Thank you Michigan Pug Rescue

A big thank you to one of our dear friends and supporters, Michigan Pug Rescue who donated lots of big bags of dog food to the Animal Care Network outreach program.

Every time we are running low on food, one of our amazing rescue partners comes through for us!

We are very blessed to work with and partner with such generous, amazing people and groups!

We truly appreciate your support and so do all of the animals that we serve!

Even some of the local Pug Brigade say thank you!!!

And let’s not forget to thank our “foxy” redheads Rose and Kim for hitting the streets to deliver the food and help the animals!!

Low cost spay and neuter clinic for dogs and cats

Important Tick and Lyme Disease Information

Tick-borne diseases do occur in Michigan. Although Oakland County is not considered endemic (confirmed with infected tick-populations), ticks may be found in outdoor shaded and wooded areas and can be a risk for employees who work in outdoor areas or anyone who recreates in these areas. According to the Oakland County Health Division Lyme Disease FAQ, “personal protective measures against biting ticks are advised as reasonable and prudent during the months of April through November.

At this time, Oakland County is NOT considered endemic or at risk to become endemic.

Prevention is Key:

Michigan Department of Public Health provides tips on Treatment and Prevention.

Remember…

Ticks that can transmit Lyme disease ( Blacklegged tick) prefer habitats that are shaded or wooded.Deciduous trees, brushy undergrowth, and abundant leaf-litter characterize these habitats.

Ticks can also be found in grassy or brush dominated areas as well. Deer and rodent hosts are normally abundant in these areas, and must be present to maintain the cycle of Lyme disease in the wildlife population.

In southwest Michigan, blacklegged ticks have been found in habitats characterized by sandy soil, oak or maple dominated tree cover, and an abundance of rodents and white-tailed deer.

If you are going to be in areas that may be tick infested, there are several ways you can protect yourself:

Wear light colored clothing so ticks can be spotted more easily, and removed before attachment.  Wearing long sleeved shirts and pants tucked into socks or boot tops can be helpful in keeping ticks from reaching your skin. Ticks are usually located close to the ground, so boots or shoes and not sandals, are recommended.

Repel Ticks with DEET or Permethrin

Use repellents that contain 20% or more DEET (N, N-diethyl-m-toluamide) on the exposed skin for protection that lasts up to several hours. Always follow product instructions.
Use products that contain permethrin on clothing. Treat clothing and gear, such as boots, pants, socks and tents. It remains protective through several washings. Pre-treated clothing is available and remains protective for up to 70 washings. Other repellents registered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may be found at http://cfpub.epa.gov/oppref/insect/

Find and Remove Ticks from Your Body

Bathe or shower as soon as possible after coming indoors (preferably within two hours) to wash off and more easily find ticks that are crawling on you.

Conduct a full-body tick check using a hand-held or full-length mirror to view all parts of your body upon return from tick-infested areas. Parents should check their children for ticks under the arms, in and around the ears, inside the belly button, behind the knees, between the legs, around the waist, and especially in their hair.

Examine gear and pets. Ticks can ride into the home on clothing and pets, then attach to a person later, so carefully examine pets, coats, and day packs. Tumble clothes in a dryer on high heat for an hour to kill remaining ticks.

Consult the CDC web-site for quick Tick Removal Tips.

You can even create a tick-free zone around your home!

Fact Sheets and Information for Posting:

CDC Lyme Disease Prevention Fact Sheet for Outdoor Workers:
CDC Lyme Disease Prevention Fact Sheet for Golfers:
CDC Lyme Disease: A Public Information Guide:
Michigan Department of Public Health: Ticks and Your Health Brochure:
Oakland County Health Division: Lyme Disease Fact Sheet:

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the Office of Environmental Health & Safety at extension (248) 370-4196 or Graham Health Center at (248) 370-2341.

http://www.oakland.edu/?id=18363&sid=189

Heat Stroke and Heat Exhaustion Fact Sheet

Registration for Bowl-4-Animal Rescue has started!

We have so much fun at the bowling event with Music, Karaoke, Food, Amazing Auction Items, Silent Auctions, Raffles and much more!

Tickets sell out early to bowl, but you don’t have to bowl to come out and have a great time!  You can even stop by, have a drink and buy some tickets to win 50/50s or cool auction items!

We will be doing fun new things to raise money and awareness! You can fundraise or bowl as an individual or team, or both!  You can win amazing prizes!  Highest fundraisers will be announced August 9th!

Sign up today by going to:

 http://www.bowl4animalrescue.org/bowl/default.asp

Thank you to Detroit Dog Rescue for Food Donation

The Animal Care Network reached out to Detroit Dog Rescue for some help with dog food for our Pontiac outreach program and did they ever come through for us!! Wow!

Even though we both do similar programs, ACN in Pontiac and Inkster and DDR in Detroit, we have never really had the opportunity to work with them, so this was our first interaction! And I must say it was sure a great one!

Thank you so, so much DDR and Kristina for your generosity and your immediate willingness and quick response to assist us. Not only did they help us with dog food, but also cat food and biscuits and treats.

We go through huge quantities every week in our endeavor to assist pet owners that are having a hard time and need help so their dogs and cats do not go hungry. We also mandate that every single dog and cat in our program be spayed and neutered and we provide financial assistance and transportation to make that happen.

Thankfully the demand for spay and neuter in our target area is high, therefore, our food assistance program need grows higher every single week.

In one day, Detroit Dog Rescue helped us stock our storage unit so that we can continue our mission and we are extremely blessed and grateful for this generous donation and look forward to working with them again.

