Hello friends! Welcome to Rough Life! What a day it was today. It never fails when we
take a long break like this. The first transport back feels like the very first transport we've
ever done in our lives. No one knows where the gloves are. We can't remember where the crates go.
Where do we keep the kitty litter? How do we bungee cord these every transport? It's literally
like we haven't been doing this for the last eight years. But anyway, this week's transport theme is
drinks and I did that so that two of our pups could keep their original names. Whole milk was
pulled from our shelter here in Alabama. He was seen being thrown out of a car on the side of the
road. The people who saw him grabbed him up and brought him to the shelter. He was supposed to go
on transport in October but we didn't have a foster for him so we're very thankful that our
friends at the shelter held on to him for so long for us. Body armor is a doodle mix. I have him down
as a labradoodle but he is so huge. I almost wonder if he's like Irish wolf hound and poodle
or something. I would love to see a DNA test done on him. He was found a few months ago tied to a
tree in a nearby town. Animal control picked him up and looked for an owner but when no owner ever
came forward one of our rescue partners fosters took him home from the shelter and fostered him
until he could go on transport today. They also had him neutered while they were fostering him
because he would not stop being on everything in their house. Eliza now known as orange juice is the
mama of the oh puppies from September 9th. She is the mama of four other litters that we've sent
over the years plus two other litters that two other rescues have taken. I talked about her story
in the episode when her puppies left. I thought the owners refused to surrender her all these years
but it turns out she was actually feral. They had never even been able to touch her. The other two
rescues tried to catch her and they couldn't but we finally gave the owners a trap and one day she
wandered inside and we got her. Our whole plan was just to spay her and send her back to the
owner's house where she could live as a feral dog but she was almost the polar opposite of a feral dog.
She stayed at Jessica's the night before she went to be spayed and she was a little skittish for sure
but she was loving all of the attention and the petting Jessica's family was giving her.
Jessica texted me the next morning and said good news and bad news. Good news is Eliza's doing great
and she's really friendly. Bad news is Eliza's doing great and she's really friendly and there's
no way I can take her back to where she's been living. Her owners who weren't even really her
owners she was just a stray that had moved on to their property years ago were more than happy to
let us keep her. Jessica had her for about eight weeks and she was afraid that they were getting
way too attached to each other and that it would be too hard for her to give her up so she came
to stay with me for about 10 days and I have to say Jessica was right. There's no way this dog would
be happy as an outside dog anymore. She has discovered the indoor dog life and there's just no going
back for her. It has been a long long time coming but we are so thankful that she is finally getting
her happy ending. Monster is one of the pups who is the reason for this theme. His owners named him
Monster and it is honestly the least fitting name possible for him and because it makes me laugh
every time I think about this six pound dog being named Monster I had to let him keep it.
Monster was brought to the vet a few months ago by his owner when the owner realized Monster
had gotten into something the owner was cooking that he shouldn't have been cooking
because this is a family friendly podcast. I won't tell you what he was cooking. I'll just say
it rhymes with Bristol Beth. Anyway we are very thankful that he cared enough about Monster to
get him to the vet to save his life. However I'm not sure if he was afraid that the vets would turn
him in or if he knew he just didn't have enough money to pay the bill or what but the owner never
came back for him. We've had this happen several times and the vets have some certain protocol
they have to follow where they have to contact the owner so many different ways for so many different
days or something like that before the dog is legally theirs but whatever it is they did it
and the vets surrendered Monster to us. Now it is no secret that I am not a big fan of Chihuahua's
but I have to say Monster is anything but a monster and I was so happy to get to bust him
out of his solitary confinement in that metal crate in the back of the vet and take him on his
freedom ride. Drabacana was found as a stray last month right before our weather went crazy and we
had several below freezing nights. The people couldn't keep her. I think they were actually going out
of town the next day if I remember correctly but the picture they sent of her snuggled up and their
outside cat's cat bed was so cute I had to pull her. We were technically closed because we had so
many we were holding on to over the five week break but I could not say no to that face.
Kool-Aid is another one that I pulled in a moment of weakness. I actually pulled him even before our
five week break started knowing that there was zero chance he would get to go on the last transport
before the break started but he was absolutely skin and bones covered in mange and so unbelievably
pitiful. He was found on my road so I feel like someone dumped him hoping he would make his way to
my house somehow and I felt like it was my fault that the neighbors ended up with him and taking
care of him so I had to pull him. He was so goofy and so funny to have with us. Unfortunately though
he was not potty trained while he was at my house and all of the new foods that he was eating tore
his stomach up so he was having explosive diarrhea and I was spending literally my entire days in
the bathroom throwing up which meant it fell on poor Justin to clean it up and that just wasn't
fair to him especially since it's literally my job so Buddy as we called him got shipped off to
jail for a few weeks before transport. Vanta was picked up as a stray in Mississippi by animal control
and because Jessica just can't learn her lesson she went and got him only to realize he was covered
in ringworm too. She had just sent her last ringworm puppy away the day before and was so excited
for a break when she went and pulled another one in even worse condition. He stayed with her in
her isolation room since October. Besides his skin being in rough shape he was so skinny and so
malnourished we really weren't even sure if he was gonna live those first few days but he's doing
fantastic now. Hawaiian Punch and her sister who is not on this transport and I'll tell you why in a
few minutes were dumped on a road in a nearby town and wandered up to someone's house. They have
eight dogs already and really weren't crazy about the idea of taking in two more but someone they know
knows me and they had them send me pictures of the puppies. My mom just happened to be coming
home from vacation the next day and she was able to pick them up and foster them over the break.
I cannot even count how many times she texted me or called me and said I just love these puppies.
These are two of the best puppies I have ever had. They are so smart. I love them so much.
