Selfie with the Big Queen of the House

ChaCha a Cane Corso mix, is our rescue dog from Italy,  the Queen of our House. One among 11 other dogs in this house, she is the one with a dominant glamour. She is lovely, but also determine. ChaCha loves life to the fullest and can also tell you when something is not as it should be (in her eyes). 

Even when she and I do selfies, ChaCha pushes me away.

However, for several days have I felt that something was wrong with her, you know.....mother feeling. Something!

Last week I went to the veterinarian with a sick Senior and I brought ChaCha with me. This big dog normally would snarl and snap, like a big Monster. And now we needed to take blood tests.

Muzzle on, and "big strong" people entered the room to assist. I couldn't believe my eyes, she was nice as a lamb!

I asked for many different kind of blood tests, to be able to quickly find out, in what direction we had to look for. The tests costs around 150 euro. --The veterinarian thought she also is over weight, 56 kg! 

ChaCha gets one big cup dry food a day.....no it can be from that tiny meal a day! Something!

Three days later the test results came back, and her Thyroid is not working as it should.

Happy Dance. I knew there was something.....and together with a good veterinarian, that trusts your feeling (instinct).....that's what teams should be all about.

ChaCha is now on medication and after a month we are going back for another blood test. But, at least, we are on the right way.

Kind People

Yesterday I wrote about the dog Brownie, and the nice "Kiosk owner Lady" here she is next to Dr.Inga

I salute you, and veterinarian Inga for your Amore to the strays!
Amore!

International Veterinarian Help

Animals Without Limits is delighted to report, that we now have a fantastic veterinarian (Inga) with us in the Animal SUV going out on missions. It is so educating and life saving.... and time saving. Before, we guessed at ailments and brought the dogs in to the veterinarian clinic for treatments. Now Inga can diagnose and we can treat directly on the spot, or if it is an emergency we will bring them into LegaProAnimale, but with the foreknowledge of the problem. Inga diagnosed my dear little stray Pimpinella (who comforted me at the cemetary when we buried Ranger) that she has a Hernia. I made a phone call to the vet, and tomorrow I am bringing her in for surgery--and a three legged Pit Bull "Gigi" for castration, as well.

We also are now able to do "following ups" with our dogs, if they need to be medicated we return to the dog every day until he/she is healed.

I have seen and heard about some people from different organizations/foundations that goes out on the street and try to rescue dogs. Many don't know how to approach stray dogs on the street and they end up chasing the dogs out onto the street... potentially getting hit and killed by a car. Certainly, putting them at risk. Not what is desired.

Many are also placing emotional aspects onto the animals, transfering human emotions onto the animal. For instance, they may try to comfort a sick or scared dog by hugging or kissing (it is not a baby). This could scare the dog more than anything, since they are not used to this type of contact. Moreover, kissing a dog with unknown diseases, can result in infections on the human. Nobody should want scabs on their lips from kissing a stray!!

One "rescuer" put the puppies she picked up in her back-pack, and went walking around in hopes of finding families to take them in. In the process, two suffocated and the other one vomitted and had di arrhea (and later died from dehydration). This is tragic, and a case where the attempted solution was worse than the problem. Not to mention, what horrible, cruel way to die!

Even after 10 years working with strays-- including in war zones, and having had had educators with me --- I realized that every situation is about a life and what I do is very important for many lives, human and animal.

Having "Dottore Inga" with AWL is fantastic Amore to many strays and people.

Donation to AWL

The Foundation wants to thank veterinarian Inga Marie, and her husband Marc for their donation to Animals without Limits.

From our heart we thank you, Amore!

One Day of Different Feelings

Heard - Leaving an animal inside the car is against the law in the state of Texas.

Met - A beautiful Setter who was found in a bag together with her dead mother. She is such a loving soul, but the people might not keep her!!!

Vet.news - Results from the Lega Pro Animale Spay and Neuter day 18th July: 104 stray cats (76 female cats and 28 male) neutered free of charge.

