It's been a long, long time since I was able to wake up in the morning with a song in my heart. I am very grateful for all the Reunion Rescue dogs living great lives and the ones who haven't found their homes yet, living a good life at Reunion Rescue No Kill Refuge, the only raw feeding holistic no kill pit bull shelter in the world.
It ain't perfect yet, but it's a hell of a lot better than it was. For years, we've boarded our Texas and California dogs while thinking we just were not set up to be a shelter. The Texas dogs were boarded at Spindletop which was raided last summer. We made four trips to Conroe to get some of our dogs back, but Stella was killed with 37 others in the Morgan Building. Many other dogs are still missing and presumed dead.
Just as the dust was settling over the Spindletop tragedy, we began making plans to bring our three remaining California dogs which were being boarded in Lodi. What's three more, right? Once you've set your mind to run a sanctuary, it's really not that hard.
BeBe at the lake
We are set up here on the river outside Austin, Texas to comfortably house these animals. Each of these dogs came from nasty beginnings.
Amber and Stella were butchered and noosed in a hot Houston vacant lot. Stella still had blood running down her head when she was found and we raised money to board them at Spindletop.
BeBe doing some Christmas shopping
BeBe burying her Kong
BeBe, formerly known as Batgirl, was beaten severely with a baseball bat and scheduled to die in Austin.
Merry Christmas from Nolan
Nolan was starved nearly to death outside Dallas and on his way to Spindletop when news of the raid and seizure hit. Luckily, his transporter turned the car around, but not before Leah Purcell pocketed over a thousand dollars which had been raised for his care. Heartworm positive and down to 70 pounds, this beautiful Great Dane/American Bulldog mix is thriving at Reunion on a raw diet and lots of sunshine and exercise. He's even well enough to finally be neutered for Christmas.
Peanut and Scott
Peanut was named 'Feo' and pulled illegally by Purcell from city of Alvin shelter last December. It's anyone's guess how much money she made off this dog. Since The American Pit Bull Examiner covered his story in the first place, Reunion felt a kinship with Peanut, so here he is. Peanut had a lot of fearful problems he's working on and goes to work with Scott these days. Along with his herbal remedy and raw diet, Peanut's 'job' has turned out to be the very best medicine.
Peanut and Scott..just a job
Angel overcame his abuse from Spindletop so quickly, he was able to join Murmur and Barbara in Minnesota where he's now called Hub and enjoying a Dickinson life in a small quaint town.
Our sweet brave William
William was one of the three left boarding in California. There was a lot of rumor and innuendo about William, but he is proving them all wrong. He came from the hellhole Stockton shelter after being burned, starved and drug behind a truck.
He was transported all the way to Texas with Guido and Kingston, a.k.a. King James/Spuds, and is thriving in a fab foster home. He is living the high life in a doggy day care Disneyland, eating a raw diet and happy for the first time in his whole life.
Guido Sarducci on the trail
Guido, from Wasco, and Kingston from Marin Humane, who is blind, arrived quite obese. They've been under-exercised and over-crated. Although Reunion is all about the crate as it provides a safe and confidence inspiring environment, mimicking the wild instinct, the crate is certainly not intended to be utilized 24/7. Kingston's muzzle was scarred and covered in dried bloodied marks which look as if he'd been stressed from over-crating.
Guido and Kingston were a very hard sell on the raw. Who knows what these two have been eating? We've tried just about everything from raw ground chicken blend to ground beef blend, chicken livers, yes...even kibble...but nada. I tried boiled chicken spiked with cottage cheese and even some cheddar flavored 'Easy Cheese' to no avail.
Kingston hoofing it the natural way
This morning we had a major breakthrough. Green tripe is the daily blue plate special for these two persnickety customers. First, I filled a couple of empty marrow bones with tripe and when that was snarfed down, filled a couple of big Kongs. It was a winner! Finally, getting some raw meat into these two boys. From experience, I know it's all gonna be easy pickings from here on in. Kingston's face is healing with new pink skin growth. Both these boys have relaxed and begun to settle in very nicely.
I've not had the time to sit down and write an update on these guys. Each day, I try to get each dog a nice nature hike. It's amazing to see these precious dogs doing what dogs are supposed to do. They are enjoying good healthy diets filled with ingredients their bodies were created to eat. They are exercising and learning to love the sounds of wild birds and lizards scurrying through the brush, the smells of browning leaves and sound of flowing fresh water creeks. They feel the freedom of warm sunshine on their happy faces and are slowly learning that tomorrow is another day and holds something new and fresh, an adventure. We are learning this together, that this sad old world can really be a happy place if we just put one foot in front of the other and believe.
On July 17, almost 300 dogs were impounded by the HSUS and Montgomery County Animal Control from Spindletop outside Willis. Many of us in rescue had thought the former 'refuge' was just that, a place of quiet rehabilitation in the lovely countryside outside Conroe, Texas.
What we discovered to be the real ugly truth was a huge hoarding operation in which dogs were stacked in crates filled with their own excrement and vomit. Photographs of filthy dishes and water bowls have been shared across Facebook and other social networks.
Reunion Rescue has been trying to raise funding to begin a real refuge, for some time. We have named it the Reunion Rescue No-Kill Refuge with its own Facebook page.
