Hello friends, welcome to Rough Life. We have quite a load today. This was actually supposed
to be a mini transport capped at 25, but we went just a smidge over that with 73 critters
on the van today. So let's jump right in. Ruffle Butts is a rough collie. She wandered
up to someone's home back in January and the homeowner posted her all over Facebook, but
no one ever came forward. I went there in early February to scan her for a microchip, and
then I was supposed to take her home, but the lady told me when I got there that she
just couldn't give her up. So I just left. Fast forward to the beginning of April, Ruffle
Butts or Collie as we called her here was barking at night in the kennel where she lived and
it was waking up the ladies babies. So she told me I could have her. We actually would
have sent Collie last transport. But earlier this month, Collie ran up and sniffed a dying
raccoon. It was never determined whether or not the raccoon had distemper or rabies or
just another random disease. But we all decided it was just not worth the risk if she contracted
whatever it had. So we sent off two distemper tests two weeks apart to make sure that she
was healthy and luckily both tests came back negative and she was cleared to go.
Wubba Nubb, formerly Moose, was originally supposed to come into our foster care in February
when we had an opening at our doggy daycare foster. But Moose just couldn't wait two
more weeks. He decided to go ahead and get hit by a car, breaking his pelvis and forcing
us to take him early. Fortunately, the break wasn't bad enough for surgery or amputation.
He just needed six weeks of restricted activity. Unfortunately, we had nowhere to put him for
that. It just so happened the week after Moose was hit by a car, we were having a meeting
with our local jail to start a fostering program with the inmates there. The following week,
Moose was their very first foster. So we boarded him at the vet that first week and then he
was able to go to the jail. He hung out with those guys every day and they took such good
care of him. They were so upset when he left. But after being on restricted activity for
so long, we knew he would be thrilled to go to doggy daycare for his last few weeks here
in foster care. The jail actually took ruffle butts, the collie, when Moose left for us.
Also fun fact, we could never remember if this dog's name was Goose or Moose. So if
you see us calling him either one, just know it's the same dog. We just don't. We just
don't know. Angel Deer, formerly Goldie, was picked up by one of our fosters in early February.
They were driving along the highway and saw her run across the road into the woods.
They pulled over, got out and clapped their hands and she came running into their arms as
fast as she could. She was skin and bones soaking wet and terrified. They took her to the vet the
next morning because something was very clearly very wrong with her back leg. The vet told them
she was five months old and judging by the healing the leg had done, he estimated that she was hit
by a car when she was about three months old. The break was so bad that the bone broke through
her skin. Because it had healed incorrectly for so long, he thought amputating it would be the
best option. The family, of course, couldn't pay for such an expensive, unexpected procedure,
but they offered to foster her for us for as long as we needed them to if we would pay for it.
And we definitely took them up on that offer. I think she stayed a little longer than they bargained
for, but about a week or so ago we sent her to a new foster to see how she got along with their
animals and environment and she did fantastic. Chico was found stuck in a pallet at one of
our supporters' jobs. She works at Walmart and he was inside the back part of Walmart in the
warehouse area. He had gotten completely stuck at the bottom of a wooden pallet and she got him
free and then asked us if we would take him. Quincy May was dumped on a county road a few
towns away. Someone actually saw it happen and they picked her up and kept her until we could
get her on transport. Sophie, the giraffe, was picked up by one of our rescue partners' friends.
She saw someone giving puppies away at her local hardware store. There were originally 12 puppies,
but by the time she got there, Sophie was the last one. Sophie's mom is a registered lab and Sophie's
dad is, and I quote, a full-blooded golden lab. If you don't know what a golden lab is, it is half
golden retriever, half Labrador retriever. So I don't know how it could be full blood if it's two
things, but she's cute regardless. Itzy Ritzy was seen in a small cage in a gas station parking lot.
No cars or people were around him. One of our rescue partners' friends saw and went inside to
ask the clerk why there was a puppy out there. She said it had been there since she got to work
the day before. It was actually on the side of their building towards the back when she got to work
that day, but she moved it under the awning so he would be in the shade and she gave him some water.
