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A monthly newsletter to keep you informed.
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Rescue Results for September
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We had 14 adoptions in September and 11 new arrivals. All the arrivals were from from Mobile, AL. 9 entered TGIE and 2 went straight into foster care.
This makes our year to date totals 103 arrivals, 13 hauled for other groups, and 105 adoptions.
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For as long as I can remember, I had wanted to adopt a greyhound. For months I had this grand plan that when the lease was up on my current apartment I would move to a building that allowed dogs and I would immediately adopt. One day as I was scrolling through Facebook I saw a message from American Greyhound that changed everything. They were doing a haul of almost 20 dogs from a track in Alabama and were in desperate need of foster homes. It was in that moment that I decided that instead of changing the life of one dog by adopting I would try to change the lives of many dogs by becoming a foster.
I arrived at the pick-up location and everyone was gathered around anxiously awaiting the dog's arrival. When the truck pulled up I could barely contain myself. They brought out each dog calling out the lucky family that they were assigned to. Then out came this tiny peanut of a hound. She was a small, brindle girl named Grapevine and she was assigned to me. She was imperfectly perfect. She was underweight, she was dirty, she was a little frazzled from the journey but she was everything I had ever dreamed of.
I was blessed to spend 5 wonderful weeks with Grapevine. Over that time she learned a lot about home life. She learned how to gracefully walk on wood floors and how to climb the stairs to my 4th floor apartment like a champ. She learned that there is much better food for her than what she has known her whole life. She learned that no matter how many times she tried, each piece of furniture was not her own personal bed. Most importantly, she learned about love and how there are people out there that see greyhounds for the beautiful souls they are instead of seeing them as a profit.
When I got the call that someone was interested in adopting Grapevine my heart sank. How would I ever give her up? As much as she had been relying on me I had come to rely so much on her. I saved her from the racing industry and she saved me from all the fears I had about living alone for the first time. She got me out of the house and we explored my new neighborhood together. She stayed by my side on nights that could have felt much lonelier than they were. She made me laugh when I was having hard days.
Being a foster is not an easy task. You willingly break your own heart every time your dog finds its forever home. So why do we do it? We do it because it is a critical role to play in these dog's journey. We do it because we know that these beautiful creatures deserve so much more in life than what they have been given so far. And we do it because there is no greater feeling than watching them meet their new families for the first time. We are lucky to be a part of their lives for however long we have them.
Grapevine is now in an amazing home where she is loved and spoiled daily. She has a greyhound brother and big yard where they only run for fun. She has a big couch that her mom lets her sprawl out on and take endless naps. For Grapevine, retirement is everything that it should be.
If you have ever thought about fostering, American Greyhound is always in need of people who are willing to open their home and their hearts to a retired racer. If you're interested in changing a life please contact [email protected]. If you're lucky, like me, the life that may end up changing is your own.
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| Dracula: He Doesn't Want Your Blood...He Wants to Donate His! |
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In mid-June, American Greyhound made a trip to an Arkansas greyhound breeding farm to collect some hounds. One of the 13 dogs that made their way north with us that weekend was a beautiful brindle boy named Dracula. A couple weeks after his arrival, his foster family noticed that in even low light, his eyes looked very much like the eyes of a dog or deer that had a car headlight shining in them. In addition, Dracula had a shyness about him, especially toward men, that was a bit peculiar. With the combination of the odd shyness and the reaction of his eyes to low levels of light, it was decided that a veterinary check-up was in order. And, as we had suspected, Dracula was going blind.
Now, blindness, while something of a handicap in dogs, is not as much a handicap as it would be in humans. We humans experience the world through our eyes, but dogs on the other hand, experience it through their nose. And, Dracula, though he needs to navigate deck stairs at his foster home, is doing very well. And, he will be going to his forever home this weekend.
Wonderful news for Count Dracula, but where are we going with this story?
Well, last weekend, we received an emergency call from McAfee Animal Hospital. They had a schnauzer coming in to the clinic in bad shape and he needed some blood. And, they needed a young, strong dog that was up to date on his shots and in good health, who also happened to be a donor whose blood would match up with the schnauzer's. So, Dracula made the trip to McAfee Animal Hospital to see what he could do to help out the schnauzer. It just so happens that most racing greyhounds make excellent blood donors and American Greyhound's dogs, as well as many personal dogs adopted through American Greyhound, have donated blood to help out another dog in need.
