We found the puppy. He was skinny, and covered with tics. He was soaking wet from the rain, and had paint all over his fur. It was a construction site and the man that claimed to be his owner didn’t think there was anything the matter with Rudy. Luckily he finally consented to let us have him and we drove off with our prize. It has taken Rudy a while to grow hair and get some meat on his bones and he is just a love. He managed to charm Samantha and Chris into taking him and a buddy home. Thank heavens for dog lovers everywhere.

So many people ask me what they can do to help, well it’s really easy. If we can get enough people donating $10.00 a month we will have a budget to work with. Ten people giving up two starbuck coffees every month can buy enough dog food for a week, or three spays or four neuters, or twelve vaccines, or five distemper tests, or four parvo tests, or two and a half medium crates, or ten bottles of specialty shampoos, or two bottles of de-wormer, or five dog rides to the airport, or five health certificates, and on and on. Every penny goes to the dogs, there is no administration, we pay Marcelino’s salary (he works at the house and helps with the dogs). IT’S ALL FOR THE DOGS.
We’ve been home three nights and already have two momma’s with their pups. There is no where else for these dogs to go. We will find homes for the pups and spay the moms. Each spayed female is one step closer to a better life for dogs in Mexico. If you already donate, ask a friend to do it too, and ask their friends to do it as well. Ten dollars a month and we can make a huge difference together.

I forgot to mention in this blog yesterday that the Isla Animals Website is set up to do monthly donations. If you scroll down to the very bottom of the front page there is a donate button, click on that and then there are instructions on how to continue. Thank you everybody, in advance, who donates. It makes all the difference.
We are setting up for a big spay and neuter clinic today and getting ready for all the street puppies that we find.

“I wanted to let you know that Justin has found his ‘Forever Home’, he’s sleeping underneath my desk on one of his beds, gently snoring as I type this to you. For anyone who doesn’t know his story, he was scooped up out of the ocean by a fishermen, it would appear that he was discovered on another boat and tossed into the ocean. His will to live is something that should be respected and admired. The vet guessed him to be around 10 years of age, and judging by his nails and due-claws curling right around and back under his paws, he had never been properly cared for. He was infested with tics and flees, and he has subsequently lost his hearing due to the length of time he spent in the water, he has also had to have his left eye removed do to infection. I feel blessed to be the one who gets to show him how all animals deserve to live and to be treated, people say that he’s lucky to have me in his life, but it’s the other way around…..he has been renamed “Wilson”, after the movie Castaway. Thank you for bringing him to Canada, despite his age and ailments, my heart has grown even bigger, because of him!!”

In Isla Mujeres and Cancun I’ve become the puppy person. Puppies are so difficult and at bigger risk when put in a rescue with older dogs. So Ricardo, who runs a rescue in Cancun and takes in any and every street dog and does a fabulous job and literally loves the dogs as much as I do, sent me two small puppies at the beginning of February, a male and a female, eight weeks old. They were tiny and adorable with bad skin and shaky knees from a calcium deficiency. I named them after Richard and Karen Carpenter.

They both developed a cough and I started them on anti-biotics, but Richard just couldn’t fight it and died of pneumonia. Karen was very sad after that and I thought we were going to lose her too so we brought her inside the house and kept a closer eye on her. Gradually she recovered, although her skin was still bad. She was the only pup of her size in the rescue at that time so she played with the bigger dogs a lot. She was fearless, believing that they would surely all love her, and mostly they did. Even the big grumpy male pit bull we had, would let her sleep in his crate.

Finally she was healthy enough to go to a real home so we sent her to Toronto with four other puppies. Most of you know the story. It was awful, the customs were terrible and sent the five pups back to Mexico where it took days to get them out of customs there. Karen was the one that got sick from the stress and being in her crate for four days. She stayed with Angie at Rescate Malix, who took great care of her, until we sent her to Toronto again, escorted and following the rules. Canadian customs would not let her in, again, she was the one that had a different owner on her papers. Not only that but they said that she was unhealthy and put her in quarantine. There was even talk of putting her down because a possible horrible death awaiting her through the trials of going back to Mexico, in a crate, alone, and poorly tended to for many, many days.

Well we discovered she didn’t have to go back to Mexico, she just had to go off of Canadian soil (because she was obviously a national threat). So we sent her to Denver where Alex, who is a vet tech and especially good with Mexican pups nursed her back to health and wanted to keep her but she and her husband are at their limit, dog wise. That is where Chris comes into the story and the ending is so magnificent that, no matter what we give up and go through, ANIMAL RESCUE ROCKS. So many people and so many rescue groups were involved in Karen’s story. Below is his letter about Karen.

My name is Chris, I’m the one who adopted Kerrin (he changed the spelling of her name). I have a slurry of medical problems that prevent me from functioning like most people function and my doctors concurred with me that a dog would be a good thing to have in my life – boost moral, give me structure to my day, help me out with some of the more basic things in life, have a companion throughout the lonely day; stuff that most people take for granted but stuff that’s hard for me to do consistently. I couldn’t afford to get a helper dog, as they’re quite expensive even with insurance, but Kerrin is fulfilling that role perfectly and perhaps even better than a helper dog could.

