This page is dedicated to Sugar and all of the others who suffer in silence and never waiver in their love for the people that hurt and neglect them.
Sugar was reported to us by a concerned neighbor. She could see Sugar confined day after day in a small pen with only a plastic carrier for shelter. Her chest was so bloody that she thought she had been mauled. When Judy arrived, we found that Sugar had untreated Demodex so badly that the tissue on her chest was infected and necrotic. While at his clinic, Dr. Sullivan tried for days to make her comfortable. She used to lie with her chest on the cool floor of the kennel trying to ease the pain. In the end, the combination of the Demodex and resulting infection, advanced heart worm and parasites, made her chance of a comfortable pain free life impossible. The decison was made to end her pain. Through it all, she was gentle and trusting. We dedicate this page to her...our first and hopefully last pet that has her life ended by ignorance and cruelty. Sugar deserved better..... June 2009 update: Sugar's owner has been arrested and charged with animal cruelty in a case unrelated to Sugar.:.
Poor Clay. We were alerted to dogs living in terrible conditions and found Clay was worst of all. After feeding him tranquilizer in treats,so that he was napping and not afraid, we took him to our vet. He was emaciated, had a fractured pelvis that had healed poorly, most certainly advanced heart worms and mange. But worst of all, he had an electrical cord so deeply embedded in his neck that even surgical removal would have been difficult. With our vet. Dr. Gowan, we made the decision that it would be kindest to end his suffering quickly. But he died gently with a full tummy and loving hands holding him...something he never had in life.
The Opas puppies were a litter of lab mix puppies that were surrendered to the shelter. A member of PAWS contacted us because they came from Richland Parish. So we picked them up and fostered them at the foster farm. They were cute puppies that with a little basic care, began to thrive and grow......except for one. He stayed small and weak but Oh, so sweet. Soon, all of his brothers and sisters were so big and healthy that they were pushing him away from the food and he was getting abused so we moved him in with Bessie the beagle who was fighting her own (non contagious) health battles. Sadly, neither of them recovered. Bessie was finally found to have cancer and little Opas puppy was put to sleep because he became weaker and weaker, When his siblings weighed over 20lbs, he still was less than 5lbs. Dr. Talley said it may have been a congenital defect making him unable to absorb nutrients from his food. But, he and Bessie became friends and snuggle buddies during the time they had together. When Bessie was put to sleep because of her cancer, we knew it was time for little Opas puppy to go with her so he wouldn't be alone.
Bessie was found near Little Road in Rayville. She was very emaciated. We were contacted by the sheriffs dept and one of the deputies brought her to us. She was in terrible shape and had obviously been surviving on her own for quite a while. Although she did initially gain a little weight and start to act happier, she never really began to blossom. Several trips to Dr. Talley and different courses of treatment never helped to make her really feel and look good. Her white count indicated infection and even after another course of antibiotics it continued to elevate. When Bessie again started to lose weight, Dr Talley thought perhaps she might have pyometra (a uterine infection of older unspayed dogs) and we should go ahead and spay her. But, poor Bessie wasn't destined to get better. DR. Talley found extensive damage to Bessie's liver due to cancer when she began the spay surgery. The decision was made to let her go peacefully and never wake up.
Foxy was a small sheltie mix that was found as a stray. She was fairly healthy when found but very nervous and flighty. Even though she was in foster for quite a while, she would still bite viciously, not nip, for no known reason. We finally made the decision that she could not be safely adopted after 2 different very experienced fosters and Dr. Sullivan tried to identify her triggers. Sadly, she is the only animal that DHS has ever had to euthanize because we felt she would be a danger to anyone if adopted.