Dislike - People who say they work for the animals' best interests but cannot cooperate and share with each other.

Saw - A mother teaching her son how to pet a dog/stray gently.

Feel - The sometimes fleeting notion that we are doing this out of Amore?

Gastrits Among Dogs

I got an e mail from a lady that I "kind" of know. Her dog throws up once in a while, and it is yellow.

Gastritis is common among our “pet” animals. Since we human beings and animals have much the same intestines and emotional feelings we tend to get the same problems/sicknesses. The number one sold medicine in the word is Losec (for heartburn), especially among competition animals, which often have some amount of stress inside; negative or positive stress. We treat the animals the same as people, with antibiotics, etc, etc. Ok, since I have not met her dog with her together it is hard for me to give them the correct advice, but I can tell a little about some experiences with animals’ health, and training.

This will also be short since I "normally" give the advice to the owner in person, also the client and I talk for 1 ½ hour at every appointment.

Yellow vomit: since the acid is burning in the stomach, the stomach needs easy food to digest, no milk products or not even yogurt (yes some dog owners are giving their animals that, cold and nice they say/think). It is very important that you put the dog food to get moist. You can talk to your veterinarian about what to give for heartburn (if he knows, some veterinarians have no knowledge at all since it is wide area of education.) You can also use some oil to spread/pour on the wet food. Or give your dog breakfast gruel, which will be soft as cotton in her stomach. (Some people need to start their morning with something smooth or they will have heartburn the whole day.)

Vomiting and diarrhea: is usually a bacteria, just like we can have. When it is a bacterium the body is defending itself by emptying the whole system out (like with us) it is very important that the dog have two bowls of water, but in one bowl put some ice cubes. Sometimes they prefer inside temperature water, but some want ice-cold. Since they cannot talk (eh?!), we have to give them different options, so that they can chose for themselves. After one or two days, start very easy to give her boiled rice and boiled chicken in tiny portions but often (many times) during the day. Since the animal’s stomach is empty, you should not shock it by giving a lot. When we have the stomach flu, we start with chicken soup when feeling better. If she has the problem more than two days, you should call a veterinarian as they can dehydrate quick. --Remember my dogs had these symptoms and were lightly poisoned--

Some veterinarians would keep the dog and “starve”them, but they can also give a dog intravenous drip (IV) if necessary. If the dog drinks and is moving its tail, stay and pet their head, but do not pity. You are a loving person, but never forget, they are thinking as a member of a wolf pack. Your strength and calm energy goes over to your animal.

Animals do not have a logical sense--some say-- (not many adults I know can think logically either), they have “surviving sense”.

I'm not a veterinarian, so I strongly advocate staying in contact with veterinarians for advice.

One veterinarian here seems to default to the opinion that any ailment is likely caused by worms. But in this case the owner is a very stressful person, and we know that our personality many times 'colors' our children and animals. Look at the situation combined with veterinarian expertise/advise to find the most likely cause for the situation.

Good health is happy Amore!

Thank You for Support

From my heart (our hearts) I want to thank all the veterinarians and nurses that took care of Shiloh at Villa Felice. Dr Friz for your support and knowledge too.

The "persons" that drove the car that hit Shiloh--or Shiloh hit their car--are calling every day and asking how she is doing. You couldn't help what happened, it was a tragic accident. I know you feel awful, once again, you could not help it. We appreciate very much your concern for our little pack-member.

Family, friends and blog readers, thank you so much for your support, love, prayers and thoughts.

For all your Amore to Shiloh, thank you.

Still Going Strong

Those who have read my three books, have been able to follow my dog Tjojs' adventures, and they know what a great dog she is. I cannot take any credit for that, she is the one who taught me what do and what not to do!

She is now 12 1/2 year and has moved with me several times; around in Sweden, then to America, were I promised her this was it. "Ehhh how about some pasta, Tjojs? Italy?" And now we are here in Southern Italy.

