Hello friends, welcome to Roughly.
Today is supposed to be a mini-transport.
That means about 25 to 30 animals on it.
Well, I don't know what happened, and I sure ain't about to question it, but we're supposed
to have 55 animals on board today.
I don't know why, but I am super pumped about it.
Also, two heartworm positive dogs, which is a super bummer for Dr. Burton, but really,
really great for those dogs.
It is currently 2.30 in the morning, the morning of transport, so I am telling you all of the
stories of who I hope is going to be on the van in 12 hours.
The theme is Olympic sports, and you're probably thinking, why?
The Olympics are over.
And had I listened to all of you who suggested to do an Olympic theme for the July 20th transport
when they were just starting, instead of the random fonts theme that I did instead, then
we could have done sports for the last transport while the Olympics were still going, and everything
would have made sense.
But alas, I was too young and naive and didn't know how much I would enjoy the Olympics.
So after the Olympic transport left last week, I got so excited and I put all the names for
the sports theme in, and by the time I realized that transport would be leaving after the
Olympics were over, I couldn't come up with anything better.
So we're still going to roll with the Olympics.
Can you tell I had coffee earlier?
I am wide awake.
So let's get into the stories.
Medley, also known as Mandy with the broken mandible, also known as Big Mama, also known
as Jawbreaker, but no one would actually let me name her that.
So that's just what I called her.
She is our very pregnant bloodhound.
She and her eight month old puppy from her last litter wandered up to someone's home
over a month ago and never left.
The girl is super young.
She just graduated high school actually, and she was begging for help.
The rescuer that I actually pulled Flava Flav and Felicity from, from last transport, my
two super bald, mangy dogs, she sent me a text about Big Mama and her puppy.
The picture she sent was not very flattering and she said it looked like there was something
wrong with her mouth.
I actually sent it to Dr. Burton hoping she would be like, yes, go get that baby.
How terrible.
But she was not.
She was actually not on board at all.
Her concern was we literally had no idea what was wrong with her jaw.
In the picture, it looks like her bottom jaw is just hanging there.
In reality, I think she was just yawning or panting.
Anyways, I finally convinced Dr. Burton to just let me go ahead and send her to the vet
for an exam.
If it's not that bad, then we got a lot of good information on the dog and she won't
have to spend as much time on her exam at intake.
If it's really bad, well, we got the girl information that she needs to help get her
into another rescue who maybe is in the same boat as us thinking I don't want to commit
until I know what's going on with it.
The sneaky part of that plan, though, is I know Dr. Burton is a sucker like me and as
soon as we get the littlest bit involved with a dog, we're pulling it.
No question.
So I talked to the girl and I told her, like, look, I'm not saying I'm taking the dogs,
but I will pay for an exam if you'll take her to my vet and worst case, you'll have
more information than you do now.
She was thrilled.
My vets took a look and said her jaw had definitely been broken, but it looked like
an old injury and it looked like it had healed fairly correctly.
They think she was probably hit by a car.
I can't remember if her back teeth touch or her front teeth touch, but one set touches
and the other doesn't, which is good enough for her to eat and drink comfortably and they
don't think she will have any problems delivering her puppies because if you didn't know, momma
dogs have to bite open the sack of each puppy and then chew the umbilical cord off to clamp
it shut.
If it's not done correctly and quickly, the puppies will either suffocate in the sack
or they will bleed to death from their umbilical stomp.
So that was my main concern going into this.
If her jaw was hanging open like it was in the picture, there's no way she could deliver
puppies on her own and that would mean we were going to have to pay for an emergency
C-section fee on top of a spa fee, on top of a heartworm treatment fee because she's
positive and on top of whatever jaw surgery she was going to need.
But we actually got really lucky.
She is heartworm positive and she will need to be spayed, but the jaw is as good as it's
going to get basically.
And big momma is not going to have to deliver her puppies in a field in the 100 degree heat.
As for her older puppy, we did not physically pull him yet.
We did commit to him and I told the girl we would take him in a few weeks, but we only
had the dog house open as a foster home and I didn't know if big momma was going to give
birth any minute literally.
And sometimes when they have puppies, they get really protective over them just instinctually,
which could mean she would potentially attack her older puppy.
Plus the girl was keeping the older puppy in the house.
Never big momma though, so he was comfortable and safe.
So we'll get him up there in a few weeks.
Oh, also, medley, if you didn't know, is a type of swimming style in the Olympics.
Volleyball is a Jessica pole, so you know it's a lame story.
I asked her for the background story and she said quote, don't be mad, but all I remember
was she was picked up as a stray by animal control and he texted me to come get her.
That's all.
Nordic combined was found running in the middle of a highway with his sibling.
A lady stopped and got them out of the road.