The friend took the puppy home and left her number in case someone came by looking for the puppy,
but I want to be honest, I can't think of a single reason you would ever need to leave your puppy in
a small crate without food, water, or shelter in a gas station parking lot without telling anyone.
So if an owner ever does come forward, I will personally make sure they never get this dog back.
The G litter of two were found in the middle of the road soaking wet and trembling after a tornado
ripped through their town. No owners were ever found. The two D pups are the doodles that I held
back from last week's D litter of 11. Go listen to their story if you missed it, but I am very happy
to update y'all and say they made an absolute 100% recovery. We never figured out what was wrong
with them, but evidently all the meds and all the prayers were just what they need to turn things
around. I was absolutely terrified we were going to lose them. They were some of the sickest dogs
I've had in a long time and they lost a shocking amount of weight in what seemed like overnight
one night. But they are fat little things now. I was so afraid they might die, but I am straight
up about to kill them if they don't leave my dining room today. No, I'm just kidding. I am
tore up that they are leaving and so is my husband. It's been almost eight weeks though since I've
had my dining room doodle free and I am very ready to do some deep spring cleaning. The P family
is a mama and seven puppies. A social worker was treating a client and he told her one of his
neighbors in their apartment building just moved off and left the pregnant dog behind. He brought
it into his unit, but apparently wasn't allowed to have dogs. So I don't know if it was just his
unit specifically or the whole building and the other person was just keeping the dog hidden.
Regardless, this client needed help rehoming the pregnant dogs. So the social worker reached out to
one of our rescue partners who reached out to one of our other rescue partners who reached out to us.
We got her set up in a foster home and she had her babies the very next day.
She had nine total, but only seven were alive. The B family is a mama and eight puppies. They
have a very similar story to the P family. They were left behind when renters moved out of someone's
grandmother's rent home. The grandmother didn't know what to do. So her granddaughter posted it
on Facebook for her. That's when I got a little petty. We really did not have room for this dog
and I really didn't even want to pull her and all of her puppies. Several other rescues were tagged
in the comments. So I didn't think anything of it when I saw it on Facebook one day until a few days
later. This girl's husband made another post basically saying the same exact thing and he posted
the same exact pictures. One of the comments was from someone in our area that tries to do animal
rescue, but she's really not that legit. And her comment was so rude and so snarky. She said something
like, sir, as I told your wife, I am working to find someone to take them. Everyone in our area is
completely full. You posting this again only floods our feeds and wastes our time. You need to delete
this post and give me time to find a rescue. And I mean, she's not entirely wrong. But I was annoyed
that she claimed to reach out to everyone in our area and didn't even message Boomville Second Chance
about these dogs that were left in Boomville. So I immediately commented on the post and said,
be too cast. We'll be happy to take them. And then Jessica yelled at me. But oh well, lives were
saved and it's fine. Okay, now let's talk about all these kitties. There were 45 cats total on the
van today. The O family is a mama cat and six kittens. They were dumped in someone's car port
with a bed and everything. The homeowner called one of our former fosters who reached out to us.
The kittens barely had their eyes open at the time. Oh, and it was just a few hours before we
were getting a horrible storm, one of the worst storms we've had in years. So luckily the homeowners
didn't notice them and were able to keep them safe or they could have absolutely died that night.
The L family is a mama cat and four kittens. She actually belongs to my neighbor at the doghouse.
They surrendered her to us when they realized she was pregnant. She gave birth to the kittens in
the back room of the doghouse. The M family is a mama and four kittens. They were left behind at
an apartment complex a few towns away when someone was evicted or moved out. It was originally five
kittens, but a tomcat caught and killed one of the kittens in front of their foster while she
was running to help it. The E family is a mama and five kittens. They were found in some debris
after a tornado tore apart a nearby town. No owner was ever found and they've been in our
foster care ever since. The K litter of four kittens were actually a litter of five. They were found
last week at one of our veterinary and partner clinics. She was closed that day, but just happened
to come in to check on some of the animals in the clinic and she heard these kittens crying.
