Pup-date!

Do you remember Nike the parvo pup? Well, here's a BEFORE picture (5 weeks old and sick with parvo) ...

Check out her AFTER photo! Nike is healthy, happy and quite the imp! And I just love this new photo that her mom sent us. Nike (now known as Piper) is definitely full of personality. What an imp! :-)

Nike was one of the lucky ones. She survived parvo and was recently adopted by her foster. She's doing well and is now enrolled in a PetSmart puppy class.

Thank you all for donating for her care while she recovered. It surely made it possible to save her life.

Please donate to Critters in Need Pet Rescue so we can rescue more needy puppies like Nike.

Here's an update from her mom:

Just thought I'd send you an update on Piper (f/k/a) Nike. We joined a puppy class at Petsmart last Saturday. We're working on her interactions with other dogs (amongst other things like "Stay" and "Leave It"). Everyone was really impressed by the positive change in her this week.

She spent quite a while jumping on one of the other puppies this morning (an English Mastiff named Whimsy who weighs almost as much as me) - her other favorite in the class is a corgie puppy named Penny.

Happy Tails for Duke!

Duke is one of these dogs that I just fell for the minute I saw him.

I fell for him, not only because he's a beautiful dog, but also because he's such a love bug. He really is one of the most loving dogs I've ever met.

Since I was the one transporting him from the kennel to our adoption events, this was our opportunity to bond. I'd pet him and rub his ears, and he'd sigh with happiness.

A family decided to foster-to-adopt Duke to make sure that he was going to get along with their cats. Well, he quickly became part of their family, so we did the official adoption yesterday.

When I came over to the house, Duke came over and sniffed me. It took him a few seconds, but then he recognized me and was as happy to see me and I was to see him.

Duke is doing well. He's put on weight, his coat is getting shinier and he is just so happy. He's part of a family and he's thriving, as evidenced by the photo above.

When I said goodbye, I had tears in my eyes--yes, out of happiness, but also because I was really going to miss Duke.

It's such a scary thought that if Critters in Need Pet Rescue hadn't rescued him from the shelter, he'd be dead. You see, we got him on his last day.

There are too many dogs out there that we can't save and rescue work can be disheartening. But it's happy endings like this that makes rescue worthwhile.

Nike Update

Little Nike is doing well at her foster home. She is like any puppy, playful and having fun. She also weighs around 12 lbs. to 14 lbs. now. So she sure has grown!

We're so happy that Nike is doing so well. She'll be able to go out into the world on October 22.

Here's a short video of Nike playing fetch.

Rescue has sure been busy!

Critters in Need has been so busy rescuing dogs. A couple of weeks ago, we took in nine dogs in one day. Nine!

Eight of them were chi's from the Camarillo shelter and one was an owner turn-in to us of her min pin. Delane transported these nine dogs down to us and met us in Long Beach. Then Jane and I had take the dogs to my vet, Garden Grove Dog & Cat Hospital, so they could get the necessary shots.

Can you imagine showing up at my vet with nine little dogs? We had to name them and keep them all straight. Not an easy task, I can tell you! Then we had to get them back in the car and take them over to the kennel we use for boarding.

Some of the chi's have now been adopted or are in foster homes. But several pups still need fosters. Our dogs that need fosters are:

Gunner & Roxy, Marley, Tucker, Gidget, Charlie, Cosmo, Star and Bobby all need foster homes. So please contact us if you can help!

Here's our website:
http://crittersrescueonline.org/

And our email is:
dogs@crittersrescue.com

Cosmo is Safe!

Well, we've got Cosmo!

Richelle was great--she volunteered to pick Cosmo up at the vet where he was neutered in LA and bring him down to us in OC. And I have to say, he is just gorgeous! And sweet! Loves people and dogs. He's just a happy, happy dog--even after being neutered yesterday!

He loves to give kisses and just has the best temperament. I talked to Ana at the shelter and told her how wonderful he is, and she was so happy to hear that. I think he was a shelter favorite. Poor thing had been a stray and had been there since May! A long time for such a gorgeous boy.

He joined us at our PetSmart adoption event on Saturday and made friends with all the dogs there, especially the girl dogs. Cosmo loves the ladies.

He weighs only 34 lbs. but looks bigger than that coz of all that gorgeous fur! He needs a good brushing but he is just a beautiful dog. Richelle and I thought he looked like an Eskimo/chow mix.

Thanks again to all of you who have made this possible.

Two New Rescues--Benji and Cosmo

After trying very hard to make all this happen, the good news is--it did! We just saved two new little dogs, Benji and Cosmo.

Sweet little Benji is now at my vet after being transported from L.A. He really is very cute! He just kept looking at me with these big eyes and then sat at my feet so I could scratch his head. I do need to remember to bring my camera with me next time--I forgot, so I didn't get any photos of him yet!

But here is Benji in his pound photo--he's the little pom mix in the little photo. (The other photo is Cosmo's pound photo.)

Poor Benji--according to the paperwork, this was his second time at the shelter in four years and both times he came in matted and sick. URI's both times, heavy tartar on his teeth and fly strikes on his ears. Obviously, he wasn't well-cared for--and probably just thrown out into a backyard!

He seems to be over the URI, so we're doing pre-op blood work on him (since he's 14 years old) and getting that much-needed dental.

He has fleas so he'll be getting a bath, which should make him feel better too! He also has a small growth by his eye but he's had that for years apparently.

His exit eval said that there was a small mass (possible cyst) by his rear end, but my vet didn't find anything. We'll be double-checking that after he gets cleaned up.

So for now, he's staying for a couple of days at my vet.

As for Cosmo, he is getting neutered on Friday and transported to me by someone who responded to my pleas on Saturday!

YEAH!

Nike's Follow-Up Vet Visit!

Here's what her foster mom had to say:

Nike now weighs 6.6 pounds, so she's plumping up nicely (I even had to loosen her collar the other day)!

She got her first set of shots (2nd set to come in 3 weeks) and a deworming pill. The vet thought that she probably did have worms b/c of her very round tummy and she may need a 2nd pill when she goes back.

She got her first pedicure (those nails were getting long).

The vet thought she might be a lab mix, but he thought she could be mixed with something smaller and not get much above 15-20 pounds.

The thin fur on her belly they thought was probably because of her breed and not because of her parvo.

Overall the vet thought she looked great and like she'd never been sick. She's supposed to be lethargic from the shot, but she's been a wee maniac this morning, so she seems to be impervious to that side effect.

Check out the action shot of her jumping at the camera.