Bonus Happy Tails: Katie and Suri

When I had them...

Bonus happy tails alert! Remember Katie Holmes and Suri Cruise? I posted about their transport to NJ and adoptions a couple months ago. I've been super fortunate to receive continued updates on both of these precious girls since their adoptions. I really want to share with you how happy they are in their forever homes and just how adorable they both look. Huge thanks to both of their new families for taking the time to share these wonderful pictures and updates with me! It warms my heart to see their new lives. I couldn't have dreamed of more for Katie and Suri / Kit and Zoe!

First up: Miss Katie Holmes, now Kit! Judging from these pictures and her mom's correspondence, Kit is as adorable and feisty as ever. Kit's mom says her skin (remember how awful it was from the flea bites?) is doing pretty well overall. That one bad spot flared up a little due to the super cold weather, but with continued fish oil supplements and an antibiotic shot from the vet it seems to be under control. Wearing sweaters helps keep Kit from scratching and prevents flare ups, too. How conveniently cute! Love it. She's settled in beautifully with her new siblings. Check out how pawsome she looks in her fancy Christmas dress and Santa suit!

Suri / Zoe then...

...Suri / Zoe now!

Next up: Suri Cruise, now Zoe! Just. Look. At. Her. Squeeeeeee!!! Zoe's mom emailed me this picture. It's a good thing she told me who it was because I would never have recognized our little baby girl! Oh my goodness! She is so grown up and big! And surprise: she still looks absolutely nothing like her mama. Hah! What a goofy pair these girls are, honestly. I hear Zoe's about ten pounds now. She was barely five when we sent her on transport. I just can't believe how much she's grown and changed. Dachshund? Yeah, right! She looks like a baby Boxer or Mastiff. How ridiculous! Again, the only telling trait is the double dewclaw phenomenon. Otherwise you'd never know Zoe was Kit's puppy. Zoe's doing great. She's learning how to play politely and continuing her potty training.  Check out her transformation! That's all I have for now. Just wanted y'all to see the pawsomeness of rescue pupdates! Paws up for Zoe & Kit!

Katie Holmes & Suri Cruise: No Longer On Their Own

Just sayin'...

It's not every day you see a mama with only one puppy come into animal control. Y'all know we just temp fostered the houndy mama and her litter of 10, so when we saw this pitiful pair we just couldn't resist. Their intake photo interested me. You can see the independence and determination in both of them. Mama is alert and sitting up straight. Puppy is sitting tall next to mama, not hiding underneath or behind her. They both just kind of seem to be saying, "Yep, here we are. We made it this far, just the two of us. What's next?". When I got to the shelter and saw them in person, I knew I wasn't leaving without them. I took mama out without her puppy to see how she acted around people and other dogs. She was totally cool. When I walked back to her kennel, puppy was just sitting there just like she is in the intake picture. She wasn't fazed in the slightest. Ok then, off we go!

Adorable

The rescue group taking them is See Spot Rescued (SSR) in New Jersey. SSR likes their dogs to have famous first and last names, so Drew came up with Katie Holmes and Suri Cruise. We think it suits them well. Their shelter names were Becky (pup) and Darlene (mom). I thought those were really cute too, especially Becky for the puppy. Unfortunately, I didn't watch Roseanne growing up and so we didn't realize they actually already had celebrity names. Plus Drew is way too proud of himself for thinking up Katie and Suri given his profound lack of celebrity knowledge. So, Katie and Suri it is!

Katie's poor skin

Suri post-bath and sans fleas

Katie and Suri are both at good weights and seem to be in general good health. They were picked up as strays by an animal control officer a few days before I brought them home. Suri was completely infested with fleas. We used the shower handheld and bathed her with Dawn dish soap. They use that stuff on wildlife because it is so gentle and good at de-gunking. We washed her for about 15 minutes and the fleas just poured off of her the entire time. I have never seen so many fleas on one dog before, let alone a three pound dog like Suri. Poor thing. It was really bad. I can't believe she was still so strong with all those awful things leeching off of her. It makes me wonder if mama had one or two other pups that were just as infested and didn't make it. Who knows. I just know Suri felt so much better once we got rid of all those fleas. She's doing really well and only has some scabs from where the worst of the fleas were living on her. Mama Katie didn't have any on her, but she'd been chewed up by them really badly. Her skin is a WRECK. It's just horrible. At the shelter, I noticed she had pretty serious hair loss going on, but I didn't see the full extent of it until we got her home. Her poor skin is just torn up. Dogs can have severe allergic reactions to a single flea bite. When they scratch and chew and dig at their own skin it just makes

everything that much worse. She was so terribly inflamed, raw, and itchy. We bathe her with Xymox shampoo and conditioner. Katie gets biotin, therapeutic dosages of fish oil, and pet kelp to help restore her skin and coat. We also rub her down with an herbal gel to give her some instant topical relief from the itching. The gel is called Scratch Attack Anti-Itch and has yerba-mate, boswellia, arnica, chamomile, witch hazel, aloe vera, rosemary oil, peppermint oil, and tea tree oil. All of these ingredients are good natural remedies that should help Katie feel much better. Her skin has already improved. It's no longer red and inflamed, although she still has a long way to go. It will probably never look perfect, but all that's important is that we get her feeling more comfortable.

