Brrrrrr!

As I sit here by my fire watching the NCHA futurities, thinking how hard it is going to be to get up in the morning at 6 AM to make it to the gym, I am thankful for my warm home.  I have all my critters in the den with me.  Normally they sleep outside, even on a cold night, but knowing it is going to get down to 18 degrees tonight, we decided to let them come in to enjoy the fire with us.  I get asked all the time if animals should be brought inside during the cold weather, and that really is a question which can only be answered after taking into consideration many variables. The truth is, before we domesticated dogs, they lived their life and thrived outside in much more extreme winters than here in South Georgia. Now having said that, I do have to say the wild dog and the typical domesticated dog are two very different dogs. First off, dogs in the wild did not live to be ten or twelve years old, their hair coat was adapted to extreme temperatures, and they certainly did not weigh four pounds. So when I am asked the question of whether or not a dog or a cat should be brought inside the home, these are things I talk to owners about before making that call. Assuming animals have some type of hole or covering to escape the winds such as a dog house, a crate or a barrel and this area is bedded down with a bedding such as wood chips, straw or hay and the animal is a healthy, young to middle aged dog in good body condition, they will be able to sustain the winter temperatures.  Many people like to put a heat lamp on the dog houses, which do increase the temperature substantially, but it can not be ignored the dangers in that. One major fact is that all dogs like to chew on inanimate objects and an electrical cord draped around their dog house makes it very enticing to do a little chewing and chewing on an electrical cord that has electricity flowing can result in electrocution. 

So, I say if in doubt as to whether or not your pets can handle the winter, just bring them inside.  If they are not house broken, close them up in a bathroom or laundry room and allow them to spend the night in the warmth.  Before turning them out in the mornings, feed them a good meal and make sure their water is not frozen.  They will be so grateful.

Does someone feed the animals?

Really? Is this is question worthy of an answer? If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone ask me or one of my employees this question, I could probably add on a new state of the art surgery wing to Leesburg Animal Hospital. 

When someone asks if we feed the animals on the weekends, what I really want to say is "Did you fall on your head today?" "Did you for get to put on your brain when you put on yours shoes this morning?" Or, I consider trying and reasoning with them and explain that it would not make good sense to board and animal at a place that didn't feed the animals...they would be better off just fending for themselves on the streets or locked up in the back yard.  The truth is it somewhat angers me to have to answer this question, but I just smile and politely say "Oh yes, someone comes in twice a day." So, if anyone needs clarity on this question let me try and make sense of it...yes, we do come in twice a day on weekends and holidays to feed, water, walk, and clean the cages. 

Russell Report #2

We are so happy to say....Russell went home today!!! Hopefully he has learned his lesson...probably not. Boys will be boys.

Spirit of Christmas Parade and Festival

We all had such a good time today at the Spirit of Christmas Parade throwing out candy and telling everyone "Fleas Navidad." It is great to be a part of a wonderful, small town in South Georgia.  We love Leesburg, Ga and are so happy to be this year's second place winner of the Christmas Parade.  Our theme was a big hit, however some needed a little help in understanding, but that's OK. 

The doggie fun zone went well.  Fifty eight dogs entered in the obstacle course.  Most had a great time chasing that "rabbit." While others were a little less enticed by it.  It was fun watching how all the dogs responded differently to the rabbit and the athletic abilities of all of them.  Animals never cease to amaze me. At a charge of ten dollars a piece, we raised a good bit of money for our Fifth Friday Foundation Animal Shelter.

The Pet Trick contest was won by one of our very own friends, Spotty. He did a whole routine of different tricks to wow the crowd and win a first place ribbon.

Russell Report

Russell is hanging in there.  He seems to be about the same today.  After an x-ray of his chest, we have found that he is retaining some fluid on his lungs, so we have put him on a diuretic.  His appetite is not voracious, but he still nibbles,secretly.  He ate some cheese with a little bit of vigor.  His wounds continue to drain and he has a terrible odor, but it is getting better.  Our hopes are still high for him, but he is not out of the woods just yet. All we ask for is a little improvement each day.

Russell the Jack Russell who got in a Tussle!!