Many American Greyhound dogs, both fosters still within our adoption program and those adopted by families, have made a difference in a dog's life in need of donated blood. What is required of blood donors? Your dog needs to be relatively young (under 7 or 8 years of age), up to date on shots, and relatively healthy (some dogs that have had different diseases would not be eligible). Check with your vet to see if they are in need of an on-call emergency blood donor and see what their requirements are. Or, if you live in the Valparaiso Indiana area, contact myself at (219)771-0892 or Barb Coggins at (219)241-3765 to inquire about adding your dog to the list of McAfee's blood donors. You never know when they may have a need, hence the reason for having a number of dogs on the list.
Often I am told by our adoptive families what a wonderful feeling it was to make a difference in the life of their new companion. Well, here's another opportunity to have that feeling. Often, donated blood is the sick or injured dog's last best hope for life. You and your hound can be that last best hope!
And, I know about that last best hope. In 2009, my dog Curtis was in need of life giving blood. He was just off the track and was still our foster dog. But, thanks to some outstanding veterinary care and the generous donation of blood from Walter (my wife's dog) and Doc holiday (another foster dog we had in our house at the time), Curtis lived to be adopted by my wife and I.
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Burn Em Brewery Meet and Greet
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Burn Em Brewery will be hosting a meet and greet on Sunday, October 9th from Noon to 3.
Dogs are definitely
welcome!
They will be doing a round up of sales all day long, and not just while we are there, and
we are also welcome to stay past 3.
Burn Em Brewery is located at 718 Freyer road, Michigan City. I
t is 21 and up, but those who are younger are fine if they are outside and outside the patio.
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What is Heartworm Disease?
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Heartworm disease is a serious and potentially fatal disease in pets in the United States and many other parts of the world. It is caused by foot-long worms (heartworms) that live in the heart, lungs and associated blood vessels of affected pets, causing severe lung disease, heart failure and damage to other organs in the body. Heartworm disease affects dogs, cats and ferrets, but heartworms also live in other mammal species, including wolves, coyotes, foxes, sea lions and-in rare instances-humans. Because wild species such as foxes and coyotes live in proximity to many urban areas, they are considered important carriers of the disease.
Dogs.
The dog is a natural host for heartworms, which means that heartworms that live inside the dog mature into adults, mate and produce offspring. If untreated, their numbers can increase, and dogs have been known to harbor several hundred worms in their bodies. Heartworm disease causes lasting damage to the heart, lungs and arteries, and can affect the dog's health and quality of life long after the parasites are gone. For this reason, prevention is by far the best option, and treatment-when needed-should be administered as early in the course of the disease as possible.
How Is Heartworm Disease Transmitted from One Pet to Another?
The mosquito plays an essential role in the heartworm life cycle. Adult female heartworms living in an infected dog, fox, coyote, or wolf produce microscopic baby worms called microfilaria that circulate in the bloodstream. When a mosquito bites and takes a blood meal from an infected animal, it picks up these baby worms, which develop and mature into "infective stage" larvae over a period of 10 to 14 days. Then, when the infected mosquito bites another dog, cat, or susceptible wild animal, the infective larvae are deposited onto the surface of the animal's skin and enter the new host through the mosquito's bite wound. Once inside a new host, it takes approximately 6 months for the larvae to mature into adult heartworms. Once mature, heartworms can live for 5 to 7 years in dogs and up to 2 or 3 years in cats. Because of the longevity of these worms, each mosquito season can lead to an increasing number of worms in an infected pet.
What Are the Signs of Heartworm Disease in Dogs?
In the early stages of the disease, many dogs show few symptoms or no symptoms at all. The longer the infection persists, the more likely symptoms will develop. Active dogs, dogs heavily infected with heartworms, or those with other health problems often show pronounced clinical signs.
Signs of heartworm disease may include a mild persistent cough, reluctance to exercise, fatigue after moderate activity, decreased appetite, and weight loss. As heartworm disease progresses, pets may develop heart failure and the appearance of a swollen belly due to excess fluid in the abdomen. Dogs with large numbers of heartworms can develop a sudden blockages of blood flow within the heart leading to a life-threatening form of cardiovascular collapse. This is called caval syndrome, and is marked by a sudden onset of labored breathing, pale gums, and dark bloody or coffee-colored urine. Without prompt surgical removal of the heartworm blockage, few dogs survive.
