The need for vigilance.... Newman's leg

Let me introduce you to Newman.

Newman is an old, toothless pug with a few minor issues. He came to Pug Hollow after being dumped in a rural area in the hottest part of summer. Someone gave Newman a head injury in the past which occasionally causes him to have seizures. He's got a few small skin tags that the vet doesn't believe are worth risking putting him out to remove since they aren't changing.

He also has allergies, which sometimes manifest themselves as pyotraumatic dermatitis (also known as lick abrasions or hot spots).   Because they happen relatively regularly, even with allergy medication, we've established a protocol with our vet for treating them so that he only has to go in if something goes wrong. Typically they clear up within a few days with no problems.

 Unfortunately old dogs are like old humans... their immune system doesn't always work as well as it should.

On Thursday evening we noticed that Newms had one of his little spots on his hip. It was about the size of a quarter, and we immediately began the typical round of wound care... Shave the area, cleanse it thoroughly with chlorhexadine scrub and cool water, wipe with betadine, let dry and finish the job with a spritz of Blu-Kote.

 Newman's wound Thursday Evening.

Friday evening the wound had grown, but the area around the wound was not inflamed or swollen. We assumed he'd been licking at it again and swapped Blu-Kote in place of the Granulex because it deters him from licking.

Saturday the area was warm to the touch but the wound appeared to be drying out as it should. We thoroughly cleaned and medicated the wound again

Sunday morning Newman's leg was visibly swelling and pressing on the scab produced pus.  We debrided the wound, cleansed it with additional Chlorhexidine.

Monday morning, we called the vet for the first available appointment. He was running a fever and his poor leg is quite swollen. He's now on antibiotics, and has had a cortisone shot. 

48 hours ago his leg showed no signs any problems beyond the abrasion. It was just another hot spot, and it appeared to be responding to treatment. The vet even pointed out that the wound itself is properly dried out and already starting to heal.

It serves as a reminder that even when it's a small thing we need to keep a close eye on our old dogs. Something that should be simple can complicate very very fast.  Hopefully Newms will heal quickly now, but there's the possibility that he'll need additional care.

It also highlighted the fact that our vet fund is getting critically low, so I'm going to wrap up this post with a request for donations.

If you can please help us replenish our vet fund. All donations go into our account to cover the cost of veterinary care for our old dogs. Aside from Newman and his acute care, we have multiple dogs who are on medications on a day to day basis, and we really need your help.

You can donate by paypal to pughollow@gmail.com, or by mail to Pug Hollow Sanctuary, PO Box 244, Prague, OK 74864.

Revisiting Disaster Prep for Pets Part 2

Probably everyone at some point has heard of an emergency preparedness kit, and what they should have in it for their family. I'm not going to rehash what you need for people. I'm going to address the fact that most of those recommendations don't take into account our pets.

With large animals such as horses there's not a lot you can do to have a kit ready. Their needs as far as food and water are too large to be easily contained in a quick grab kit. The best you can do is have an extra halter and lead per horse.

With pets though you can make a grab and go kit, or a kit to be stored in a safe location.  It it's a grab and go kit you'll want to pack it in something portable... a duffle bag, large back pack, or other quickly portable container.
A kit to be stored in a safe location such as a cellar or basement can be contained in a plastic bin to keep moisture and critters out.

Things you'll want to have in your kit:

1. Water: As with humans you want a gallon per pet per day, and should plan on having at least 3 days worth for a go kit or 7 days worth for a stored kit.
2. Food: Again, three days worth per pet for a go kit and 7 days for a stored kit. If your pet requires specialized food this is especially important. If it's dry food you'll want to store it in an airtight container and swap your supply every few weeks to keep it fresh.
3. Can opener and something to scoop it out with if you're using canned food.
4. measuring scoop for dry food
5. A supply of your pet's medications. I like to keep an extra bottle of each med our dogs are on stored in my emergency supplies. As I run out of the bottle I am using on a daily basis, I replace it with my stored bottle and order a new bottle for the stored supplies. This keeps the meds from going out of date.
6. Copies of your pets shot and medical records an an air and water tight container. All of my dogs that have health conditions have a medical file that we keep on hand along with their shot records. This is useful if we have to see a vet that doesn't know the dogs.
7. An extra collar, harness, and leash
8. Toys and treats
9. Extra food and water bowl: I like collapsible bowls and recommend one of the rubber or silicone bowls such as the Kurgo Collaps-A-Bowl, the Ruff Dawg Ruff Bowl, or the Bamboo Pet Collapsible bowl
10. First aid kit for dogs and first aid guide book for pets
11. A list of emergency contacts and veterinarians around your area, and around the area to which you will most likely evacuate.
12. Extra ID tags
13. Proof of ownership: good clear photos stored in an airtight, waterproof container
14. Extra towels and blankets, and/or a bed
15. kitty litter or pee pads
16. Collapsible cat litter box, such as a Sturdibox or Go Kitty Go.
17. A kennel or crate if needed. I like to keep a pop up kennel in my kit in case I need to contain a dog somewhere. Be sure that you've acclimated your dog to the confinement.
18. drawstring trash bags and small trash bags for clean up and lining the kitty litter pan.

