SAINTS

she is like a freaking giant, crippled, old lady puppy. she is pissing everyone off with her poking them with her nose, grabbing their ears, mouthing their flanks to try to get them to play. and when they get mad…negative attention is just as fine for her…she is more than willing to rumble. she is worse than beau in the puppy manner department.

i have a theory…some dogs who never had a puppyhood and really, really wanted one…grab one with all four paws if the opportunity arises anytime in their unhappy lives….jewel is a freak, este is a freak…ancient, crippled dogs who act like great big idiotic babies. este is mouthing me, flinging blankets around and ripping them up, bugging the cats and the more dignified ADULT-LIKE dogs…and utterly, totally, and completely oblivious to the word “NO!!!”

she is a pain in the ass and i have decided to kill nicole and zoe.

we got lots done today…the medical room is coming along nicely thx to carrie and renee and the mp room is back to normal. eva, tammy and i got not only the shop done, but most of the set up of the TG adoption pen plus a HUGE dump run (i couldn’t even take it all and will have to finish it off tomorrow.)
we had a dog fight…oka and jack went at it, too many dogs in the medical room. the only injuries were carrie’s leg from multiple frodo wounds. frodo was pissed that the dogs were fighting in his house so he beat the shit out of carrie’s leg….i think she is wearing like 4 or 5 separate dressings on that leg….he can OCCASIONALLY be such a violent bastard (which is how i ended up with him in the first, second and third place, each time an adoption would fail.) but frodo and i have an understanding…i don’t piss him off and he doesn’t hurt me…he thinks the staff should learn this rule a little bit more quickly, especially since with his very last adoption, (cuz no one else would have him….) he became the boss’s cat.

i know he is a jerk, and i am sorry carrie got hurt but i do love that jeckle and hyde mr. cat…16 years old and he can still kick ass…i should introduce him to este.

i have personally (not saints) contracted Red Dog Photography to come to saints tomorrow at 11 am and compile  photographic snap shots of “a day in the life of saints” AND i would very much like the people who make saints what it is to be part of this photo documentary.

if you are free, please come up and do your thing here…we are planning a pot luck lunch to share too.

hope to see you in a candid photo of what saints is all about….caring and sharing (and working our asses off.)

this is like the third time i have tried to watch it and still don’t know how it ends…(ok, i can guess…it is a stupidly predictable movie, but i like movies with talking dogs, i think the dogs are funny.)

anyway…i end up in this freaking weird dream with talking, flying dogs and renee…renee? what are you doing in my dream?

i woke up…noticed my back is sore right in the shoulder blade and if i move wrong, it is taking my breath away. this somewhat sucks.

but…the floors got a late night clean up…this may bode well for when i finally wake in the morning. and cuddles the freak is freaking out cuz he just noticed i am no longer in bed so i better get back there before he tries to jump the gate.

sigh…i am constantly on call to their need.

Sunday Nov 30th 4 pm-8pm at Stella’s pub in Mission…tickets are $15 for a burger and a beer (vegie burgers available too) and tickets are available at SAINTS.
(nicole will post this properly on our event page…i am just doing a heads up quickie)

murph is here… sweet dog, sad eyes. it sucks to be an imperfect dog in an imperfect world.

lippy and lady went home this afternoon…they were so excited….cathy looked scared to death!

lots more done today…the kitchen cupboards were installed in the medical room….looks very good. steve was also bound and determined that i have cable in the hide-away suite, and now i do!

quite a few out recently thru death, adoption and foster…it is finally starting to feel a bit more normal and not so nutzoid crazy.

beau’s mom stopped by…he is doing really well. their other dog scottie likes him alot and they play together which is good. apparently there are a few foot-less dolls in the home now too…hah, beau will teach the kids to put away their toys better than anyone else!

i cleaned out the fridge today (ok that was GROSS)…who knew there were five cold beer in there??? ( yes mo to answer your question from a week ago, apparently there are beer in the fridge) and i bought a few groceries so i can try to eat here more often.

busy day tomorrow…organize the MP room, office and shop cuz we (mostly i) have been messing them all up.