All of us in rescue must learn to respect and appreciate each other’s work and what we are all trying to do, then the accomplishments and results can be absolutely amazing!!!

Also thank you to Ken, Tommy, Kylo, and Megan for pickingup the food and unloading it!

What a great day this was!!!!!!!

THANKS Detroit Dog Rescue!!!! KRISTINA YOU ARE AWESOME!!!

Saving in stages

Once again, we got the litter in stages. Apollo, who you see with his cute little chain n padlock was the last of two litters we picked up from this address. And he feels lucky that his cute little chain n padlock will never have to be upgraded to the ugly heavy kind.

There were so many pups in the room during Apollo’s reign that at one point the older puppies were attacking and killing the new litter. (Sorry, but in this particular situation, the lucky ones died as the owner could not afford to take any suffering ones to the vet…their death would have been, was for 2, slow and painful.)

Why do we get many litters in stages? At first usually just too many, owner is overwhelmed and we wind up once again bottle feeding around the clock. Then when they puppy stage becomes annoying and they aren’t selling we’ll get called to pick up 1 or 2 more. After that maybe 1 is looking really bad, wont sell, come pick up. Then, after asking for dog food, they ALWAYS keep 1 or 2.  Very often a few weeks later, we get called to pick up one of those. The dog isn’t looking good, won’t put on weight, maybe he has the worms. Then after several weeks or months, their new dogs are no longer cute and no longer have manageable personalities, please come get 1. The last remaining dog they refuse to surrender from that litter will then live out his life on a chain. Even people in areas where we have been going for years and years can’t sell aggressive puppies. We know many people think this is a common thing, make a young dog aggressive on purpose, but it isn’t. The various forms of aggressive behavior generally come to be simply because the pooch has just been treated awful since birth.

In the case of this address, we paid for Apollo. We took up a collection and offered the owner money. And as a side note, you would be surprised at how often offering money does not work.

The picture of the 2 little puppy butts? One is that of Apollo, several weeks ago, the other that of his sister Lucy who was given to us that day along with the mommy dog. (both are now healthy and doing fine) Look how tired mommy dog looks. She slept the entire way to the vet on our laps. Peace at last.

Calie is still searching for her forever home!!!!!

Bowser NEEDS a Caring Home!!!!

The Spring thaw is not always welcomed!

The spring thaw means different things to different people. Most animal people will complain about the sudden need to clean up a winter’s worth of once snow covered poop! With us, the spring thaw means coming across an ample amount of dead dogs. Eleven was one count from Inkster in over just 2 months. This dead dog was in Detroit, but whatever. Does it really matter? What do you think was in those bags?

Random streets, random houses…doesn’t even have to be an abandoned street. They are everywhere and anywhere. There is no pattern. Some are ripped apart, obviously been fought. Some are completely emaciated, maybe a stray you passed and didn’t know what to do with so you kept going. Some look healthy enough – maybe a male dog out chasing a female in heat and got lost then was hit by a car and someone simply moved it to a field, could be, you don’t know. Some look like they just curled up and fell asleep, froze to death. Many freeze to death in a backyard then later are moved to a different location.

I’m going to say that again because it’s so disgusting: many freeze to death. The snow goes, the dead bodies surface and we trip over them. Literally.

So to us, the spring thaw means the sudden surge of what is just unspeakable, although we have to speak about it. I guess. Not going to make The Thaw of 2015 any better because no one knows where 10 out of 10 of these dogs come from.

Foster Homes Needed!

We are receiving many, many phone calls from people finding kittens, stray cats, and stray dogs. We can't take them in if we do not have foster homes available. 

If you are seriously interested in fostering or would like to learn more about what it involves, please call the office at 248-545-5055.

Suffering of a Puppy

Storm's Big Neuter Adventure

Thank you Gina! You have prevented many unwanted litters of dogs!

Persistence Pays Off!

The Animal Care Network changed our food assistance guidelines many years ago. We realized that we could not in good conscience enable pet owners that were breeding, whether it be intentional or accidental. We could not enable people that add to the already tragic homeless pet epidemic, we could not be a part of the pet overpopulation problem.

Our guidelines were changed to mandate that ALL dogs and cats in the household must be spayed and neutered in order to receive food assistance. Many other groups in our target areas also were doing the same. Financial assistance for spay/neuter was also offered, as well as transportation to the veterinarian, so that there could be no “excuses” such as “we can’t afford it” or “we have no way to get to the vet”

Because so many pet owners need the help with dog and cat food, this has resulted in thousands more animals being fixed.

Most people are agreeable, but then we always have the not so agreeable ones. The ones that say “we aren’t going to breed them” or “my dog or cat will never get pregnant” or “never gets out”
Darlinda was one of those people, many appointments were made to have her female pit bull spayed, many trips to her house to pick up the dog to no avail. They would just not answer the phone or the door. Then she gets a male pit bull and still wants free food. We told her no more until we get your dogs fixed. She started going to MARL for free food but they changed their policy as well!!

So we got together with MARL and had one last chat with Darlinda and took our stance! This was six years in the making but we did not give up!!! Every single one of us argued, debated, gave in, said no and many times simply walked away, but we all participated in the final result of this story… the dogs got fixed!!

Darlinda’s male and female pit bull are now fixed and vaccinated thanks to a group effort with MARL and the Michigan Humane Society “free” pit bull sterilization program. Animal Care Network also helped provide transportation to ensure that the dogs made it to their appointment.

After all this, we were not going to take any chances with any “no shows”!!

Great work team!!!! Thanks for all your patience and persistence on this one!!

Thank you Gabbi