It sounds like a lot of stuff, I know, but you can vacuum seal the dry food, treats and the soft items such as leashes, towels, soft toys, and dog beds to reduce the amount of space they take up.  Pack it all into a duffle bag and you're ready to go on a moments notice.

Come back tomorrow for Disaster Preparedness With Pets Part 3 -- Evacuation Plans and Training

Cleo the Fat Pug

 

Been trying to get some pictures of dogs that you generally don't get to see.... And so I would like to introduce Cleo.
Miss Cleo was abandoned at Purcell Animal Welfare, and Purcell called us to come get her and Harry Houndini.
Miss Cleo... is an absolute love, who is still learning that she can ask for attention.
She's also massively obese. She came into the Sanctuary at 33 pounds and has lost 6 pounds so far. We've been careful about cutting back on her food as she has some food anxiety and we don't want her to feel too deprived.
She also has neurological issues that impact her rear end, causing her to have some difficulty walking. It doesn't slow her down much and as she loses weight she's getting more mobile. She will always have trouble walking and some day may need a cart.
And last but not least she has a potential mass. It may be a fatty tumor or it may just be a fat mass due to the massive obesity. Once she's trimmed down a bit more we will evaluate the mass and take any necessary action.

 

 

 

Pug Hollow Photo Contest

Join Pug Hollow for a photo contest!

 Photos will be uploaded daily to the website, and featured in the gallery for the contest.

Submissions will be accepted from February 15th through March 15th. Voting will begin on March 16th and run through April 16th. The top 12 submissions in each category will be featured in Pug Hollow's 2015 photo calendars.

The top three submissions will be able to choose their month in the calendar, as well as receiving a free copy of the calendar, winner's t-shirt and mouse pad.

There are two categories:

Turn your dog into the next canine Drag Superstar. Dress your dog up in his or her best makeup free drag, and submit the photo to pughollow@gmail.com. Be sure to tell us your dog's real AND their drag name.

Keep the photos clean.

Do the paparazzi hound your pooch? Dress your dog up in his or her best Celebrity Impersonation, and submit the photo to pughollow@gmail.com. Be sure to tell us your dog's name and who they are impersonating.

Keep the photos clean.

 

Revisiting Disaster Prep with Pets

It's that time of year again when Mother Nature starts gearing up for another storm season. So let's revisit our article on Disaster Prep with Pets.

Every year about this time I start getting asked to give my talk about how to prepare for a disaster when you have pets.  Everyone who has read this blog, or spoken with me knows that Pug Hollow went through an F-4 tornado in May of 2011 resulting in the loss of all our physical property.
We had one fatality and one critical injury out of 22 dogs, and we were able to quickly locate all but one of the surviving dogs. He came back the next day.
It could have been much worse. It usually is much worse.

The first step is to be aware. Disasters can happen to ANYONE, ANYTIME, ANYWHERE. They can be large scale natural disasters, and impact a whole neighborhood, town, county, or even state, or they can be small and just impact one house (as anyone who has ever lost their house to a fire can tell you). Taking some steps to ensure safety before hand is just good sense.

So let's talk about where I like to start with prepping for unhappy circumstance...

Identification

 I like to have my pets tagged 6 ways to Sunday, and it doesn't just stop with the dogs. It's the cats and the horses too.

1. Microchip:

The most certain way to get your dog or cat tagged is to microchip them. They can also microchip horses and other equines. Collars, harnesses and halters can come off. Rabies tags can get lost.A microchip is going to be there as long as there is a body left.