Symptoms may be very subtle or very dramatic. Symptoms may include coughing, asthma-like attacks, periodic vomiting, lack of appetite, or weight loss. Occasionally an affected cat may have difficulty walking, experience fainting or seizures, or suffer from fluid accumulation in the abdomen. Unfortunately, the first sign in some cases is sudden collapse of the cat, or sudden death.
How Significant is My Pet's Risk for Heartworm Infection?
What Do I Need to Know About Heartworm Testing?
Heartworm disease is a serious, progressive disease. The earlier it is detected, the better the chances the pet will recover. There are few, if any, early signs of disease when a dog or cat is infected with heartworms, so detecting their presence with a heartworm test administered by a veterinarian is important. The test requires just a small blood sample from your pet, and it works by detecting the presence of heartworm proteins. Some veterinarians process heartworm tests right in their hospitals while others send the samples to a diagnostic laboratory. In either case, results are obtained quickly. If your pet tests positive, further tests may be ordered.
When Should My Pet Be Tested?
Testing procedures and timing differ somewhat between dogs and cats.
All dogs should be tested annually for heartworm infection, and this can usually be done during a routine visit for preventive care. Following are guidelines on testing and timing:
- Puppies under 7 months of age can be started on heartworm prevention without a heartworm test (it takes at least 6 months for a dog to test positive after it has been infected), but should be tested 6 months after your initial visit, tested again 6 months later and yearly after that to ensure they are heartworm-free.
- Adult dogs over 7 months of age and previously not on a preventive need to be tested prior to starting heartworm prevention. They, too, need to be tested 6 months and 12 months later and annually after that.
- You need to consult your veterinarian, and immediately re-start your dog on monthly preventive-then retest your dog 6 months later. The reason for re-testing is that heartworms must be approximately 7 months old before the infection can be diagnosed.
Annual testing is necessary, even when dogs are on heartworm prevention year-round, to ensure that the prevention program is working. Heartworm medications are highly effective, but dogs can still become infected. If you miss just one dose of a monthly medication-or give it late-it can leave your dog unprotected. Even if you give the medication as recommended, your dog may spit out or vomit a heartworm pill-or rub off a topical medication. Heartworm preventives are highly effective, but not 100 percent effective. If you don't get your dog test, you won't know your dog needs treatment.
What Happens if My Dog Tests Positive for Heartworm?
The goal is to first stabilize your dog if he is showing signs of disease, then kill all adult and immature worms while keeping the painful side effects of treatment to a minimum.
Here's what you should expect if your dog tests positive:
- Confirm the diagnosis. Once a dog tests positive on an antigen test, the diagnosis should be confirmed with an additional-and different-test. Because the treatment regimen for heartworm is both expensive and complex, your veterinarian will want to be absolutely sure that treatment is necessary.
- Restrict exercise. This requirement might be difficult to adhere to, especially if your dog is accustomed to being active. But your dog's normal physical activities must be restricted as soon as the diagnosis is confirmed, because physical exertion increases the rate at which the heartworms cause damage in the heart and lungs. The more severe the symptoms, the less activity your dog should have.
- Stabilize your dog's disease. Before actual heartworm treatment can begin, your dog's condition may need to be stabilized with appropriate therapy. In severe cases of heartworm disease, or when a dog has another serious condition, the process can take several months.
- Administer treatment. Once your veterinarian has determined your dog is stable and ready for heartworm treatment, he or she will recommend a treatment protocol involving several steps. The American Heartworm Society has guidelines for developing this plan of attack. More severe disease can also be successfully treated, but the possibility of complications is greater. The severity of heartworm disease does not always correlate with the severity of symptoms, and dogs with many worms may have few or no symptoms early in the course of the disease.
- Test (and prevent) for success. Approximately 6 months after treatment is completed, your veterinarian will perform a heartworm test to confirm that all heartworms have been eliminated. To avoid the possibility of your dog contracting heartworm disease again, you will want to administer heartworm prevention year-round for the rest of his life
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I was leaving work one day when I got a call from the foster coordinator. There was a special dog in foster care in need of a quiet home where he could be treated for his heartworm. I talked it over with my husband that night. Kenny's heartworm treatment was going to take several months, and the process was going to potentially be difficult. We knew what we had to do.