I’ve only had Kerrin for a little over a week but I’m already so attached and so in love with her that I don’t know what I ever did without her. I’m able to go on walks by myself, I can spend time alone in the house without exasperating my condition, I can sleep better at night and, while I can’t quite find the words to describe it, my life has become markedly better with her in my life.

She sleeps in my bed every night – usually right next to my legs, curled up and doing some cute little half snores and sighs. She wakes me up in the morning, bright and early, by licking my face and getting excited about the new day (something which has been historically hard to do because of how sedating my medicine is). We spend the morning hanging out on my back porch eating breakfast and drinking coffee and reading books or magazines. We go for a nice long walk and come back to work on painting where she sits in my wing back chair and dozes off or plays with her favorite stuffed giraffe while I complete my work. We spend my breaks playing fetch or chewing on a bone that I got for her from Sunflower Market (a local natural grocery store) – well…she chews, I usually smoke my pipe or drink more coffee. She cuddles next to me on the couch as I read books. I’ve taken her with me to a few local coffee shops where I whittle away an afternoon talking with my friends and playing games of chess. She’s a little shy with people, but eventually warms up to them; we’re still working on socializing her with other dogs.

She likes to spend time in my backyard chasing squirrels up trees and scaring the rabbits that like to hide in our bushes next to my garden. She’ll lay on the grass switching positions between the shade and the sunny areas of the lawn as she finds most comfortable. She’s learned how to sit, come. shake, and drop balls in my hand while we’re playing fetch…we’re working on stay and it seems to be coming along pretty well. We were having a little bit of trouble walking on the leash (we take two long walks a day – one right after breakfast and one right after dinner) as my neighborhood has a lot of distractions from other dogs in their yards or houses, passersby, or the myriad of cats, rabbits, and squirrels that occupy the neighborhood – but I think that I’ve found a system that teaches her how to walk beside me that doesn’t involve a tug of war. And she’s learning, slowly but surely.

She’s a wonderfully smart dog; one of my dad’s favorite games to play with her is “where’s Chris?” where he asks Kerrin where I am and she comes running to me, she can find me almost anywhere I am in the house. I was away for a few hours to go and do a bit of shopping and my mom (who was watching after her) called and put me on speaker, when I said “hi Kerrin” she barked like she was happy to hear my voice. It melted my heart.

The amazing thing about her was that when I first met her she was so friendly and loving toward me. I was a little wary of getting a dog as I know that they can be a lot of work and it takes time to develop a good relationship with them sometimes (and I’ve only ever had a cat before – never a dog) but the instant I met her and she started licking my face and wrapping her paws around my hands I knew that I she was the one. I took her for a short walk to see if it was just a fluke and she was still the same loving and adorable Kerrin that I know today. She and I have developed such a strong relationship in just a few short days and I love having her around, so much.

It touched me especially to hear more of her story and the struggle that she had to go through. When I read the email that Alex forwarded to me it really hit home just how special of a dog she is and I’m thankful for everyone involved in her rescue – she’s been such a wonderful blessing to my life, especially in light of the hardships that I’ve been facing for the past few years.

I want you to know that she’s in a loving home, with plenty of soft places to lay her head and sleep, lots of treats, games to play, belly rubs (which seem to be her favorite), bones and rawhide to chew on, and plenty of exercise, food and water. She’s a wonderful dog and just what I needed in my life. I’m doing my best to make sure that she has as wonderful a life as she can have and that the memories she has of her experience will become distant and hopefully forgotten.

The reason I bring this up is in years past people have sent us a wonderful variety of supplies that have allowed us to operate on more animals with less money. To those who have donated in the past, thank you very much and if you can again that would be wonderful and to anyone that could donate now, it makes a huge difference.

Below is a list of the sort of things that I’m talking about:
Medical Supplies Needed:
Syringes 1 cc, 3 cc, 5 cc and 10 cc, Needles 18 – 23 gauge
Surgical blades – #15, #11
Surgical gloves- STERILE- sizes 6.5 to 8.5
Suture material, 2-O PDS/MSA/vicryl/maxon/polysorb/monosorb
3-O PDS/MSA/Vicryl/maxon/polysorb/monosorb
the above sutures need a 1/2 curved cutting surgical suture needle
Sterile drape, sterile indicator tape
Disposable face masks and disposable head caps
Betadyne hand scrub, Prevails Betadyne scrubs #20
Sterile gauze
IV sets – microdrip and macrodrip
IV catheters – 20 guage, 22 guage, 24 guage
Triple antibiotic eye ointment
Antibiotics – injectable long acting amoxycillin, doxycycline 100 ml. tabs
Non Medical Supplies Needed:
Muzzle, Leashe, Food dishes, Animal Vitamins – especially puppy vitamins or supplemental gels
Eye drops, Ear cleaner, Ear drops, Clipper, Crates, Old Towels, Non-sterile gauze, Thermometers