Check out those double dewclaws! Little freaks!

We think Suri is probably about six weeks old. Mama is a Dachshund mix who is probably about 25 pounds and roughly 2 years old. Suri looks nothing like mama. They both have super funky, fairly unusual double rear dewclaws. If it wasn't for that, I'd almost wonder if Suri was mama's pup. She's still nursing, but we're trying to help mama wean her because she has teeth and is rather rotund. Suri's really a little boss...she eats everything in sight (even if she has to shove mama out of the way) and she loves to chase the Chihuahuas. Bunkin, Flea, Oliver, and Pickles are pretty scared of her. It's hilarious. We spend a good deal of time playing in the backyard so she gets plenty of fresh air and exercise. Suri is running faster and steadier every day. Yesterday she sailed over a log at the end of the driveway mid-stride and kept right on running without stumbling! She even

conquered the very bottom step of the outside stairs and the slightly raised threshhold of the backdoor. Mama Katie is super spunky and likes to play pretty rough with little Suri. She'll shove her around, roll her over, pin her down, chomp on her ears, and run zoomies around her until she starts to cry uncle. Then she'll back off and Suri will resume chasing after Flea and Pickles. Yesterday she sent Oliver bounding away in terror and Bunkin decided he'd be safest hiding behind my legs. What a goof troop!

It seems like Mama Katie was a house dog at some point. She's completely house-trained and is even trying to teach Suri where to go potty. When we're out in the yard, Katie grabs Suri by the ear/leg/arm and drags her into the grass where she fusses at her until Suri goes potty. It's like she's saying, "Look here, this is where we go and we're not going back inside until you do!". It's super funny. Katie is VERY people friendly. She loves to crawl up into your lap and give kisses, even if she's just met you. She made herself right at home from day one, cuddling with us during tv time, leaning against our feet when we're standing in the kitchen, and squeezing in alongside me when I sit in the recliner to study. She's super tolerant of all the other dogs, too. Normally mamas with young pups are slow to warm and a bit protective, but Drew is a champ and seamlessly integrated Katie and Suri in with the rest of our pack in a day's time. In short, she's a really well-behaved girl. It makes you wonder what happened for her to wind up in this situation. My guess, for what little it's worth, is that mama may have be owned and loved but was never fixed, escaped her yard/house, got knocked up, birthed her pup as a stray, and wound up in animal control. No doubt she's a flea bitten mess, but she seems to be in good shape other than that and doesn't seem to have any emotional scars. It's really sad, no matter what their story may be. The great news is they're both safe and loved, mama will never have to go through this again, and Suri will never have any babies of her own. The hard part of their journey is over for good.

We will probably have Katie and Suri for three weeks or so. Suri has to gain a couple pounds before she can be spayed and Katie's got to be fixed once her milk dries up. Hopefully I can get Katie's skin in better shape during that time before they head to New Jersey. I really have nothing but awesome things to say about these two girls. They're both fantastic little dogs and I know they will make somebody very happy. We're certainly enjoying having them around! Huge thanks to See Spot Rescued for committing to take them and also to Friends of DeKalb Animals for transporting them to NJ. Stay tuned for more cuteness! I'll be posting occasional updates with lots of pictures over the next few weeks.

Farewell, Miss Jinny!

A true Georgia girl at heart

Transport Time!

Our sweet Miss Jinny left on transport today. She's heading for New York to find her forever home through Perfect Pets Rescue. Jinny came such a long way during the short two months we had her. She endured a really tough dental, survived the throes of heartworm treatment, kicked both a skin infection and a GI virus, underwent surgery to cut out two ingrown dewclaws, AND tolerated some pretty intense grooming sessions as we cut all the awful mats out of her fur and brushed her back to her full Collie glory. Out of all our fosters so far, Jinny was in the worst shape (even rougher than Oliver). This gal is a trooper! Now she's on a bus to New York where she'll start fresh. Jinny is free to leave all the neglect she suffered behind.

Hey, whatcha doin?

Looking alert and perky

Check out that sassy tail!