So I may not have had any emergencies for Thanksgiving Day, but Sunday was certainly a busy day for me. It seems I was back and forth to and from the clinic all day. One particular case I saw Sunday evening is worth mentioning. His name is Russell. Russell is a Jack Russell Terrier who was a stray and took up residence at his current home about a year ago. It seems he went outside on Thanksgiving night and did not return until Saturday night. When he returned home he had several puncture wounds on his back and was obviously beaten. On Sunday his spirits began to drop; he was not moving around much and did not want to eat and he had an obvious odor about him. His owners called the emergency number and I met them at the clinic. When he came in I found a dog obviously in pain with several open wounds in the skin on his dorsal back. He was shivering; had a subnormal body temperature and was in a serious amount of pain. He had an odor of infection about him and was obviously on the verge of becoming septicemic.  By judging the character of his wounds it looked as though he had been attacked by another animal.

I placed a catheter and started him on IV antibiotics, fluids and pain medicine and placed him on a heating pad in an attempt to get is body temperature up. Monday morning he was feeling about the same. His temperature was up one degree, so we sedated Russell, opened up his wounds and placed some drains. We flushed his wounds and trimmed out a considerable amount of necrotic flesh.  It was a rough day the rest of Monday for Russell. He laid on his side all day; he did not eat or drink. He would not even stand; as soon as we would help him sit up right he would immediately collapse and fall over on his side. He just laid in his pen all day long with this pitiful look on his face. Things were not looking so good for Russell.

This morning his temperature was up; he would stand for a little bit and drank a small amount of water. Later in the morning his family came to visit him. After seeing them his spirits seemed to brighten. His family brought him some of his favorite food...moist and meaty patties. We put part of a patty in his food bowl and he did not seem to be interested so we left it there. Later in the day I walked by his pen and noticed that half of it was gone, so I put a little more in there. He did not eat it immediately, but when I walked by his pen and checked him a little later, I noticed he had eaten some more. He did this two more times. I would put some of the moist and meaty packet in his food bowl; he would not eat it immediately, but when I walked by a little bit later I would notice it was gone. He was a sneaky little sneak that Russell! This evening we have seen the first glimmer of hope in his condition. Hopefully his improvement will continue. We are all rooting for him up here at he clinic. He is a special little guy with a special family who needs him at home and needs him home soon.

Black Friday

I can not believe it!! I made it through the whole day with out having to take an emergency! Our Thanksgiving Day was fabulous here at home. We had a combined day with my family and Charles' family for a total of 13 adults and 4 children. After our huge lunch the men, of course, watched football and the women sat on the patio and watched the kids play in the back yard. They attempted to play baseball, but my black Lab, Ransom, kept retrieving the ball. Unless they hit the ball out of the Invisible Fence line, Ransom would pick the the ball up and run the bases for them. It was great fun to watch. He is such a ham. Skeebo just watched and barked her fool head off! That's about the only thing she is good at!

Now it's time for some Black Friday deals on this dreary, rainy day!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all our followers! Remember that your Thanksgiving meal is intended for you and your two legged family members only; it does not extend to the four legged members. My rule of thumb... only those who sit in a chair at the table get to eat from the table!! I don't want to be up at the office treating any dogs for vomiting or diarrhea on Thanksgiving Day!!

Also, remember to watch dogs and cats scooting out the door as family and friends come in and out the doors. Animals can easily be left unattended in the yard and find their way to the road, which does not make for a Happy Thanksgiving.

I hate to be pessimistic, but in my eight years of seeing emergencies during the Holidays these are the most common emergencies, so consider it friendly advice. And once again, Happy Thanksgiving!!

New blog ideas

Now that our calendar is completed and has gone to print, I can get back to blogging. The calendar took up a lot of time, but hopefully it will be worth it. I hope it is a HUGE success and is something we do year after year. Assuming we do a 2012 calendar, it is my good intent to get started much earlier. Maybe I will start after the first of the year.

As I read back over the blog last night, I realized that it was not exactly a "fun" blog; it really did not have a lot of laughing in it. Although I feel the stories on there are great and worthy of being told, they probably just make the reader say "Awe, how sweet," instead of "Man, that was funny!" Nor do I find the blog all that informative. So, today I am turning over a new leaf on the blog. I would like to keep readers more informed on what is going on at Leesburg Animal Hospital. Mostly it will be animal related, but it may also have just some news updates and such. Like this news... we have had three babies at LAH, human babies that is...the two legged kind. Over the past five months we have have not been at full staff, someone has been out either about to deliver, delivering, or on maternity leave. First Mindy had a little boy named Daniel back in June. Next Dr. Shannon had a little girl named Kinley in August and then a few days later Georgette had a little girl named Hayden. So since June we have been short one or two people, but finally our family is back together again.

