Hello friends, welcome to Rough Life. It sure has been a rough life these last few days.
We sent our last transport off with all the Doberman and about 14 hours later we were
all completely snowed in. Between snow for two days followed by a torrential downpour
of freezing rain and zero degrees temps for at least three days we were all stuck in our
homes for over a week. Thankfully, and I cannot stress enough how thankful we are, most of
our foster homes were emptied from the last transport so we were able to get several puppies
that would have been outside during this weather into a safe and warm home before it hit. We were
also contacted during that brutal week about animals that were being found and needed fosters and
rescues. Luckily for the animals the finders realized that literally no one could come get them
that week and they were able to find some makeshift shelters for them. In the meantime, we are again
so unbelievably thankful for how many animals are leaving today so we can go get all those animals
we committed to and get them set up in their real foster homes now. The people have been so kind to
hang on to them for so long but they are not real fosters and they're not equipped to take care of
them for long so we are just so grateful for everyone everywhere right now for doing their part
to help all these homeless and abandoned animals. We have had much warmer weather the last few days
but it has rained non-stop and caused so much flooding and road closures from flash floods.
Next week is supposed to be fairly nice but then rumor has it, according to the farmers almanac,
the week after we're supposed to get another insane snowstorm and freezing weather. So
we are so glad to get these 56 critters out of here while we can. Okay let's get to their stories.
Today's theme was um Alabama football and honestly I don't know why I picked this. It was all over
my facebook feed for several days when I came up with the names but that seems like it was so long
ago now. Anyway, Wallace Wade was found roaming on a dirt road way out in the county. He had a leash
attached to his collar but he was so badly matted you couldn't even tell he was wearing a collar.
The finders asked all of their neighbors if anyone recognized him but no one did.
They asked us to take him and we held on to him for several weeks waiting for an owner.
We took him to our vet to you know have him scan for a microchip and everything
and they went ahead and shaved him down and just got rid of several of his mats but
he is definitely in need of a professional haircut. Iron Bowl is an owner surrender and
we're not actually sure why. He was listed as free on facebook by his family but they're keeping
his sister from the same litter so I guess two is just too many for them. The age litter of three
are owner surrenders. The owners were actually taking the mom to the vet to be spayed when the vet
told them she was pregnant and way too far along in her pregnancy to be spayed. Not even two weeks
later she had her three puppies and now they get their space for free. The R litter of five
were found on the side of the road in a nearby town. Thankfully the finders stopped and brought
them home before any of them could get run over or eaten. The N letter of six were owner
surrenders. If you remember one of my episodes earlier this month I told you about some owners
who told me their puppies were St. Bernard puppies because the dad was a purebred St. Bernard. When
they sent the picture of the dad we could not help but laugh. The dad is 100% a great Pyrenees.
Zero percent St. Bernard and the mom who looks more like a shepherd chow mix was
also taken to the vet to be spayed when the owners found out that she was pregnant. They are very
excited to have her surgery done for free now too. The F letter were posted on Facebook when a
momma dog lost all her milk and dried up completely when the puppies were only 10 days old. The owner
couldn't bottle feed them but it was actually the neighbor who posted them because she was afraid
they would die if they weren't surrendered to a rescue. The owner actually surrendered them to
the neighbor to avoid having any contact with anyone about this because she was afraid we would
make her surrender the momma dog too and that makes me so sad. Anyways our bottle feeder took
the puppies in and we told the neighbor we would give the owner a spay voucher to have the momma
dog spay for free and we would give her updates on the puppies anytime she wants them but we
haven't heard anything from either one of them since we got the puppies. The T letter of four are
actually grand pups of Eliza. She was orange juice from the November 11th drinks transport.
When we finally trapped Eliza to be spayed after her last litter the owners told us that she had
two other adult puppies from a litter years ago that they also couldn't catch. We immediately
suspected that one of them was pregnant so we set traps and we tried to catch them for weeks but
as it got colder it became more obvious that one of them was definitely pregnant so we decided to
stop trying to catch her a to avoid stressing her out but b because we didn't want to risk her giving
birth and then going into the trap unnoticed and her baby's being out in the cold for several
hours without her. Two months later her pups were weaned and running around the vacant house where
they live. The neighbor was able to catch four of them but one of them got away and we still
have not been able to catch it. They see her every day and Jessica has been out there at least a
dozen times trying to catch her. We have a trap set 24-7 trying to catch her and everything.
