plus, if I had that wand, I would be on my own island right now with all of my dog, baby goat, and elephant friends instead of writing a blog. 

We've been asked for help with several medical cases in the last few days, and thought we would give all of you the opportunity to create your own "After" picture.  There is a puppy, a small dog, a senior dog...whatever your preference, we've got one to fit your fostering needs.  Order now and you'll also receive the peace of mind of knowing you literally saved a life.  Shipping and handling is totally free!  But really though, we cover all of the medical and food expenses. 

If you've ever thought of giving fostering a try, now is definitely the time.  We are always here to answer any and all questions you have.  That's one of the benefits of fostering for Mazie's Mission:  we are operated by a veterinarian, so you always have someone right there in your corner with extensive medical knowledge.  Our vet tech is here 24 hours a day to answer any medical problems that arise.  I mean, if you call her in the middle of the night because your foster coughed once, you might lose phone privileges, let's just be real here. 

So let's meet the candidates.

I can hear you saying "Awww"

This darling baby girl is at Dallas Animal Services.  She has demodex mange, which is NOT contagious.  She is only about two months old.  There are very few guarantees in animal rescue, but I can *just about* guarantee that she will love whatever you have in your house--kids, dogs, cats, rabbits, capybaras, whatever.  When they are this young, you don't have to worry about aggression.  You DO have to worry about getting too attached.  Dogs who do not get along with other dogs or people are that way because they were not socialized properly.  YOU can show this little girl that people are not all bad.

At the other end of the age spectrum, we have this little senior dachshund.  Anyone who has fostered a senior dog can tell you that there is nothing like the reward of saving a dog who has been so betrayed by someone he loved.  You can see that he has been neglected for quite some time.  He will be beautiful when he is healed.  Do you see his potential?  Can you give him the "After" picture that he deserves? 

At the other end of the size spectrum, we have this Doberman mix who was adopted from this same shelter he finds himself back in now.  Someone let him starve.  If you want to meet a grateful soul, take in a dog that has been deprived of something so basic as a full belly.  You'll cry that people can be so awful, but YOU can do something about it!

This sweet 33 pound girl has vasculitis, which is NOT contagious.  More than anything, she needs someone to teach her to trust.  We don't know how long she had to survive on the streets, but we do know it has made her afraid.  Her scars are not as visible as some, but are just as real.  Can you teach her that it's okay to trust?




Which one can you save?  Which one will sleep in a warm bed tonight instead of on a cold shelter floor because you decided to make a difference?  If you have questions about the process of fostering, how to give medicine, how to crate train, or any other information that might have held you back in the past, we are here to answer them right now.  These dogs are all very short on time.  Please visit our website:  www.maziesmission.org and fill out a foster application right now.  We realize that not everyone is currently in a position to foster.  If you can't foster, then donate to their care, so that we can continue to save dogs like them.  If you can't donate, the very least you can do is share this post so that someone else might open their heart to saving a life.



Thanks for reading and sharing.



XOXO--- The Mazie's Mission family

A Mother Who Loses Everything Teaches Us This Lesson

I think if rescue had a tagline, it would be this:

ANIMAL RESCUE

We fix problems other people created.

On most days, however, the wording is much more expletive-filled, followed by copious amounts of wine and uncontrollable sobbing.  It takes a tremendous amount of trudging through heartbreak, B.S., obstinance, ignorance, greed, and apathy to unearth one small nugget of triumph that gives us enough hope to keep going.  This little nugget's name is Cajun.

When we at Mazie's first laid eyes on her, she was not the happy-go-lucky lady you see before you now.  Her circumstances were about as dire as they get for shelter dogs.  See, when we came across her picture, she looked like this:

She was:  (Can I get a drum roll here?)
* Pregnant
* A pregnant "big black dog"
* A pregnant "big black dog" that happened to be a pit bull mix
* A pregnant BBD pit mix in a small town "kill" shelter
* A pregnant BBD pix mix in a kill shelter with less than 12 hours before her EU time.

Anything else?  Oh, yeah, once we pulled her, we learned she had BB's embedded in her skin where some glorious human had shot at her and she was heartworm positive.