Other news... we are hard at work on our float for the parade. This will be our first year in the Leesburg Christmas parade. Our theme is....are you ready? Get this......"Fleas Navidad!" Get it?? Isn't that funny! We are so excited about it. Prentiss and Dr. Shannon have been hard at work putting it together, so ya'll come out and support Leesburg and Leesburg Animal Hospital Saturday, December 4th. It is going to be be a fun time. Oh, and also, after the parade there will be a festival and this year Leesburg Animal Hospital is supporters of the first annual Doggie Fun Zone. So, bring your dogs with you to the festival there will be lots of activities for the them at the Doggie Fun Zone. But please, please, please, keep your pooches on a leash! I don't want to be sewing any dogs up on Saturday.

That's all for now. I will post pics of our float soon!

New Toys at Leesburg Animal Hospital

We are excited about new "toys", as I refer to the them, at Leesburg Animal Hospital. Recently we purchased a Surgical Laser and a Therapy Laser. Both are fancy smancy machines we are using to make our patients feel better. Our surgical laser is a machine that essentially replaces the scalpel blade. We will use it from now on in all of our surgeries. The benefit of using the surgical laser is that it create less pain. Anytime an incision is made into the skin, whether it be for a spay, castration, mass removal, etc, it causes a release of "things" into the bloodstream that cause pain. By using the surgical laser it will hopefully reduce those pain "things" and thereby reduce the patent's discomfort. Another great advantage of the surgical laser is for the surgeon. It provides great hemostasis (hemo-blood; stasis-staying/stopping). In other words there is much less blood in the incision site and the surgeon can see what she is doing.

Our next new toy is a laser as well, but a different kind. It is a therapy laser. A therapy laser is exactly that...a therapeutic laser. We are using it to treat pain associated with osteoarthritis, wound healing, wound contamination and many other types of inflammatory problems. So far we are having great results with both or our machines.

Soon I will post a picture of our fabulous new toys. Feel free to drop by and see them and ask questions.

2011 A Mutt-A-Month Calendar

All of us up here at the office have been very busy working on an idea of ours. We are so thankful the Fifth Friday Foundation Lee County Animal Shelter has opened and know of the costs in keeping a facility like that up and running, so we wanted to help offset some of the costs. Soon we will have the "2011 A Mutt A Month" calendar available. The calendar will feature twelve animals who are not pure breeds (i.e. mutts)who have touched our lives this year. It is our hopes to have this calendar printed and ready to be sold shortly after Thanksgiving. The only qualification for being considered for the calendar was to not be a full blooded breed...in essence a mutt. We are selling the calendars for $10 and 100% of the proceeds will go to the shelter. Calendars will be available at Leesburg Animal Hospital and the Lee County Animal Shelter. So come pick up a calendar and support your shelter. Also, when you consider purchasing a pet as a Christmas gift this year, please visit your local shelters and see what loving, needing animals are available there. Who knows, they just might make the 2012 "A Mutt a Month" calendar!

Elvis is Alive!

Remember Elvis? The emaciated dog that was found on the side of the road? Well, he came back to visit us the end of May and we did not even recognize him! He had put on two and a half pounds, his wound was healing and his hair was growing out. He was full of life when we saw him and happy to be living in his new home! What a happy story!

New puppy for adoption

We have a puppy at our sister office in Albany for adoption. Her name is Penny. She is about 12 weeks old and made it through treatment for Parvo, but her owner never returned to pick her up. She desperately needs a new home!

Elvis ain't no hound dog!!

Elvis after his haircut


Elvis before his haircut

Elvis is back in Graceland!

We have such a wonderful story to tell; it happened a few weeks ago. A client of ours, Amanda, was driving down the road on Gordon Avenue in Albany. She saw what she thought was a white stuffed animal on the side of the road and decided to turn around and investigate. Turns out it was not stuffed; it was alive! A small white dog was stretched out on his side perfectly still in the tall grass. Amanda said the dog did not even move as she approached him. She reached down and picked him up and he never even seemed to be the least bit apprehensive; he never offered to bite or even shy at her hand or touch. It was as though help had finally arrived. She brought him to the clinic for us to look over and do a good physical examination. The poor guy was emaciated and just so low on energy. His hair was matted up into one large rug covering his whole body except around his neck where it looked as though he had been shaved. His total body weight was 3.6 pounds.

We pulled blood for a heartworm test and, amazingly, it was negative. We shaved him and underneath all that matted up hair found a moderate sized hole on his back leg that looked to be an old abscess which had ruptured and was draining. During the time he was being shaved, we fed him treats from our treat jar which he ate with a ravenous appetite. He obviously had been several days without a meal.