Most people do not realize how much rescue work entails and costs. We could probably have built our own refuge some time back had it not been for the boarding costs. Until the raid, Reunion Rescue was raising about $2500 a month to board at least 10 dogs. That is a lot of moolah to drum up each month and requires much writing, begging, can shaking at events and penny pinching.
We are down to four boarded dogs in California (Spuds, Diesel, William and Guido) one by one will be coming to our Austin, Texas sanctuary.
First, though, we must attend to the ones we redeemed from the raid. Stella is thought to be dead, one of the 38 who died in the Morgan Building at Spindletop and the terrible tragedy which activated the investigation.
The first dog we brought back in four trips to Conroe was Batgirl, now called BeBe. BeBe was not anything like the dog we initially boarded at Spindletop for rehabilitation. She had luckily been chipped and fixed before going to Spindletop, so she was relatively easy to have returned to Reunion's program. Sadly, her heartworm medications has been disposed of by Leah Purcell who reportedly does not believe in holistic cures.
Bebe
BeBe's treatment is the heartworm cure on our Nutrition Page along with a long term detox and herbal treatment for her issues which have been extremely escalated by solitary over-confinement in a filthy crate. Bottom line, this dog has been driven insane. We feel we can bring her back around, but this will take months if not years of work and supplements.
Amber was the little one who was rescued with Stella last summer in Houston. We created a Facebook page for them and raised enough to get them started in the boarding program at Spindletop. At least five homes were screened and would have been appropriate for either of these girls, but were turned away by Leah Purcell. Amber was very depressed when we got her back, but thanks to lots of fresh air, good raw diet, herbal and flower remedies, she is on the road to recovery, a squatty little doll.
Angel was the hardest one to retrieve. He didn't have the benefit of someone who'd actually handled him. The holding facility was reluctant to let him go in fear of the wrong person claiming him. We drove to Conroe and back twice to get Angel.
Angel responded quickly to a detox and herbal pick-me-up. If someone were to tick off the boxes in what they wanted in a dog, Angel would be that dog. He lives in the now and is very dog friendly. Since Leah turned down almost a dozen inquiries for his adoption, it was surprising to discover he was not only not a pit bull, but also very adoptable. This little Rhodesian Ridgeback mix is already in his new home with a longtime Reunion Rescue adopter. His new name is Hub.
Nolan
Nolan was nearly starved to death outside Dallas when we wrote him an article and tried to get him to safety. A kind hearted rescuer was able to talk his abusers into relinquishing him to her while the money was raised to get him into Spindletop. Nolan was boarded at her vet who discovered heartworm infestation and severe emaciation and dehydration.
When news of the raid hit, Nolan was being transported to Spindletop. Luckily, his transporter heard the news and turned the car around. Even though he never set paw on Spindletop soil, Leah managed to bilk $450 from one kindhearted donator.
Peanut
Nolan, a big Great Dane and American Bulldog mix, was brought to foster care in Austin, but Nolan quit eating and was taken to the vet. X-rays, bloodwork, a sonogram, biopsy and over a thousand dollars later, Nolan is here at the sanctuary and eating well. He is putting on weight, enjoying the sunshine and the herbal heartworm cure. Since his health is so challenged, neuter and conventional heartworm treatment are out of the question.
Feo, which is a dumb name for a beautiful dog, was located at the city of Alvin Animal Control. He was pulled fraudulently by Leah Purcell under the Reunion Rescue 501(c)(3) entity. He was redeemed and boarded for a few weeks until we could get set up and bring him here. After being neutered, he arrived safe and sound. His new name is Peanut.
We have applied for several grants to help us build kennels and underwrite the costs of running a holistic no kill sanctuary, but so far have been dependent upon the goodness of private donations. The immediate costs to set up and meet the current needs of these dogs has depleted the budget and we need help.
We have set up a system in which the dog friendly dogs can spend time on the porch with ball breaks in the yard.
A chip in has been set up to try and raise money to underwrite food and health care as well as dog supplies and tarps to cover the day areas.
Well, Hub gets a great home. Hub used to be Angel from Spindletop. In a joint effort, Angel was saved from Garland Shelter and boarded at Spindletop Refuge which had us all fooled. I had Angel placed several times, but for one reason or another, Leah would throw up a road block on every one. When dealing with as slick a con-artist as Leah Purcell is and was, it's common to fall prey to their line of bullshit. I fell for it hook, line and sinker for one year and three months.
I'd finally taken a stand on Angel and told Leah he was going to Barbara, the wonderful woman who adopted Murmur sight unseen nearly four years ago from Kern County in Bakersfield. Barbara and Murmur had relocated to Minnesota and she'd been following Angel's story.
Hub came to Reunion Rescue No-Kill Refuge to decompress with the other Spindletop refugees after the seizure in which 300 pit bulls and other dogs were confiscated. The Labor Day Labor-of-love transport was arranged to bring Hub and two other Texas dogs to their new homes. 23 legs were lovingly driven with precious cargo. Each portion of the journey was updated with funny stories and pictures from each of the volunteer drivers.
Barbara, Hub and Murmur have settled into a very Norman Rockwell existence in the tiny little town in which they live. Almost daily, I get a sweet note from Barbara about living life with Hub and Murmur.