She had Mazie's Mission written all over her.  Mange dogs and old, blind, crippled dogs have a better chance of making it out of a shelter alive (in my own limited experience) than this dog.  We had her less than two weeks before she started showing signs of labor.  Her foster was beside herself with glee at the prospect of puppy breath.  Plus pits are like crack to her so the idea of of a gaggle of pit puppies was like a kid at Christmas x1,000,000.  It looked on x-ray like there would be seven.  If you'll recall the tale of the X-Men puppies, I was also told there would be seven and mama dog kept pumping out puppies til the nice round number of twelve.  (Someone stop putting quarters in this machine!!!)  I relish any opportunity to give Erin a hard time about this.

The Saturday she went into labor, there was a puppy watch party and spirits were running high.  On Sunday morning I sent Emily a text asking about the status because I figured I would have gotten puppy pics all through the night.  She said there were two beautiful blue pit babies, but that they were both still born.  My heart felt like it sank all the way to the earth's core.  She also said labor had stopped and if there wasn't any progress by noon, Erin would have to do a c-section to try to save the rest of the litter.  They were about to head up to the clinic to wait.  I asked if I could bring them some food and moral support.  I don't know why the acceptable thing to do when death is experienced is to bring food.  Maybe it's just because people want to do SOMETHING but since there isn't anything to heal that pain, we bandaid it with food.  "I know you've suffered a great loss.  Let me bring you a casserole." Maybe it's a southern thing.  Either way, I didn't have time for casseroles, so they got bean burritos from Taco Bueno and two bottles of wine.   

When I got to the clinic, Emily and Cajun were both on a blanket on the floor.  Two tiny lifeless bodies were half-hidden under a fold in the blanket.  "She freaks out if I try to take them away from her," said Emily.  Their skin was shiny from her constant licking.  Occasionally she would nudge them with her nose, as if confused as to why they weren't nursing.  I can count on one hand the things I've seen in this life that have been sadder than that.

Normally when dogs give birth, there is a visible jostling as the puppies arrange themselves in a line toward the birthing canal, and then everything goes very still.  The tiny beings wait in silent salute as a sibling marches alone toward life and breath and light.  Meanwhile the mama is straining, her tail involuntarily flicking to the side in a rhythmic manner.  But from what we could tell, none of this seemed to be happening.  Erin gave her a shot of Oxytocin and pulled out a pocket ultrasound machine that someone had donated.  It was a little battery operated box with a wand attached to the end.  She applied some lubricant and started the search on Cajun's belly.  Suddenly, we heard a faint flutter and someone close by started chopping massive amounts of onions because our eyes were instantly leaking.  "Let's get them out."


Erin and Emily started prepping for surgery and I heated up a microwaveable heating pad and started gathering towels and setting up a makeshift puppy box.  She gave us instructions as she administered sedation, saying that once Cajun was under, we had to be lightening fast.  Some of the sedation would make it's way to the puppies, so we had to get them out all at once.  She told us to feel for a heartbeat immediately, break the sac and stimulate them to breathe.  Emily pulled out Cajun's long, pink tongue, inserted the breathing catheter, picked up her limp body and bolted from the wet table to the surgical table while I scrambled behind her with the IV tower.


Feel for the heartbeat, break the sac, stimulate to breathe.  Erin started cutting and the sight and coppery smell of fresh blood that would normally make me queasy only fed my adrenaline as I prepped the towels to catch puppies.  Feel for the heartbeat, break the sac, stimulate to breathe.  Emily and I stood with knees bent and hands gloved, our arms outstretched, ready.  Erin gently lifted the womb from Cajun's abdomen and I could see two puppy-sized lumps.  Heartbeat, sac, stimulate. Her scalpel made it's way through membranes and tissue and I heard her mumble, "Why is it so thick?"  Heartbeat, sac, stimulate.

As soon as Erin got through the uterine wall layers it was apparent why labor had stopped, and why the first two had been still born.  Dark, mucilaginous matter told the story of an infection that had claimed the babies, probably a day or two prior.  Their tiny bodies had already broken down, and their existence, so painfully brief, had been returned to the ether.  My feet felt nailed to the floor and any adrenaline I had left vanished and gave way to hot tears pricking the corners of my eyes.  I was frozen in this position, waiting to catch a pitch that was never going to be thrown.

No puppies for Cajun. 

Erin finished the spay surgery and stitched Cajun up.  I put away the heating pad and broke down the empty makeshift puppy box.  Emily started cleaning instruments.  We didn't speak much.  The heartbeat we heard with the pocket machine had been a combination of Cajun's abdominal aorta and our own desperation.  Those sad things I said I can count on one hand?  Add this to the list.

