Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary

Two Cats From A Cruelty Case

A few days ago we had two cats come to us from a cruelty case in the Flathead Valley.  A woman had been found with more than 100 cats and 14 dogs in a house.  Cat feces covered the floors, countertops and every other conceivable surface.  In many places the feces were 6 inches deep.  You can read a recent newspaper story about the case here. 

The local Humane Society had asked if we could take two of the cats they considered unadoptable:  a deaf white male with two different colored eyes, and a one-eyed female with a funky tail.  The deaf one turned out to be an adorable, loving, purring fellow ... but very sick with a chronic upper respiratory infection and some dehyrdration.

The female is, well, terrified.  She has not come out of the litterbox she's been hiding in for days.  We learned she had spent her entire life in the woman's bedroom in this awful house, had never been around other people, and had no socialization.  The cat seems otherwise healthy.  So far all I've really seen of her is the top of her head and her one eye peering out over the edge of the litterbox in the isolation cottage. 

I took the deaf one in to the vet today.  His upper respiratory infection had started responding to medication but he continued to seem a bit dehydrated, and his fur doesn't feel right.  So we're going to run some tests and find out what else may be going on with him.  He is a sweet boy and a real talker.

I just can't imagine what it must have been like to live in those conditions. 

Blind Scout Arrives at the Ranch

This is blind Scout, a big strapping Appaloosa who arrived this evening.  He belonged to a Missoula-based outfitter, Rick A., who could not keep a blind horse.  Outfitting is a tough business to make money in, and generally outfitters can't keep horses they can't use.  To keep Scout safe, Rick had left him in a corral with a gentle mule for company.

We had agreed a few months ago to take this horse later in the summer, and today was the day.  After Rick unloaded Scout, I took him by the halter and showed him the boundaries of his new corral and shed.  We walked along, tapping on the corral panels as we went.  Three times around and Scout had it down.

We think we're going to pair up Scout with Radar, the blind mare who came from the Idaho Humane Society just 10 days ago.  She's almost ready to finish her quarantine period and needs a buddy.  By the way, we decided to rename Radar ... that's her in this photo ... something different.  We just couldn't see calling a horse 'Radar.'  So we named her Madison instead. 

Speaking of names, folks, we have a problem.  We ALREADY have a blind horse named Scout.  Now that's confusing.  How about a blind horse naming contest?  If you'd like to suggest a name for 'new' Scout ... and we pick it ... we'll send you a custom Rolling Dog Ranch hat!

Angels Among Us. Really.

Today we had a call from a wonderful couple in Seattle, Jan R. and Wayne S.  They had been reading our blog and following Kodiak's story.  Jan and Wayne have been fabulous long-time friends and supporters of the sanctuary.  They had read that Kodiak's myelogram and potential surgery would cost about $2,000. 

So they called this morning to say they were putting a check for $2,000 in today's mail for Pappy's Fund -- our emergency medical fund launched last month -- and wanted the money used for Kodiak's medical care.

When Alayne got off the phone and came to my office to tell me the news, I just sat here and stared out the window in disbelief.  When we get a gift like that, we frankly are just overwhelmed.  It can be really emotional for us.  It's hard to explain  just how grateful we are for that kind of gift ... and how humbling it can be, too.  We felt exactly the same way when we received the initial grant for Pappy's Fund.

Jan and Wayne, bless you.

After a few minutes, I pulled myself together, picked up the phone, and called the surgeon in Spokane, Dr. Lawrence.  We scheduled Kodiak's appointment for next Tuesday the 23rd.  Alayne will drive him over Monday afternoon, stay for the myelogram and surgery, and then come home.  Our incredible go-everywhere volunteer, Jerry Black, has offered to drive to Spokane and pick up Kodiak when he's ready to be released later in the week. 

This, of course, is all dependent on the surgeon finding something operable.  That we have no control over.  But Kodiak will get the best chance we can give him.

For Kodiak, today was about the same as yesterday ... little mobility. He was able to walk a bit more at mid-day, but this evening he could barely move again once I got him up. 

We have changed his feeding schedule to try and time his need to poop better, but so far not much progress there.  Yet his spirits remain high.

Wobbles, on the other hand, is doing MUCH better.  His temperature was down to normal last night, and remained normal all day today.  He's back to his old self.  Baytril is truly one of those wonder drugs.  Here's a photo I took of Wobbles this evening before dinner ... he was rolling around on the dog bed in the living room.  (Neither the cats nor the horses, who all roll,  understand why we called this place the Rolling 'Dog' Ranch.  They think it's a bit species-centric.)

