Rolling Dog Farm Blog

Kongs are supposed to be an almost indestructible dog chew toy that can stand up to "power chewers," as the Kong Company calls them.

Kong Company, meet Kenai the Kong Destroyer.

There is no Kong toy she cannot destroy in a 10-minute chewfest.  Even the company’s "Extreme Kong" is no match for this blind, 9-year old Lab. 

I took this photo of Kenai in our living room, where she had just gotten underway on a new Kong.  She stopped momentarily when she heard the camera clicking, and the Kong rolled out from her under right front paw and onto the floor. 

Nothing makes her happier that shredding one of these Kong toys into a hundred tiny bits of rubber.

But the point is, better a Kong than the furniture, eh?

(Click on photo for larger image.)

One of our awesome volunteers, Laura B. from Helena, adopted Bandida the cat today.  Bandida had come to us from an animal hoarder case in the Flathead Valley of Montana last year.  The hoarder kept 28 cats in an attic in deplorable conditions.  When finally discovered, the local animal control agency had to euthanize 20 of the cats.

A rescue group took the remaining eight cats.  They managed to adopt out six of them, but couldn’t find homes for the remaining two cats, Bandida and Domino, because they were considered elderly.  So the rescue group called us.

We generally don’t take in animals just because they’re elderly … if we did, we wouldn’t have any room for disabled animals.  But we had already said ‘no’ to this rescue group several times in the past — again, because the cats weren’t disabled — and by this time we felt guilty enough that we said, "Well, okay!"

Both Bandida (we named her that because her little black mask reminds us of a bandit) and Domino turned out to be incredibly sweet, affectionate cats.  Ironically, another of our volunteers, LuAnn W. from Helena, adopted Domino last Sunday!  (For some strange reason, I completely forgot to capture ‘blog moments’ last weekend … what was I thinking?)

Thus when Laura came this morning to pick up Bandida, I was ready with the camera.  Incidentally, Laura has also adopted old, deaf Chance the black Lab and Winchester, a cat who had been shot four times and survived on his own.  (Both have great stories, but you’d better grab the tissue box before you start reading!)  So Laura adds beautiful, loving Bandida to her Rolling Dog Ranch collection of animals. 

Thank you, Laura!

(Click on photo for larger image.)

This is where we go to pick up our hay.  This barn belongs to our neighbors, Bob and Judy R., who grow the hay we buy.  Bob and Judy are kind enough to let us store our hay in their barn, which saves us the considerable expense of building a hay barn of our own.  Some day we’d like to, but right now we have plenty of other uses for the money! 

When it’s time for a weekly ‘fill-up,’ we hitch up the flat-bed trailer and head over to Bob and Judy’s to load up.  I took the photo this afternoon when we went over to get a couple of tons.  We bought all the hay you see in this barn … it holds about 70 tons, out of the 100 tons we ordered.  We’re almost halfway through the stacks on the left side. 

Here in Montana, we’ll be feeding hay right up until we turn the horses out to pasture on June 1.  Even through the summer we have some horses that can’t go out on pasture much and need hay for supplemental feeding.

The sanctuary is just off to the right in the far distance … if you click on the photo to view a larger image, you may be able to see the cottonwood trees on our property, but I don’t think you’ll be able to make out any of the buildings.

Since I’ve been on the subject of sheep recently, let me admit I’m a bit sheepish about taking this long to introduce our first employee, Beth S.  She joined us last fall, and just recently completely her first 90 days.  I think initially I hadn’t blogged Beth’s arrival because, well, we weren’t sure she’d want to stay once a real Montana winter arrived.  Then came the two weeks of 20 below zero weather in December and she didn’t pack up and leave.  (Although I did hear Beth mutter something about "Siberia" one sub-zero morning.)

Alayne and I realized last summer that we could no longer do it all ourselves anymore.  Between working full-time for a living AND running the sanctuary, our work weeks average 80 hours, with no time off and no weekends. The risk in running a non-profit like this is burn-out, and we couldn’t afford that.  So we decided the time had come to hire our first employee and we posted a job notice.