We finally started to see Jinny's personality peek through during the last week we had her. She's still definitely a very low-key girl, but there is a little sassiness that's been waiting to come out. With all the issues she had to recover from, it's no wonder she needed a few weeks to open up. For most of the time she spent with us, Jinny didn't even have the energy to pick herself up off the floor and go outside more than twice a day. She obviously did not feel well at all. Over the past week, we saw Jinny transform from a lifeless doorstop to a spunky lass. She got up off the living room rug! She began to carry her tail up in the air and even wag it a bit! She gained interest in food (hers and ours)! She trotted over to us for a head scratchings and belly rubs! We were so happy to see her feeling that much better. Miss J is such a good girl. She's about as easy as dogs can possibly be. Whoever ends up with her is a very lucky person. I hope they realize what a gentle gem she is. Good luck, Jinny!

HUGE thanks to everyone at Perfect Pets Rescue and The Veterinary Clinic in Marietta for helping restore Jinny to full health and happiness. If you'd like to donate to PPR so they can keep helping others like Jinny, please click here: http://www.perfectpetsrescue.org/donations-and-how-you-can-help.html

UPDATE: Jinny's adopted! Woohoo! Congratulations and BEST of luck to you, sweet girl!

Jinny Goes to the Vet

This is how Jinny spends most of her time

Now that Jinny is recovered from her spay surgery, we took her to the vet to evaluate the next step in preparing her for adoption. After talking through some of the issues we've noticed over the past two weeks, the vet decided that it's best for Jinny to postpone her heartworm treatment for a couple more weeks. Jinny has a couple of bad teeth that need to come out and a piece of her gum has grown down around a rotten back molar. This causes Jinny a lot of discomfort and difficulty eating. The vet said her belly irritation is a staph infection that looks like it came from licking razor burn around her spay incision. Poor girl. She'll be on antibiotics for that. Her ingrown dewclaws healed very nicely.

One of a few broken/rotten teeth

A full dental (which requires general anesthesia) and heartworm shots all in one weekend would tax Jinny's system too much. So, we'll get the teeth taken care of and get rid of any infection before taking her back for heartworm treatment. Jinny should feel much better in a couple of weeks without those painful teeth and that itchy skin infection. We ought to see her energy level and personality pick up a bit. She's been wanting to do nothing but lie on the living room rug 24/7. I'd feel junky too with rotten teeth and a fever. It will be wonderful to see her perk up a little! We'll keep you posted on her progress...she still has a few hurdles to clear before she's ready for her trip to New York.

Get well soon, Jinny!



Introducing Jinny, the Fairest Lass in all the Land

Jinny's intake photo at animal control

Another photo from AC

Meet sassy Miss Jinny, our newest foster gal! Jinny is a 5 (ish) year old rough coated Collie / Sheltie mix who weighs about 40 pounds. She's super sweet, very quiet, ever so polite, and just a really good girl. A DeKalb County animal control officer picked Jinny up as a stray in Doraville on June 9th. The shelter has been at max capacity recently and poor Jinny never made it into the relative safety of the adoptions ward. We pulled her from the main ward for Perfect Pets Rescue yesterday.

Drew grooming Jinny on Day 1

Jinny's poor dewclaws post trimming

Drew picked her name and prefers it spelled with a "J" instead of the conventional "G". I don't think it's ever taken us quite this long to name a dog before, but we wanted to take our time picking something feminine that suited her personality well. Jinny is short for Virginia, which means fair maiden. This seems to fit her nicely. 

What a lovely lady!

Jinny resting on Day 1

Jinny tested positive for heartworms, which means we'll have her for 3-4 months while she undergoes treatment. After that, she'll board the FODA transport bus and head up to PPR in Poughkeepsie, New York to await her forever home. She also had badly ingrown dewclaws; the claws grew so long that they wrapped around and pierced her toe pads. The shelter vet clipped them to an appropriate length while Jinny wasunder anesthesia for her spay procedure. They'll be swollen and sore for a while, but will heal with time and a little antibiotic assistance. Drew spent a good bit of time gently cutting mats out of her coat and washing away the dirt with a damp cloth, as she can't have a full bath until her spay incision fully heals. After that, she got a good thorough brushing. Her coat looks worlds better now and she's feeling much more comfortable without all those awful mats pulling her skin.

Bunkies & Jinny

Jinny appears to be completely housebroken. She also sleeps quietly in her crate at night and will retreat to it for afternoon naps when she needs a moment to herself. She doesn't mind the other dogs at all. Bunkin seems to think we brought Jinny home just for him. They are in collie mix heaven together (see photos). We are so happy to have Jinny in our home. It is an honor to help her on her journey toward forever.

Perfect Pets Rescue (PPR) is a wonderful group that pulls countless dogs from DeKalb County Animal Services and other area shelters. They make sure their foster dogs have everything they need. PPR really rocked the house this weekend when they pulled a small breed dog with NINE puppies, a staff & fan favorite Australian Kelpie named Sushi, and getting the ball rolling on an adorable young pup ALL in addition to placing Jinny with us. Paws big time UP for PPR! If you'd like to donate to PPR so they can continue their awesome work, please visit this page: http://www.perfectpetsrescue.org/donations-and-how-you-can-help.html