Meeting MuShu

In August of 2007, my Mom, director of Pet Rescue North, received call from a local animal shelter asking if she could take a pug that had been dropped off at the shelter the night before. Having no room at the shelter for another dog, my Mom called me to see if there was any chance at all we could foster the pug.
Miracle of miracles my husband agreed to this and the next day i set off on a one hundred mile round trip trek to pick her up from the shelter.
The shelter was concerned no one would adopt her because she seemed to be vision impaired as well as hearing impaired and had a not-insignificant skin condition that was causing her to be randomly hairless.
When I got to the shelter I had hoped that they would just bring my charge out to me and I would be on my way. It was not to be. Rather they had me walk all the way to the back of the shelter with them to where they had her kenneled. It was greatly distressing to walk past row upon row of homeless dogs and cats that I could not take away with me.
When we got to where the sad little pug was being held I was instantly smitten having a strong propensity to love the unlovable. Despite the fact that she was not very clean looking, had green discharge coming from her eyes and scaly white skin on the end of her nose she still needed a hug and a nuzzle and who was I to refuse?
The shelter worker advised that they had no history on the girl because someone had left her in the night drop.
I took her to the vet where they determined she had an ear infection, flea dermatitis, and her eyes were infected as well as afflicted with the common pug condition of pigmentary keratosis but she did have vision.
It took a little more than 36 hours from pickup for my husband to allow us to be the poor girl's forever home instead of just a foster family. For this I am eternally grateful because I am smitten.
As it is, she is my only girl in a house full of boys.
She still struggles with skin allergies and in spite of growing in most of her coat within a few months of bringing her home, she went through another period of hairloss recently but has since recovered. Once her ear infection cleared up it turns out she really only suffers from the selective hearing so common to the breed.
We are so glad she has come into our lives. She is very dear to me.

MuShu the Monkey Pug

Homeless Pets

My latest obsession has become Craigslist. Every day I go through the pets listed under community for our local version. Craigslist has provided an invaluable resource for Animal Rescue groups and local animal shelters to advertise what dogs and cats desperately need homes, some of whom are running out of time. It also provides a forum for people who want to take the responsibility of re-homing their pets themselves for whatever reason be it the economy, military deployment, or just to busy to give the love and attention the animal needs.
Someone takes it upon themselves to monitor these postings and flags them on a regular basis. In addition to all of the ads there are numerous rants directed toward the flagger or flaggers.
The next thing which never ceases to amaze me is the sheer abundance of cats and kittens looking for homes. This year there seem to be more than ever. Everyone wants to find someone to take them, but there just are not enough takers. Local animal shelters are filled to capacity and it seems that kittens are turning up everywhere.
Our local news recently reported a lottery in St. John's county for the adoption of eleven purebred dogs seized from a puppy mill. Apparently they were so inundated with calls when the story broke about the seizure of these animals that this was their only solution to assure a fair chance to adopt them.
Now where were/are all of these people so desperate to adopt one of these newsworthy creatures when so many languish anonymously in shelters throughout the country? Shelter's do get pure breed dogs regularly. Not to mention that if you are set on a particular breed there are a lot of dedicated breed rescue groups that need people to adopt.
Please consider all of your options if you are interested in a new pet. For example, try www.petfinder.com for example. This excellent website provides a venue for shelters across the country to advertise their animals.
Please help spread the word to anyone you know looking for a new love in their life.