Lately I have noticed that she is getting "old." It hurts but at the same time I am so happy that I am privileged to have her still with me, alive.

But when she becomes sick I get so worried, always afraid this is something very serious? Maybe even, the end?

She is way too old to be put in for any surgery, and she cannot stay in a kennel anymore ... that would stress her too badly.

Jumping in and out of the car are just memories now, but I gladly lift her up and down even if I can see she is embarrassed. Especially if some of the other dogs are outside watching. She doesn't want to show the pack she is getting weak, that will give her trouble in the rank position.

She started to throw up and have diarrhea the last two days. I felt that it could be out of stress with the two new "brats", even if there is not visible stress, it can many times be invisible stress in the pack. But I wanted everything to be checked out, not one minute to re-think or wait if I was right.

At the veterinarian clinic she got an IV since dogs can become dehydrated quickly, just like children. No fever, heart-beats were good; blood work good for her age. So now it is just for observation, homeopathic medicine and an IV with us home, time will tell.

She is doing much better and the veterinarian also thinks it could be stress; Ranger's death, and two new dogs to keep low in the pack's rank-- After all, she is the "alpha" queen.

After giving her an IV in the late afternoon, she seems to do better...keep your fingers crossed, please.

This is worrying Amore!

Think We are With Dog Part 2

We went to the veterinarian with Trooper and he will have to stay there for one week. Trooper is now going through a de-worming program, and with the vaccinations shots he has to start all over again. His papers were not completed with all the shoots and they (shots) where also too old!


The trainer at the Kennel told us the story about how the owner had bought this beige Labrador Retriever from Hungary (900 Euro) as a present for his son. The dog dug up the whole yard so the owner put him (not the son) in the Kennel and said, "Give it away!"

That was 3 months and 180 Euro in kennel fees ago.


The trainer had told our Italian translator that if we wanted to give him some money for the dogs boarding bill, it would be great, but just if we wanted.



Todd and I, with big animal hearts thought to ourselves, "of course we will, hell we will even help him with other dogs and medicine."



A phone call three days after our first meeting, we said "yes we wanted Trooper". We agreed we would meet the owner and sign the papers at the Kennel. (In Italy, there is a formal procedure to transfer ownership of a pet.)


For us it is very important to have the papers signed, not least of all because the microchip has the owners name. Later with the paper we will have to go to an Italian office and change the name of the ownership. So it is very important.


I whispered to Todd that this man-- the owner-- would not show up, he would have other things to do than signing papers at a place where he has a bill!


And of course, he didn't show up. The trainer tried his five phone numbers and the answer he got, "he is to busy"



Another Italian friend of mine said, "who else than the Camora has five different phone numbers?"



Oh-boy! Are we having a "hot" Camora! dog?

Animals without Limits

Animals without Limits are on the field again.

Now I need all your help and support again, new and old.

Yesterday, me and the animal worker Kath went out looking for a dog I had seen the day before, skin and bones. We drove into a very poor neighborhood stopping and asking people if they had seen this little, beige, bony dog. They pointed at a big garbage pile, his home. But we couldn't find him.

Suddenly, Kath saw a dog laying on the sidewalk. Was it dead or alive? We couldn't tell from the car. We drove up and looked. Yes, it was breathing but in bad condition. Kath held the dog with a towel over its head, since the dog was scared by whomever was grabbing her--some here like to torture dogs, even beating them with baseball bats--

Out with the crate, gloves on, and in with the little "girl." Off to the veterinarian station Dr. Fritz and her crew--they really care.

Our "girl" couldn't be saved, she had distemper. Kath and I payed for the euthanasia (put her to sleep) and the veterinarian put the money in the donation box for helping animals. Euro 50 well spent!

We named her Flower, so at least as she left this world, she had a name. And we know that today she is in a better place, able to run and play without any pain or worries... in fields with a lot of flowers and Amore!