A Medical Day: Kodiak and Wobbles

This morning when I went over to Widget's House to let the dogs out, I found Kodiak laying in a pile of poop.  It was smeared all over him and the floor.  The poor guy just can't hold it overnight, so every morning I have to clean him and the floor.  He tries to get out of his mess but can't, and generally ends up smooshing it around. 

The alarming thing is that he could barely walk this morning.  I'd hoist his rear legs up, he'd get going, but then he'd walk only about 10 feet before his hind legs would give out.  I'd go over, lift him up again, off he'd go ... and plop! ... down he'd go.  Usually once he gets going he can cover quite a bit of ground.  Not today. 

What's discouraging is we've had no visible response to the prednisone treatment.  Today put the exclamation point on that.  So I called our specialist in Missoula, Dr. Dave Bostwick, and asked, "Now what?"

Dave said the "what" would be a myelogram to determine if there's a lesion or tumor on his spinal cord.  If we found one that was operable, he'd go straight to the operating room for surgery.  Next I called our board-certified surgical specialists in Spokane, who would do that kind of surgery.  I spoke with Dr. Howard Lawrence of Veterinary Surgical Specialists about our options for Kodiak.

Howard told me that a myelogram, even at Kodiak's age, would be feasible and might tell us what was wrong.  But, he cautioned, it might turn out to be something that they couldn't fix surgically. Spinal tumors can be very problematic.  He said that sometimes what they find isn't operable and the animal is euthanized while still under anesthesia.  And there was always a possibility that the myelogram might show nothing to explain his problem.  Yet it could be the only option we have. 

I asked about costs.  The myelogram would be about $800-$900.  If surgery followed, the total bill would be  about $2,000, including follow-up care in the hospital.  I told Howard that Alayne and I would have to talk and decide what to do.

This is always the issue we wrestle with:  How much can we afford to spend on one animal?  We just spent nearly $2,000 on Pappy last month.  And yet we have never made a medical decision based on cost.

Kodiak wasn't the only medical case we had today.  Our wonderful cat Wobbles -- he has a neurological condition called cerebellar hypoplasia -- didn't look right last night.  Sure enough, he had a temperature of 104 degrees.  Wobbles had endured a bad case of pneumonia a few months ago ... he spent a week in the hospital before recovering ... and it started out this way.

We put Wobbles on antibiotics last night and today called our other veterinary internal medicine specialist, Dr. Britt Culver, of Montana Veterinary Specialists in Helena.  Britt advised us to start him on Baytril, a high-powered antibiotic, and to keep checking Wobbles' temperature.  If he stays at 104 for another day, we'll need to get him back to the hospital.  His last stay ended up costing $825.

Is it any wonder we've already spent more than $22,000 in vet bills so far this year?

Pasture Management, Anyone?

With 160 acres of grassland, pasture management is an important part of what we do here. What you see in the photo is our new chain harrow, which is used to drag the fields.  This breaks up manure clumps, scattering them in small pieces across the ground so it can fertilize the grass.  Dragging also aerates the soil, de-thatches, and does other good things for the pastures.

Notice I said "new" chain harrow.  It arrived in multiple pieces on two pallets, weighing 584 pounds.  Assembly required.  Now, I don't know about you, but anytime I see something that says "assembly required," I head for the hills. 

Except in this case I was able to call two fabulous volunteers, Amy Z. and Nate L., and ask if THEY would like to assemble this monster instead.  Nate's a civil engineer and was raised on a ranch, so this kind of thing is a piece of cake for him.  That's Amy and Nate in the photo.  (Click on photo for larger image.)

They arrived yesterday evening and started the project.  This morning, after some final adjustments in the clear light of a new day, we took the harrow for a test drive.  It was just awesome.  Thank you, Amy and Nate!

Kodiak's First Day

Kodiak spent his first day surveying his new domain from the Widget's House porch.  (See previous post.)  His day started with some clean-up.  When I went over first thing this morning to let the dogs out, I found he had pooped overnight and fallen into it.  He was still laying on it ... he hadn't been able to get up on his own.  I lifted him up and off he went to go pee and explore.  Meanwhile I cleaned up the mess, turned the dogs out into their respective paddocks, and fed them. 

