The Last Days

Mom and Dad had a conversation this morning and I heard them saying they cannot be homeless with 17 dogs. They have agreed to start trying to find homes for as many of us as possible. They are starting with Freddy because he is the most normal and he is young. He has already passed two homes the next will be his third. Mom cried but agreed in the end. We paid the one month of the two month debt but by then another one was due by the time we paid. They now have four or five unpaid bills one being three months of internet service, so things are more than bleak. Dad says we must act now to find a way to give us all away. I am in despair I don't want to leave my family. It's not fair I want to bite life because it sucks. I love my mom and dad. Nobody will take Misty.  She is too mad and won't let anyone except mom and dad touch her. Why is life so cruel. They took us in, spent all their money on us and now look what happened. Over ten years mom reckons they have spent over $200,000 on dogs. Now they can't even raise $1000 on the chip in.  Nobody rich or famous gives a damn. They have even suggested to people to buy our house and let us live here so we  can live out our lives in peace, therefore they would one day get their money back. I hate all this. Dad was actually hoping it would be the end of the world on the 21st May because he is so fed up and sad.   There are serious problems here and no visible solutions. I am going to my sofa to cry I am too sad to talk to anyone any more. Life stinks! Mom is broken hearted. The future doesn't exist. So many old and traumatiuzed dogs here mom can't take the constant worry every month gets worse. She stopped believing in the miracle and justs cries we are her family. I don't know what to do anymore!
Who will take an old dog needing vet care who spent years on the streets who will take Tasha incintinent and a killer of other dogs, Pluto and Gracie who have been together virtually their whole lives. Nicki crippled and old lost her family and now again will lose another family. It is worse for us in the house. Jessie problems with walking and sleeps in the warm. Pebbles sleeps in mom's bed. Guga sleeps by the bed. Misty sleeps under the bed. When dad lost the bakery mom said we could raise the money to pay off the mortgage because it wasn't that much by  first world standards. Some of the rich and famous probably spend more than that in restaurants per month but they are the least caring . We thank all the ordinary people who  have tried with their generous hearts to help us, but we just can't make it. Since the Twitter challenge we have received $23 only. I can't beleive this is happening.

Pitbulls to Donate here

Dogs in Brazil are helping Estimacao to try and donate six pitbull and pitbull mixes left over after the disaster. They were fostered out to someone to assess them and because the shelter did not have cages strong enough to hold them immediately after the disaster.  It is now time for them to find forever homes.

This one is very pretty, he reminds us of Trooper who we think is a pit bull mix.

 Another real gem waiting for someone to love him.

This one is brown and white and does not have any ears. We don't know why could be a fighting dog or someone amputated them thinking he would look mean. Idiots like to do that kind of thing to us dogs! Here is a close up. The poor boy is full of scars.

He may look tough but he is a real sweetie. There is also a huge Rotweiler mix probably mixed with Fila.

 

This is a majestic dog probably weighing in around nearly 200 pounds or 90 kilos. One heavy weight dog. If, anyone reading this happens to live in Brazil and would like to adopt one of these dogs then please leave a comment with e mail address and we will get back to you. Meanwhile mom and dad have entered financial meltdown and still waiting for someone to buy the house. Please chip in if you can.

Financial Issues

SOS £££ $$$$ HELP

Mom and Dad did a twitter challenge a raised enough to pay one of our mortgage payments. They were two behind, but since then a nother one is due, so they are still two payments behind, Mom says that without a significant increase in donations then we have had it. Since the twitter challenge it has all gone very quiet again. They are still hoping for one larger donation from a wealthy dog lover because the smaller donations are not enough although we really appreciate everybodies help. We are still approaching rich and famous people for their help, but they seem largely indifferent to the situation. We just need one to take notice and feel compassion for us but who? where? we have tried many. If, mom and dad could just get the morgage off their backs then they could probably make it. The interest rate is extremely high and accounts for almost half the monthly expenses. Today  the received bank statement and have only a few crumbs left to live on. We appeal to everyone that knows us to implore the rich and famous to take a look at our blog or even to come and visit us here in Brazil.
We have implored them to fund raise on our behalf not to dip into their own pockets a lot of them have millions of fans who could be mobilised to give a little each. Oh we forgot to tell you there is an article in the National Examiner on dogs in Brazil. http://www.examiner.com its under the pets section

Another Trip to our friends in Teresopolis

Mom and Dad made another trip to Teresopolis yesterday. The situation is improving and more animals got adopted at an event yesterday, however the legacy of the disaster continues for humans and animals. Mom and Dad took some pictures of the houses in Posse yesterday.