Miss Murmur
"The three of us had a beautiful late afternoon outside together yesterday. Freshly mowed lawn to the side of the bank building and the air smelled like beautiful sweet grass. There was a cool breeze and the two of them sat by my side just watching the tiny bit of activity taking place.
A momentary bit of barking at a huge white feral cat that lives in the big abandoned grain silo in town. It's so large I can see it clearly at a long city block away. Hub leaves the birds alone now. He realizes our territory is theirs too."
This past week, Barbara's sister Kathy came for a visit. "Murmur and Hub were so beautiful with her yesterday. I was thrilled for both of my babies. She said it was so obvious they feel happy, safe and loved. And they have a complete family - animal and human."
"I told her how I had been very patient and just let Hub adjust to being around his own person for the first time. I told her the bond between Murmur and Hub was immediate, but it was going to take him a while to understand and feel safe around people - that I knew it would be confusing. So I've let him go at his own pace and not pressed. She said I wasn't like the dog whisperer - but I reminded her of the horse whisperers who wait with patience for the horses to want to follow and be with them. I loved that."
Murmur and Hub
"I told her that I'm glad you had faith in me with two very special dogs - as if they're not all special;-)"
I've been rescuing dogs and other animals for a good long time. I've always believed there is a person for each dog and their union is perfect. Barbara, Hub and Murmur are all examples of this perfect concept at work.
Reunion does a lot of good work with herbal and homeopathic support, detox and diet, but even though the body heals as does the spirit, nothing completes the circle like the right home. I've been very lucky in my rescue career to have witnessed more than a couple such as Hub and Murmur find their way home.
We've been driving around in a 1998 Jeep Cherokee and it's been very dependable, but too small to carry our dogs to events and such.
Reunion Rescue is the world's only raw feeding holistic truly no-kill pit bull refuge. Many of our pups are ready for that forever home, but our old Cherokee can barely fit a few supplies to attend local animal loving events.
We would love to do more outreach around town to spread the word about holistic animal care. Our dogs are evidence of what good raw diet, herbal and homeopathic support can do. They want to share their good health and message with others.
Please help spread the word by sharing our link to raise funds for a van which could help us change the world one pit bull, or better yet, several pit bulls at a time!
We really need a bigger set of wheels to help us carry out our mission, but we need your help. Please spread the word!
Visit Reunion Rescue online and be sure to check out all the dogs' Facebook pages on the Get Involved link.
Join Reunion Rescue Meet-up...you don't even have to leave your house or have a pit bull to join. Our members and friends are located all around the world and come to the meet up to celebrate life and pit bulls.
Thank you to everyone who's helped make Reunion Rescue known for the home of the world's friendliest pit bulls. Welcome to all our new friends who are just now hearing about our refuge and want to know more.
Every day, I get hundreds of emails regarding pit bulls and other animals with or without issues being put to sleep. To somebody like myself, this news is sheer insanity! Imagine hearing the same issues over and over and over with remedy and solutions so close within reach.
Let's take the story of BeBe for instance. BeBe was previously Batgirl, beaten severely with a baseball bat and sentenced to die at Town Lake Shelter in Austin.
I adopted her personally, not being a partner with Town Lake now known as Austin Animal Center. At the time, Reunion was full and I had to board BeBe at what I believed to be a reputable pit bull facility, Spindletop.
A year and a half later, Spindletop was raided and I was lucky enough to get BeBe back. She was ten times worse than the dog I'd entrusted to them.
I've long been using the products from Robert McDowell Herbal Treatments to support various issues in the dogs and cats we've rescued over the years. We've treated issues from kidney failure to parasites with great success. It finally dawned on me to try herbal support for behavioral issues.
One thing Reunion Rescue does with every pulled animal is an immediate detox. Most domestic pets are extremely over-vaccinated. The longer I am involved with pulling these shelter animals, the more I'm convinced that most if not all problems stem from vaccine. What the average Joe doesn't know is a domestic pet who's received one vaccine has a 1 in 800,000 chance of contracting rabies. Never in history has rabies shown up in a pet who's received two vaccines. Then why on earth are we vaccinating our pets year after year after year? Again, insanity!
I'd learned Bebe's herbal tinctures had been thrown out by the proprietress of Spindletop, so when BeBe arrived here at Reunion Rescue No Kill Refuge, she went through a complete detox and began on Australian Bush Flower Essences Emergency.
Vicente and Guido naptime
I contacted the wonderful people at Robert McDowell Herbal Treatments who gave BeBe remedy and tincture specific to her needs. Along with a healthy raw meat diet, BeBe slowly, but surely began to change.
BeBe sustained severe damage to her head from the baseball bat beatings. In addition, we'd learned she had been abused and kicked repeatedly in her head with steel toed working boots. She suffered from headaches and her vision in the left eye had been compromised.
In addition to her daily tincture, she was dosed homeopathically. The remedy selected for BeBe worked! She was pain free in a little over a week and the homeopathy remedy was halted.
When BeBe arrived here, she couldn't sleep through the night. She woke up with night terrors and would screech over and over until she could be calmed enough to resume her sleep. Today's BeBe is a totally different dog. She smiles. She is a happy dog. She loves to play and dig. She loves her chews. She loves training and to sit for her cookie.
Imagine if pet owners used flower essences for their 'problem' pets. Imagine if the nation's shelters were to simply drop some Australian Bush Emergency essences into the daily water bowl. The shelter animals would be calm and not barking hysterically when potential adopters walk through the kennels.