i have decided how to handle murphy’s diet because i do not want him totally segregated…since he is having problems with just vegetarian anyway, i am going to try him with hypoallergenic, if he is ok (or at least not worse) with that, then all of the skin guys can move into the kitchen and all eat the same kind of food. hopefully it works.

cole, cleo and jack got back in the mp room today, oka is there too cuz i need his spot tonight for murphy…sigh…i hate it when dogs pick areas i have plans for to decide they want to own. i WANTED to move al and gwen over there, not half the freaking big dog room.

how come their choices have more importance than mine anyway?…cuz dogs are selfish, self serving opportunistic beasts who i let walk all over me, that’s why!

carrie and renee updated photos and bios on the saints petfinder site…i see a couple of things we need to fix, like mention that monty is FIV…but it looks good…thx you guys!

new bunny in…saints welcomes lincoln…eva is grounded for 2 weeks…she got all upset and caved when she saw him in the tiny cage at the petstore and bought him, gee $12 for a whole entire life (including tax, living things are TAXABLE????)…but….BAD eva! i told her…do NOT go into pet stores that sell living creatures, ever…look what happens! she has promised never to go in there again.

he is a very cute and sweet little bunny, he looks like a grey and white marilla. we need to book him in to get him fixed and see if we can bond him into maple’s group. welcome lincoln, it is not your fault you are a $12.00 pet store bunny….sheesh.

not that saints was ever his home, he never lived here, he was always in a foster or adoptive home. poor mo is so upset…he is a great dog, he found a great home where he was loved for the past couple of years…and then what?

shit happens. shit follows murph around in his life…it truly, truly sucks for him.

i first met him, several years ago. i was working and went to visit clients who were both dying of different cancers. after they signed him over to saints i asked mo to take care of getting him to the foster home etc because it was a conflict of interest for me. so mo who saw where he came from is as emotionally invested in murphy as me. she has followed him thru foster care, to this permanent home as this family kept in touch with her…she knows murphy much better than i do at this point…i just know his story, not the real dog inside.

so here is murphy’s story…it is sad because it is full of dreams that never work out.
murphy was tied up in the carport, 24/7 with horrible bloody, itchy skin and caring owners who were just too sick to help or deal with him anymore. so they tied him up and left him to suffer when they became progressively sicker themselves.
we moved him into foster care and got his skin under control with special diet, meds and supplements. his first adoptive home, came with glowing references from another rescue. they switched his diet, he started tearing at himself, they called and asked permission to euthanize because somehow they had decided his problem was emotional. even the referring rescue person sent me a note saying it was cruel to keep a dog so emotionally tortured alive.

hmmm…the dog i knew was not emotionally tortured when he was given the right food and meds.
murph came back to his foster home and given his special diet, meds and supplements…his skin cleared up, he quit ripping himself apart and perfect home two appeared, fully committed to murph’s ongoing care.

except…he has been having flare ups…i am told he is currently on prednisone. he is losing this home because he is peeing in the basement and on the wooden deck which he has not done before until now. they say, it is not working out and need to return him…adoption failure two…home failure number three.
hmmm….how long has he been on pred? does he have a bladder infection from prolonged steriod use? is he now diabetic? is he under undue stress because his inappropriate peeing is upsetting the humans there? whatever, the decision is made, murphy has been de-invested again.
mo and i decided…don’t problem solve, don’t try to convince them to work this out….arrange to have murph brought back asap and we will deal with whatever is happening here.

murphy has had enough homes that have fallen apart on him, no more fosters, no more adoptive homes…it is time for him to learn to live at saints and find his happiness here.

it will be hard for him but he will make the adjustment because he has to now just like everyone else. i may give them choices at saints, but the rest of the world does not.
and never, ever, ever again will that dog fail at having a home. saints might not be perfect, but it is forever, no matter what and we will do whatever we have to for murphy to finally and forever feel like he truly belongs.

it is ok murph…we promise, everything and anything for you no matter what.

the vet agreed that frail little phyllis who was always hanging by a thread, had reached the end. she was very pale, probably bleeding internally, we could see and smell the blood in her feces…a cancer? most likely.

it was a peaceful good death with phyllis wrapped well in her soft bed and fleece. carrie came with me to the vet so phyllis was always in one of our arms. she was a quiet dog, intent on her meals and watching what was happening around her (in case it meant another meal.) i thought she was the absolutely cutest dog in the world and i will miss her tiny face (and her messed up hair.) rest in peace little one, be young and strong again.

