Friday, at work, I looked at a training video that was being prepared about our company culture. I had been interviewed for it about my extracurricular activities on behalf of the animals at JCAC. It was a pretty long interview and they didn't use most of it. They did pick one part that was a story about a dog that had been adopted, but when it went to the JCAC vet they found it had heartworms. The old JCAC vet (they now have new vets) quoted the new owners a ridiculous amount to treat it that the adopters couldn't afford and they had to send it back to JCAC. That almost guaranteed certain death for this dog. I was able to call a vet with a rescue license and they pulled it and saved it. Just this little effort, making this connection, saved that dog's life.
Last night as I was falling asleep I remembered I saw Ivy that day at the STL Pet Rescue event at Gravois Bluffs. We looked at this beautiful chocolate pit mix that was kind of hefty and said, "Wow she kind of looks like Ivy." Her owner, a nice young man, said it is Ivy. All our jaws dropped. She looked so different. He said she gained 16 pounds! Her coat was beautiful and she was hefty. And of course, adding on the pounds makes us all look different ;-).
I remembered when I first saw her. It was fall 2009 at JCAC and starting to get cold. I was down there one day helping Adel, our angel, that volunteers much if not all of her free time at JCAC and at rescue adoption events. We were pulling all the dirty blankets out of the dog houses in the outside runs and replacing them. I'm fairly brave about getting into the runs with the dogs, but sometimes can wimp out. I looked at Ivy and she was really skinny but looked nice. When I got in the run with her she was nothing but smiles and wiggles. She didn't jump. She just wanted loving - lots of it. Adel and I talked about how great she was and how we needed to find a place for her. However it is always hard to find places for pitties.
Last summer I needed work done on my house and placed an ad on Craigslist. I received a response from a guy that said he could do the work for a reasonable price. As we got to talking we figured out that we went to the same highschool although a few years apart and knew some of the same people.
I had the Flickr photostream up one day on the computer while he was at my house working and I told him about what we do. He mentioned that he and his wife fostered dogs. His wife, Laura, monitors their e-mail so I sent her a link to our Flickr photoboard and explained how it worked and said if she was ever interested in fostering one of the JCAC dogs to let me know.
Fall came and we were trying hard to find a foster for an American Bulldog, Daisy, that was an already spayed, owner surrender. We were advertising on Craigslist for a foster and Laura saw it. She contacted me about it. It turned out Daisy wouldn't work out in their house because of their other pets, but instead she took Ivy!!! Unfortunately Ivy had heartworm and they ended up keeping her for quite a while as she got better. They loved her and considered keeping her, but in the end they let Ivy get adopted. They continue to save and foster dogs.
The picture is Ivy while she was at JCAC. I don't have an after picture. I wish I did so you could see the amazing difference.
In the end it is all about making connections, even if just in passing. You never know when and how someone might be able to help the animals.
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