Stories of Happy Dogs and Their Forever Families

The Romania Pets Gazette
Stories of Happy Dogs and Their Forever Families

Volume I, Issue no. 1
Autumn 2009

Squeaky Toys, Raccoons, and a New Best Friend—What More Could a Dog Ask For?


Ashley came to the U.S. as a puppy in the fall of 2007 and moved in with Melissa Jones and her family.

She adapted to her new surroundings quickly and soon grew to love running on the hill behind Melissa's home. Ashley also discovered another facet of her personality when she met her new best friend, Lia-—she never knew she was a cat lover!


Ashley & Lia share a snuggle

Being a street-savvy Romanian pup, Ashley is always quick to let her family know when there's "someone" lurking around the yard and puts up an alert whenever raccoons invade her back yard. While she may take a while to warm up to new people who come into her home, dog-lovers with patience and a warm hand always win Ashley's heart in the end.

Ashley loves to play fetch in the house (for some reason that Melissa hasn't figured out, she won't play outside), especially with her squeaky toys. Coming in as a close second to a game of fetch, Ashley loves to lie on the floor with one of her toys in her mouth and squeeze it to get a good rhythm going, and she is very precise in her "musical" ability. Her impeccable timing ensures that she's always having a good chew on her squeaky toy just when the family's favorite program comes on the television or when the phone rings; Ashley has an uncanny knack of knowing when Melissa has an important business call coming in— she likes adding that extra something in the background.


Amelia asks Ashley for some help with homework.

Lia isn't the only member of Melissa's family who has grown to Ashley; Melissa’s daughter, Amelia, even consults with Ashley about her homework!

Ashley has brought love and humor and joy to her new family and also learned how to be source of comfort and solace when Melissa's mother passed away after a long illness.

The Jones family took a chance with this unknown pup from the streets of Galati, but Ashley has repaid them for their kindness a hundredfold.

To date Romania Animal Rescue and RARF have placed many dogs in loving homes throughout the world—what a remarkable achievement!

If you'd like to open your home and your heart to a special pup, please contact us at www.RomaniaAnimalRescue.com.

Story from a Gas Station

At 8 AM, we started our quest on DN1, the busiest road towards north. We stopped at a gas station and found a sad image: Two female dogs and two male dogs. A female dog had just had a litter 3 days ago, and the other one maybe a month ago. One was tame, the white one, and was the first one to be spayed. Spaying does not interfere with milking so it is okay to spay a nursing female dog.

One male was tame and we caught him easily. The second one was wild. We managed to catch him, though. The hardest one to catch was the female dog that was shy and afraid. I spent half an hour just talking and feeding her. It was impossible to grab her. At one point she went under a truck. I went under after her and injected her with a tranquilizer. She ran along the road. We chased her until we almost lost her when she entered the forest. We ran after her and after we thought we had lost her we caught her and spayed her.

A woman came and told us she feeds a dog just near the road. We ask her she to bring it to us for spaying. We felt sorry for the puppies that were there. They would be taken care of by this lady and we would return this autumn or next year to spay them. We hope to find them there. Sometimes truck drivers take puppies with them and leave them in another town, or the traffic.

At another gas station, another female dog. The person there did not want to give her to us. He said that he does not like the puppies that have been run over by the cars, but he did not want to interfere. This is life. This is where we called the national television. They arrived and under the pressure from the camera, the guy surrendered the dog to us. The dog had no name so we called her Beady. In the same area three more dogs were found and spayed.

We moved further and found more dogs at a gas station. We were asked if we were the dogcatchers and if we take the dogs away. After a few minutes of explanation they surrendered the dogs to us.

We were already tired. It was 6 PM when we stopped to check one resting area. What we found was incredible. We heard a cat cry. We looked around in the bushes but she was not there. We searched more and spotted her in a tree. We retrieved her and decided to take her with us. There was one more dog that was shy and could not be caught.

The cat was taken to the clinic in Bucharest. After that I took it to the clinic in Craiova. Next week she will go to a home and will have a good life. I called her Branchy.

Follow up: The volunteers went to check the dogs operated by us and they are all fine!

Liza

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"Canine distemper is a viral disease that affects dogs worldwide. The disease is most common in young, unvaccinated dogs. Initially, fever and ocular and nasal discharge will be seen, but this will progress to include clinical signs involving the gastrointestinal tract, respiratory tract and central nervous system. The mortality rate can reach 50 percent."

--Petside.com

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Meet Liza. She has been diagnosed with canine distemper. Dr. Marian has been treating her in Romania. Liza's guardian, 80-year-old Mr. Tanase, carries the dog to the vet every day in a bag for the expensive treatment. The cost of treatment is 100 Lei, about US$40, which is being funded by Romania Animal Rescue.

It has been two weeks since treatment started. Liza has one more week to go. She is starting to eat well, gaining a little weight, but she is not out of the woods yet. She has lost the sight in one eye. If the disease makes its way to her nervous system, the chances of her survival are greatly reduced. Let's hope Mr. Tanase and Liza help each other through this ordeal. They have no one else in which to find comfort.

Billy's Wheels

Hi Nancy,

Thank you so much for your help. The wheelchair arrived today. Billy ran all day long with his great wheelchair. First he got me tired, then he got my mum! Both of us were so tired from so much running, but for Billy no problem:)

I took photos to show you the happiness here today! Billy's friend, Angelica, when seeing Billy so happy, start to be jealous of his wheelchair:)

Thank you for all of your help and support! Today you make a dog SO SO HAPPY.

