JIMMY
THE DOLLY LAMBI "Tell me this is not another boy."
Teddy Valentine: "No, nothing's wrong. Why?"Completely matted, with stickers and burrs and dirt everywhere, this little boy with pure white curls stood at our gate and ignored Teddy's ferocious barking and just waited for a kind human being to invite him in. He ran into her arms. He was completely sweet, docile and in some kind of pain. We decided to take him to the Emergency Vet because we knew he wasn't a young puppy, and yet he wasn't fixed. He seemed exhausted, frightened and very hungry. We came to a quick decision. This little personable dog had not been well treated or he was a runaway who had run into some big trouble. He screamed when we touched his back. And we know for a fact that people abandon dogs in the desert area all the time. We've rescued seven lost dogs in the past few years, and they were all happily reunited with their owners. They were all in pretty good shape when they came to our gate....but there was just something about Jimmy....
I went to work and Clunker's new Mommy took him to the vet. The minute I saw him, I knew he was going to cost some serious cash. Cash for Clunker? Uh, no, Mommy said, way no.
Hours later I got a phone call. The vet said he had suffered some kind of blunt force trauma, but she couldn't find anything broken. He walks just fine. He was dehydrated so they gave him fluids intravenously, gave him antibiotics because we had no history, took a blood panel to make sure his kidneys were working, and gave him some effective pain meds. He is chipped, but the chip is not from anywhere around here.
Our scenario, which may or may not be true, is that he has been mistreated because he cowers when one first pets him; then he crawls right up into one's arms and falls asleep. We drove around looking for signs, but saw none. I've checked the lost and found in the newspaper. We'll call the SPCA on Tuesday and see if anyone has reported him missing. He had no collar. We don't think anyone is looking for him. Or maybe we just hope no one is. But if he's someone's sweetheart, we want to find out who and kick the shit out of 'em. No, I mean, we would, of course, try to unite any loved ones.
I think he's ours, now, and his name is Jimmy. He cost $299 to put him back in running order, and if he stays, he'll get tutored. The black and now mostly grey Dolly Lambi, our eldest pug, age fourteen and half, is not happy. Teddy Valentine, our two-year old pug, is not happy. But both pugs seems to be behaving a bit better than their usual spoiled selves. Jimmy, very quite, and very polite, thinks we said thugs, not Pugs. But he's too sweet to say so to their faces.
4 comments:
People who abandon pets should be kicked where it hurts most.
You guys are good people, and I'm sure Teddy and Dolly Lambi understand that.
Have you guys considered he may have come from one of the burned areas?
Poor little fellow. I think he'll reward your kindness with a lot of love, though.
Yes, we did think maybe he was a fire victim, but so far I see nothing in the local paper, and I'd think someone would have put him in Lost and Found. We will keep looking.
Ann, this is the sweetest dog I've ever met--it's almost spooky how pliable he is. One concern is that he's not drinking any water. Yesterday the vet shaved a small section on his neck to check his trachea, but found no obvious damage. I think there are x-rays in his future, but we'll wait a bit and see if we can coax him back into health. Karyn has a couple different ways to get water in him--eyedropper, etc.
Oh, and if he wanted to work his way into our hearts even more than he already has, Jimmy slept the entire night!
If he is loved, he'll be found. If he was not loved, he's infinitely better off now with you ladies.
On getting him to drink... have you tried something like this?
Last year my yellow Lab was extremely sick and wouldn't drink or eat anything, so I used one of those to feed her water and weak chamomille tea every hour. It worked, thank goodness.
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