Day 3-4 The Fattening Up of Elsie

One of the biggest goals for Elsie is to get some weight on her. She is extremely underweight, as you can see in the pictures. We have been feeding her a can of the pate Mighty Dog in the morning along with her antibiotic, a pouch of Pedigree wet Beef and Rice at night, and then as a snack, she's been getting little "steak" bites. 

Elsie still just loves to be around people. Who ever takes Elsie to her Fur-Ever home will have to get used to having a shadow. She will follow you everywhere. She still likes being outside. I always sit down and watch her, and talk to her. Ace always hangs around her too.

Over the past 2 days, Elsie began to wag her tail. It's not a whole lot right now, but seeing her wag her tail just because she's happy, made me tear up. For us, that means she is on the right road to recovery!

TREAT TIME!!!!!

Because of Elsie's dental situation, regular biscuits and dog treats aren't an option. One of the things that we have found out, is that she loves Pupcorn! Pupcorn is a light soft, yet crunchy treat that comes in Cheese and Peanut Butter flavors. They are made in the USA, and pretty inexpensive!

Once Again, thank you for reading and please share to everyone you can. The more people we can reach with her story, may help other senior dogs get adopted.

Please visit the following websites or their Facebook Pages for more information about rescued pets, shelters, and volunteering.

www.petscomefirst.net

http://www.happyvalleyanimalsinneed.com/

Day 2: Getting adjusted

Well, today was a pretty good day.  We started off feeding Elsie a whole Mighty Dog can. We are trying to get some weight on her, but since she has only a few rear molars, pate style wet food is what she can eat for now. She is on a twice daily antibiotic, so I just put it in with her breakfast, and she ate it without even blinking.





One of the things we are working on with her, is to try to get her house trained. The way her back side is so beat up, not only does she have issues walking, but I think she has problems holding her urine. When she's outside, she does her business like the other dogs, but 20 minutes after she comes in, there is a small little puddle. (Thank goodness we have sealed hardwood floors :-) )

Elsie has picked up a boyfriend. People who follow or work with Pets Come First, will remember Ace... Well, he likes Rosie, and most of the time when they are outside, they are together... She follows him around and he likes her. For those that don't know, Ace is a 16 year old dog that was surrendered to Pets Come First back in March. He had a lot of issues. His teeth were pretty bad, skin issues, his haunches were sunk in. As you can see, Ace is looking awesome now. We are hoping to work the same magic with Elsie.

 

One of our issues with Elsie is trying to get her cleaned up. She has mats and skin issues all over her poor little body. She is in pain a lot of the time, so you can be petting her, then next thing you know she cries out a bit and snaps at you, (Like any doggie who's hurting would this is NOT aggression on her part, but defense.) The one sad, but helpful thing is that she doesn't have any front teeth, so even if she nip you it doesn't hurt. We are working at getting her mats cut out slowly. I got 5 out yesterday. The pics below show her skin, and one of the many mats on her. I did not hack her fur in the pictures that was like that when we got her. I have been grooming doggies for close to ten years now.

So, I am going to leave you for today. Below are two wonderful organizations that we work with, and do such great work in our community. The people are all volunteers and go over and beyond the call of duty to help any and all animals in need. Until tomorrow.

http://www.petscomefirst.net

http://www.happyvalleyanimalsinneed.com/

Meet Elsie

This is Elsie

We don't know how old she is, or anything about her, except she needs a lot of love. Pets Come First in State College PA called us and asked if we could help her.  We have a history of fostering small doggies, and getting them ready for adoption. Elsie is different. We have never encountered a dog that was in this bad off. They told us she was found in the woods, no collar, no tags.  From the looks of her belly and her lady area, she has been CONSTANTLY pregnant most of her life. Her "Hoo-Hoo" is swollen up to the size of a Golf Ball. Her teats are over an inch long, and the most heartbreaking thing, is that her hind legs are so disjointed, that she may never walk normally again. She has so many mats that I wont be able to cut out all at once. I have never seen so many in a short haired doggie.

Yes, that is Maddie, a former foster (Now adopted) from Happy Valley Animals In Need (HVAIN) sniffing Elsie to make sure she's acceptable.... Elsie passed.

Here's a bit of background about our family. Me and my partner have 5 Chihuahuas: Ace, Scrappy, Squirty, Dixie, and Jiggy, a Fox Terrier named Maddy, a cat named Boo-Boo, and a Miniture Pot Bellied Pig named Piggers. We literally lost one of our babies last week. Hildie was Scrappy and Squirty's sister, and she had heart problems. When we got the call about Elsie, My first thought was "NO!" I am still mourning Hildie, I can't take in another dog." Andy, (my partner) showed me her picture, and made me read her story. I am in tears by the end, and he quietly said, "She needs us". I couldn't disagree, so I told him to set it up.

I am writing this blog to try to raise awareness of the cruelty of Puppy Mills, and to show Elsie's progress and journey. I don't want people to get sad for Elsie... Right now, she is in a wonderful, loving home where she will be treated like a queen. I want people to share this, and get people to see what happens when we as a society refuse to let these animals have any dignity whatsoever.

My goal is to update daily with pictures to show her recovery, and eventual adoption into her Forever Home.  First, I need to clean up some piddle... she's not 100% potty trained yet.