More pet owners would keep their pets. Shelter adoptions would increase.
BeBe's problems were some of the worst I've encountered in all my years in rescue. There were some moments when I thought BeBe was not going to ever get better. She taught me to not give up on her and what a blessing she has been. She has taught me a lot about dogs, about animal behavior and mostly about love.
Peanut, William and Guido are also receiving daily tinctures from Robert McDowell. Although their problems were not nearly so severe as BeBe's, they each needed something to help their confidence and help them smoothly segue into the life of just being dogs.
Each day, I'm more and more amazed at the sparkle I'm seeing in the eyes of these animals. One of the main complaints I hear is the old 'I don't have the time for ....' routine. I have a refuge full of pit bulls, each crated with a job to do and routine yard time each day. I've spent the greater part of my rescue life trying to explain to people their dogs want to be with them, not sequestered out in the backyard.
None of the dogs here at Reunion Rescue No Kill Refuge are 'problem' dogs. After a couple of days on raw meat diet, some herbal support and detox, every dog has settled into a routine. In fact, dogs which had come to me severely over-crated and stressed, run to get inside their crates! The reason is because they have a job to do in the crate.
Each time a dog returns to his or her crate, there is something new and fun to do. Whether it's a frozen marrow bone or one which has been re-frozen with cottage cheese and pumpkin, a rawhide or weiner-stuffed Kong, there is a surprise waiting for them.
They feel safe and confident in their crates and to most of these dogs, this is quite a foreign experience. These dogs have been mistreated and abused. We've tried to simulate the wild as much as possible through diet and habitat, but mostly, first and foremost, we let them each know they are extremely special and very much loved beings.
Most of the pets people contact me about are not such severe abuse cases, but simply dogs who once past the puppy stage, have become bored and problematic for their stressed owners. The very easy and simple resources on our website can fix any dog.
On my birthday, April 26, 2011, I couldn’t stand the thought
of losing this precious dog. I drove down to Town Lake and adopted her
privately as Reunion Rescue is not an Austin ACC partner.
On her way to Spindletop
What followed over the next two years is a story even worse
that what Batgirl had experienced and covered in the articles.
Like many others in rescue, we believed in the longtime
rehabilitation work being done at Spindletop outside Conroe, Texas and arranged
to bring Batgirl there for boarding and intensive rehab work with the ‘professionals.’
What followed was like something from a horror movie. On
July 17, 2012, Spindletop was raided and almost 300 dogs were confiscated.
Luckily, Batgirl was one of the survivors.
Batgirl is now called BeBe and still updated regularly on Pit Bulls
and Other Animals blog and her Facebook page, For the Love of Batgirl.
We are trying to put the sparkle back in BeBe's eyes
When BeBe arrived last summer, she was a completely
different dog than the one entrusted to Spindletop. She had even more scarring
over her body and had literally been driven insane.
Her daily heartworm treatments had been discarded by the
proprietor of Spindletop, so she is also in the throes of high heartworm
infestation. Her cranium has been fractured from years of abuse and needs to be
medically addressed.
BeBe learning how to heal
After months of herbal and homeopathic support, BeBe is
recovering, but needs a conventional heartworm cure and other veterinary
treatment.
Reunion Rescue has committed to BeBe for the rest of her
life, but BeBe needs help. We are reaching out to her followers. Please
consider sharing BeBe’s story and consider a small donation toward her care by
visiting http:www.reunionrescue.com and click on the Paypal donate button.
Our own little bird rescue and sanctuary had some big toys gathering dust, so when we contacted WRR, they were happy to put these items to use.
WRR does fine work and even rescues the occasional pit bull.
Back in the day, we made the bi-weekly wildlife run from San Antonio to WRR with injured and helpless wildlife. This group turns no animal away and is home for everything from turkey vultures to cockatoos, capuchin monkeys to pigs and lions.
Our hats are off to a group that walks to walk in rescue matters.
WRR is committed to rescue, rehabilitate and release. Their commitment and ability to mimic wild environment is amazing to behold. To lower stress and address these animals' needs, WRR uses calming scents, dim lights and homeopathy. If more of the country's animal shelters put these efforts into practice, just imagine the benefits.
Thank you Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation for the fine work you do helping animals.
Yesterday should have been one of the happiest days in Reunion Rescue's rocky past, but it turned into a day from hell.
Tara has entered our foster to adopt program after falling in love with William who's since been renamed Quentin. He is named for 'The Sound and the Fury" Quentin Compson, As complex as a Faulkner character, our Quentin had a rough start yesterday.
He made the first leg to meet Tara and our in-house APBT advocate, Adena. First stop was a bath as Quentin has been living out in the country and needed a bit of city-fying.
After arriving in San Francisco, it was discovered Quentin only prefers wire kennels, so yet another trip to the pet store last night to purchase another kennel, dog bed, more food and enticing treats to encourage Quentin to love his new crate and begin serious Kong training.
Our program insures with a good Kong training, any dog can get a full upper-body workout in his crate while mom or dad is otherwise occupied. Then, pup takes a nice long nap until the whistle blows.
