Good mornin' pit bulls!

Sunday morning comes early here at Reunion Rescue No-Kill Refuge. First, BeBe wakes up at 5:45 for her morning heartworm and calming herbal meatball. She has a romp in the yard and settles in for some Kong time and chewing.

Next, Peanut has his transition breakfast. He has been through so much at Spindletop, the holding center and boarding until arriving here. His stomach is upset and due to so many foods, we had a hard time finding anything he could keep down. After trying everything from the old school boiled chicken, broth, white rice and cottage cheese to a quality kibble, he finally showed some interested in canned wet cat food. Even though we feed raw, Peanut needed calories and the only way to get those calories into him was cat food.

Amber

He's moved over to high quality puppy food kibble mixed with broth and cooked chicken along with his herbal supplements, Waiora detox and a little yogurt.  He'll be a candidate for raw soon, but not right away. His little system is simply too stressed right now. Until then, we are leveling the playground with lots of Australian Bush Flower Essence Emergency and slippery elm. He will also need his own special Robert McDowell herbal treatment specific to his body and make-up.

We had a major breakthrough today, though. Since he's been here, Peanut has been very timid and growly when approached by another dog. Today, I put him in the smaller day enclosure after his ball-time in the yard.

Peanut

After Amber sniffed around the flowers and watched a butterfly, she was ready for Kong-time in the big enclosure.  I placed her in the outer segment while encouraging Peanut to remain calm. Both dogs enjoyed a couple of hours downtime in the outdoor enclosures with no growling or barking.

This was huge. In fact, it was easier to arrange these two in the crated area than it was to try and upload their photos side-by-side in this blog. It just wasn't going to happen.

Peanut is like so many dogs in shelters, timid and unsure. He was most likely taken from his litter way too early and for whatever reason, wound up at the city of Alvin Animal Shelter. This little shelter is high-kill, but they have one shining attribute in a volunteer named Julia.

Thanks to Julia, Peanut was pulled when I wrote an article about him last December. His name was Feo at the time which means 'ugly' in Spanish. We tried out Mr. Peabody for the Bullwinkle character, a dog who had his own adopted boy, Sherman. Mr. Peabody just wasn't a fit, but Peanut does seem to work. He is a little Peanut, ready for a a new beginning.

Nolan

Nolan chowed down on his big Texas breakfast, our version of the old breeder show dog trick, satin balls. I swear he's putting on weight like a champ.

He looks so much better than he did when I wrote the article about him in June. He's only been here a little over a week and is showing drastic improvement. It's amazing to me that Nolan received treatment from three vets including overnights totalling almost $2K in vet care.

With all the sonograms, x-rays, biopsies and so on, I pulled a nasty huge engorged tick from the front of his chest. The tick had been there all the while as it was filled with a thickened black goo the consistency of Texas tar.

Growing up in east Texas, I spent my early years pulling ticks off dogs, so I'm quite familiar with the signs of a long-term unwanted visitor. My question is how that huge parasite managed to go unnoticed by all those vets? I bet they wouldn't have missed an unsightly error on one of their multiple estimates.

BeBe

BeBe with all her issues, always manages to lift my mood. She has so much to overcome, but her joy of life is going to win. She loves to play ball and roll over in the grass. She is a digger and a food-ie which makes for a fun way to whip life's challenges. My money is on BeBe. I think she is going to win out and surprise us all. Raspberry defeated her demons and I have full faith BeBe can come out on top, too.