Kodiak came back to the porch and I positioned him on a new bed.  He gently lowered himself down and then eagerly waited for his breakfast.  Along with his food he got his second dose of prednisone.  He looks so engaged and expectant ... it's easy to love this boy. 

Alayne came over later and held him while I gently clipped his rear end.  He has such thick, absorbent fur that when he has accidents, it is very hard to get him completely clean.  Even with the power clippers shearing near 'sensitive' areas, he patiently and trustingly lay still so I could do it.  Now he looks a little odd at the rear, but it will be so much easier to keep him clean. 

When we went over to feed dinner this evening, he was sound asleep on the bed ... just flat out on his side, snoozing, without a care in the world. 

Two Dogs in One Day, Two Very Different Stories

When I thought earlier today about how I was going to write this post, it was going to be very different.  I was going to write about a dog who was scheduled to be euthanized at 4 p.m. this afternoon.  Instead, I brought the dog home to the ranch.

Missoula Animal Control had been called a week ago about an abandoned elderly Husky.  His family had simply moved away, leaving him behind in the yard.  They left him with no food or water or shelter.  Neighbors finally gave the dog water to drink ... out of an old paint can with paint chips still floating in it.  The dog struggled to get up on his own ... his hind legs just weren't working well at all.  They picked up the dog and took him to the shelter.  He had no collar and no name.

The director of Missoula Animal Control, Ed Franceschina, e-mailed us and asked if we could take him.  Ed had spent time with this old boy, combing matts out of his thick fur, cleaning him, and trying to figure out what was wrong with his back legs.  Ed fell in love with this dog in the process.  But in the condition he was in, the dog wasn't adoptable.  Hence the e-mail to us. 

Last Thursday ... a week ago today ... I went to the shelter to see the dog.  This big, sweet boy immediately licked me in the face and pushed his head into my hands to be petted.  He was so affectionate.  Yet it was clear he was having trouble.  He couldn't get up on his own, and once up, couldn't stay up very long.  His rear end was a mess from falling down into his poop. 

I agreed to take him, but I wanted a vet to evaluate him and see what, if anything, we could do for him.  On Monday this week, our awesome volunteer, Jerry Black, picked up the dog from the shelter and took him to a Missoula vet clinic for us. 

After two days of evaluation, the vet called us yesterday.  She didn't think there was anything we could do for him.  His back legs weren't working, and he was so big that his front legs were straining to compensate.  Even a wheelchair wouldn't accommodate his needs.  She felt the best thing we could do would be to euthanize him.  In fact, she said, "If it were my dog I would put him to sleep."  I hung up the phone and cried.

I e-mailed Ed with the news.  He called right away.  Ed was as upset as I was.  But he wanted to be there when we euthanized him.  I scheduled an appointment for today and planned to arrive early to spend some time with him.

When I arrived at the vet clinic this afternoon, Ed and his wife Karen were already there. They had taken the dog outside on the grass.  I bent down in front of this big, old Husky ... and he raised his head to lick my face.  He was smiling.  He was happy.  I looked at Ed and said, "He doesn't look like he's in pain.  He doesn't look like he's ready to go." 

Ed said, "We didn't think so either."  We talked.  Minutes went by.  In the middle of all this we decided to give him a name:  Kodiak.  We tried to get the dog up ... he did.  He walked around.  He peed.  He lay back down.  He wanted to be petted.  I took some photos of Ed and Karen with Kodiak. 

I had brought the camera because I was going to take his photo and give him a name and post him on our Web site.  I didn't want him to die as an anonymous old dog with no name. 

Ed said, "It's your decision."  I said, "No, it's OUR decision.  That's why you're here." 

We decided it wasn't the right thing to do.  We needed more time.  Kodiak needed more time.  We decided to have a specialist look at him.

At 4:08 p.m., I lifted this giant dog into the back of our truck and sped across town to our specialist, Dave Bostwick.  There, Dave diagnosed his hind leg weakness as a neurological problem in a specific set of vertebrae along the spinal cord.  X-rays didn't reveal any tumor or mass.  So Dave recommended treating Kodiak with prednisone to see if that would reduce any possible inflammation.  If that doesn't work, the next step would be a myelogram (injecting traceable fluid into the spine) to pinpoint the problem.  Surgery would follow.