She took them home and posted them on Facebook trying to find the owner with no luck.
She and her husband decided to keep one of the siblings, but they could not keep both
of them, so she asked one of our fosters if she could help find a rescue for him.
Diving was found by a young couple on the side of the road in the county.
They took her to the pound where animal control said he would not take her.
So the couple took her back where they found her and left her on the side of the road again.
Luckily, one of our fosters had animal control go get her and bring her to her.
She was very dehydrated and pitiful and probably very confused, but she has made a full recovery
and she is such a sweet girl.
Water Polo, our other heartworm positive dog, and her three W pups were found on the side
of the road and the finder contacted us to see if we could help find the humps for all
of them.
It took us quite a while to get around to them because we are so slammed with dogs
right now.
So she went ahead and got them spayed and no, no, she did not.
She went ahead and got the mama spayed with her own money and then vaccinated the puppies.
She also told us that she is so thankful Wolf Trap is finally able to take them and she's
so excited for their future.
The F litter of four were picked up by animal control and brought to the pound.
The officer said there was a mama dog and two other puppies, but he wasn't able to catch
them and no one has seen them since.
The A litter of four was originally a litter of five, but by the time the foster home opened
up for them down here, they were a litter of four.
The runt had died.
That's the only explanation I got, but after seeing what the surviving puppies looked like,
I'm going to say it starved to death.
We had been in contact with the owner asking for over a week to come and vaccinate and
dewarm the puppies and offered to bring food with when we came before the owner finally
gave the address.
They were all created together and one small crate for their entire lives until they went
into our foster home a few weeks ago.
Insane.
The T litter of five.
So an older lady contacted one of our rescue partners hope on Facebook and said that someone
told her that we could help find homes for her puppies.
This is what hope said about them.
I told her Wolf Trap would take them and would give her a spay voucher for her mom a dog.
She said, what's that?
I said, it's a card you turn in once you take your dog to be spayed and the rescue will
pay for it.
Her mouth fell open and she started crying right there.
She said, you have no idea how much this means to me.
She said, I'm a sitter.
I sit with an invalid lady.
Then she said, actually, that's how I found out about you guys.
The lady's grandson told me that you have helped out many times with many puppies.
She didn't even have to say his name.
I knew it was the sweet little couple that take in all the strays that get dropped off
at their house.
I bet at least six to seven litters have gone to Wolf Trap.
Anyways, she was in the process of moving into another house and had been keeping the
puppies at the new house.
She only went by twice a day to feed them so they didn't get much human attention.
They were very shy at first, but it didn't take them much time at all to come out of
their shell.
They were such funny, goofy puppies that loved to play and they eat a lot.
The B litter of seven were owner's renders from the same home as the M litter of seven
from the Mystics transport on April 13th and the C litter of seven from the Sitdown Restaurants
transport on May 10th.
Apparently, I don't know if I forgot this or if I never knew this.
I don't think I ever knew this.
But apparently there was supposed to be a third litter that the owner was hoping we would
take and they all got eaten by coyotes.
I had no idea.
I don't think.
We found out when we went to pick up this B litter of seven that there was a third litter
that we never got.
These are all from different stray moms that are not related.
And the two moms of the two litters that we already sent are already spayed and we left
a spade voucher for this B mama.
This man lives way out in the sticks and is actually neighbors with our veterinarian,
which is how he got in contact with us in the first place.
He gets drop offs all the time.
Probably people hoping the vet will take them, but instead they end up at this man's house.
The S litter of 12 were owner's surrenders.
The owner contacted us the day after the puppies were born and asked us to reserve a spot for
them on transport when they were old enough to go.
And I thought, wow, this is such a responsible proactive owner.
I'm amazed.
Most of the time people are like, I have a litter of six, four month old puppies.
I've had them their whole lives.
They have to be gone tomorrow or I'm dumping them all at the pound.
Like why did you not tell us three months ago?
This is ridiculous.
Anyway, I was very wrong about this lady.
About four weeks after that message, she messaged us again and told us she was going to keep
two or three of the puppies.
I told her whatever, but you're not getting a spay voucher for your mom unless I get all
12 puppies.
She agreed, she would give me all 12 and then the next day she told me to come get them
as soon as possible because she couldn't deal with them anymore.
In her defense, they were all in her living room and 12 puppies is a lot.
She was originally going to keep them until their transport date, so I told her I don't
have any available fosters, but when my transport that week left, I would circle back with her
and we'd get them into a foster home in a few days.
So several days later, we made a plan to get the puppies and Mama Becky headed to go get
them.
The first red flag was when I asked the lady for her address.
She gave me one, which I passed on to Mama Becky to go get the puppies.