We decided that we would look for some orphaned puppies to try and salvage something good from all of this.  We knew that Cajun would wake up from anesthesia looking for her babies.  We posted the sad news on Facebook and said that if anyone had some bottle babies, that we would be glad to take them.  For several days we combed shelter intake pages looking, but found nothing.  I didn't have any idea how long Cajun would continue to produce milk without puppies, but I didn't figure it was very long.  Hope was fading.

Then on Wednesday, Emily sent me a text saying that bottle babies had been found!  Someone in Fort Worth had seen our post.  A drug addict had a dog who had given birth and then disappeared (?).  There were originally six, but after failing to feed them properly and watching several of them die, he was ready to relinquish them to the neighbor who had been begging to take them.  They were emaciated, covered in fleas and hoarse from crying.  Cajun still had milk and took them in immediately.  Emily said she looked at her as if to say, "Why have you been keeping them from me for so long?"  The two she had lost at the clinic were restored to her. There was a lot of "OMG" that day.  And the jerks who follow me around cutting onions were busy.

Then the next day, Emily called me and said Dallas Animal Services had a litter of two week old puppies that had been tied up in a plastic grocery bag and dumped on the ground at Kiest Park.  It was sheer luck that someone had stumbled across a moving bag on the ground and they all survived.  I doubt you will be able to think of curse words strong enough for someone who would do this, especially on a night when it is supposed to freeze.  We have been working on it ever since, and have some choice ones.  "Get me those puppies."  Aye, aye, cap'n Emily.  I emailed a tag to DAS and called the contact person, but she was at lunch.  Then Emily called back to say that another rescue, DFW Rescue Me, had already tagged them.  "BUT DO THEY HAVE A NURSING MOM?"  She didn't know, but I was determined to find out.  I sent a message to a friend named Michelle who's a volunteer of theirs and asked about it--she knew of Cajun's situation.  She helped me with email addresses and info.  I called and emailed and emailed and called...  Finally the volunteer sent me a message that said, "Jim and Erin have talked.  It's in the works."  YES.  They were even so gracious as to bring the puppies to us up at the clinic.  When rescues and shelters work together, downright magical things happen.

 Cajun finally had her family!  One of the local news stations came up to the clinic when they heard that the plastic bag puppies had a new mama.

When they got a little older, my husband went up to the clinic to and took some pics of them all together.

Those damn onion choppers hit all of us when we saw this.  When we think of adoption, most of us think of people adopting pets into their homes, but this is several steps beyond.  A mama dog who had been abandoned, shot at, on death row, and then lost all of her babies took in two different orphaned litters as her own.  We have been blessed to witness such incredible grace, and all of our hearts have been helped to heal. 

Now it's time for the fledglings to start leaving the nest.

From litter one, meet Gumbo and Jambalaya

Their mama was a boxer/lab mix, so they will grow up to be medium sized dogs.  They'll be ready for adoption the middle of this month.  You may have seen our earlier post where Gumbo sings the puppy blues.  It's is ridiculous amounts of cute.

From litter two, meet Boudin, Bayou, Bijoux, Thibideax, Boudreax and Comeaux

We originally thought they might be Rottweiler mixes because of the markings...when you get a grocery bag of tiny babies, you don't have much to go on.  At eight weeks, they are still teensy, so the rottie theory is out.  Two of them are asleep in my lap as I type this, and they have plenty of room.  They will be ready at the end of January.

Mama Cajun will have completed her heartworm treatment in February, and will then be ready for the most loving and perfect home we can find for her.

Here's where YOU come in.  We need fosters for three of the smaller puppies by the first part of next week.  Bayou, Thibideax and Boudreax need someone to crash with for a few weeks.  Could that be you?  If you want some teeny, tiny puppy breath, please email us at vet-care@maziesmission.org for info, or you can visit our website www.maziesmission.org and fill out a foster application.

By fostering, donating and even just sharing this beautiful story, you help us continue the work we so love to do.  Special thanks to Ashley at Corsicana Animal Services and everyone at DFW Rescue Me for setting such a positive example of cooperation for other rescues to follow.


XOXO and chopped onions,

---the Mazie's Mission Family