The Oakland Press (http://www.theoaklandpress.com)

  

Animal Care Network honors two dedicated volunteers

By Beth Robinson, The Oakland Press

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

On a hot July 15 the Animal Care Network gathered the troops to help animals in Pontiac neighborhoods in memory of ACN volunteer Cindy Merz.

Summers are tough for many animals in Pontiac, but last summer was pretty tough for their tireless friends at ACN, as they lost Merz in July and another long-time volunteer, Ken Snow, in early September.

The all-volunteer ACN sends crews out 52 weekends each year (and some weekdays) to help abused and neglected animals and low-income pet owners in Pontiac. They carry and distribute water, donated food, bedding, and dog houses, and provide basic care and a lot of love, educating the community about proper animal care and rescuing endangered animals.

They usually make 20 – 30 stops a day. On July 15, Merz’s birthday, they made 50. “That’s what she would have wanted us to do,” said Pam Porteous, ACN manager, who organized tributes to both Snow and Merz, creating power point presentations comprised of photos, letters of appreciation and stories. “I had so many stories and things to tell about them,” Porteous said. “Amazing, awesome people, they were.”

Snow, says Porteous, was the President of Hagopian World of Rugs. Volunteer Marie Skladd met Snow at a promotional event and told him about ACN.

“He went out that first weekend and had been going out ever since,” Porteous said.

He was, she said, as kind to people as to animals. The story that defined the quality of Snow’s heart for Porteous was his anonymous gift to an elderly couple whose son had been murdered in a home invasion. When he heard that they could not afford to get his ashes, he went to the funeral home and paid for them.

“People just don’t do things like that anymore,” Porteous said. “He didn’t even know them. He had never even met them before.”

He also opened his heart to a homeless gentleman, getting him boots and a new tent. “He worried about that guy like crazy,” Porteous said. “He worried about him in the winter time.”

Both Snow and Merz were regular helpers to Dave Colman who runs the Center Stage warming shelter in Pontiac.

“Cindy and Ken were both like that, so giving and generous, not just with animals, but with people,” Porteous said. “They were just a lot alike.”

Merz had a gift for connecting with people, Porteous said.

The tribute letters from pet owners and fellow volunteers speak of her kindness and generosity but equally of her honesty, tenacity and fearlessness. “It didn’t matter what type of person or character. They trusted her. She could get through to people,” Porteous said.

That included a gang of “thugs,” Porteous said. “She was brave and she just made a connection with everybody she met. She was the only one who could deal with these guys.”

Porteous said that Merz was the only one who get could them to give up the pit bulls they often had. Porteous organizes the weekly crews, arranging stops at homes based on requests for assistance and reports of mistreated animals. She says that Merz would call regularly asking for stops to make during the week.

“Cindy was in Pontiac several times a week,” Porteous said. “It sucks the life out of you. And that’s what Cindy wanted to do, be out there helping people.”

“Cindy was so sick for the last couple of years, but she went out in Pontiac anyway. She just felt good when she was doing it,” Porteous said.

“We still miss them like crazy,” Porteous said.

  

URL: http://www.theoaklandpress.com/lifestyle/20140729/animal-care-network-honors-two-dedicated-volunteers

Another Thank You to Detroit Dog Rescue for Donated Food

Another big giant thank you to Detroit Dog Rescue for donating a truck load of dry dog food, canned dog food, treats and Kongs to the Animal Care Network outreach program!!!

This donation is gratefully appreciated and will help us assist hundreds more pet owners and their dogs in our target areas!!

Thank you so much Kristina and DDR for sharing with other rescue groups that have like missions and goals and also the same desire in our hearts to help these animals and make a difference in their lives.

Also thank you to the Tompor gang at Corporate Auto Resources for picking up and delivering this awesome donation.

We truly appreciate your support and generous hearts!!

Sad Story - Abandoned cats sentenced to death!

We can never understand with so many resources available in our target area, three animal shelters within a couple miles, the Animal Care Network program and low-cost vet clinics available, why horrible things still happen to these poor dogs and cats. There is just absolutely no excuse!

This is one of those stories, the ACN received a call about some cats that were left in a house when the owner became ill.  The caller did not call within a few days or a few weeks. He decided to call after the cats had been alone for a MONTH even though they stated they had left a big bag of food for them.