i took tyra and cuddles with me over to the hide-away suite for an hour break today…tyra is just like her mom…afraid of heights..i had to drag her up the stairs. once there she hit the bed in joyous abandon and stayed happy til it was time to come back down. she would not come down the stairs, so steve had to go get her and carry her. not even i am such a big baby…i made it up and down those stairs with NO railing tyra (even if i did fuss and freak out.)

milo has healed really well from his broken pelvis…the vet said if she didn’t know where the fracture was before she wouldn’t have even be able to see the cleanly healed area. milo has a possible home coming to meet him this week…fingers crossed it is a perfect match all around.

lady and lippy are going out on trial to cathy, one of our volunteers. they are going to be so excited as they already had a visit at their new home last weekend and were pretty happy to be there.

spritely’s lower leg looked mucky tonight.

cole, oka, cleo, and jack all enjoyed themselves at various times in the mp room today. this evening when cathy, eva and i were sitting in there…cleo had the nice red chair, jack had moved to the floor…and cole plastered himself on the couch against eva and made it perfectly clear that he was in heaven and i shouldn’t wreck it by bringing them all back to the house for bed.

sorry cole…the guys still in the house wanted me back…suck it up, we will take you there again soon.

mimi is our tiny little pom that i called the fuzzy hamster…kathy k adopted her a couple of years ago and has given her paradise. mimi has had on-going serious health issues, today she will be passing away.

my deepest thanks to kathy and her husband for loving this dog so much that mimi has had heaven on earth.

gentle passing mimi, deep breath kathy, you gave her true happiness.

so i’ve done some of the webpage updates, but not all or some of them aren’t complete (photos, but no info yet) but that’s all i can do tonight.
so check out the index pages of the different groups and you will see many of our new guys.
(you can access the main site via the sidebar – SAINTS Home)

nicole

the mass on the bone of cleo’s leg is much too familiar looking to me…cleo is even more of a freak than jesse…jess was ok as long as no one touched her, i could actually take her out, she had some social skills…cleo you can’t even put a collar on or take her off of the property. shit.

realistically, if cleo also has an osteosarcoma (what are the chances of two dogs in a row…it has GOT to be small)…there is nothing we can do about it anyway. maybe it is  a calcified something or other….best to just wait and see and watch her really carefully for any pain.

beau went home today…he has been adopted by brianne and her family (brianne is the young lady who started volunteering here each weekend with her mom after she came to the open house. beau has a little buddy to chew on there too, new home, great family, new friend…chyna misses you beau but i told her you would be back to visit. be good, be happy.

steve fixed all the broken latches, tunie now has a gate that actually works, the security and flourescent lights have all been replaced and 2 of the water barrels have been hooked up….what a relief to get some of these maintenence things done!

conan is out and about tonight, webster is now sleeping on my bed. i am calling that fat little suzie “the badger” cuz last night she burrowed deep under my covers and then bit me (she was aiming for beau.) gawd she is adorable….except i have discovered she leaks a tiny bit at night which does kind of suck.

milo goes in for a pelvic follow up xray tomorrow…he may have a home so i want to know for sure that the fracture is fully healed (he ACTS like it is, but better check just in case.)

murphy, one of our previous dogs may be coming back…i am not sure what exactly is happening yet. mo is playing telephone tag with his family. anyway…murphy is a GREAT dog so whatever the problem is, i am sure it has nothing to do with him.

oka spent the day in the mp room and enjoyed himself in there, but tonight he wanted back in the house so that is good too. animals need to have choices and he can be wherever he wants to be as long as he is happy.

there is another crippled escapee from the chicken slaughter house on her way to saints. she should arrive sometime this week.

the last worrisome news is…ancient, tiny and frail phyllis is not well today. we have an appointment at the vet for noon tomorrow, i do not expect to be bringing her home again. phyllis you are so sweet, and gentle and kind…and you have the very best hair. i hope it is something simple to fix and you will want to stay with us for awhile yet….there are lot’s more lunches around here…you like lunch!

tomorrow might be another difficult day.