Microchipping is done at your vet, just like giving a vaccination. It's a one time fee, and there are a number of free microchip registries out there you can use rather than paying for a yearly subscription. Some rescues microchip their pets before sending them out to new homes.

 2. Rabies tag:

A rabies tag is also a point of identification. It provides veterinary information that hopefully links to the owner of the pet. You can also go one step further and engrave your contact information into the back of the tag. A small hand engraver will cost you about $20 to $50 depending on what and where you buy.

3. Identification tag:

These are the simple hanging tags that attach to your pet's collar or harness. If your dog has a medical condition this is a good way to let people know as these can be double sided with engraving.  If you do double sided engraving I suggest your pet's name, and medical condition(s) on the front side and at least 2 contact numbers on the back. Make one of the contact numbers a land line number to someone outside of your immediate household, and preferably outside of your neighborhood. It can be a friend, family member or your veterinarian. This will ensure that even if everything around you including your cell phone is destroyed, there will still be one valid number on the tag.  I prefer to use both of our household's cell phone numbers and my father's land line number.
The downside to id tags is that they can be pulled off of the collar or harness and lost just like a rabies tag.

4. Collar plates:

Collar plates come in three types. Rivet attached, sliding, and adjustable sliding.

Rivet attached plates need a little work to get them in place, but it's not anything that your average person can't do.

1. For a nylon collar you need a nail, a pair of pliers, an oven mitt, open flame heat source, rivet kit and a hammer.  
2. Use the tag to mark where you need to put holes in the collar. 
3. Put on the oven mitt and grab the pliers. 
4. Grasp the nail with the pliers near the head, and insert the other end of the nail into the heat source.  The heat source can be the flame from a gas burner, a small blowtorch, large candle, campfire... Be sure to be careful and not set anything on fire.
5. Once the nail is hot, use it to poke holes where you've marked the collar. The nylon will melt and it will stink but this is the best way to make holes.  
6. Once your holes are the correct size for your rivets you can place the plate on the collar and use the instructions on the rivet kit to set them in place.

For a leather collar you will use a leather punch to make the holes.

If you need to remove the plate from the collar you can drill the rivets loose from the back side with an electric drill and bit.


Sliding plates are easy to put in place, and easy to remove but they only work with standard non-adjustable buckle collars.

Adjustable sliding plates are harder to find but they work with adjustable collars as well as standard buckle collars.

I don't waste space on names on collar plates. I just load them up with as many contact numbers as they can fit. 

5. Embroidered collars:

Embroidered collars can be a more expensive way to ID your dog, but there is no plate or tag to lose. They are however, susceptible to being scratched into illegible fuzz.

6. Tags for Horses

You can get halter plates that screw onto a halter and halter tags that can attach to a halter or be braided into a mane.


Considerations:
If you chose an engraved tag or plate, I suggest one that has been diamond engraved. The engraving lasts longer on a tag than laser engraving.

While I've included some links to several shops that you can purchase identification for pets and horse equipment, you may want to shop around and look for cheaper prices. e-Bay can be a good place for that, but remember... you do chance getting what you pay for.

Placement of identification is important as well.

I like to put my rabies tags on my dog's walking harness.  They don't need it when lying around the house, and it keeps them from losing it in the yard.
I also like to have two rivet plates per dog... one on their collar and one on their harness near the leash ring. If the dog has a medical condition that needs daily medication or consideration (such as diabetes, thyroid conditions, hypoglycemia, seizures, heart problems, liver or kidney problems, Addison's, etc...) I also add a medical tag to both harness and collar.

I suggest a reflective breakaway halter like the Lami Cell with plate or tag for your horse to wear in emergencies and a tag braided into the mane. A breakaway halter will keep your horse from getting into a wreck if the halter gets caught on debris and the tag braided into the mane will give ID if the halter is lost.

And that pretty much covers all the possible types of identification with the exception of tattooing or branding.

Keep an eye out for "Disaster Preparedness With Pets Part 2 -- Emergency Evacuation Kit" coming tomorrow.

Yappy Howlingtine's!

Sir, Mr. Tibbs and every doggy at Pug Hollow wish you a Yappy Howlingtine's Day!