There are a lot of empty houses where probably the owners all perished. There is also a lot of building work going on as people are still struggling to return to normal. This house looks abandoned. The mud line shows how high the mudslide was. It probably invaded the house totally and the occupants probably  perished. There is still rivers of mud all around.

 

These are more abandoned houses that stand like this. They are a very sad reminder of what happened here. When you see this you our forced to think how long will it take Japan to recover probably several  years. The disaster here occurred on January 12th. A day non of us can ever forget. Now globally it is insignificant except to a few thousand people. We are forced to see scenes like this daily which is why it is so hard to forget. We feel so sorry for the thousands of people still sleeping in tent camps because it is very cold here right now.  

As Mom and Dad passed this one they noticed this curious cement lady still standing on top. They don't know who she is meant to be and the area is pretty much deserted now as most of the people in this area perished.

 

Here is a close up of her. Maybe she was supposed to protect the inhabitants, but somehow failed in her duty and is now forced to eternallly survey the damage as a castigation for her sins. Now we are going to look at some of the nice dogs still in the shelter.

This is Vovo or Grandpa in English. He is said to be around 15. He was caught up in the disaster and Mom and Dad thought he had very low chances of adoption. Well! yesterday they heard the news that one of the volunteers is going to keep him. The humans who visit the  dogs there regualrly see us in a different way to the ones coming to choose a new pet. They get to know the dogs on a more personal basis and it is mostly the volunteers who take the problem dogs. Mom keeps saying they will wait right up to the end and see who is left before making any decisions about squeezing another one in here. She says they probably won't be able too until they sort out the mess they call their lives. Here is another huge problem.

This is Gustavo. He has escaped death twice that we know of. First he survived the disaster and second the Argentinian vets working for Kinship Circle were just about to euthanize him when they were stopped in their tracks by the director of the shelter. He is one lucky boy to be alive. They wanted to kill him because he bit one of them. He does bite through fear but he is very affectionate with the people he likes. Dad gives him affection and has never been bitten by poor little frightened Gustavo. He has been at the Shelter months. He needs a person with a lot of patience and no other dogs or children and a lot of love then we are sure he could be a nice boy. 

These are two of the Pitbull and Pitbull mixes awaiting adoption. They were fostered out seperately because of the initial overcrowding just after the disaster. They are now ready for adoption as the foster has assessed them and they are all fit and well and fixed so they cannot reproduce. Mom and Dad are helping with the campaign to get them adopted out to responsible people who will love them. You have to be careful about this because there are dog fighting rings here just like other countries. 

This one was screaming 'I wanna get out now'. Mom said that he was adorable.  

This one Mom fell in love with she said he looks like a mop. He has a long beard and really needs a haircut. Another really gorgeous dog but aren't we all?

Lastly here is a church standing alone amid the ruins of what once was a community. It is a stark reminder to Thank God that we all survived and as the world never ended on the 21st May then we all have only one way to go and that is Forwards. One day the area will thrive again. We don't know when but we have to think positively.

Parallel Rainbows

We just saw two parallel rainbows here. We have never seen that before. We conclude it is not the end of the world it is a new beginning and we should all make the most of it.

This was really beautiful.We are going off now to look for the pot of gold.





Two of the Walking Wounded

Today mom and dad were doing stuff locally and checking out the street dog population around here. They spotted the little dog with the tumor on his testicles. he is always with his friend who has a limp. Here they are

 He was actually licking the tumor when they arrived and dad got a close look. He will soon have maggots in his testicles because the tumor is seeping a bloody fluid. One way or another he is doomed. His big friend seems to love him a lot. She seems to be trying to take care of the poor little fellow. Mom feels so bad that they cannot treat animals in town with small problems because this problem will kill him eventually unless someone takes care of this now. If he undertook treatment now then it would be a lot cheaper than waiting for this to become a huge problem. Let us hope someone takes pity on him.

Mom and Dad followed them and they went into the funeral centre here where they lay out the bodies for friends and relatives to visit the corpse.

He sat and looked quite dejected with his lot in life. Not much of a future is it. His friend was waiting near by.

He then moved on a waited at the bus stop.

Then they checked out behind the supermarket and found another two sleeping.

They were a bit cold but looked ok until closer inspection revealed maggots starting in the black, tan and white one's hind end. The same problem as Trooper who weeks later is still taking medication.

It is only a small colony at the moment but it will grow quickly as the maggots chomp through his flesh. He will lose his tail like the poor dog did in Teresopolis and eventually die. The photos of this poor dog were posted on my blog during the disaster epoch. I can't bare to look it was horrible.  

