Probably the biggest thing that's happened in the past few days is the newest addition to my little family, Mariska.
A few days ago, I was on Facebook and happened to see a post by a friend, Tim Elliot, who was advocating for the adoption of several animals from the Gaston County Animal Control. Scheduled for euthanization the next day, these puppies only had a few hours left before their fate would be decided. The main dogs that caught my eye were a litter of labs. Reminded me of my Sasha, I called for hours trying to get through to see if they had been "pardoned", but never got ahold of anyone. Wanting only to rescue the dogs and then find a home for them later, I convinced E to drive me to Gastonia to check on them.
Once we got there, the conditions were so much worse than I imagined. We found out when we got there that the labs were still there, but were likely to be picked up the next day by a rescue group. We then asked for a list of all dogs on the Euthanization list for the next day. She didn't want to give it to us and then asked us what kind of dog we were looking for. Not seeming to understand that we were trying to save a puppy from death row, we went back and forth until she finally relinquished the list. We were escorted back to the dogs and were appalled at how they were kept. The lighting was so dim, the noises were terrible and the dogs had used the bathroom all over the place with no one cleaning it up. Some dogs had food, but others seemed hungry.
Ethan spotted a pair of puppies in a corner of one of the kennels... they weren't begging for attention and didn't seem to understand the position they were in. Perhaps, though, they did and wanted it to come sooner. It seemed they were living in a Hell on earth. We learned that of the two puppies, the male had been selected to be adopted but the girl was still up for grabs. She had a cherry eye, fleas and scratches; obviously malnourished, this boxer/pit bull was an unlikely candidate for adoption, considering she only had two hours left before he final fate was decided.
We agonized over what to do. We had come to rescue a puppy but this one seemed rather high maintenance. Could we afford the $90 adoption fee and then the surgery to fix her eye? We went back to talk to the lady at the front desk and inquired about having them let us get her spayed on our own at our personal veterinarian office. She left us for a few minutes and then waved us to a back room. She told us that the puppy we were interested in was an owner surrender, who had until five that day to come back and get her. The owner cited her reason for leaving the puppies as not being able to take them when she moved away. We were told we could foster the dog until 5 that day, under the condition that if the owner came back we would have to give the dog back, but if the owner didn't show, she was ours to keep free of charge. With 45 minutes until 5, we left the shelter with the dog.
But we weren't going to keep her. Noooo. This was a rescue. The plan was to keep her, take her to the vet, get the surgery done and find someone to take her who was willing to help reimburse us for the cost of her medical bills, if affordable. HA! In the office of the animal control, before we left, Ethan started bribing me by letting me name her Mariska... after the one and only Mariska Hargitay of course:
On the way home, we had to stop and buy dawn dish soap because she had fleas, and Ethan picked out this cute little pink collar with a bell on it. We got her home and within a few minutes it was pretty obvious she wasn't going anywhere. The first night we had her, E made her a little 'crib' and put it beside our bed. This contraption lasted all of about ten minutes before she was snuggled up between the two of us. This habit has remained for all five nights that she's been "home" and I don't see it changing anytime soon.
Mariska had her first vet appointment today and we learned she was only about 12 weeks old and was relatively healthy considering what she had been through. She's got some worms that are easily treatable, needs to gain some weight and has a bit of a vitamin deficiency. All things that are quick fixes. Her eye will wait until about May to be fixed so she only has to go through a single round of surgery time... she'll get spayed during the same visit. Since her eye is just a cosmetic issue and doesn't bother her at all, we'll just embrace her little red eye as a part of her cute little personality until we can get her patched up.
Spoiled rotten, I tell you. She came at a such a perfect time. I was actually coming down with bronchitis which turned into pneumonia when we got her, and she was the perfect little cuddle buddy. E was off work for the first five nights she was home, so I had him to take care of me and little Mariska to make sure I was warm and snuggled just right. After going through a really tough month with a lot of depression issues, this little girl truly took my mind off things. She brought me a lot of happiness where I was missing it. She brought my husband and a little closer together and put my heart in a better place. She saved me as much as I saved her, I think. She's going to be a very nice addition to our little family.
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