Only as she's pulling into the driveway, the owner messages back and goes, but that's
not where the puppies are.
We are making a plan for us to come and get your puppies.
Why would you give me an address to where they are not?
And if they are your puppies, why don't they live with you?
It just so happened that the owner was at the address that she gave me with no puppies
when my mom pulled up.
So the owner explained that this is her house where she keeps her three dogs, horse and some
cats, but she lives with her boyfriend down the road and just stops once a day to leave
food for the animals.
And the puppies are their dog's puppies at her boyfriend's house.
So she tells my mom to just follow her to the boyfriend's house and they start heading
that way.
About five minutes later, the lady pulls over on the side of the road, walks over to my
mom's car and says she talked to her boyfriend and they've decided they're going to keep all
12 puppies.
Are you kidding me?
They don't want to send them somewhere where we're just going to euthanize them all.
And then she leaves.
Here's my, here's my issue with this logic.
Never mind the fact that you called me to reserve a spot for them and then you called
me to come get them earlier than planned because you couldn't handle them anymore.
Let's take all of that out of the equation and just think about why on earth would I
pay $150 to $200 depending on how much your mom and dog ends up weighing to spay your
dog for you if I'm going to pay to euthanize all of your puppies.
And you contacted me.
It's not even like I hunted her down and I was trying to steal them.
Ugh, oh my goodness, I was so hot.
I still am hot.
Poor Justin had to listen to me pacing back and forth in the living room hollering.
It doesn't even make sense for a good hour.
So I am rapid fire texting Jessica going off about this and I'm like, listen, I think
I'm going to message her and I'm going to snap on her and she's like, do it, go off.
And I'm like, oh, I am.
And she's like, do it, lose it on her.
And I'm like, oh, I'm gonna.
And then I did not.
Only, only because I knew those poor puppies were going to be the losers in this, not her,
not me.
Only those puppies who would suffer because of whatever the humans decided in the end.
But I did message her though.
And I said, look, you reserved your spot on this transport six weeks ago.
I have 50 other puppies I could send in their spot in an instant.
So if you want to keep them or send them to another rescue, that's fine.
But I'm telling you right now, I've been holding 12 spots for you for six weeks.
And if you tell me right now, you don't want to send them, I'm cutting them from my list.
I'm moving on to someone else and you will not get another spot.
So she writes back and she's like, well, okay, if that's what you decide, that's fine, I'll
keep them all.
But in the meantime, she was actually messaging one of our mutual friends who happens to be
a rescuer that I work with in the town where the owner lives.
So technically these puppies should have been her problem.
But apparently when the owner told the rescuer that her dog was pregnant several months ago,
she flat out told her I can't take them.
And she told her how full rescues are right now.
And she was like, you need to get on a waiting list ASAP if you want them to go up north.
And then she recommended me to the owner.
So when the owner messaged her and told her that I had held 12 spots for her for six weeks,
but she didn't want to send them to me and she wanted the friend to take them instead.
The friend was like, no, what have you done?
See if they'll still take them, do whatever you have to do.
They're a wonderful rescue.
And I only know on this because she, the owner told my mom when they were surrendering the
puppies a few days later, she thought my mom was just a foster for us.
She didn't know she was my mom and was absolutely going to tell me everything that she had just
said.
But so I don't know if the owner like looked us up and finally realized that, you know,
we were legitimate or if her friend really made her realize like, listen, I am not going
to help you out.
You're really going to be stuck with 12 puppies if you don't let them take them.
But after about 30 minutes, she writes me back and she goes, I'm sorry we got off on
the wrong foot with each other.
Please let me know if Becky still wants to meet to get my puppies.
Thank you for your time.
So my mom went back out to get them two days later and the owner was in a much better mood
that time.
But like, why would I pay to spay your dog for you so that you'll give me her puppies
just for me to kill them?
I will never understand.
Okay.
Onto the carrots.
La Crosse wandered up to someone's house a month ago with honestly truly what looked
like her eyeball hanging out of her head.
Really, that's what it looked like.
I got the pictures and was asked if I would pay for it to go to the vet and I was like,
yes, absolutely needs to go to the vet ASAP go.
And then I realized, I have no idea how much this is going to cost.
I don't even know what's wrong with the cat.
And I had not even mentioned it to be or asked if it was okay that I pull this cat.
So then I had to act like I had not just pulled this cat and that I was just asking for permission
to pull the cat, even though the cat was already on the way to the vet with my name on it.
Luckily, Dr. Burton said yes, so it was all okay.
But okay, listen to me right now.
I'm going to post the video on the foster's page of what was actually wrong with the cat's
eye, but I'm going to post it in the comments under her transport picture when I do the
transport post.
