Animals Abused & Abandoned Blog

Greetings animal lovers,

I hope everyone has had a happy Holiday Season spent with loved ones and cherished friends.

I wish to extend a special thank you to each one of you who donated to Animals Abused & Abandoned (A3) in 2008. Your monetary gifts have helped defray some of Bailey’s emergency surgery bills. She is still living at Camp Wolfgang, waiting and hoping to find a new home in 2009.

A new year is facing us with many economic uncertainties. One thing we know for sure, there is an increasing number of people giving up their pets to animal shelters and some less fortunate are abandoned. As the number of homeless animals increases, the inverse happens, the number of potential adopters decreases. As the economy weakens, charitable donations shrink.

It is sad to read about pleas to re-home an animal. It is heartbreaking to see photos of the despair in these animals’ eyes, the fear they experience, the pain they endure from a serious illness, neglect or physical trauma. The purpose of A3 is to help these pets who come into shelters with emergency medical/surgical needs.

I am asking that you please support A3 by making a one time contribution or automatic monthly donations on A3’s website. Remember, no monetary gift is too small. Help Animals Abused & Abandoned reach out to as many domesticated animals in need of critical medical or surgical care. Only through your generous donations, can this loving goal be accomplished. These animals depend on you. Your support makes a big difference for pets with no time to lose.

We have made some interesting changes to our website. Please take a moment to view them at www.animals-abused.org.

Best wishes to you, your family and your own pets for 2009.

Monique
Founder
Animals Abused & Abandoned, Inc.

Posted on January 6th, 2009 by Monique
Filed under: General, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Greetings, friends! This is just a brief update to let you know about a couple of new stories on the Animals Abused & Abandoned (A3) website. Our Spotlight Story this month is about Jasper, a yellow lab mix who lives in a Dallas no-kill shelter. Jasper had an unfortunate mishap recently while playing outside. After surgery for repair to his leg, Jasper returned to the shelter where he is now recuperating. Jasper still needs help and is also hoping for a forever home! Read Jasper’s full story this month in A3’s Spotlight here. To donate money to go towards Jasper’s medical expenses, please follow this link to Donations. If you would like to submit a story and photo to help innocent animals traumatically injured and in need of emergency surgical and medical care, please do so at the Share Your Story page. Please title your story “Emergency Care.”

Just posted this week is an inspiring and heartwarming story about Mabel, a dark brindle staffy who was abandoned in a vacant lot close to an apartment complex in late September 2007. Against all odds including what in all likelihood might have been the end of the story at Dallas Animal Control, Mabel’s story has a happy ending. To read about Mabel’s journey as well as the kindness and generosity of individuals along the way who helped to save her, see Mabel at the A3 site. If you have a story you would like to see featured on A3, please submit it along with photos or videos at Share Your Story.

Lastly, under Resources on the A3 site, you will find a timely article about Winter Hazards for animals. Please share this useful resource with those you know and be sure to tell them about A3. That’s it for this blog entry. We look forward to hearing from you in the comments. We at A3 would also like wish everyone a peaceful holiday season and Happy New Year!

Posted on December 24th, 2008 by Monique
Filed under: Dog Stories, General, Spotlight On, Uncategorized | No Comments »

This was an appeal from a concerned animal lover sent on 11-16-08. Look at the photos of this abandoned animal. Are they not horrific! His body is ravaged by mange.

Mange is caused by microscopic mites that reproduce rapidly in the dog’s hair follicle causing mild irritation, hair loss, severe inflammation to possibly a life threatening condition, due to an impaired immune system, intense stress and/or malnutrition. Just by looking at those pictures, one can imagine the pain this dog was enduring. In extreme cases, mange is very itchy as is demonstrated from the bleeding from scratching himself raw. He probably also suffered from deep skin infections secondary to the clawing. He was unable to see because of the swelling to his face and the itching, burning around his eyes. Imagine how frightened he must have been – new surroundings which appear rather spartan, the sense of loss he must have experienced, new odors, the loud communication of other dogs, the inability to lie comfortably because of the great discomfort from his poor health.