Amanda decided to name him Elvis and I am sure he is living in Graceland now. We can't wait for him to come back and see how far along he has come.

Jenkins is Homeward Bound!

We are quite happy to report our supermarkent dog, Jenkins, found a new home today. A Lee County resident visited the Animal Control this morning and stopped by our office on her way home to ask some questions about adopting from the the pound. We told her about our Jenkins and brought him out to meet her. She fell in love instantly. She was certain she wanted him castrated, so we went ahead with the surgery this morning and he will go to his new home tomorrow. We are just busting out with joy at his new home. He is going to live on the Kinchafoonee Creek and have plenty of room to romp around. He can even go for a swim if he so desires. His new owner is a retired school teacher, so they will have many days together filled with quality time and is sure to be a well behaved dog!

Rags to Riches in 4 days!

This little guy is our most recent homeward bound dog. He travelled to his new house of love on Friday for a "trial" and his new owner reports his trial is over. He is has found his new home. She calls him Teddy. It's quite a long story as to how Teddy came to us, but the short story is as follows. He was picked up in Mitchell County by one of my mother's friends. My mother in turn tells her friend to bring the dog up to Leesburg Animal Hospital and we would put him on the blog and try to find him a home. This all took place on Monday March 1. On Friday March 4, just three days later, my mother found someone to give him a potential home. As with all the animals we try to place, if they don't work out they are certainly welcomed to come back to us; this is what we told Mrs. Jordan, Teddy's potential owner, when she picked him up on Friday. Saturday morning my mom gets a call from Mrs. Jordan who says Teddy will NOT be coming back to the clinic. He has won Mrs. Jordan over. She took him out for a joy ride and dropped by the assisted living home to pick up her mother so all three of them could have a morning out. She says Teddy was the best dog to have in the car. He rode the whole time in Mrs. Jordan's mother's lap.
It warms our heart to know we have gotten another homeless animal off the streets and into a loving home. Teddy will no longer have to scrounge for food, search for shelter, or drink out of mud puddles. I am sure tonight he has plate full of food, a bowl full of water and very possibly his very own brand new fluffy bed....or maybe he sleeps in Mrs. Jordan's bed! Even better!

Romeo! Romeo! Stand up and walk my Romeo!!

On January 27 Laurel , our receptionist, called me late in the afternoon very upset because her 12 year old Yorkshire Terrier, Romeo, was attacked by two dogs. While Laurel was sweeping off her porch Romeo was in the yard sniffing around when a large Husky and a Bull Mastiff came into her yard and began to attack this eight pound dog. She rushed him to the clinic and we started emergency treatment on him. He had several puncture wounds to the thorax, was bleeding from the nose, his respirations were very quick and shallow; he could not walk or even sit up. Radiographs revealed he had a traumatic spinal cord injury. We were not even sure he was going to make it through the night. But the strength of an eight pound dog should never be underestimated! Romeo is still with us, and today he took his first steps! They were not but a few; they were awkward and clumsy and completely motivated by a McDonald's french fry but they were undoubtedly steps!

Romeo's injuries were severe and it is still not known if he is going to make a complete recovery. His progress has not come without tough times. In the beginning he was in a lot of pain. He would urinate and defecate on himself, and had to be fed a slurry with a syringe. Laurel has devoted countless, sleepless nights to his care and at times has wanted to give up. She even went as far as to have a coffin custom made for him. He currently spends his days at our office underneath her desk. If she gets out of his sight, he begins to get a little noisy and attracts a lot of attention to himself. As a result most people who come in the office hear his barking, so naturally they inquire about his story. We all have been touched by the outpouring of concern for Romeo and genuine interest in his progress from our clients and we thank ya'll for the kind words and prayers.

Romeo still has a long way to go, but today our hope has been renewed.

This is the new and improved Jenkins. Today we gave Jenkins a haircut and a good bath. It was amazing how obedient this little guy was. He just sat on our table and let us trim his whole body, around his face and and ears. He was a jewel. You would have thought he was enjoying it! As you can see from his post haircut picture he really does look more like a Poodle. So maybe he is full blooded. We also tested him for heartworms and he was negative!! Jenkins is ready for a new home!

