We received a call from a woman who said that she had some friends that had lost their house and they did not have anywhere for their dogs to go so she offered to keep them. She did not let them in the house and this was in the winter. She did not have dog houses for them, but she had a shed. She said if we crammed a bunch of hay in there and the dogs got in there together, they’d be warm.We headed over and met these dogs. No one was home. There was an older Boxer, who was adorable. He was thin and had tumors all over him. The other dog was a big, black Lab. It was a female and she had some hair loss and skin issues. She also totally took the food from the Boxer. We tried to separate them and get them both fed, but she would just run over to his bowl no matter what we did. We literally had to stand guard by him so that he could eat. It was obvious that she picked on him. It was also obvious that he needed some medical help. We stuffed hay in the shed, left a bag of dog food, and knew we’d be back soon.
It was sad because these dogs really had no where else to go. The owners were supposingly going to come and get them back when they got settled, but we’ve heard this a thousand times. The lady that pretty much just gave her yard for the dogs really didn’t do much else for them. We decided that we had to get the poor Boxer out of there, which we did. He wasn’t going to make it if we left him there.
We named this handsome boy Pete and we took him to the vet the next day. We ended up getting 3 opinions, all concurring that Pete had cancer. In fact, it had spread in his body. He did not have a good prognosis. However, he was eating good, acting good, had some energy and was very happy to be out of his previous situation. The vets said that he could live another year or two. Sarah and Nate offered to foster Pete and he did great at their house.
We decided to go ahead and put Pete up for adoption. Of course, we would let people know what was going on, but we thought that Pete might just speak to someone’s heart and they would open their home to him. Well, someone did! Tony and Mary adopted Pete in April of 2015. They understood his prognosis, they were dedicated to keeping him going as long as possible and to giving him a loving, happy home for however long he had left. It takes a special heart to to do that, but that is the kind of people that Tony and Mary are.
Pete now lives in Platte City, Mo with his mom and dad and his Dachshund brother, Henry. Tony and Mary own a car wash business in St. Joseph and Pete gets to go to work with them some days. Pete loves it and and everyone loves Pete!
Whatever happened to the Black Lab that was there? Well. we found out that her name was Terasina. The people did actually come back to get her. They moved into northeast KC and called for food, etc. We went over and saw them at their new place. The owners kept her inside most of the time, but sometimes she’d be on a tie-out in the back. The people called for food, but pretty infrequently, so we didn’t see her very often. One day the owners called and said that Terasina had an ear infection. They said she was shaking her head a lot and was very uncomfortable. We went over to check on her and discovered that she was also missing a lot of hair. They said she was scratching all the time. She had fleas and she had green gunk coming out of her eyes. We took her into the vet and came out with ear meds, eye meds, flea meds and antibiotics. We gave her a medicated bath while she was there and that helped her a lot. We took all of the meds with the instructions and they understood everything.
Well, Terasina cleared up and started looking a lot better. Her hair grew in, her eye and ear infections cleared up and she was doing fine. The people did seem to love her. We dropped food once in awhile, but most of the time she was inside and they weren’t home.
After about 6 mo., the woman from the home called me and said that Terasina was bad again. She was missing hair and her eyes were goopy again. She told me that she and the guy had split up and he’d left Terasina there with her. Of course she had no money. She told me that she was not going to be able to stay in that house. I asked her what she was going to do and she said that she was trying to find a job and a different place to live. I asked her what she was going to do with Terasina and she said, “I don’t know, try and take her with us, I guess”. I asked her if she would just let me take her and get her well again and find her a new home. She realized she really didn’t have a choice-she had no plan. She signed Terasina over to Chain of Hope and off to the vet we went.
It’s frustrating that we spent the time and money to get this girl into the vet, paid for the visit, the ear culture, the skin scraping (to rule out mange) and the meds and now here was this poor dog right back in the same bad shape she’d been in. Sometimes, it’s one step forward and 2 steps back, but we were finally able to bring this girl into our program and for that we are grateful! We named her Marcy. She had to lose her old name with her old life.
We brought Marcy into Chain of Hope. She was in pretty bad shape, but she endured her eye ointment, ear drops and antibiotics like a champ!
Marcy settled into Chain of Hope. We loved her! We realized she had some issues. She did resource guard her food or treats or whatever. We remembered how she had run Pete off from his food and her food, trying to keep it all for herself! We also realized that she did not care for other female dogs at all! That was ok-how could she not have issues after how she’d lived? We were excited to work with her and to get to know her better! She began healing and her hair started growing in again. She was beautiful.
After a few months, Marcy was still having issues with her eyes. We took her back in and she was diagnosed with entropion, where the eye lashes turn inward and irritate the eye. It requires surgery to repair, so Marcy underwent eye surgery. Here she is coming back to Chain of Hope after her eye surgery, stitches and all!
Marcy was finally well enough to go up for adoption.
Judy knew a man that had adopted a yellow lab from her about 10 yrs. ago. Frankie, the lab, had severe arthritis and Craig ultimately had to put her down. It broke his heart. Well, Craig ended up putting in an application for Marcy and when Judy saw his name she said, “I know this guy! He adopted a Lab from me 10 yrs. ago. I’m going to call him!” Well, Craig came and met Marcy and really liked her. He decided to adopt her and he now loves and treasures this dog! Craig has brought Marcy back for a visit and she looks fantastic! Marcy goes for walks, lays on the sofa and loves having all the attention to herself!
Chain of Hope put a lot of work into these 2 dogs and this is just one case out of hundreds and hundreds a year. Marcy in particular had very high medical expenses. We could not help these babies without you. Thank you for keeping us out there and for enabling us to rescue Pete and Marcy. They are both happy and settled and loved for the rest of their lives!
Pete’s cancer is possibly spreading more, but he is leading a quality life and is much loved by many!
Marcy is doing great! It was so good to see her when Craig brought her by for a visit. She is stunning!
This is all because of you, our supporters! You have our sincere appreciation. Please share this story and our dedicated work!