Someone had thrown them over her fence into her giant dumpster. One of them was dead and after
looking it over she realized it died from being thrown and hitting the ground so hard. It was a
totally healthy kitten that could have lived such a long and happy life if whoever this scumbag was
would have just brought them to the clinic to surrender them instead or even just left them
in the parking lot. I mean seriously who throws kittens? Zara is from that same vet clinic.
She was taken in by one of the vet techs when she was just a kitten last year. Speaking of
throwing kittens, the vet tech saw someone throw Zara against a tree. I honestly can't even imagine
what the reasoning behind that would be. I can at least understand why someone would throw kittens
over a fence into a dumpster to get rid of them, but throwing a kitten against a tree, what's the
point? I don't know. Anyway, it's been with them for the last year. All the rest of the cats are
from a local shelter here in Florence. I got to do another shelter shopping spree and it was
so much fun. This was our first time partnering with this shelter and it went so well. I actually
went there this morning to pull two cats, Jelly Cat and Nook. When I got there though they were
telling me about us angels. She's sweet but spicy so I asked the manager if it was okay if I
facetimed Dr. Burton to show her the spicy kitty and see what she thought and I warned her. I said
Dr. Burton is super wonderful but she can be a little blunt sometimes. Like she may answer this
phone and be like F no we're not taking that cat no way. So like don't let that hurt your feelings.
I'm sure it's a great cat. Dr. Burton just needs them to be sweet and adoptable so they're not
attacking the team at intake tomorrow. The manager was like no no it's totally fine I understand.
So I get B on facetime and I'm showing her this cat petting the cat. The cat's being super sweet
and B goes yeah pull her she seems great. A couple seconds later she's like wait show me
that cat over there pull her who's that cat beside them pull him I love him are those kittens get
those kittens a mom and newborns get them for sure we can definitely take them. At the end of the
phone call we had pulled every adoptable cat they had and that is why Dr. Burton and I should never
go shopping together. All they had left when we were done were two cats that were already adopted
they were just waiting for people to come pick them up and an old old old cat with no teeth that
can only eat canned food and she's been there forever because nobody wants her. So if any of
you listening are interested she is a long hair black baby and I will gladly go back and get her
for you. So because all these cats were pulled from her shelter I don't know much about their
back stories. Nook is pregnant I believe they said she was a stray that got picked up the Ken
worker was so sad we were taking her she said if she wasn't pregnant the cat not the worker
she would have taken her home the day she got there. Tubby Todd was a stray but his whole
back right leg and hip were freshly shaved when they got him like he had just been at the vet
they checked with all the vets in the area and no one recognized him and no owner ever came forward
us angels the spicy girl her actual name is Demi she was an owner surrender last month after
almost three years her family gave her up because they had recently developed allergies to her okay
jelly cat was confiscated that's all I know you know if there was something juicy I would
definitely tell y'all but that one word is all I know about her the f mama and her eight kittens
well not all eight kittens are hers I don't know her story or whether or not she came in
pregnant or with the kittens already but I do know right after she got there someone came in with
newborn newborn kittens and their mom had been run over and killed so they stuck them in there with
the mama and she took them right in the H kittens were owner surrenders but what's crazy is right
after transport left today the shelter reached back out to me and said someone came in right after
me with the mama cat of these kittens I asked if she was sweet and they said well the man came in
holding her in his arms like a human baby so we're gonna swing by next week and pick her up too
and with that it is now three minutes to midnight and I have been awake for entirely too long
thanks for listening to this week's episode sorry it's a few hours later than normal but with 73
critters on this mini transport there was a lot to do after the van rolled out make sure you hit
that subscribe button to get notified about next week's episode it's our last transport until June
but you already know plenty of stories for y'all in the meantime it's a rough life but someone's
gonna do it