Well, today is the last day for me and the 2 American vets. ... Crystal flies out tomorrow & she is taking one dog from Scooby & 3 more are meeting her at the Madrid airport from some other rescues in Spain. Laura rented the mini van & will be driving us all as she would like to do a little sight-seeing in Madrid. And I would not have a ride back if I did not go with ... so I was to go do one day of sight-seeing in Madrid as well ...
Natasha is staying here until next Friday & Claire will be going into surgery to help her so I have shown her a few of the things that I have learned to try to make it easier & faster for Natasha. We need those skilled vets. to keep performing these surgeries!!
Gabriel, Natasha´s boyfriend, has come to town from Switzerland to visit her for the weekend, so she got a room with him last night. This left Crystal alone, who was to be by roommate originally ... Laura was to have a room to herself & I had been rooming with Laura because Natasha had decided to room with Crystal before I arrived ... confusing, I know, but I changed rooms to room with Crystal as originally planned because that is what they all decided what was best I guess. Anyway, I got a new roommate last night ... not that it really matters because I am downstairs on the hotel computer till 1am every day since I still can´t sleep! :(
OK ... so first thing this morning, Cobi brought to us a kitten who was nearly dead. Poor thing had been fine the day before, but evidenlty this happens to kittens at Scooby. You must understand that Scooby is not a place for the very young & they try not to take them ... dogs arrive here daily & the kennels and pens always have a fresh face ... same for the cats. Because of all this, diseases, viruses, bacteria are coming & going constantly as well ... Owners who do not care to keep their dogs & puppies certainly do not care enough to vaccinate them ... & so young animals with weaker immune systems pay the ultimate price. I believe that Scooby does the best they can, but again, they just don´t have the money or the facilities to protect these babies against all that comes through the doors. And they certainly can not turn animals away ...
Anyway, it was very sad for the kitten. His body temperature was so low that he was already almost gone. It was decided by the ladies that it would be most kind to euthanize him and that is what happened. It was very heartbreaking because even in his weakened state he still protested the shot & Claire & Cobi told me earlier that he was a very affectionate little kitten. Both of them have cleaned his cage several times & spent time with him.
Directly after that we started to do the surgeries & had all galgos today. At some point during the first few surgeries, I decided to find out what to do with our deceased kitten as no one had come to claim him yet. He was there in the room in his carrier & I really couldn´t stand the thought of him laying in there anymore. I went and found Cobi & she explained that deceased animals at Scooby go to freezers and are picked up every other week to every week depending on the number of deaths. They can not bury them because they do not have a place and other animals would dig them up etc. ... So, as instructed, I wrapped the kitten in a plastic bag & placed him one of the freezers. There were several bags in there & I saw a slender pair of galgo feet sticking out of one of the bags .. had to leave & did not ask where they go after pick up. There are just some things that you can´t stand to know even after all of the rest of it.
Anyway, at this point, I met up with Claire out by the quarantine area & she had found a rat who was suffering from some poison intake. Scooby has lots of rats because of all the food out and about & they decided to put down rat poison. I personally, am not sure that this is the best decision because the rats wander around quite a bit while the poison takes it´s toll. The ladies told me that it makes them bleed to death inside. Not pleasant. They are actually wondering if that is why we had a dog the other day who bled more than normal because it had eaten some of the poison some how or a dead rat who had been killed by the poison. But, I guess that it is not my decision & that some thought is behind it & maybe it is the lesser of two evils in some way ... on any account ... Claire had found this rat & decided that it was only right to put it out of it´s suffering & I had to agree. She was really in turmoil over killing it so I had to go out & do the dirty work. He was suffering & I hoped that he knew how sorry I was and that I had to rats I had adopted at home. Just hope somehow that he knows it was not out of hate. Sounds silly to most, but that is what I hope.
At any rate ... this was not shaping up to be a great day. On top of it, I was beginning the process of trying to get the puppies home with me. I had to talk with Virginia at Passion Levriers in France, Cobi, Maria Jose, Fermin, Delta Airlines, Abby & Laura. Virginia is who I adopted Toro through with GRIN´s help and these puppies are technically hers even though she has never laid eyes on them other than pictures maybe. Logistically, it made more sense to have Scooby pick them up when the time came. The puppies are podenco mixes and podencos are Virginia´s are of expertise. The problem became that she was unable to come get them and had no date set to do so. Money is a problem for all rescues all over the world.
After quite some time in conversations, emails & phone calls ... it seemed as though this plan was set into motion. As I type to you now, I plan to pick them up at 6:30am tomorrow with Laura & Crystal and take them to the airport. I have decided to wave any sight-seeing to get on the plane with Crystal to Atlanta a day early. It seems to be the best option & there will be help in the Atlanta Airport from the Plaskett´s who dropped Toro off to me when he arrived in the U.S. ...