Tara took Quentin on two long jogs yesterday afternoon and evening to try and tucker him out. Our boy is going to require some exercise. He is one of those boys who needs to run! Unfortunately, torrential downpours in San Francisco put a bit of a damper on things, but Tara and Quentin trudged ahead. With one minor incident involving a couple having an argument, Quentin remained strong even though as a timid boy, he was frightened by the episode.
Lots of Emergency Australian Bush Flower Essences will be helping Quentin make this big huge transition from country life to city living. We as humans understand these things, but imagine what it must be like for a dog who was nearly starved to death, dragged behind a car, thrown on a bar-b-que grill while burning and then winding up at the worst hellhole on earth, Stockton Animal Control.
Quentin is going to do just fine. It took some work, but an exhausted Tara got him into his new crate last night for his first night in a real home, in a real house, in the big city.
Jump to present....Quentin made it through his first big night. Tara just called and he slept through the night in his wire kennel. He's eating and learning Kong and digesting the sights, sounds and smells of the beautiful city by the bay.
I can finally take a deep breath and know that things might just work out. Quentin is enrolled for his first Better Way Dog Training class tomorrow morning with the best dog trainer in the world, Bob Gutierrez. Bob is the secret reason Reunion Rescue lays claim to having 'the friendliest pit bulls in the world.'
Mom Tara and Quentin
So I'm off now to walk Pip and get her ready for her first night in her new home with Brett and Jenny. Pip has been with me four years and has her own chapter in Pit Bull Nation, been through three high kill shelters and lived to tell about it.
We have a local vet around the corner who doesn't plain get it. This morning, I got an email from the office reminding me to bring Girl in for the following:
According to our records Girl is now due for a wellness exam. We show Girl is due for the following treatments: 11-12 0204 Distemper 11-12 0205 Parvo 11-12 0206 Rabies 11-12 0207 Lepto 11-12 0208 Bordatella 11-12 0416 Stool Check 11-12 0422 Heartworm Test
I was astounded. The only answer I could come up with and answered with was 'are you kidding me?'
What is going on? Girl is almost 15 years old and doing great. The last time she went to this particular vet was for blood work. According to the vet, Girl was dying and could not be helped. 'Get ready to say goodbye,' was his advice.
Please don't vaccinate me!
Well, she certainly isn't going to be helped with all those vaccinations which have been proved to cause cancer and all kinds of other diseases. Girl was treated for her infection by her homeopathic physician and she is thriving and living large...emphasis on living.
What kind of 'doctor' would over-vaccinate a senior dog, one he had written off as dying a few months ago?
Fortunately some states have lightened up on the vaccine laws and allow titers and deferments for senior and ailing animals.
Will Texas ever get there? Hopefully, but when and if these dumb laws are changed, what is this vet going to do? Start to actually learn to heal animals? What a notion.
Until then, Girl and none of the other animals here will be returning to this vet. They would rather live than die an terribly early death caused from too many shots from this doctor.
The difference between me and Ingrid Newkirk is when I see a hurt or sick animal, my response is to try and find a cure. In fact, I've been able to help more than a couple of dogs and cats who were given no chance to survive.
Benny that last night in Turlock
A couple of years ago, Benny was at the Turlock Shelter in California. I just happened to see his picture on one of the 4 thousand emails I receive every day. For some reason, I just couldn't get his little image out of my head.
Turlock Animal Control is much like the Maryland ACC which hired Ingrid Newkirk, poor and ill-equipped to deal with the many animals they try and care for.
I called the shelter and was told Benny was so sick, he was scheduled for euthanasia the next morning. His body was covered in infected and bleeding sores and he was in extreme discomfort, but Benny was certainly not ready to die.
Reunion Rescue is way down the scale from a group like PETA which racks in about $32 million a year, but when I saw Benny, I knew I had to try and save him. Benny's story is like most of the stories at Reunion Rescue. We're always begging for dollars. Last week, Reunion brought in a whopping $21. After paying out our boarding fees this morning, Reunion is yet again in the red. We pretty much stay in the red, but when you are spending every penny on saving animals, the bank account is never going to show a profit.
Benny enjoying his Texas summer
Turlock gave me until 7 p.m. that night to pick Benny up. Luckily, Samantha, not only a die hard pittie lover, but also very pregnant, hopped into her car and drove from Sacramento to pick Benny up for us. He was boarded overnight at Bradshaw vet, one of the few honest vets I've been able to find who honored our request to keep Benny off toxic medication.
Patti, Raven's mom, drove to Sacramento and picked Benny up to bring back with her to the Mendocino area. Like many scared and sick babies, Benny had a long road to go. Raven helped. In doggy terms, she let Benny know he was going to be ok. Raven had almost been killed at Antioch ACC when Patti answered a last minute plea and saved her.
Benny and the gang
Benny was completely cured through holistic and healthy means. He never had one drug or toxic dip. Patti has kept a blog for him which is linked to Pit Bulls and Other Animals. When Benny was ready to travel, Patti drove him all the way to Texas where he went into foster at Doug's. As luck would have it, Doug fell in love with Benny and adopted him where he lives with all the other happy dogs at Doug's doggy daycare. Raspberry and Casper had also been adopted from Reunion by Doug and were able to help Benny find his place.
Mr. Sweets at Riverside Shelter
When Mr. Sweets from Riverside came to Texas, Benny was able to help him. Now Mr. Sweets has a wonderful home in San Antonio with Brad. These dogs prove if you just open your heart and become willing, a miracle or two might just happen. In fact, a miracle will happen.