So as to make sure no one could just accidentally happen upon this video when they're scrolling
on the page, this needs to be a video that you are actively searching to find not just
happen upon this video stunned even Dr. Burton.
It is not for the faint of heart.
You know, you know.
I love to share the gnarly stuff with y'all, but even I hesitated at first about whether
or not to share this video.
If you're not a part of the WTAR fosters page, but you're a little weirdo like me and now
you're dying to see the video to request to join and mention that you're coming from the
rough life podcast just to see the cat video or message me on Facebook and I'll send it
to you.
But anyways, the cat is fine now.
She's super sweet.
Everyone loves her.
It's just a wild story.
Oh, and just just as a little fun fact for you, I like to name animals something so that
I can remember them or their story.
Anytime I'm able to it doesn't always work out.
But it's always something stupid that most people wouldn't even catch on to.
Like doorknob from the Lowe's transport who had literally gone door to door waiting for
someone to help her.
Random things like that.
Okay, well, I named this cat LaCrosse so that in my head I could always call her LaCrosse
side.
So that that's how I can remember that she's the cat from this video.
That probably means I'm a little neuro spicy, but that's just how I remember the majority
of my animals.
Karate is the mama of the B litter of five kittens from the Lowe's transport July 5th.
Remember she was supposed to come up on the April transport when she was still pregnant,
but she gave birth the day of transport and then the family didn't want to send her until
the kittens were weaned.
And then we sent so many kittens that WolfDrab wouldn't let us send any more kittens for
like a whole month.
And then when we could finally send kittens, they weren't able to take any adults because
they didn't have any cat fosters.
Well, now the whole family will be in Virginia together.
Karate, who the family actually named Katie when she wandered up to their business when
she was super pregnant, WITHOUT knowing that they were asking me, Katie, to take her when
I was also super pregnant.
She will always hold a special place in my heart because we were suffering from the same
affliction at the same time.
And then we ended up giving birth just a few days apart.
So I love her.
The age litter of three were found by one of our fosters nephews while he was riding
his ATV on a country road.
It started to rain and as he was heading home, he saw 16 tiny soaking wet kittens by the
road.
He loaded them up and he took them to his aunt.
Within a week, three of them had died.
So she took the remaining three kittens and took them to our favorite veterinarian, Dr.
Jamie.
They've been being treated down here for like two months now and they're finally healthy
enough to go.
The sea litter of six were owner surrenders.
The family had an indoor cat that gave birth and then it began to stress them out that
they had newborn kittens living inside.
So they threw their indoor cat and her few day old kittens outside in the 110 degree
heat.
A cat lady in our town who is exactly what you just pictured when I said cat lady.
She took them a few days later and has been fostering them, but she really loves the mama
cat.
She actually took her to get spayed last week.
We have a standing appointment with a local vet to have a cat spader neutered there every
week and this cat lady usually has TNRs, trap neuter releases that she takes to the appointments
and we pay for it through a grant that we receive.
Anyways, she didn't have any last week so she took this mama instead and because it
was so recent and it's not really recommended for her to go on a transport this soon after
surgery, the plan right now is for her to hang back until next transport.
I am betting that this lady is going to ask to keep her because she loves her.
Okay, rhythmic gymnastics and her two R kittens may or may not be on the van.
As of right now, 3 o'clock in the morning, the morning of transport, they do not have
fosters but that just means that I still have 11 hours to sucker somebody into it.
Finally, I tell you that when I record these episodes early like this, if I tell you a
story about a litter that doesn't make it on the van, you'll just hear the same story
on the next episode because they'll go on the next transport.
Well, that is probably not the case for these guys so I'm really really hoping that they
get to go.
The mama wandered up to someone's carport and had kittens a few weeks ago and the family
is going out of town literally two days after transport for a very long vacation and if
these guys aren't gone by then they're going to give them away even though they're only
four weeks old and still need to be with their mama or take them to a local kill shelter.
Unfortunately, we do not have any open foster homes right now even with all of our other
kittens leaving today so this is really their only hope to get to Virginia.
Okay, that is all the stories for today and my caffeine is officially wearing off.
I'm sure you're wondering like why I've been doing so many of these episodes in the absolute
middle of the night while my sweet wonderful little baby angel sleeps 12 hours a night
which is amazing.
Unfortunately, it is always midnight to noon always and my mornings are so chaotic and
then transport is chaotic and then I get home and I am literally a walking zombie maybe
because I stay up until 3am the night before.
I don't know though.
Anyways, it's just easier to have it all done and ready to post as soon as the van leaves
instead of having to drive 90 minutes home and then sit down and record it all.
I am really glad that she's such a great sleeper by which we could get it to like 10 to 10
instead of 12 to 12 because it's kind of rough.
Anyways, it's a rough life but someone's gotta do it.