Update on Sweetie's cancer treatment

Sweetie is doing a bit better. She takes her pain pill in the evening but still doesn't want it in the morning.
As one would expect from a grand old lady pug, she rocks the pink sweater and blue soft cone, but from the pictures I would estimate that she's probably got more than 15 inches of incisions. That's a lot of stitches!
If you can please donate a dollar or two. Our top donors will be eligible to receive a Pug Hollow 2014 wall calendar. 
Donations can be made one of three ways... You can donate directly to the veterinarian:

Colleyville Animal Clinic

RE:Sweetie Casaretto's Cancer Treatment

701 Glade Road

Colleyville, TX 76034

817-281-3449

Donate to Pug Hollow and we will forward the money on:

Pug Hollow Sanctuary

RE: Sweetie's Cancer Treatment

PO Box 244

Prague, OK 74864

or

via paypal to pughollow@gmail.com

Or you can donate via our Go Fund Me campaign:

Rescuing Old Dogs is Hard

“So do you adopt them out?”

That’s the first thing people ask when they find out that I head up a non-profit canine sanctuary.  When I explain that Pug Hollow is primarily a hospice for elderly and terminally ill dogs, and peripherally a sanctuary for dogs with lots of emotional baggage, the second thing they say is always a variation on a theme.

“Wow. That’s got to be hard. I think it’s so great that you do that. I couldn’t deal with that sort of thing.”

And then, almost invariably, they disregard you completely.

Perhaps they think other people are donating. Perhaps they think we’re rich and can cover all the expenses out of pocket. Perhaps they don’t think they can make a difference with a one or two dollar donation. Or perhaps we’re just not sensational enough to catch their attention and get them talking.

 Let’s face it… old dogs seem to automatically engender disregard, which is why so many of them need our help. And providing a safe, loving end of life environment for old dogs taken in from various animal shelters and veterinarians isn’t melodramatic enough to catch people’s attention. There’s very rarely a horrifying tale of abuse complete with graphic pictorial accompaniment. More usually it’s a melancholy tale of abandonment and neglect, highlighted by sorrow, confusion and fear that can’t be adequately captured by a simple photo.

I can show you medications, and vet bills, and pictures of the dogs themselves. I can’t show you the gradual and often subtle transformation that many of our dogs undergo as they begin to feel safe, receive treatment for any health conditions they may have, and in many cases simply learn what it means to be loved.  I can’t show you the quirky, endearing personalities that blossom more and more with each day at the Sanctuary.

I can ask you, “please.”

Please help us. We need your donations.

Please don’t assume someone else is donating, or that we’re able to cover all our expenses. Old dogs mean special food and vet bills, and we can use all the help we can get.

Please don’t think that your help doesn’t make a difference.   Even a bag of dog food frees up funds for other use.

 Please talk about us. If you think we’re doing good work, tell your friends.  Like us on Facebook, follow us on twitter, write about us on your blog. The more exposure we get the more likely our fundraisers are to succeed and the more likely people are to donate.

And whatever you do… Please, don’t disregard our old dogs.

Cancer treatment for Sweetie

Pug Hollow Sanctuary is helping one of our volunteers raise funds for her pug who has just been diagnosed with cancer. Pug Hollow is collecting funds which will then be paid directly to the veterinarian in order to help cover Sweetie's medical treatment.

 Sweetie's human caretaker writes; "Sweetie is possibly the most amazing dog I've ever met in my life. She loves all people, dogs, cats, birds, mice, and every other living creature she meets. She has a love for life that is beyond what I've ever seen in any human being. The simplest things bring her so much joy. She may be an older dog, but I'm not giving up on her. I couldn't love her more if she was my own child. She was given to me as a "free to good home" dog. The moment I saw her I knew she was meant to be mine.
Hearing the dreaded "C" word was one of the worst days of my life. I can't bear not having my beloved Sweetie around. She is the light of my life and I am hers." 

Donations can be made one of three ways... You can donate directly to the veterinarian:

Colleyville Animal Clinic 

RE:Sweetie's Cancer Treatment

701 Glade Road

Colleyville, TX 76034

817-281-3449

Donate to Pug Hollow and we will forward the money on:

Pug Hollow Sanctuary

RE: Sweetie's Cancer Treatment

PO Box 244

Prague, OK 74864

or 

via paypal to pughollow@gmail.com

Or you can donate via our Go Fund Me campaign:

Every little bit helps!