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Meet Ruby
Yesterday, October 16, Olympic Animal Sanctuary and Friends of Forks Animals got together, as we often do, to perform the simple task of cleaning out the Forks city animal shelter. There were three Lab mixes in the shelter that had been there for quite some time and needed to be moved on to a place where they could be adopted. When I arrived at the shelter and spoke with the police officer waiting there, he said he didn't think all of the dogs had been there the minimum length of time required before they could be transferred. We were both a bit confused, because it was my understanding that there were three dogs in the shelter and they'd all been there since September, while the officer had been told there was an injured dog inside that we didn't know about. We went inside and found not three dogs, but five.
The Labs were looking healthy and happy, but a medium-sized terrier with a severely infected puncture wound on his neck wasn't as thrilled with his situation. And a few kennels down from him, there lay an emaciated pit bull that looked like she'd been hit by a car. I took her out of the kennel to examine her, and found that she was limping very badly, and her face looked like it had road rash. She had a large, black scab on her back, at the base of her tail, approximately four inches across, which, when I touched it with my finger, scattered they way oil scatters across the surface of water with a drop if dish soap -- it was not a scab, but a mass of thousands of fleas.
I asked the officer if I could take the dog to a veterinarian and keep her at the Sanctuary through the required waiting period, although we'd all be shocked if someone claimed her. She appears to have suffered years of neglect. Pam from Friends of Forks Animals provided a dose of Frontline to start killing the fleas, but Frontline takes half a day to kill everything, so the poor dog had about two more hours of misery before we could get her to Sequim and give her a Capstar -- a pill that starts killing fleas within a few minutes, and kills everything within four hours. After about half an hour, the dog was already feeling significantly better, and even began to prance around the exam room, barking and howling.
Dr. Schaeffer at Greywolf Veterinary Clinic began calling the dog Ruby Red; she x-rayed Ruby's shoulders, and instead of finding injuries from being hit by a car, she found severe arthritis. It turned out that Ruby was probably eight to ten years old; the limping was a result of hard years of neglect, and the scars and the presumed road rash were caused by Ruby chewing her itchy skin. The fleas had caused anemia and dehydration, and the Capstar pill had killed thousands of them, but now, flea-free, bathed, and on the mend, Ruby was animated, bouncing around the vet's office. The doctor prescribed three weeks of antibiotics for the skin infection caused by the fleas, and an anti-inflammatory for her joints.
Back at the Sanctuary, Ruby spent the night with me, and seemed to enjoy being in a big, soft bed so much that she didn't want to budge this morning, but I made her look up for one picture:
As long as Ruby isn't claimed by someone, and it's doubtful that she will be, she'll stay at the Sanctuary until she's healthy, at which point I'll evaluate her temperament and decide whether or not she can move on to an adoption organization. The difficult part is finding one that can place an older pit bull, as the shelters are flooded with more desirable, younger pit bulls and have a very tough time finding homes even for them. If no suitable placement exists, Ruby can stay here and enjoy plenty of good food, exercise, and companionship -- things she's probably had very little of until now.
Ruby is one of many 'hard cases' that have come to Olympic Animal Sanctuary, just in the past few months. Our veterinary expenses alone have been over $10,000 since July, and our food bill runs around $1,000 per month. We've been averaging over $1,500 per month in building materials as well. Times are difficult for all of us at the moment, but we're determined to continue moving forward, and even the smallest donation makes an impact. One dollar given today is a dollar we didn't have yesterday.
Donate by PayPal or credit card.
We can also accept donations by mail, sent to Olympic Animal Sanctuary, 1021 Russell Rd., Forks, WA 98331.
Thanks to all of you for your support, and be sure to check back for updates on Ruby and the rest of the hard cases at Olympic Animal Sanctuary!
-Steve
Posted on October 17, 2008