There are two types of mange, one demodectic which is not contagious and sarcoptic which is. Treatment is fairly easy for both conditions which generally resolve within a month. By performing a skin scraping, a veterinarian will diagnose which type of mange the dog suffers from and will personalize the treatment.

The often asked question “Can someone help this dog?”. Shelters are full with such stories. Dogs, like this one, are either owner surrenders or found deserted. This is an everyday occurrence multiplied several folds. This innocent victim was either someone’s pet at one time or a statistic of a birth that could have been prevented through sterilization of the mother, and the dad.

It was my hope someone would rescue this creature and give him the care that he required with the love that he most needed. It is with sadness that I have to announce that this sweet dog died on 11-17-08. His death could easily have been avoided through responsible pet ownership. There was something most moving about him that touched many people’s hearts. Unfortunately, he was too tired to keep fighting the odds and his time ran out.

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Posted on November 20th, 2008 by Monique
Filed under: Dog Stories, Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

Animals Abused & Abandoned has a new home on the web. We’ve launched our website: www.animals-abused.org. Animals Abused & Abandoned is a non-profit charity organization seeking to help provide funding for emergency medical and surgical care for domesticated animals who are ill or victims of traumatic injuries and who have been abused, starved and/or abandoned by their owners. Through our new website we hope to reach out and help more abused and abandoned animals.

The new website provides information on North Texas no-kill shelters, spay and neutering and reporting animal abuse. The website also features stories about abused and abandoned animals who need help. You can also share your own animal stories with the possibility of Animals Abused & Abandoned featuring the story for fundraising opportunities. In addition, our newly designed website features online donations to the Animals Abused & Abandoned campaign funds.

You can help these tragic, innocent animals by getting involved. Visitors can interact with our animal community, read other members stories, view their pictures and videos, and share your own experiences with the Animals Abused & Abandoned (A3) family. Our new web presence is heavily focused on community involvement.

Be sure to join our social community through Myspace, Youtube, Flickr and other social media sites in addition to this blog. And be sure to subscribe to our blog for regular updates.

Posted on October 16th, 2008 by Monique
Filed under: General | 6 Comments »

BAILEY’S STORY

My name is Bailey and, as you can see from my picture, I am a gorgeous, solid black, purebred German Shepherd. I was 18 months old when I arrived at the shelter and adoption facility where I live.

Early this year, I was lying on my side in my quarters with my left front paw extended under the fence separating me from the adjacent run. Shockingly, my paw was suddenly grabbed by a dog in the next enclosure. He and his kennel mate pulled my entire leg through this narrow space and, over the next several minutes, tore it off.

My caretaker came running across the shelter grounds at the sounds of my extreme fear, suffering and agony. She managed to restrain the other two dogs and then applied a tourniquet and compresses to my jagged wound in an effort to stop the hemorrhaging. I was driven at high speed across Dallas to a veterinarian hospital, barely clinging to life. The vet, her husband, an orthopedic veterinarian, and other wonderful and caring hospital staff members immediately initiated emergency procedures to stop my bleeding and prepare me for my first surgery. A week later, I underwent a second surgical procedure to combat infection and to use skin grafts from other parts of my body to cover my extensive wounds. I spent more than a month at their hospital where I was constantly told what a wonderful dog I am and how important it was for me to survive.

Now that you have read my story, perhaps you would like to adopt me or contribute to the cost of my surgery and recovery. Even with heavily discounted charges, the total cost for my emergency care, two surgeries, medicine and hospital care came to over $2,500.

Shelters like the one I live in can’t afford these kinds of extraordinary expenses for traumatic injuries. Please help by contributing to the:

Fund for Emergency Medical/Surgical Care
at
Animals Abused & Abandoned, Inc.

See more on my story in the video below:

Thank you for reading my story. I hope you will consider including me in your family.
~ Bailey

Posted on July 17th, 2008 by Monique
Filed under: Dog Stories, Spotlight On | 6 Comments »