Found Dog

We have a new homeless dog here at our office. He was brought in on Thursday February 18 because he just walked into Jenkins Supermarket unattended. I guess he smelled their ribs and rotisserie chickens cooking. The lady who picked him up lives in the neighborhood near the supermarket; she says no one in her neighborhood has a dog that looks like him. Unfortunately he did not have a collar, a microchip or any other kind of identification. He is an intact male dog with very strong Poodle characteristics. He is not a full blooded Poodle as he is a little longer and thicker bodied than a typical Poodle, but definitely has the hair coat of a Poodle. He is not very old...maybe about 2 years. For now we are calling him Jenkins...like the dog in the book called Winn Dixie. If anyone knows who he belongs to or would like to foster him, please let us know.

The real Rocky

Our newest medical success story is Rocky. Rocky came to us one Friday morning with a distended abdomen for several weeks and the complaint of just not doing well. Routine blood work did not give us any clues as to what might be ailing Rocky, so we moved on to an abdominal x-ray where we found a large space occupying mass. This mass was so large it filled about 3/4 of his abdominal cavity and was pressing on his intestines causing him to have difficult bowel movements. Not knowing the type of mass and given his age (which was 12), his prognosis was guarded. The next step would be to take Rocky to surgery and to remove, if possible, but at the very least take a sample for a biopsy in order to come to a definitive diagnosis .

This news, of course, was upsetting to the owners of Rocky and was a decision which needed to be made by the whole family; in the end they decided for him to have surgery. Rocky came back to us the next week. Once inside,what we found was a spleen 3 to 4 times its normal size. It was discolored, engorged with blood and very friable, meaning it felt delicate...so delicate that I was afraid it was going to fall apart in my hands. It was a tedious surgery ligating all the many vessels supplying the mass, but after what seemed to be hours we placed the last suture and Rocky began to wake up. Just out of curiosity we placed the removed mass on our scales and were shocked to find it weighed 3.2 pounds!! That is quite a sizable mass for a 12 pound dog! Three days later he went home feeling much better.

Ten days after his discharge, Rocky returned to have sutures removed and for a re-check. His owners state he is a different dog. Biopsy results revealed that Rocky's mass wa a splenic hematoma. No cancerous cells were found. So things are looking good for the Rocky!!

Kitty that needs a new home

Meet Winston. Winston is an 8 month old male, neutered and declawed Persian cat. He was purchased from a local pet store 6 months ago and was brought to us throughout all of his vaccine series. At five months he was neutered and declawed.
Unfortunately, his owner recently called us and asked if we could find him a home because they no longer could take care of him. Having known Winston since he was a young kitten we felt the need to make sure he went to a loving home.
Currently he resides with us at Leesburg Animal Hospital. Winston is a very loving kitty who purrs all the time and likes to paw at us through his pen. We have no doubt he will easily fit into a new home and and bring nothing but smiles and joy. Please come by and visit Winston; he will quickly win you over.

Help Sweetie's brother find a home

Here is Sweetie's traveling companion. He is lonely here at Leesburg Animal Hospital and wants a new home too.

Another homeward bound animal

It seems there were two dogs traveling down Philema Road a few weeks ago. Both of which looked to be a lab/pointer cross and possibly a little bit of something else. They most likely are brother and sister as they had similar features, looked to be the same age and were traveling together. One of the dogs was a chocolate male and the other a black female. Our receptionist, Laurel, saw them on their way to work one morning, so she put them in the back of her SUV and brought them in. They did not have a collar, tag or a microchip implanted. We housed them here for 2 weeks in hopes someone would claim them but no one called to report a missing dog. We checked with the shelter and no one called the shelter either, so we decided to put them up for adoption. In just a short amount of time we found the black female a home. Luckily she went to a home of one of our clients so we will get to see her grow up with her new three year old sister and six yer old brother who appropriately named her Sweetie.

Little Fern Grows into a Princess

We are so happy to say that Little Fern found a home. Although we began to love her after the short 11 days she spent with us, we were happy to send her to her new abode. Some frequent clients of ours, Mr. and Mrs Milburn, were in the clinic on Thursday and just happened to meet Fern when she was out wandering around the office. Mrs. Milburn was sure she wanted her the second their eyes met, but Mr. Milburn was a little more reluctant. So Fernie went home with them for a "visit" to see if she liked it there. Mrs. Milburn called us today, Friday, to let us know that Fern is working out great. She said her four year old granddaughter came over and Fern ran up to her just like they had known each other for years, but her name was instantly changed, by the 4 year old, to Princess Bella. Probably the most appropriate name she could have been given because Fern is definitely living the life of a Princess.

A Diamond in the Rough!