After attempting to gain access to the house and looking through the window the volunteers saw a dead cat on the floor, very disturbing and alarming. We called the relative and demanded he get over there immediately to let us in the house. The smell and the fleas were horrendous, the fleas were everywhere, jumping on us, the worst infestation we had ever seen. We made the relative go back in the house and bring out the poor cat that was hiding, she was in terrible condition. We wanted him to experience what these poor cats were living in. The third cat could not be located and we are still trying to trap that one.

The cat that we did rescue was so dehydrated, she drank so much water, we had to take it away and give her stomach a rest. The white towel in the carrier was blood red after just being in there for a short time. It was absolutely terrible. She was taken to the veterinarian, but her prognosis was grave, she was so dehydrated and anemic, her vitals and condition was beyond repair. A few more days and she would have died like the other one.

Sadly, we had to have this beautiful cat euthanized. If they had only called right away, we could have gotten all three of them out of there and they would not have had to suffer this long, brutal, slow death.

STARVATION + DEHYDRATION + FLEA INFESTION KILLS!!!!!

We experienced very much anger, frustration and confusion in this situation trying to figure out why we were not called earlier, but not getting any reasonable answer. So we move on to the next address and are thankful that these cats are no longer suffering, no longer waiting for someone to come back and get them, or give them food and the OH SO CRITICAL water, which is free!!!!

Animal Care Network heartfelt assistance

Since we have known many families and their pets forso many years, many of them call upon the ACN for advice,help, assistance and sympathy during difficult times.

 

With aging senior animals and not wanting them to suffer we try to honestly give the owners all of their options.  And yes, we will be there for them, no matter what. Often times, we have to help people make the difficult decision of having their pets humanely put to sleep when the time has come. They just need someone to talk to, cry with and assist them due to financial, transportation or medical reasons.

 

So here we are, and we have helped so many owners make this difficult decision, always with compassion for them and theirdogs and cats.

 

Here are two of our recent losses, Sugar and Max, very much loved by Bobbie Sue, Roberto, Brian and Lori.

 

Thanks to the wonderful, compassionate veterinarians and shelters that we work with, we are able to have these animals humanelyand lovingly put to sleep. As a gesture of kindness and sympathy afterwards, the ACN alwaystakes a picture of the owners with their beloved pet, has it framedand puts a small lock of hair in the frame. 

 

This is magic to them and very unexpected.

Dutchess

Dutchess may have been treated like a Dutchess in her earlier days, but certainly not in her senior years.
Not that the owners did not have good intentions, they just did not have any money period and never reached out for help.

In the meantime, Dutchess’ skin condition worsened, turning into a feverish, bloody, itchy, dermatitis mess and her nails continued to grow and curl under.

We have known Dutchess for many years, she has been passed from home to home, probably over 20 different places that we know of, but she managed to survive, miraculously, most dogs in our target area don’t live past a few years.

ACN had her spayed six years ago, finally, after having multiple litters, we were finally able to convince her owners to get her fixed. Very cool dog, Dutchess has been around longer than most.

Her real owners left the state and left Dutchess with friends. We had stopped by their to check on her six months ago but were told that she was doing fine.

Well last month ACN was called to please come and get Dutchess, they had to move quickly and had no where to go.

ACN picked up this old, white faced, senior dog and was pretty disgusted with her condition, but as the family was crying, didn’t want to be too cruel. We asked, why didn’t you call us for help sooner, why didn’t you take her to one of the local walk in clinics. In six months, someone could have done something, couldn’t they?

So we loaded up Dutchess, took her to the vet, where she had a fever, ears swollen shut, serious skin infection, heartworm positive and damage to the heart. No, heartworm treatment is not recommended at this point.

We are looking for a foster or adoptive home for Dutchess and many other dogs just like her. Dutchess does not do well with other dogs or cats.

Please call Chris at 248-545-5055 if you would like to foster or adopt!

Everyone in the house gets fixed!

Samantha needed help getting her four dogs fixed. Recently suffering financial difficulties this family called the ACN for help.

All the dogs needed to be fixed and vaccinated. Three female dogs and one large male dog, this could have been many "accidents" waiting to happen.

Samantha and her crew were transported to All About Animals Warren for their surgery in the ACN transport vehicle.

Once again, the big dogs were quite feisty with other dogs and not used to being in new places, therefore needed slow and careful handling by the transport driver and the veterinarian.

