Pepper

Meet Pepper. This cute little schnauzer mix had a sad painful journey we don’t know anything about. She was brought into the Walton shelter early this week with obvious injuries; scared, trembling, eyes extremely bloodshot, facial lacerations and jaw injuries. She can't close her mouth or eat/drink normally and spent the last few days mostly huddled in the kennel corner with drool pooling at her feet. A sweet and otherwise healthy looking dog, it was assumed she had a broken jaw or similar injury so she was put in medical quarantine and scheduled for euthanasia on Wednesday if no owner came along.

The director mentioned her plight to a few rescues anxious to pull the healthier cute, adoptable dogs, but nobody was interested in helping her. Not surprising, I suppose, because money is always tight for rescues. Donations are hard to come by and it's hard to step into a medical situation with no clue of potential costs.

But something bothered me and wouldn't let me ignore photos of this girl, so we emailed the shelter on Tuesday night and offered to pay for a medical evaluation. Dr. Durrence at Monroe Animal Care Hospital, P.C. checked her out on Wednesday and gave us mixed news.

Good news is the jaw isn't broken and there are no orthopedic injuries. She was very dehydrated, had some trauma-related injuries, including a nasty infection under her tongue and minor eye injuries. But she also appears to have some sort of nerve related damage causing the problems closing her jaw. At this point Dr. Durrence feels it's trauma related and hopes she'll eventually regain normal use of her jaw.

Paws crossed for Pepper that this is a temporary problem that will gradually improve in a few weeks. Right now she’s still at Monroe Animal Care receiving fluids and antibiotics. Her jaw is wrapped loosely with gauze to keep it from hanging open. I’ll pick her up tomorrow and she'll be hand-fed until she's able to eat normally on her own. We're glad this little girl's life didn't end in the shelter and will do our best to eventually help her find a new home.

Anyone interested in contributing toward Pepper’s care can visit our website at www.wagwalton.com and use the Paypal link to donate – Pepper thanks you in advance!

Cuteness overload

These four sweet Chi-weenie pups were rescued last week from Walton County Animal Control, along with their mom Cricket. Cuteness overload! They'll be ready for adoption in a few weeks.

A healthier Holly

Thanking Dr. Asha Wise for saving her life - our lucky girl Holly had her staples removed on Friday and is back in full form! Dr. Wise told us that Holly gave her some worries on the surgery table because of the extent of damage to her intestines, but spunky Holly surprised everyone. We can't thank Dr. Wise and the folks at Monroe Animal Care Hospital, P.C. enough for taking such great care of her. Now all we need to do is find this sweetheart a home!

New beginnings

A great day at the Conyers Petsmart - three of our rescues found wonderful homes! Harley and Rocky both came to us through the Puppy Prevention program. Their search took awhile, but they finally went to wonderful homes. And sweet, laid-back Truman will be watching over some happy little girls in his new family. Three more WAG happy endings!

Holly's Health Challenge

Holly needs our help! This normally spunky senior cattledog has been in foster care for almost a year. She's an amazingly fun girl and one of our favorites, but her age (7+) has so far kept her from being adopted. Trust me - people don't know what they're missing in this wonderful companion dog!

But yesterday our active girl was in obvious pain, so we whisked her off to Monroe Animal Care Hospital. Dr. Wise immediately put her on fluids, pain medication and started diagnostic tests. Holly wasn't getting better. Exploratory surgery done today revealed a small piece of towel or fabric in her small intestine, something she must have ingested recently. Unfortunately damage was extensive - Holly needed 21 inches of her small intestine removed.

The  estimate for Holly's treatment, surgery and follow-up care is $1,200. Your donations and support are appreciated. We promise to provide the love, hugs, and everything else Holly needs to get better.

This awesome girl has much love left to give someone. Please help us put the smile back on Holly's face again!

Donations can be made through Paypal link on our website at www.wagwalton.com.

Blossom's New Life

Here's a picture of Blossom with her new family. She's been in our adoption program since March and we're thrilled she finally found a wonderful home! Thanks also to Melanie for traveling to Petsmart for a late evening adoption so this girl could meet up with her new family before the weekend. We love WAG happy endings!

Another CT adoption

Time to wrap up the story of another WAG adventure to a Dog Days adoption event in Connecticut. Although many of our dogs found wonderful loving homes, half of them returned to GA with us, so we still have some very important work ahead to create happily-ever-after stories for these very deserving pets.

This was our last visit to Dog Days for adoptions, but it's been a rewarding experience. The most amazing part of the adventure was the partnerships we enjoyed along the way. Some generous fosters stepped up in GA to keep dogs for us prior to our journey. As always, our friends at Pound Puppies 'n Kittens worked with us getting rescue dogs ready for the trip. WAG's CT friends and Dog Days volunteers welcomed us again with open arms, worked diligently during the event promoting our dogs and celebrated our successes each day. Jim and Terry Rodgers did their usual flawless job of transporting us safely to and from CT. Hard working WAG volunteers busted their tails before and during the event caring for the dogs. And lots of support from our fans along the way. So I'd call that an unqualified success story!

A little more work to do wrapping up loose ends, then on to the next project. But first, a huge THANK YOU to everyone for your encouragement and interest in helping us save lives!