Mr. Sweets catching some z's
So, when I happened to see that old blog of Ingrid's "Why We Euthanize," it gave me pause to consider. The pictures weren't pretty and looked like the fundraising television effort on the Sarah McClachlan commercial. There is a cat with a big face tumor and a dog's paw with a huge nasty lesion. On down are some other hard to view photos, a dog on a heavy chain and one who looks almost dead with a horrible skin condition. The last one is being held up to have his picture taken probably before being humanely euthanized...the subject of the blog entry.
Shirley's Wellness Cafe has some of the same types of photographs, but the difference is Shirley's animals lived. They were holistically treated with quality diet and homeopathy so that their immune systems could overcome the disease and injury.
Mr. Sweets
My question is this...if Reunion can save hard cases on a shoestring, couldn't PETA spend a little more than the cost of a syringe-full of blue juice to try and help these animals? If these dogs and cats are still sitting up and trying to survive, who are we to decide when they should die? Bottom line, these animals want to live and it's my job, my duty as a rescuer and as a human caring being to reach out and try to help them.
I'm not saying every one of these animals could be saved, but I'd be willing to bet some of them could have made it. I'm wondering if the folks over at the PETA place ever heard of healthy diet and holistic supplements? I wonder if they'd be open to a little homeopathy instead of euthanasia fluid? It takes a little bit longer, but the payoff is priceless! You get to hug a living soul instead of "holding them in my arms and gently helping them escape an uncaring world,"....Ingrid's words.
I've had to put down a few animals in my time and it sucks. When there is no choice, I'm certainly not going to keep any animal alive and in pain. However, I've been taught by more than a few to listen and let them tell me when they are ready. Way, way back in the day, I came across an old Siamese cat. Butch was a registered Siamese who wound up at San Francisco Animal Care and Control. He was left to die there by PAWS, a group whose mission is to help pets of people afflicted with HIV. When this cat's owner passed away, he was left at the city's animal facility.
Butch had been fed a horrible cheap grocery store kibble his whole life of 13 years. He'd been over-vaccinated, once a year for the entire span of his life. That's one thing PAWS had seen to, that his vaccinations were continued until he wound up at SFACC.
Alibaba 'Bobby'
I happened to see him sitting on the counter...well, to hear him on the counter. Anyone who knows Siamese cats knows they are pretty vocal. Long story short, he wound up with me and my old cats before we established the cat sanctuary. He'd been diagnosed with terminal cancer so I brought him home to die in peace.
Butch was renamed AliBaba, more fitting his regal demeanor, but we called him Bobby. He was placed on a raw diet and treated homeopathically to support the effects of his illness. The resident cats accepted Bobby, but being registered and all, he thought he was better than them. He never did accept them as part of his clan.
Bobby taught me a lot about the life force. He lived over three more years with me. There were times he'd get down to an extremely low weight. My husband, Scott, even warned me to put Bobby down, but I knew he was not ready to go and I also knew when he was ready, he would let me know. And he did just that. The day Bobby was ready, he laid down on his side and cried. He was given Valium to make the euthanasia easier as older animals have a much longer process than young ones. It still was long and a difficult euthanasia. Bobby had a very strong will to live. He will always be remembered.
I take life and death very seriously. Like the old song says, 'death don't have no mercy in this land..he'll come to your house, but he won't stay long...' Once the life force is gone, there is only an eternity left to reconsider.
Girl is the dog in the Reunion Rescue logo. She is much more than that, though. As immortalized in Pit Bull Nation, she spent two months on death row in the high kill shelter where Reunion Rescue got its start.
As the volunteer photographer for the dogs and cats at the high kill San Francisco shelter, it was extremely depressing to continue to walk and try to promote these gorgeous dogs only to see them routinely put to sleep. I'm not one of those types of people who can deal with 'humane euthanasia.' I couldn't see killing all those dogs then and I certainly can't understand it now.
Girl...still kicking it!
I'd been walking Girl and placing her photographs all over town the entire time she was sequestered in Room 116, better known as the 'pit bull room.' The weekend after we walked in Gay Pride 2000, Girl was scheduled to be put to sleep. I couldn't let that happen.
I was still in the very beginnings of establishing Reunion Rescue. Looking back, I cringe at the time I wasted during the first year in meetings. Those people at animal control had absolutely no intention of working together to create a solution for the hundreds if not thousands of pit bulls being killed at that facility. The numbers at that same animal control today reflect the killing still going on.
I was younger and green. I thought because I loved these dogs, everyone would. Boy, was I wrong. Direct me to the ignorant section, please.
Today, at almost 15 years old, Girl has out-lived, out-lasted and out-played her way to a strong and happy life. She truly is a champion. Girl turned out to be quite the frisbee queen in her day. She was captain of the Reunion Rescue Pit Bull Frisbee Team and wowed the crowds to the tunes of Charlie Daniels and Guns and Roses.
She's moving a little slower these days, but with all the dignity and grace of the regal girl I saw for the first time all those years ago in the pit bull room. We both share a little white around the muzzle now, but the years Girl has spent with me have made my life a good life. I cannot imagine what my path would have been like had Girl not come home with me for good...literally.