Beth had just completed a Master’s degree at Boston College when she learned about our opening, and after interviews and then flying out for a visit to the ranch, we offered her the job.  She’s been a GREAT help, and all the animals adore her.  I took the photo this morning of Beth with blind Nikki, who’s about to turn two in April. 

Although Beth is now here, Alayne and I still don’t have any time off and we work every weekend.  Even with the three of us we’re not getting everything done that we need to.  So we’re in the process of interviewing candidates for a second position.

I realized a few weeks ago how crazy we were to try and manage an operation this size with so few people.  When I went to the Humane Society of Western Montana — formerly the Missoula Humane Society — to see Vader, the blind dog they called us about, the shelter had 19 dogs.  We have 35 dogs, with special needs!  Not to mention 28 horses, and of course our cats.  The Humane Society has an entire staff of 15 employees. 

Hopefully we’ll have a second employee on board soon.  And I’ll be sure to introduce our new hire sooner than it took me to introduce Beth!

(Click on photo for larger image.)

Molly the sheep is now able to stand up in the hay feeder.  She had company today:  Myrtle, another of our four sheep, decided to join Molly inside the feeder this afternoon.  <sigh>  She obviousy thought Molly was onto a good thing.  I have this sinking feeling by morning we’ll find the other two sheep, Mort and Minnie, in the feeder as well.

To get Molly out we’ll need to open up the feeder, but the feeder legs are frozen deep in several inches of ice.  So we’ll have to take a crowbar and bust open the ice first. 

Incidentally, this is the second type of round bale feeder we’ve used with these girls.  Molly got herself stuck in the other one, too.  It’s time to make some modifications to sheep-proof the dang thing!

Myrtle had her ears chewed off in a dog attack a few years ago in Yakima, Washington.  The dog also left deep wounds on both sides of her neck.  Myrtle’s owner gave her no medical care and was just waiting to see if she would die from her wounds.  That’s when we were called.  Now Myrtle’s biggest challenge is seeing how much hay she can eat in a day.

We never know what we might find when we get up in the morning, and we kind of hold our breath until we make the first rounds.  Today’s surprise was finding Molly the sheep stuck in the round bale feeder.  (Yes, we have a handful of rescued sheep … it’s not our focus, but we agreed to take them a few years ago when they had no other options.  We aren’t taking in any more farm animals.)

Molly had tried to climb into the feeder, got her big fat hips wedged between the upright bars, and then couldn’t go forward or backward.  There she stayed all night, her hind legs off the ground, her front legs in the hay, her belly pressing down with all its weight on the rim of the feeder.  It was like someone had tied a cord around her waist and cut off the circulation to her hips and legs for hours.

By the time I found her this morning, she could not move her back legs.  I was able lift up her hind end and push her through the uprights and all the way onto the hay, but she couldn’t stand up.  In fact, she lay there, shivering and immobile. I rolled her back and forth, pulled on her legs, but she never resisted.  Very unsheep-like.  In case you’re wondering, these girls weigh about 200 lbs.

We covered her in blankets to stay warm and then I went inside to call our equine vet, Dr. Bill Brown.  (If you spend enough money with equine vets they’ll work on the occasional farm animal!)  I explained what happened and what condition Molly was in.

Bill had me inject her with 20 cc’s of dexamethasone, an anti-inflammatory steroid, and also give her a dose of Banamine, a different type of anti-inflammatory.  Within a minute after giving Molly the injection she started to get up on her hind legs, but couldn’t get her front feet out.  I think this was a response to the shot, as in: "Uh oh, if I don’t move they’re going to give me another one!"  So we wrestled with her some more, got her to sit up sternal, and left her eating contentedly from the hay that surrounded her. 

I wish I could say this was Molly’s first time at being wedged in the feeder, but it isn’t.  She isn’t what we would call a "learning individual."  But this was the first time she’s done this kind of damage to herself.

It’s too soon to tell if Molly can walk again.  As of this evening, she was still sitting in the feeder,  covered in her blankets, munching away.  The other sheep were looking on rather enviously. 

(Click on photo for larger image.)

Last night I posted some of the financial numbers from our year-end accounting.  Tonight I thought I’d share some of the animal numbers for last year.