As mom and dad drove home the little male with the tumor was playing Russian Roulette in the traffic. This is Brazil.................. If only we could have a clinic for street dogs and treat the problems as they appear and spay and neuter them then the problems would diminish. This is just a dream though because mom and dad cannot even afford us anymore. They have a lot of problems themselves.

We like this!

Saving one animal won't change the world but it

will change the world for that one animal.

Thanks to everyone who helped us with our twitter challenge. Now the challenge of everyday life continues!

Sunday

Well mom had a horrible Sunday. They had two lots of people around to see the house. First she had to do a big clean up because we make such a mess. Then wait for them to arrive. Brazilians are always late. We barked non stop because we could hear strange noises in the road and we did not like the visitors who all brought children with them. Mom told us to be quiet but we did not stop. The noises in the street bothered us. Then the noises were right outside our front door. Mom had a look and this is what she found.

Two escaped pigs out for some fun. They invaded the rubbish bins and made a lot of snorting sounds. They decided to stick around for several hours. Mom considered taking them in to save them from becoming Bacon, but she does not have the facilities for pigs here. Late in the evening they disappeared. We think between us and the pigs we put off the prospective buyers. We did this because we want to stay here it is our home. We cheered the pigs when they left for helping us. Mom did not see the funny side of this at all and just got stressed with all the noise and people walking around while we were all shut up in the house in one room. mom let Guga out thinking he would be friendly but even he growled and had to be put back in the spare bedroom whilst the humans walked around. Good old Guga. He is a star.   

Twitter challenge still going

Twitter Challenge Still Going and Yet Another Vet Visit

The twitter challenge is still going and needs to be because Mom was back at the vets again today. It certainly has been an month of problems and they are still coming by the day. Yesterday after breakfast Mini started making choking sounds and continued for quite a while. Mom checked her throat to see if there was some food stuck down there but could not find anything. Then she thought that maybe she had been bitten in the throat by some sort of bug that she ate. Mom gave her some Olive oil to see if this cleared the problem. It did not and she continued to make this terrible coughing sound all day as though she was choking. At night she did not eat anything so Mom resolved to take her to the vet today. She had to take Trooper anyway because he was getting worse. Here she is awaiting her turn.

Mini is the little terrier mix whose owner moved to an apartment and did not want her anymore. She has been with us since last August.  She doesn't get along with others dogs too well and is very jealous of others. Here she is being examined wearing a muzzle because she may bite strangers. She is like that!

The vet decided that it was laryngitis because her throat was all inflamed. Now she has to take Prednisone for ten days. Trooper has had problems with his leg. His butt all healed up nicely but one leg is giving a problem on the thigh and knee where he has an abscess. The vet told us to drain it daily and flush it through with peroxide liquid which we did. He has been taking antibiotics since mom  rescued him. Quite a while now. Yesterday morning Mom could not drain it and it had grown to the size of a tennis ball. The hole where she was draining it had sealed over. She syringed a lot of blood from it by inserting the syringe but he was very distressed about the whole thing.

Trooper travelled in the cage and Mini went on Mom's lap.

Poor Trooper had his butt shaved a few weeks ago and now his leg. The vet made holes in his abscess and drained it properly. He too had to wear a muzzle because this was a painful experience for him.

Dad held his hand. He took two injections and remains on antibiotics for the meanwhile. The vet thinks that maybe a dead maggot is in there somewhere or part of one of the larger fly larvae which we call Bernie Flies. His body has not managed to reject it yet, His anemia has improved 100%  though. he has been given a new medication as well. Mom doesn't know what it is but it is called Silicea here and it is homeopathic it is to help his body reject the forign object.

Here he is coming out such a handsome boy. Here is a close up of his now bald and swollen leg.

Mom is praying for all of these problems to stop. We usually have at least one problem a month but this last two months have been ridiculous. Well all donations are still worth double until we reach $545 on the chip in. Please chip in! Mom still has not explained to me what this chip thing is. Mom searched for the little dog with a tumor today so she could examine him as so far only Dad has seen him. They never found him. Apparently they just missed him at the petrol station. they will try again soon.

Twitter Challenge

Anonymous donor will match the first $250 to save our shelter. Please use chip in and not the paypal direct as this won't be visible or count.
Thank you anonymous donor.

Saturday In Teresopolis

On Saturday Dad went to help our friends in Teresopolis. They have to vacate the warehouses/shelter by mid June and they are trying to get as many of the left over disaster victim dogs adopted out before then. Of course, some will be left over and they are creating an infrastructure for this purpose. Dad is designing this for them because he knows about that sort of thing. New kennels will be built in the director's property to house all of the left over dogs. Mom says if she wins the lottery she will take them all. Over 1220 animals passed through the warehouse after the disaster. We are proud to have helped. The dog below has very little chance of adoption. He is very slow but still a strong dog.  He is called Grandao which means big. He is a huge dog and will require medical care in the future as all older dogs do.