This will all be very tricky with my standby/buddy pass. Also, Crystal has decided that she believes they are too sick to fly. I am not sure why this is since she has never seen the female puppy & she had decided that the male puppy was fine earlier this week, but I guess she is entitled to her opinion & she is a vet. after all. Since she has given this opinion, I will not be backed by GRIN on this decision to take the puppies. I had already told Abby at GRIN that I would pay for their medical costs out of my own pocket because GRIN does not have the money to pay for it so that is not issue on them backing out. I knew that when I had their endorsement. What will be difficult to get around is that I am flying on a standby ticket & that it makes my chances to get on more difficult let alone the puppies. GRIN & Crystal do not want to be held responsible for any illness that the puppies could have and give to other dogs. I do understand their reservations, but again, they are regular puppies as far as I am concerned & Laura told Abby as much on the phone. So, I am moving forward on the hopes that we all get on. If I have to move to plan B again, then that is what I will need to do. I also told Abby to contact Fermin immediately to confirm the health ... the female has never been ill & the little male has not been sick for 6 weeks. Either way, I am on my own on this one after the ride to the airport so think of me & wish me luck. I feel like, at this point, that tomorrow is going to be more trying than today has been.
On a positive note, everyone at Scooby has been more than helpful. I feel like I have made some good friends there & I can not wait to return to them to help again! I would love to enlist some of my local vets. to go and work with me! I think it could be a really fun trip. Fermin & Maria Jose had all the passports in order for the puppies & were more than accomodating. Cobi has been a good friend to me while I have been there & I just can´t say enough about Claire. Claire is a really special person & I wish more of you could meet her. She is truly an angel to all animals.
I did not want to forget to tell you about my dog of the day ... this boy came to Scooby only a few days ago & he caught my eye immediately. He has eyes like my Shybar did & for those of you who know me, Shybar (who passed away on 12/21/05) was my very special boy. I still miss him very much & it is even difficult for me to write to you about him now. I have been taking bread to this guy now for a few days & today he got moved from the introduction pen into a pen in quarantine with some other young men. He is a galgo & he is tall & thin because he had been underfed ... he is tan & white. I went to visit him in his new place with his new friends & I was actually very touched because he remembered me and wagged his tail. He would barely move in front of me the first day & it was nice to see his progress in only a few days. I have the most wonderful photo of him when I can post it. I think that Renny, my pet photographer friend will even appreciate it.
OK ... so I am off to bed because it is after midnight here now & I must be up at 5:30am to be on the road to pick up puppies & get out of this country with them! :)
AND ... Abby just called and informed me that if I get on the plane, the puppies will .. when I called Delta the plane was only half full!!! This is wonderful news! I think this many actually get to be a happy ending! Please think of us & say a little prayer for the puppies that they don´t have too much stress during the flight.
I will post some more when I return & hopefully it will be ALL good news!!!
Natasha is staying here until next Friday & Claire will be going into surgery to help her so I have shown her a few of the things that I have learned to try to make it easier & faster for Natasha. We need those skilled vets. to keep performing these surgeries!!
Gabriel, Natasha´s boyfriend, has come to town from Switzerland to visit her for the weekend, so she got a room with him last night. This left Crystal alone, who was to be by roommate originally ... Laura was to have a room to herself & I had been rooming with Laura because Natasha had decided to room with Crystal before I arrived ... confusing, I know, but I changed rooms to room with Crystal as originally planned because that is what they all decided what was best I guess. Anyway, I got a new roommate last night ... not that it really matters because I am downstairs on the hotel computer till 1am every day since I still can´t sleep! :(
OK ... so first thing this morning, Cobi brought to us a kitten who was nearly dead. Poor thing had been fine the day before, but evidenlty this happens to kittens at Scooby. You must understand that Scooby is not a place for the very young & they try not to take them ... dogs arrive here daily & the kennels and pens always have a fresh face ... same for the cats. Because of all this, diseases, viruses, bacteria are coming & going constantly as well ... Owners who do not care to keep their dogs & puppies certainly do not care enough to vaccinate them ... & so young animals with weaker immune systems pay the ultimate price. I believe that Scooby does the best they can, but again, they just don´t have the money or the facilities to protect these babies against all that comes through the doors. And they certainly can not turn animals away ...
Anyway, it was very sad for the kitten. His body temperature was so low that he was already almost gone. It was decided by the ladies that it would be most kind to euthanize him and that is what happened. It was very heartbreaking because even in his weakened state he still protested the shot & Claire & Cobi told me earlier that he was a very affectionate little kitten. Both of them have cleaned his cage several times & spent time with him.
Directly after that we started to do the surgeries & had all galgos today. At some point during the first few surgeries, I decided to find out what to do with our deceased kitten as no one had come to claim him yet. He was there in the room in his carrier & I really couldn´t stand the thought of him laying in there anymore. I went and found Cobi & she explained that deceased animals at Scooby go to freezers and are picked up every other week to every week depending on the number of deaths. They can not bury them because they do not have a place and other animals would dig them up etc. ... So, as instructed, I wrapped the kitten in a plastic bag & placed him one of the freezers. There were several bags in there & I saw a slender pair of galgo feet sticking out of one of the bags .. had to leave & did not ask where they go after pick up. There are just some things that you can´t stand to know even after all of the rest of it.