We had quite an AMAZING kitty come into our clinic Monday. He presented to us with a hurt foot. His owner said she let him out earlier that morning but when returned home from work she found him unable to use his rear left leg. An x-ray revealed his left metatarsal bones (which are the bones in his rear foot) were crushed. With the severity of his injuries the chance of these bones healing properly were slim to none. A valiant effort could have been made but would be extremely costly and more than likely end in amputation. So after discussion and deliberation the owner opted to have the leg amputated. Tuesday morning we took Diamond to surgery and amputated his leg at the midshaft of the femur (AKA the thigh bone). Usually in my experience animals who have a leg amputated do well. It may take a few days but as a general rule they go right on to having a normal life. To say that Diamond did well is truly an understatement. The surgery itself took about 45 minutes; a few hours later he stood up, on three legs, and ate some yummy canned food!

Many might frown upon the idea of amputating a leg on an animal, thinking it cruel or unfair. We so often transpose our feelings into the feelings of an animal. But the truth is we are not cats and we are not dogs. We do not share the same feelings, nor think like they do; our emotions are compeltely differnt as well as our thought process. There is a word for this transposing of feelings; the word is anthropomorphize. What anthropomorphize means, according to Webster's Collegiate Dictionary,11th edition, is to attribute human form or personality to something not human. In this case the thing not human is a cat...Diamond.

It is often hard for me not to attribute my feelings to my patients every day. Don't get me wrong...it is good to have compassion and to care and to "put myself in their shoes" but as a veterinarian, I must be careful to remember my needs are not theirs and to not assume what is good for me is good for them. For example, if I were to have my leg amputated I would go through several months of depression wondering how I would do the things I love to do... ride a horse, run a race, or just simply drive my car to work and walk up and down the front stairs to my home. But similar thoughts never crossed Diamond's mind. Personally I do not believe animals think about the past. They do not mope or drown in their sorrows about what could have been or what they would change if they could go back in time . Not to say they are incapable of emotions but rather that they do not have our same emotions. And maybe that is the way we should be as well. Oh what we can learn from a cat!

Diamond went home today. He left us seeming to be happy and ready to take on life with one less leg!

Fern's Story

We ventured to the Animal Shelter Monday and picked out our first "project." The Lee County Shelter is rather small and the conditions there are not ideal, but the good folks there do the best they can with what they have. We knew we wanted to start with a puppy, so when we walked into the kennel room and saw the litter of Jack Russell mix puppies, it was quite easy to get "suckered in". Three small puppies were housed together in this one pen; all of them were female and all were equally adorable. But this one certain puppy sat back on her hind legs and lifted up her front feet. With her two front paws together side by side she pawed at the air. We took it as a kind of "wave" to us. It was as if she was saying "here I am!! Take me! I want to go!" So...we did. We signed the adoption papers and took her back to our second home...Leesburg Animal Hospital. She had her first bath, which she seemed to enjoy; she had her vaccinations and was dewormed and is frolicking around our office winning the hearts of everyone here. Everyone is working on little Fernie's potty training, so she will be ready for a new home soon!

This is Fern

Meet Buster!

The genesis of Homeward Bound

Our first homeward bound animal now living in his new home is Buster. It is safe to say Buster's story was the "nidus" of this blog. The feeling we all felt after matching this little guy's personality to the personalities of the members of his new family was completely indescribable. We just new we wanted to do it again.

Here is Buster's story: A high school friend and client of mine, Mandy Deloach, asked me for my help in finding her a new dog after the disappearance of her dog, Sam. We found on the Lee County Animal Shelter website four Schnauzer/Dachshund cross puppies that were just too cute for words. All four puppies had been abandoned at a house where the tenants had moved out leaving them with no food or water. A neighbor called Animal Control to come and rescue them. All four puppies had a shaggy hair coat like a Schnauzer and long floppy ears like a dachshund...really a perfect combination. Of course when Mandy saw them, she fell in love too. So she made her selection and Buster came to stay with us for a few days. He was neutered, dewormed and vaccinated, started on Heartworm prevention and went through our "kid testing" before going home to his new sister, Raeanna,4, and brother,Dalton, 3. Today he is living in Camilla, Georgia with a warm bed, a bowl full of kibble and four tiny hands on him all the time.

Placing Buster in a great home and giving him a chance at a fulfilling life which so many pound puppies are denied, made us feel like we truly made a difference. It may only be one small dog out of millions euthanized, but to us Buster is our first success. He is one less dog that will go unnoticed, one less dog that will be forgotten, one less dog that won't have someone to love.