For instance, new arrivals in 2005 were:

• 18 dogs — 10 were blind, 3 were deaf, 4 had neurological disorders and 1 had a limb deformity

• 8 cats — 1 blind, 1 deaf, 1 with a neurological disorder, 1 with a limb deformity, 2 were elderly, and 2 were very sick kittens

• 13 horses — 10 blind, 1 with a back problem, 1 was the inseparable brother of the horse with a back problem, and 1 was a starvation case

The animals came from across the country:  California, Washington, Idaho, Colorado, Ohio, Indiana, South Carolina, Missouri, and many from here in Montana.  One dog came from Ontario in Canada.

We also happily adopted out 10 animals during the year.

Of course, we had our share of heartbreak, too.  The number of deaths included 8 dogs, 3 cats and 3 horses.  Losing an animal is, naturally, the hardest thing for us.  We’ll lose more in a year than most people will in a lifetime.

The second hardest thing for us is having to say ‘no’ to an animal.  I had to do that twice tonight already.  One was a little 2-year old spaniel mix who weighed only 15 lbs … she should weigh 30 lbs.  She’s from a neglect and abuse case in California, and because of chronic malnutrition her entire life, she has spine and limb problems.  The other was a blind Lab mix in southern Illinois.  I had to tell both shelters we couldn’t take them because we’re full.

But not to leave you on a down note … in my office as I write this are blind Evelyn and blind Widget, both snoozing away without a care in the world.  Outside my office is old Pappy the German Shepherd, laying on his bed keeping an eye on me through the open door.  His motto is:  "I am your Shepherd, you are my sheep."

If you’ve wondered why we’ve been unusually quiet on the blog front, it’s because I’ve been buried working on year-end accounting for the sanctuary!  I’ve spent hours huddled with QuickBooks, bank statements, receipts, and check stubs, trying to get the final data entered into the computer so I could send the numbers off to our accountants for the sanctuary’s tax return.

Here’s an early look at a few of the numbers:

Our top three direct expenses were…

• Veterinary @ $33,840
• Animal feed @ $32,686
• Animal building utilities @ $7,534

Our capital expenditures totaled more than $98,800, which was mostly our new barn for blind horses, Beauty’s Barn, and fencing.

So now that our accountants have all the data, I’ll get back to posting more blogs!

A week to the day he went into the hospital, little Cody finally came home to the ranch.  Alayne picked him up at Dr. Dave Bostwick’s clinic in Missoula this afternoon.  Despite having life-threatening parvo, this tyke actually looked like he had grown in the week he’d been gone!

He is back to being the joyful little pup he was during his first few hours here.  He’s lively, barking, jumping up and down, and wanting to play with us.  We have him in isolation in a cottage away from the other dogs, where he will remain for another 14 days just to make sure he’s past the infectious stage. 

We were very lucky Cody survived.  It helped we started treatment almost immediately from the first onset of symptoms.  It also helped that we had the best medical care for him around the clock.  Dave directed his treatment plan and cared for Cody during the day, and at night he was cared for by the Western Montana Small Animal Emergency Clinic.  (They’re in the same building.)

When Cody’s white blood cell count dropped dramatically on New Year’s Eve — a very bad sign — Dave told the emergency clinic to give him a plasma infusion.  It’s not cheap … $250 … but the plasma made a big difference in Cody’s ability to survive.

The total bill came to $845.50.  Was it worth this little life?  You bet.  Every penny of it.  Thanks to the sanctuary’s generous supporters, who make all this possible, we could afford to give Cody whatever medical care he needed. 

In the final photo, Cody is looking up at Alayne, who is holding a toy in her hands.  Yes, he can see just fine!  We still don’t have an explanation for his rapid eye movement, which seems to come and go, but it sure doesn’t affect his vision!

(Click on photos for larger image.)

It looks like Cody is going to survive his bout with parvo and may be able to come home tomorrow!  Dr. Dave Bostwick, our internal medicine specialist in Missoula, called this morning to say Cody is "feeling great, barking and jumping."  He is off IV’s now and in general is acting like a frisky little pup.  So for now we’re planning to pick him up tomorrow, although we will wait for Dave’s update in the morning before knowing for sure.