welcome to Ruff life. it is going to be a quick
one today because despite there being 40 animals
on board there's only seven stories for me to
tell and one of them is a repeat. i keep wanting
to call this our third annual mommy and me transport
but we skipped 2024 because i was pregnant i
was the mommy and me. so I don't know if that
disqualifies us from saying it's our third annual
but anyways in February's 2023 2025 and now 2026
we have done a whole nursing mama transport and
I love this tradition so much a because it's
so much easier to load 40 animals when 33 of
them are the size of your palm. but also this
lightens our load tremendously for the upcoming
puppy season that's just around the corner. it
really gives us a huge head start and helps us
keep our head above the water just a little bit
longer. the theme for this transport is gemstones.
lame, i know we had the super bowl today, we
have winter Olympics, like there's so many good
things to use right now, but It was my birthday
weekend. I was actually out of town all weekend
and was scheduled off, but when we decided last
week to add this transport last minute, there
was no way that I was going to say no. So that
being said, between my birthday being out of
town and getting food poisoning in the hotel
the night of my birthday, I had zero brain cells
left to come up with a theme and names. Thankfully,
our wonderful Claire had sent me a list of all
the gemstones ever named. It's like literally
the longest list I've ever seen. She sent it
to me maybe even years ago, definitely months
ago. So I just had to plug them all in. It was
so easy. She really saved the day. Quartz is
such a ham. Everyone who meets him falls in love
with him. Whoever is fostering him, I hope you're
planning to foster Phil because you're in big
trouble if you're not. We got a call about a
dog, not this dog, whose owner had died and the
neighbors had been feeding him. He's a big guy,
like more than 60 pounds. And they said another
stray had shown up earlier in the week and was
bullying him and wouldn't let him eat. So Jessica
went out there to see the first dog. Because
we were pretty sure that the stray that was being
mean to him was a like huge aggressive dog that
would run off or I would tell her he was too
aggressive for us to pull. You know, like we
we can't take mean dogs and. So she pulls up
and she sees this little 20 pound guy playing
with the first dog in the carport. So the little
guy is the first one to make it to her bouncing
all over the place, begging for attention. She
said, well, crap was her first thought as he
literally jumped into her arms. The lady told
her that they were obviously getting along much
better now. And it seemed like the little dog
just needed to get some food in his belly for
a few days and realize this was consistent. The
only issue was he wasn't letting the other dog
eat. So I think once he realized there was plenty
of food to go around, he got over it. So Jessica
loaded both dogs up and they have spent the last
month at Doggie Daycare. Quartz actually spent
a few days at our vet when he was neutered before
he could go to daycare. And one of the vets and
multiple staff there all wanted to adopt him,
but they know my role for local adoptions. but
his friend that he was bullying is still available
and still at doggy daycare and would love to
get a foster so he could come up on transport.
The A family, we were contacted about the mama
a few weeks ago. She had wandered up as a stray
and no one wanted her. We did not have any physical
or mental space at the time, so we told them
it would be a little bit before we'd be able
to take her. Fast forward a couple weeks to right
after the ice storm hit and they messaged us
again telling us that she was pregnant and they
were pretty sure that she was going to have puppies
any day and that she had just spent the last
week of the ice storm in just a doghouse in their
yard, just a tiny little doghouse. So the shelter
wouldn't take her and animal control called us
to see if we could and Jessica was like, well,
why can't you? And he said it was because the
only cage that he had open was in the very back
next to the door and he didn't have any power
yet at the shelter to plug in a heat lamp. They
do have gas heat there, though, and it's not,
you know, toasty warm in there, but it's a million
percent better than it would be outside in an
ice storm. Anyways, the neighbor had been feeding
her and so he brought her inside so that she
wouldn't have puppies out in the freezing cold.
Jessica and the doghouse had just gotten power
and a little bit normal back to life that very
day, but we still didn't know if this transport
was going to happen and if she would have a foster
and even be able to go. Um, so that was my new
little foster who I am hoping will be on the
next transport, but oh my goodness, she's obnoxious,
but you guys are going to love her. Anyways,
so the next day the lady that had been communicating
with Jess said that she did have puppies last
night and the guy ended up putting them back
outside at midnight in the middle of her giving
birth because his roommates weren't comfortable
with a birthing dog in their house. Needless
to say, we got her set up at the doghouse later
that day. She is a great little mama and the
absolute sweetest. She just melts in your lap
if you sit down with her. The bee family is from
the hoarding house we pulled from recently. I
covered their story more in depth on the January
30th snowplow episode, so definitely check that
episode out if you're interested in the full
story. But long story short, they're from a home
of around 300 dogs that were confiscated. But
quick update to last week's litter. We held the
runt puppy back from that litter at transport
because she was just so teeny tiny and puny.
Unfortunately, she did pass away shortly after
Tasha got her home. She was so, so, so, so much
smaller than any of the other puppies in both
litters, like not even half the size. I would
say probably a fourth of the size of all of the
other puppies. So I'm not surprised she didn't
make it, but still very disappointed. The C family
is from our Alabama shelter. Mama was picked
up as a pregnant stray. She had 11 puppies at
the shelter, but she was in a small kiddie pool
and unfortunately smushed four of the puppies.
The D family were strays. The mom came up and
gave birth in a lady's flower bed during the
ice storm. She took them inside until we could
take them and get them on transport. Then for
the cats Opal is from Jessica's family. This
is what Jessica had to say about it She said
my parents are not cat people They've always
had dogs and just recently had to euthanize their
senior dog Their street is also the gathering
point for half the stray cats in town So now
that there isn't a guard dog there in the backyard
this cat made their deck her home My dad said
that cat is not staying and my mom said the next
thing she knew she looked outside and he was
sitting in his chair on the deck reading a book
with this cat in his lap. Two weeks ago at Sunday
lunch, I noticed her belly looked a little bit
bigger. When we got her approved for transport,
I brought her to the doghouse and the last couple
of days I've gone from yeah, I think she is pregnant
to she's definitely pregnant to oh my gosh, please
don't have these kittens before you leave. She
is super sweet and a wee bit vocal. I don't know
how she has made it as a stray with all the loving
that she's wanting. So if she's not pregnant,
it's Jessica's fault. The K family is from our
Alabama shelter. One of them is the mom. I don't
even know which one is the mom. The other one
is the mom's sister. They are from the same home
and they were in the same cage together at the
shelter when the one gave birth. But they have
been so sweet together with the baby since that
baby was born. Like they both cleaned it up.
I don't think they're both nursing and I think
only one of them is nursing, but just so sweet
with the baby and they snuggle with that together
and with the baby. Oh my goodness, it's so precious.
They are from the Shelter's Animal Control Officer's
Mom. This is also the same home that the S letter
of six Chihuahua puppies came from November 29th,
2025. That is all the stories for this week.
I told you it would be a quick episode We have
another transport scheduled for next weekend
and let me just tell you There are some stinking
adorable animals on that load one of them you
just heard a few minutes ago If you haven't signed
up yet, trust me Just bite the bullet sign up
and you can thank me Sunday morning when you
get the cutest critter you've ever seen Oh my
goodness It's a ruff life, but someone's gotta
do it.