 This one is waiting

Another oldie.

Oops this one just peed on the floor. Now he is looking at his puddle surprised. He is saying did I do that?

Look what a cute face. Below are some local street dogs. Five in total. These ones don't look too bad.

It will be winter soon here and cold at night. They will have to find good sleeping places for the winter. Mom and Dad are still worried sick trying to pay all the bills from the few donations that come in. Life is stressful for them because every day they live with the question of will we make it? What if we don't? Life goes on.................

Cushions

Here at Dogs in Brazil we are going mad and have decided to sell doggy themed cushion covers. We have a protype finished and will be modifying them a bit.

We are going to offer your furry friends name incorporated too. We will be making a selection

and post photos soon. This is all in an effort to support our cause. We will post prices and sizes soon.

Can't blog now mom's busy with medications and stuff

Guga

Today Mom had to take Guga to the Dr Bruno, He started bleeding from his penis again and this time a lot more blood. He had to have an ultra sound. Mom wasn't going to blog for a few days because she is as she says up to her neck in it! She is trying to save us all and we keep getting ill. Anyway Guga poor old fellow has an enlarged prostate with an abscess in his prostate. It is not life threatening yet because Mom caught it early. He has to take antibiotics special ones to penetrate as far as his prostate and another drug to reduce the size of his prostate.

Here he is being shaved ready for the ultra sound. He was very calm, but he would not go in without his mom and dad. Mom held his paw throughout and he remained calm. He looks pretty odd now with his bald belly. Everybody loved him at the clinic and he could not stop wagging his tail. He really is the most adorable, happy and grateful rescue we ever had.

We think many times that if he had not of been rescued at the time then he would probably have died in the floods because we are at a much higher altitude here. Anyway after the treatment for one month the vet says he will have to be neutered because testosterone makes the prostate enlarge more, so the poor fellow will have to undergo surgery. The good news was that they checked out his other vital organs; kidneys, liver, spleen etc and they are all in good shape. If, we can get him through this then he will last a good while longer and after 12 years on the streets alone we think he deserves his retirement here.    

Look at his little face and he never complained once.

not blogging

Mom has become so saturated and stressed that we are not blogging for a while. She is trying everything to raise awareness of our plight and that absorbs most of her time at the moment. We will return if things get better

Busy Weekend

Mom and Dad went to Rio de Janeiro near the beach to help our friends from Teresopolis donate dogs on Sunday. Dad helped donate dogs Saturday too in Teresopolis. They haven't seen the sea for nearly ten years. We keep them too busy and too poor. They do this because they love it  and it is a good distraction from their own dire problems. The house is on the market for sale again and mom is beginning to accept defeat in our battle. We had some very kind people help us but no sustained funding is appparently possible. We can't fund raise here until the non profit is set up and we have to survive until that moment somehow. First here are some photos of the two donation fairs held to diminish the 170 odd dogs still left over from the disaster.

During the donation day a man who works for the local city hall dumped these five pups, far too young to have left their mom in one of the cages. He was actually trying to help but last week he brought eight to the shelter too. This man obviously knows what will happen to them if the local govermnet get hold of them. They would probably be held in cramped cages without food and water until there was time to inhumanely kill them. So he is actually trying to help the cause.

 Luckily due to them being so young and sweet four were adopted Saturday and the last one got adopted Sunday.





This sad little Angel face was too ill to go this time. Mom remembered the black dog that looked like a PWD who is still in the vets clinic and how she would like to adopt him when she saw this photo. Last week mom and dad saw a very sad, starving dog. Dad said, 'do you want to take a picture?' and mom said 'no' because once you stop the car and give them some love it gives them hope and then you have to leave them bewildered as to why you are not going to rescue them. Us dogs don't understand this money thing. It seems that our lives must depend on bits of paper. Mom can't bare to see their eyes if they can't help them. It is heartbreaking. He was walking along the motorway in a remote area and every rib was visible. Now some happy moments as some get new owners and we wish them all the best with their new lives and hope they will be as loved as we are here.

These are photos from Sunday at Leblon.





The little black dog and all his brothers and sister did manange to get adopted.

This nice fellow also got lucky

Mom knows this dog well. One of her puppies died in mom's arms a while ago. All of her pups died in the end. This dog is a true disaster victim and buried in mud up to her neck. The pups all had pneumomia and died. She is extremely affectionate and has been to three adoption fairs withouy any luck. She tries hard but nobody seems interested in her. Mom said a prayer as they passed the big statue of Jesus on the way home asking that we can all stay together and that she can continue saving more of us.