Here's Kate holding our newest arrival, blind Billy, who just came to us from Atlanta Beagle Rescue. Morgan S., who runs the group, had emailed me to say:
We got him from South Carolina last weekend. He's maybe about 6-8 years old and has the wide open stare of PRA. The shelter neutered him before they released him and unfortunately did not stop him from licking his incision site. His mouth is a bacterial cesspool – worst teeth I've seen in a while – so now he's got infection "down there" as well as a ton of teeth that are going to have to come out. We've started him on antibiotics and have him scheduled for a dental next Thursday. He is, of course, heartworm positive on top of all that.
The shelter had picked him up as a stray wandering loose in a neighborhood. He had a tag on his collar, and when the shelter staff called the person whose name and number were on the tag, the fellow said he didn't have a dog. Lovely, eh?
When I emailed Morgan back to say we'd take him, I joked that we were beginning to look like Atlanta Beagle Rescue North. Of the seven blind Beagles we now have, all but one came from Morgan's group. (Well, Widget came to us from Morgan many, many years ago when she lived in New York.) And with Billy's arrival — and Katie and Spencer's adoption — the Beagle to Dachshund ratio has tilted decisively in favor of Beagles at the moment, 7 to 4. Of course, since Widget is half-Dachshund (a fact that makes her grumpy whenever we bring it up), even if we add her genetics to the Dachshund side of the ledger, Beagles still prevail.
In addition to being blind, Billy also has dry eye, which Morgan had started treating him for. His left eye in particular seems painful — some discharge and squinting — and may need to come out. He had his dental in Atlanta, which we paid for, and lost most of his teeth because they were so bad. Between his heartworms and his eyes, he's got more medical work ahead.
Billy is a very sweet boy, and immediately made himself at home. He loves cruising the front yard, sniffing all the new smells. When I was taking the photos this morning, Billy could smell some food on the table next to us in the dog room, and all he wanted to do was climb out of Kate's arms and go find that food! So with all the squirming and wiggling, I subjected Kate and Billy to 47 photos. By the time we were getting to the end of the shoot, Kate was still holding up but Billy was getting bored and decided to yawn:
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The new Shelter Challenge started Monday, January 9 and ends at midnight on March 18. Grand prize in this round is $5,000, plus $1,000 for weekly winners and $1,000 for state winners. There are also other categories … please see the Shelter Challenge website for details.
*** We are now LISTED UNDER OUR NEW NAME, ROLLING DOG FARM. State is still NH for New Hampshire. ***
Please remember, you can vote every day … consider bookmarking the voting page to make it easy.
We just won $1,000 as a weekly winner for Week 4 in this current contest, and thousands more in the previous contests. The Shelter Challenge really does bring in a lot of money for the animals here!
You can vote in the Shelter Challenge here.
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