Anyway, at this point, I met up with Claire out by the quarantine area & she had found a rat who was suffering from some poison intake. Scooby has lots of rats because of all the food out and about & they decided to put down rat poison. I personally, am not sure that this is the best decision because the rats wander around quite a bit while the poison takes it´s toll. The ladies told me that it makes them bleed to death inside. Not pleasant. They are actually wondering if that is why we had a dog the other day who bled more than normal because it had eaten some of the poison some how or a dead rat who had been killed by the poison. But, I guess that it is not my decision & that some thought is behind it & maybe it is the lesser of two evils in some way ... on any account ... Claire had found this rat & decided that it was only right to put it out of it´s suffering & I had to agree. She was really in turmoil over killing it so I had to go out & do the dirty work. He was suffering & I hoped that he knew how sorry I was and that I had to rats I had adopted at home. Just hope somehow that he knows it was not out of hate. Sounds silly to most, but that is what I hope.
At any rate ... this was not shaping up to be a great day. On top of it, I was beginning the process of trying to get the puppies home with me. I had to talk with Virginia at Passion Levriers in France, Cobi, Maria Jose, Fermin, Delta Airlines, Abby & Laura. Virginia is who I adopted Toro through with GRIN´s help and these puppies are technically hers even though she has never laid eyes on them other than pictures maybe. Logistically, it made more sense to have Scooby pick them up when the time came. The puppies are podenco mixes and podencos are Virginia´s are of expertise. The problem became that she was unable to come get them and had no date set to do so. Money is a problem for all rescues all over the world.
After quite some time in conversations, emails & phone calls ... it seemed as though this plan was set into motion. As I type to you now, I plan to pick them up at 6:30am tomorrow with Laura & Crystal and take them to the airport. I have decided to wave any sight-seeing to get on the plane with Crystal to Atlanta a day early. It seems to be the best option & there will be help in the Atlanta Airport from the Plaskett´s who dropped Toro off to me when he arrived in the U.S. ...
This will all be very tricky with my standby/buddy pass. Also, Crystal has decided that she believes they are too sick to fly. I am not sure why this is since she has never seen the female puppy & she had decided that the male puppy was fine earlier this week, but I guess she is entitled to her opinion & she is a vet. after all. Since she has given this opinion, I will not be backed by GRIN on this decision to take the puppies. I had already told Abby at GRIN that I would pay for their medical costs out of my own pocket because GRIN does not have the money to pay for it so that is not issue on them backing out. I knew that when I had their endorsement. What will be difficult to get around is that I am flying on a standby ticket & that it makes my chances to get on more difficult let alone the puppies. GRIN & Crystal do not want to be held responsible for any illness that the puppies could have and give to other dogs. I do understand their reservations, but again, they are regular puppies as far as I am concerned & Laura told Abby as much on the phone. So, I am moving forward on the hopes that we all get on. If I have to move to plan B again, then that is what I will need to do. I also told Abby to contact Fermin immediately to confirm the health ... the female has never been ill & the little male has not been sick for 6 weeks. Either way, I am on my own on this one after the ride to the airport so think of me & wish me luck. I feel like, at this point, that tomorrow is going to be more trying than today has been.
On a positive note, everyone at Scooby has been more than helpful. I feel like I have made some good friends there & I can not wait to return to them to help again! I would love to enlist some of my local vets. to go and work with me! I think it could be a really fun trip. Fermin & Maria Jose had all the passports in order for the puppies & were more than accomodating. Cobi has been a good friend to me while I have been there & I just can´t say enough about Claire. Claire is a really special person & I wish more of you could meet her. She is truly an angel to all animals.
I did not want to forget to tell you about my dog of the day ... this boy came to Scooby only a few days ago & he caught my eye immediately. He has eyes like my Shybar did & for those of you who know me, Shybar (who passed away on 12/21/05) was my very special boy. I still miss him very much & it is even difficult for me to write to you about him now. I have been taking bread to this guy now for a few days & today he got moved from the introduction pen into a pen in quarantine with some other young men. He is a galgo & he is tall & thin because he had been underfed ... he is tan & white. I went to visit him in his new place with his new friends & I was actually very touched because he remembered me and wagged his tail. He would barely move in front of me the first day & it was nice to see his progress in only a few days. I have the most wonderful photo of him when I can post it. I think that Renny, my pet photographer friend will even appreciate it.
OK ... so I am off to bed because it is after midnight here now & I must be up at 5:30am to be on the road to pick up puppies & get out of this country with them! :)
AND ... Abby just called and informed me that if I get on the plane, the puppies will .. when I called Delta the plane was only half full!!! This is wonderful news! I think this many actually get to be a happy ending! Please think of us & say a little prayer for the puppies that they don´t have too much stress during the flight.
I will post some more when I return & hopefully it will be ALL good news!!!
1 comment:
Schwartz - you are truly special to be doing this! I admire that in you so much. Just reading this entry had me in tears. Hope you've made it home okay with your puppies... Can't wait to hear about all this in person.
Disty
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