In rescue, it's hard to not remember the ones you couldn't save. Right after Girl, a beautiful pit bull named Blondie was killed. Then Martha, the best ball dog I've ever encountered was killed. I still hurt when I remember those lovely dogs and the lives they could have lived if only someone like me had wandered into the pit bull room and saw what I saw.
I've spent the better part of the past 13 years begging people to see what I see in these dogs. It really doesn't take so much time and for the few minutes invested, the dividend is infinite. Who can put a price tag on the quality of life and joy
Here is what I've learned from Girl. A raw fed dog treated with non-conventional method will lead a strong healthy life. I hear about so many over-vaccinated dogs barely surviving on a kibble-fed diet stricken with cancer and other horrible fates. I want to share Girl's and the Reunion Rescue raw fed animals good stories with these dogs' owners.
Feeding a raw diet is easy and much cheaper than paying some vet a huge monthly bill for toxic flea and heartworm preventatives. I hear so many dog owners repeat diagnosis that at age eleven, the dog has incurable cancer and must be put down....with a backdrop of Hill's Science Diet for sale along the walls of these clinics. It's simply maddening. We are paying for a slow kill!
What I can do is continue to share Girl's good health and the dogs and cats here at the Reunion Rescue No-Kill Refuge. Girl had a scare last Memorial Day, but was totally fixed with homeopathy and some eye-drops. Her blood work was run by vet whose prognosis was dim. He actually told me Girl was dying and couldn't be saved! Her homeopathic vet selected a remedy which immediately turned her around and she's been fine since other than cataracts in the right eye.
This is how a raw fed dog (or cat) will respond when treated holistically. Often times, after the conventional vet has thrown in the towel, desperate pet owners will turn to alternative means. Unfortunately, after a lifetime of miserable kibble and toxic vaccines and medications, the animal's immune system is too weak to respond. This is heartbreaking. A dog or cat who might have survived doesn't have the strength to fight through the malady.
It is so sad to meet these pet lovers who find out only too late how they could have prevented early loss and discomfort. I can only keep trying to share Girl's story and helpful resources like our Home Remedies to Heal Animals Facebook page in hopes that prevention might help save others.
Girl and our Reunion Rescue animals are proof, living proof, that a healthy immune system is not only within an easy reach, but can sustain itself through huge challenges.
Just yesterday, Girl slept on her right rear leg too hard. She wasn't putting weight on that leg and I hit the panic button. I immediately fixed up a homeopathic concoction I give to animals with any tendon/joint issues and within a few minutes, she was going up and down three flights of stairs with the pictures to prove it.
Girl is pretty special, but she is not superhuman. She will eventually pass on to join the others who've lovingly shared our lives. One thing is for certain, though. Girl, will not die in pain or from some long and terrible illness. It's never easy to lose a beloved companion, but knowing they will pass away in a final peaceful sleep adds comfort.
But, for today, Girl and I will enjoy the sunshine. She'll chomp on her organic chicken quarter and some ground choice beef organ and bones. Today, life is good.
Reunion Rescue is out there panhandling again. It costs us a lowball $100 bucks a day to keep our heads afloat.
Boarding alone is $250 a month and until we can make some adoptions here in Texas, we must keep our California dogs in boarding.
Once a couple of adoptions happen here, we can move some of the Cali dogs to our sanctuary here and get them ready to place. Until then, it's $100 bucks a day.
Where do we get the money? Well, mostly from the generosity of our donators, selling a couple of books and a tee shirt, but between juggling the dogs here, exercising, feeding and training, fundraising is difficult to say the least.
BeBe and Peanut need herbal tinctures to help them move past the issues incurred at Spindletop. We'll get there, but $65 a bottle is expensive.
We took a big hit at the vet for Nolan which could have been bypassed, but wound up at the wrong vet....ch-ch-ch-ch-ching...went the cash register and emptied out Reunion's reserve. They did leave us a big fat tick on his chest....was that a tip?
We took another hit on one of our sanctuary cats to the tune of $1K at the conventional vet. The homeopathic treatment is trying to undo the damage done at the regular vet, but no guarantees.
Amber, Pip and the rest of the dogs need to be fed which along with sanctuary cats and birds adds up to about $10 a day on a slow day.
Crates, kennels, collars, leashes, toys, Kongs, chews....all these things cost money. We got a wonderful donation of dog beds from our good friend Kathi, but still need tarps for the deck and would love to have some raised beds for the outdoor day kennels.
The sanctuary cats have chewed their furniture to the bare bones and are down to one halfway decent kitty condo. Please consider a donation to help our kitties.
We have two chip-in's going..one for the kitties:
Most every day now I get up to the rowly sounding grumblings of BeBe when her herbs wear off around 6 a.m. Remembering the good old days when I slept in till 7 or 7:30, I roll out of bed to let BeBe out and make up her herbal meatball.
BeBe is the dog who started the whole Spindletop saga with me and Reunion Rescue. BeBe used to be Batgirl from Town Lake here in Austin before it become the Austin Animal Center. The only place I could find on short notice to board and rehab her was Spindletop Refuge. It was too good to be true. Way too too good to be true.