Wish you a great day,
Billy and Cristina

Thank you, Eddie's Wheels, for donating the wheelchair.

Turtle Dove

Her name was given by Ms. Craciun on spot, and describes the dog features. On April 25th, a Saturday, I spotted her in a place where I knew a dog lover was watching over. One rear leg was broken, and swollen, and was hanging. The dog lover was glad to hear we could afford the surgery costs, thanks to the help from RAR. On the same day the woman managed to catch the dog, which she was not very familiar with. The dog was in pain and not very friendly. Though Ms. Craciun was very determined, and took her to vet and sheltered her. This is an insurmountable problem here, for cases that need long recovery period: A place for the dogs to stay. So the dog was lucky with Nancy and Ms Craciun. Ms. Craciun has a lot of cats in her apartment, she feeds dogs whenever finds them, at her work place, and she’s a vegetarian, too. The doc said the dog, a young female, was resistant at anesthetics, and she needed a stronger dose for surgery. He charged us a very moderate price for labor costs, though the anesthetic was an extra dose. The doc put together the ends of the broken femur through a plate, that will be removed after one month. It’s hard to say how that bone would have healed without surgery. Many dogs are victims of car accidents here. Nancy always reads our reports, spots the things that can be improved, and insists that the dogs we treat to receive painkillers, which we suppose all vet know, though sometimes they might forget. So, we insisted for the dog to receive painkillers. As regards the sponsor, it gives you confidence to know that you can approach such a case, without the fear you cannot afford the procedures and costs. Once the dog fully recovers, she will be spayed, and will remain under her protector’s eyes. This is a nice example of people helping animals in need, and reminded me of a rescue case I saw on Animal Planet, where somebody was concluding, "We, the dog lovers, must show the dogs that good people also exist."

Patrocle

Patrocle stood a couple of days in a ditch, with the left front leg broken, and the soft tissue at sight. I had no time to go with him to vet, and I was expecting for his owner to search for him, and look after his dog. He had a collar mark on neck, and I didn’t see him before roaming on street, that’s why I was hoping his owner would not let him suffer in the street, but take him to clinic. Though his owner never appeared. It’s likely that he or she abandoned the dog, seeing that the bad condition was calling for trips to vet and medical intervention and costs.

The doctor saw the X-rays, and said the elbow was too damaged to be repaired. Also there was a bone fracture even below the shoulder, and the paw bones were not entire, either. We decided that leg cannot be saved. I attended the surgery, on a Saturday. Once the skin and muscle tissue were sectioned, the bone broken detached from the upper part, without using any saw. The blood vessels had been so damaged, and the blood accumulated in tissue, that no major bleeding occurred while detaching the damaged leg. There were bone chips among the soft tissues. RAR paid all the medical costs.

The dog laid low for a few days, he had no strength, so that I wondered if the other leg is in one piece, or he had other internal probs . He had suffered a shock, of the accident, of being abandoned, of losing one leg. After bandage and stitches were removed, Patrocle remained at our home. He is very agile for a 3 legged dog. I don’t think he would try to get back to his former home, even if he’s able to move now. He is the 2nd 3 legged dog in my yard, both were victims of car accidents, and for both it was RAR who paid the medical costs. Both of them have a sort of playful temper, though I don’t think this was the cause of their accidents, those could have been avoided, with more care from people. They behave this way since they are grateful and happy that they are alive, and it’s not the 3 legs but their attitude that keeps reminding you of the accident.

Romania Animal Rescue is a United States and Romania non-profit that allows free spay/neuter for the millions of unwanted street dogs currently suffering in Romania.
Please check out website, www.romaniaanimalrescue.com to see the latest work done by RAR.

Romania Animal Rescue is a United States 501 (c) 3 tax-deductible non-profit charity that was established by 3 Americans following a tour of Romania in 2001. RAR's mission is to establish animal welfare in the country of Romania, through adoption, spay/neuter programs, and education.

For 5 years , RAR has been sending qualified United States vets to Romania to work with and teach Romanian vets on the most modern techniques for s/n. We intend to continue this program, with Dr. Jeanne Olson and Dr. Richard Bachman, in 2009. To date, we have trained vets in Bucharest, Braila, Galati, Sibiu, Cluj/Napoca, and Buzau. 40 veterinarians and veterinary students have benefitted by our program.

RAR currently runs "Spayathons" in various locations of Romania. Our highly skilled veterinarian, Dr. Stefan Aurelian, graduated from the University in Bucharest, and had additional training in surgical skills from Dr. Jeff Young in the USA. RAR has had Spayathons in Galati, Giurgiu, Bucharest, Craiova. He will be traveling to Sibiu in May. RAR also goes to shelters throughout Romania to spay/neuter dogs and cats free of charge for the impoverished shelters, as our funding permits.

It is vital in understanding the need for sterilization as the only form of birth control for animals. Culling does not work - once animals in a certain location are killed, new animals move into their location, having more and more puppies, and the cycle continues. This is why despite years of culling street animals, Romania still has an overpopulation of street dogs. Please know that one female dog and her mate, and all their puppies, can produce 67,000 dogs in a 6 year period.

As you see the animals on the streets, please remember that this fate could be yours, mine, or any of our pet's. These animals did not chose to be born into misery..........and we can now help them.

I hope each of you will take with you the message of compassion for our less fortunate beings.

We are seeking donations of absorbable suture material, and funds to spay/neuter thousands of dogs so that animals will not be born to suffer on the streets of Romania.