But one step at a time.  Kodiak and I arrived back at the ranch about 8 p.m.  I unloaded this hefty boy (107 lbs!) at Widget's House, our disabled dog building.  It has a massive 12' covered porch in front, with dog beds strewn about.  I took the second photo of Kodiak on the grass right off the porch. 

I fixed his dinner, gave him his first dose of prednisone, and left him happily laying on a big, soft dog bed on the porch. 

Wish this old boy well.  He's been through a lot. 

AND THEN ....

Barely 20 minutes after unloading Kodiak, Jerry Black ... yes, the same awesome volunteer who took Kodiak to the vet for us ... arrived at the ranch from Spokane with a blind and deaf dog we had agreed to take.  The folks at SpokAnimal, the Inland Northwest Humane Society, had called us last Sunday about this dog named Angel.  So Jerry drove to Spokane to pick her up.

Here's a photo of Jerry and Angel this evening.  She has eyeballs but no cornea, iris or pupils ... the eyeball is all white.  We thought we'd seen just about every eye condition, but not this one.  She is the sweetest little thing ... rolls over to have her tummy scratched and loves to kiss, too.  She walks around the yard with her head pointed up in the air ... being blind AND deaf, she must depend on that nose a lot!

So there you have it ... a tale of two dogs in one day.

One of Many Rewards

One of the many rewards we get from running an animal sanctuary is getting to meet the nicest people. We received an e-mail in mid-July from a girl in Seattle named Hannah B.  She wanted to come with her parents to visit the animals.  Well, one thing led to another and we scheduled a weekend for the visit.

We didn't know it, but Hannah meanwhile was planning some neighborhood fundraisers to raise money for the animals.  She gathered some friends together, made cookies and other tasty treats to sell, and set up a table and display with posters printed from our Web site.  In the photo Hannah is the girl on the far right.

When Hannah and her wonderful parents, Rick and Diane, arrived last Saturday, she was carrying a container with $243 she had raised!  We were so touched by that.  Thank you, Hannah!

Winchester Gets Adopted

When Winchester came to us, he had been shot four times with a .22.  He had managed to survive outdoors on his own for weeks (or longer) with no medical care.  You can see his original story here. In this photo you'll see his lip is puffed up in one corner ... that's where one bullet went in, then exited out his neck, just missing the jugular.

This incredibly sweet and affectionate cat immediately became a favorite of our volunteers and visitors.  Winchester is so affectionate, in fact, that whenever I cleaned the cat house, I'd have to put him in a crate so I could get the job done.  Otherwise he'd be curled around my feet, or trying to climb up on to my shoulder.  Even running the vacuum cleaner didn't bother this guy.  "Love me! Love me! Love me!"

Well, one of our awesome volunteers, Laura B. from Helena, decided that blue-eyed Winchester was meant for her.  She adopted this handsome fellow on Sunday.  Laura e-mailed today to say, "I think you left out some information about Mr. Winchester ... he is not really a cat ... he is a rhesus monkey.  Last night Winchester ... jumps on the dresser, up to the TV shelf, up to the top of the blinds, then he leaps off onto my bed ... attacks me for rubs and scratches ... then leaps up to the window sill above my bed ... lays in the window for awhile, then leaps back onto my bed for more rubs and scratches....  All night long he was like a monkey, perching and leaping all around my room."

Blind Mare from Idaho Arrives at the Ranch

The Idaho Humane Society in Boise brought out to us today a blind mare named Radar.  She had been impounded several months ago in a cruelty case invoving dozens of horses.  When animal control officers found her, she was mired in manure up to her belly.  They basically had to dig her out of the mess. 

Following wonderful care at the Humane Society's rescue ranch, she was ready for a new home.  When they e-mailed to ask if we could provide a home for this sweet blind mare, we gladly said 'yes.'  Two nice ladies ... Susan, who's the volunteer manager of the rescue ranch, and Laurie, who works for the Humane Society, were kind enough to bring Radar out to us in Montana.  After a 550 mile drive from Boise, they arrived late this afternoon. 

Radar was ready to get out of the trailer as soon as we opened the door ... and unloaded herself. I simply held on.  I led her to the new corral we set up this morning as her temporary quarters (we always try and quarantine new arrivals for two weeks, just in case of hidden health issues).  I walked her around the perimeter, tapping on the corral panels as we went, showing her the new boundaries.  Pretty soon she had settled in and was enjoying the hay we set out for her.  We took the photos this evening, in between her trips back to the feeder.