"Spindletop Refuge's mission has been since 1985 to provide a safe haven
for abandoned, neglected, or abused American Pit Bull Terriers, American
Staffordshire Terriers, Rottweilers as well as a number of mixed breed
dogs. Spindletop Refuge is a no kill facility for adoptable dogs and
promotes spaying and neutering of all pets. We do not operate with
spay/neuter contracts all dogs are spayed and neutered prior to
adoption. Spindletop Refuge gives the highest quality of care to all of
our orphans and has strict adoption protocols. Spindletop Refuge also
promotes breed education, owner responsibility, dog safety, and proper
training for all dogs, as well as population control by spaying and
neutering. Spindletop Refuge works with national breed organizations as
the contact for the National American Pit Bull Association. Spindletop
Refuge also promotes the fight against Breed Specific Legistlation and
has been fighting the war against breed mis-identification and BSL since
1985."
Over the next year and a half, I became close with Leah Purcell, the proprietress of Spindletop Refuge and Rescue. I believed in Leah and her operation wholeheartedly. In fact, I placed several other dogs in her care and recommended her facility to others across the United States.
Two of the dogs placed into Leah's care were Amber and Stella who'd been found by a BARC volunteer abandoned and noosed to a chain link fence in a vacant lot during the hottest part of the summer. Stella's ears had been cruelly butchered off and she had blood running down the sides of her face and neck. One would think that sort of torture would be the worst of it, but worse was yet to come. Stella was killed in the Morgan Building with 37 other dogs victims of heatstroke.
If anyone has ever seen a dog suffering from heatstroke, it's not a quiet matter. The thought of 38 screeching dogs is hard to imagine. I wake up at the crack of dawn to one yowly girl, so almost 40 screaming animals is almost too much to conceive.
In a roundabout way, what I'm trying to get at is this. Every time I start to resent waking up to BeBe's noisy alarm and her setting the others off like a crazy zoo, I have to remind myself to be grateful she is alive.
I come downstairs and let her go outside. I stop by and pet Amber who is still alive and here with me. When I look into her eyes, I always think of Stella. I missed the opportunity to pet her and get to know her. There is a sadness in Amber. Dogs know. She knows her friend is dead. My job now is to care for her and make certain her life is happy, to put the spark back into her eyes.
Amber has a star on her head, some scarring from some unknown horror in her past. BeBe has fence fighting marks along her own muzzle and head. Nolan is still trying to gain weight from being almost starved to death and Peanut who somebody had named 'ugly' in Spanish is still trying to learn not to be afraid.
What happened to these dogs? Their awful stories did not start at Spindletop. Whatever happened to them and the others who wound up at Spindletop is a mystery, but something we must all be held accountable for. What is going on in our country that there are so many abused animals? When did it become allright for millions of animals to be killed in shelters because there are too many of them? We did that. We are the reason there are too many animals, so many that we cannot prosecute animal abuse properly and so many that mass death becomes the norm...becomes acceptable.
What needs to be done so that animals like BeBe, Amber, Stella, Nolan and Peanut do not wind up at places like Spindletop? What can I do to help change the tide?
I have made BeBe a promise. She is so messed up, much worse than the dog I entrusted to Spindletop. Being crated 24/7 does that to an animal. She has been driven insane. I am watching her and waiting for the answer to help her. I know it will come. We are on a journey together, BeBe and myself. I'll be honest, I lose my temper with her. She can be trying at times. When I do, I apologize. I actually say, "I'm sorry, BeBe. I'm just a person. I am not a dog trainer." She'll look up at me like she's saying, "I understand. You're only human."
We have a relationship, BeBe and me. We are two and we are strong. I am really blessed to have her in my life. She is also a very silly girl. Sometimes, I call her by her other nickname, Bambi, like an exotic dancer. Today, when we were playing ball, and there is a very specific way to play ball with BeBe-Bambi. You throw the tennis ball and she prances after it, bouncing her butt across the yard joyfully and very un-gracefully.
When she retrieves the ball, game's on. I am then to try and get the ball from her. Everything you ever learned about training and proper game play with pit bulls is out the window with BeBe. The main exercise she gets is working to move her body just out of reach so you can't grab her. In fact, we both get a workout with this routine.
When she's ready, she allows me to grab her by the haunches which takes both hands. I hang onto her with my right arm and manipulate her head with my right hand while trying to unhook the ball from her clamped down jaw. She's nailed that ball with her canine so that it's near impossible to dislodge. More exercise for me.
We do this over and over again. It's certainly not training in any form or fashion, but it works for us. For those playtimes in the yard, BeBe and I are happy together. There is no past, no trauma. There is no Spindletop for either of us, no guilt. There is no death row for her or a person hitting her on the head with a baseball bat.
There is just BeBe and me and I have to believe this is no coincidence. She is here to learn something from me and I am to learn something from her. What that is has no time limit or definition. I'm hoping we are going to learn how to get through life, the hurdles, the hardships, the heartbreaks and also the happy times.
I have wanted for so long to have my own refuge and was unable to. I couldn't seem to talk my husband into allowing us to build one here and certainly couldn't seem to raise the necessary money to build it.
The raid at Spindletop changed that. Even without funding, I had to find a place to put these dogs. For now, we are very impromptu with regulated crating and lots of yard and ball time. It took a horrible tragedy to make it happen. I'm very sad, but must look forward and be strong for the dogs. BeBe will not let me shirk even a little bit. She expects a lot from me and that is just what I need. I am learning from BeBe.