A few days later we were moving Kenny into our house. Part of his treatment and recovery was keeping his movements to a bare minimum. For poor Kenny, this would mean spending the majority of his time in his kennel. Kenny, as you can imagine, didn't love this. We leashed him every time we took him outside so he couldn't do the only thing he wanted to do: run.
We spent months with Kenny in a kennel next to the door to the backyard (he tried to jump down the stairs otherwise). Finally, though, we got the good news: Kenny could start spending time outside of his kennel as long as the space was still controlled so he couldn't get too crazy. We would baby gate the hallway between the rooms we were in and let him walk back and forth. This went on for a few more weeks.
Finally the day came when Kenny could run again and start attending events. Though the months of living in just the kennel to his hallway to the yard, Kenny never lost his amazing personality. He was, hands down, my favorite foster. He was always happy, and the day he left with his forever family was such a great day. He spent over 6 months recovering from heartworm, and now he was able to move on to a fabulous retirement.
Caring for Kenny had its hard moments. It was difficult to keep him in that kennel when we knew he just wanted to run around a bit, but every hard day was worth it in the end. Helping save Kenny was the easiest and most worthwhile choice of our fostering career. Kenny was our last foster. Just a month later we started planning to move across the country. It was wonderful to go out on such a high note. (And if his forever family is reading this, we were so happy it was you he went home with.) Dealing with heartworm can seem daunting, but if you're patient, the reward is amazing.
-Corrie G. |
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On Saturday, October 1, 2016, American Greyhound participated in St. Francis Episcopal Church's annual Pet Blessing. The blessing is held each year around October 4th which is the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. St. Francis was the 13th century patron saint of animals and the environment. St. Francis was known for his love of animals and is often pictured with birds.
Despite the rainy weather, dozens of dogs, including a handful of greyhounds, and two cats, came out to enjoy the festivities. Each pet had a prayer said over them, was sprinkled with holy water and was given a special medal to commemorate the occasion. Each pet also received a wonderful goodie bag donated by Pet Supplies Plus. Shortly after receiving his blessing, one of our foster hounds potentially found his forever family that day! Even better, Father David Pearson, who presided over the many blessings, accepted my challenge and agreed to sign up for this years' Polar Bear Plunge!
A huge thanks to everyone who came out and a special thank you to the folks at St. Francis Episcopal Church for hosting this wonderful event.
P.S. I look forward to seeing you all on the beach this New Year's Day!
-Sarah G
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Let's Make a Splash for American Greyhound
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The 2017 Polar Plunge is a unique opportunity for brave people to support American Greyhound in its mission to find homes for unwanted greyhounds all over the Midwest. As is our tradition, our plunge will occur in the morning on January 1, 2017 at North Avenue Beach, Chicago, IL.
This year American Greyhound is making its tenth annual plunge into Lake Michigan and the event promises to bigger and better than splashes of all the polar bears of the last ten years combined.
If you're ready to make the biggest splash of the year and make an even bigger difference in the lives of some unwanted greyhounds, please
register to build the easiest fundraising page ever. It makes it simple for others donate and easy for you to fundraise. Participants who raise at least $50 in donations from friends, family and co-workers get the privilege of receiving a commemorative Polar Bear Plunge long sleeve t-shirt and entrance into our After Splash Party, plus the chance to win additional prizes as you raise additional funds!
If you're not ready to make a splash yet, you can also make a donation to one of our polar bears
here
. Any amount, no matter how large or small can go a long way to helping an unwanted greyhound find a forever home.
If you have any questions at all, please contact Sarah Gasienica, our Polar Plunge Coordinator at (219) 263-8742 or
[email protected]
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Cooler weather is just around the corner and it will be here before you know it. Check out the American Greyhound store at http://americangreyhoundstore.org/ for the available selection of Long-Sleeved T-Shirts and Hooded Sweatshirts in Zip-Up and Pull Over. Email me at [email protected] with the phrase "I read this in the newsletter" and I will send you a promo code for $5 off your next purchase at the AG Store. Please include your full name in the e-mail. Thank You!
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