By admin 
In March of 2022 my husband and I volunteered to offer foster look after a two-year-old feminine Nice Pyrenees canine for the Nice Pyrenees Affiliation of Southern California Rescue. She had been discovered on the streets as a stray by a beautiful girl who witnessed her being struck at by an individual with a brush, so this type rescuer bribed the canine into her automobile with some lunch meat and the canine made her solution to security at our Downey Animal Care Middle.
She was emaciated, filthy, and had ear infections and diarrhea. Our Downey medical group handled her ear infections and examined her for parvovirus, giardia, and different diarrhea causes. She was vaccinated and dewormed. Nice Pyrenees Rescue adopted her and offered ten extra days of care at their veterinarian, however wanted a foster household to take her in. We knew this lady wanted assist, so we stepped up. We took her instantly to the groomers for a superb tub (she was so soiled we couldn’t inform what colours she was!) and named her Freya.
Freya weighed solely 63 kilos, continued to have diarrhea, and her physique had begun to close down. Our great veterinarian recognized a extreme vitamin B deficiency; so low that her physique couldn’t even take in diet. She was in hunger mode, and we may really feel each bone in her physique. Her coat was skinny, dry, and boring. However vitamin B injections, some antibiotics for GI troubles, and good diet started to show her round. After 4 months, she weighed 89 kilos and her skinny coat had absolutely blossomed – a background of white with patches of beige and a gray masks. She now has the thickest coat of all our canines.
Regardless of her poor well being at the start, Freya made rapid finest pals with our different canines. She and Holly, our four-year-old Nice Pyrenees, shaped a detailed bond and instantly started participating in video games of chase, chunk face, and different canine enjoyable. They grew to become inseparable.
After 4 months, I simply couldn’t ship her on to a brand new house. This poor canine had solely recognized starvation, loneliness, abuse, sickness, and worry earlier than she got here to our home. Now she was wholesome and thriving, with a finest canine good friend and pet dad and mom who beloved her. So, she grew to become a everlasting member of our pack. Some individuals jokingly name this a “foster failure” however to me it’s a foster success!
I can’t let you know how rewarding it’s to absorb an animal that wants your love, care, and safety. There are such a lot of great animals for adoption at our animal care facilities, every with their very own historical past. Most don’t have the well being issues that Freya had, but when they do, they will make full recoveries. The bulk are with us via no fault of their very own – anyone left the yard gate open, the proprietor is transferring and might’t convey the pet, can now not afford pet care, handed away, or different causes that separated them from their animal. Many are already skilled and housebroken.
I’m at all times upset after I see individuals paying 1000’s of {dollars} for designer canines which can be the most recent fad, when great and loving canines are in want of fine, loving properties. Some individuals assume the animals at shelters are faulty in a roundabout way. That couldn’t be farther from the reality. Some might have coaching or habits modification, however even designer canines will must be skilled and might include genetic defects from inbreeding.
Freya has her quirks. She is on excessive alert on our walks and views different individuals and animals as threats. I’m certain that’s as a result of she needed to struggle for survival on the streets. We simply know tips on how to handle her so she doesn’t have destructive interactions and might take pleasure in herself. Nonetheless, in our house she is as loving to anybody and any canine that comes over. She can be obsessive about tuna fish – we guess that she obtained no matter meals she may scrounge from feral cat feeding stations when she was fending for herself on the streets. She loves to provide kisses and snuggle and is an excellent addition to our household. Her favourite place to sleep is on our mattress.
A part of the enjoyment of adopting an animal in want is attending to know them as they’re – with their historical past, likes, and dislikes. Discovering their true character and watching it bloom is extraordinarily heartwarming. This month we’re celebrating Freya’s “Gotcha Day” – the day when pet dad and mom herald a rescued pet to turn into a part of the household. Freya, we’re very glad we gotcha! I encourage you to go to considered one of DACC’s animal care facilities (or any animal shelter close to you) and produce house an animal in want so that you, too, can expertise the enjoyment of adopting an animal in want.
Marcia Mayeda
You possibly can subscribe to Marcia’s weblog right here: https://animalcare.lacounty.gov/directors_blog/
The Los Angeles County Animal Care Basis is a nonprofit 501(c)3 charity that raises cash to help DACC in its mission of saving animals and protecting pets and households collectively. Study extra at www.lacountyanimals.org.