Now why is Hawaiian Punch on transport all alone? Well her sister broke her leg two days ago and had
a hangback until it's just a little bit more healed. I will tell you that absolutely insane story
when she gets to come up. The G Liter of 4 were owner surrenders to the shelter here in Alabama.
They surrendered the mom too but she was actually adopted out right away. They were another group
that was supposed to go on transport last month but they didn't get to go and actually one of them
got adopted over the five week break and I was devastated but thankfully the adopters realized
that they could not handle a puppy and they returned it back to the shelter so we could get them.
The S Liter of 6 were owner surrenders. The owner was another one who contacted us when she heard
we had taken her friend's letters and spayed their moms. Her friend was actually the owners of the
washer machine puppies from way back when I think that was sometime this summer. These puppies have
a really sad story too. They were actually a litter of 10. Two died just from who even knows what
probably just their living conditions and then two froze to death when the weather dropped down solo
so fast a few weeks ago. As soon as the owner told us that we knew we couldn't wait until transport
to get them and we had to go get them that day. Thankfully we were able to find three fosters
to split them all up so that nothing else would happen to them. The A Liter of 5 was actually a
litter of 6 before one was run over and killed. They were owner surrenders from the same home that
the B Liter of 8 Great Danes came from on the October 5th Bluey Transport. We actually think
that these two litters might have the same dad so adopters I would love a DNA test done on both
letters. The D Liter of 5 is the litter I was telling you about in my last episode. They are from
the same house as the P Liter of 8 on the October 15th Hot Dog Transport and the C Liter of 10 from
the July 19th Pasta Transport but I told y'all wrong. I said they're not related and they're just
from three momma dogs that got dropped off. Well that's not true. Turns out they have a stud
living with them who was impregnating all the girls when they were dumped. So the C Liter
from the Pasta Transport, the P Liter of Hot Dogs and this Liter of 5 from today
most likely all have the same daddy. This momma from today is scheduled to be spayed this week
and I believe their daddy is already neutered if not then he already has an appointment to be neutered
and the other two mamas are already spayed. So no more babies for them. Kola is the second dog
who gets to keep her name because of this theme, belonged to the neighbors of one of our rescue
partners. They found her a year ago and brought her home despite the fact that they were totally
incapable of taking care of her. She was skin and bones and they rarely ever fed her so she
snuck away to our rescue partner's house every chance she got just for food and love. After a
whole year of begging them to surrender her or at the very least letting us spay her they finally
agreed to surrender her after they realized she was pregnant. Thankfully they surrendered her in
time that she was able to have all 10 of her puppies in the comfort of a foster home. We think
the father of the puppies is their other dog. He is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever mix. Unfortunately he
won't be coming up on transport with this happy family because after they received a noise complaint
for him barking the owners quote took him off and I don't think any of us want to know what that means.
Okay and on to the cats. I told you yesterday that I was hoping to send 12 today and Jacqueline
will be happy to know 12 is all I really sent. I went to the shelter but I did not leave with 15
extra kittens. So Ice T was found in the middle of the road by an elderly man. She was teeny tiny
and super pitiful. He asked one of our rescue partners for help and she got the kitten placed
in a foster home where she could recover and fatten up. Pepsi was part of a litter of four.
One died and the owner gave two away before surrendering the last one to us. Yoohoo was
actually pulled out of a drain pipe at my church. Someone heard her meowing for help and called the
shelter who did nothing but then they called our local cat guru who went out there and crawled
in the pipe to get her. That sounds a lot easier than it really was and actually involved like
getting the police to come out there and everything but they got her. Lemonade was a stray with a
terrible upper respiratory infection. She was surrendered to one of our vet partners in the
nearby town where they took care of her and even spayed her when she was healthy. The R litter of
three are from the same vet. A man who fed their feral mama started working with these kittens when
they were just newborns so that they wouldn't end up feral too. When they were weaned he trapped the
mom to have her spayed and the vets took the kittens for him to find homes for them. The mom
was released but she will not be having any more kittens. The Yoo litter of two. Listen y'all no
I really like when when we have letters that are split across two transports that they both
start with the same letter. Okay wow I didn't think about that when I named the first half
of the Yoo litter of two kittens something that starts with you. Like what was I thinking? So
we have unsweet tea and uncaffeinated. Now is uncaffeinated a word? I don't think so actually.
I can't find it in any dictionary that I look up online but I didn't know what else to do
so we're going with uncaffeinated and I'm very sorry. So so their other litter mates are the
Yoo litter of two that was from the October 5th blue e-transport. These two were held back because
one of them was just so teeny tiny and scrawny. We were worried if she would even be able to
handle the transport and the other one had an insane ulcer on her eye in her eye. I don't know
I don't know how that works. Dr. Burton wanted her to stay with the vet down here who's fostering her
and monitor the eye just to make sure it didn't need to be removed. Thankfully it looks like
she's going to be able to keep it. This whole litter was dumped at the vets not the vet I've
been talking about. This is a different one and they fostered them for us. The v litter of three
were owner surrenders. The owner planned to just take a spay voucher and get the mama cat fixed
but when he heard what great lives that these kittens were going to have he asked if we would
take the mama two. Unfortunately he asked us that when he was dropping the kittens off.
Unfortunately we had no room and it was too short notice to add an adult kitten on
but we hope to send her next week if we find a foster for her. Well that is all the stories for
all 51 critters on the van tonight. I have only gagged a few times but I think I cut my mic off
in time that you guys won't hear any of that. Don't forget we only have two more transports left this
year so if you're needing a puppy fix before the holiday festivities start make sure you sign up.
We have lots of babies down here that would love to get out of the south and into real homes before
the end of the year. It's a rough life but someone's got to do it.