Her mama is still there with her and we won't continue to try and catch the mom until we've
caught this last baby just so that the baby won't ever be there alone but we are really
hoping and praying we can get this last puppy before this next cold spell hits. The C litter of
seven were found on the side of the road before Christmas. The finder saw them on the side of
the road and started feeding them for over a week before they realized no one was coming back for them.
After a week they took them home with them and they began looking for rescues. We were closed for
Christmas but we gave them several of their rescues to check with. After our first transport this year
the finders circled back with us to let us know that no one has stepped up to take them yet but at
that point our second transport, the transport and a half with all of the Doberman, was already
completely maxed out and we couldn't help them yet again. Thankfully though these finders are
truly truly wonderful people and they have kept them for over six weeks through holidays, through
the brutal cold and snow and ice storms that we've had and they held on to them until today so that
we could get them on transport. The B litter of nine were owner surrenders. The owner accidentally
let their unaltered male and their unaltered female get together a few months ago. She was shocked
that she couldn't keep them apart while the dog was in heat. Anyway they live in a camper and they
kept all nine puppies in there with them for six and a half weeks even over this cold spell that
we had last week. We were actually hoping to get them before the cold weather set in but they would
have had to stay at Mama Becky's and her setup is better for when the animals can go inside her
little foster shed in conjunction with outside in her big pen and her big pen was not an option
last week. So the owner offered to keep them the extra week just to make it easier on everyone
and keep them the warmest that they could possibly be. She actually had to run two space heaters in
her camper non-stop to keep herself and her animals warm enough that week. My grandma actually gave
her money to go towards her electric bill because she felt so bad for her and was just so glad that
she kept them this week so that my mom wouldn't have to make a million trips back and forth to her
foster shed to make sure that they were warm enough and clean enough and everything. So we will
definitely be making sure that this mama and daddy both get fixed so that none of us have to do any
of this again. The M letter of six where owner surrenders. The owner saw the mom wandering
around a local cemetery for weeks before she realized that she was homeless and needed to be
rescued. It took her more than a month of just sitting there talking to her and feeding her
before she could finally catch the mom. As soon as she got her home and the mom started getting
food on a regular basis she got huge. Turns out she was pregnant. Luckily the owner is friends
with one of our rescue partners in another town. She reached out to her and the plan was for the
owner to keep them all until the transport date but then she told the rescue that she was living
part-time in a home and part-time in a camper and just moving the mom and puppies around with her.
So when the rescuer got out there to deworm everyone and saw the camper that they were living
in they realized it was barely even big enough for two people to live in let alone two people
and a mama dog with six wild puppies. So she just went ahead and took all the puppies home with her
that day. The rescuer said from now on anytime she hears someone say someone help these puppies
that are on the side of the road or someone needs to go save these animals but I can't because of
time or money or space or there's no way I could give them up after keeping them for so long.
I'm going to remember this woman who had every single reason not to help and she still found a
way to do something and save them. And now for the kittens. Jean Stallings actually had a sister
kitten who was supposed to be on transport today too. Unfortunately she passed away shortly after
the foster got them. They were just feral kittens that were living behind a store in a nearby town
when they got them. The Y letter of two were from a hoarding case in Alabama last year.
The rest of the kittens were all adopted out but these two never found a home. The rescuer actually
drove over four hours yesterday just to get them on this transport because she wanted them to find
a real home so badly. The K letter of three were being given away for free on Facebook when one of
our rescue partners longtime catfosters saw it and went and got them just so they wouldn't fall into
the wrong hands. The A letter of four were found just before this terrible ice storm hit. They
wandered up to someone's house who luckily took them in and kept them safe during this zero degree
weather week. The finder got so attached to them the last few days that she was all choked up when
she found out that they were leaving today to go to Virginia. She is excited to start fostering for
us in the future actually. And that is all of our stories this week. It is going to be pouring down
rain the entire time I transport today so I hope you're ready for some wet and smelly critters
tomorrow morning. Thank you so much for listening and thank you so much for opening your homes to
my sweet babies. We could not do any of this without amazing fosters and supporters like you.
It's a rough life but someone's got to do it.