The timing on this was critical, not only could the female dogs have got pregnant, but two of them had uterus infections (hyrdometra and pyometra) which left untreated can be deadly.

The two female dogs had to be on antibiotics for two weeks.

PLEASE DO NOT WAIT UNTIL YOUR FEMALE DOGS HAVE A UTERUS INFECTION TO GET THEM SPAYED!!!

GET THEM SPAYED YOUNG TO AVOID HUNDREDS, THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS, EMERGENCY SURGERIES AND EVEN DEATH!!!

This condition is completely preventable. DOESN'T IT MAKE SENSE TO SPEND A LITTLE TO GET YOUR DOG SPAYED THEN TO SPEND HUNDREDS OR THOUSANDS LATER.

Every single day we hear, "we aren't going to breed her". WELL THERE IS MORE THAN ONE REASON TO SPAY YOUR DOG.

JUST DO IT!!!!

2nd Annual Cindy's Wings Pontiac Animal Care Network Run

Thank you to Chuck, Angie, Barb and Dean that made it out for the 2nd Annual Cindy’s Wings Pontiac Animal Care Network run. Also thank you to Beth for the donation towards dog and cat food in memory of Cindy!!!

Today’s run was in memory of our dear friend and beloved wife and family member Cindy Merz. Today July 15th was her birthday. We lost Cindy to cancer last year. We all miss her deeply, her presence is still and always will be missed in Pontiac and by everyone who loved and knew her.

Today in her memory we were able to make over 50 visits, helping over 100 dogs and cats and also rescuing 4 cats and one puppy!

Chuck and Cindy’s little mascots Sean and Trixie even joined us today, they always LOVED to ride in the car with Cindy!

Cindy, you will always be in our hearts, today was for you friend!!!

Parvo

The parvovirus is rampant in our target areas and has always been a problem and sadly, always will be.

The ACN packet includes information on parvo and low-cost vaccine clinics in the area, where you can get the vaccines done for $15.00 - $25.00. We blanket the entire community with this educational information and have articles in the newspaper as well.

We especially get frustrated when someone has a puppy or dog that dies from the virus and then immediately goes out and gets another one!! OMG!! Sadly, by the time the ACN gets called to pick up dying puppies and dogs it is usually too late. 99% of the time, these poor guys must be humanely euthanized due to the severity of the stage, lack of medical and lack of vaccines and proper food and water to begin with.
We have tried to save puppies with parvo but in our experience the suffering is to great and even the ones we tried to treat ending up dying or just not responding to treatment. Parvo is not just a puppy thing by any means, we have picked up adult dogs that are DYING from it as well.

We feel with the resources available in our target area, the cases should be declining not rising. Are people just not listening or do they just NOT CARE???????? We just don't know! Education, resources, low cost, literature, newspaper articles, word of mouth, first hand experience......gosh if all this does not work what will???????????? Gosh everyone, is education not working?

This target area has over 600 streets and our group has tracked the parvovirus on nearly 300 of these streets. And those are just cases that we are aware of.

PLEASE SPEND THE SMALL AMOUNT OF MONEY TO GET YOUR PUPPIES AND DOGS VACCINATED, RATHER THAN SPENDING HUNDREDS OR THOUSANDS TO GET THEM TREATED ONCE THEY COME DOWN WITH PARVO. ONE VACCINE IS NOT ENOUGH!!!!! FOLLOW YOUR VETERINARIAN OR CLINICS PROTOCOL AND SCHEDULE OR IT COULD BE DEADLY.

Here is a perfect example of three puppies that suffered needlessly.
This family had been through parvo before, but a few years later, here we are again. FIRST PROBLEM, the breeding should have been stopped once the first episode happened!!! But that did not happen. (We did get the mother of these guys spayed after having this litter).  These puppies were taken to a clinic for ONE shot and never went back, PROBLEM NUMBER TWO!!! After begging for these puppies without success, they were trying to sell them on social media, but that did not work either.

By the time ACN received the call to pick these VERY SICK puppies up it was TOO LATE for all three. The female was nearly dead and two males were close behind when we arrived. They had not eaten in days and were having bloody diarrhea and vomiting and their vitals were dropping. Upon our veterinarian's advise all three of these beautiful FIVE MONTH OLD puppies were humanely euthanized by loving hands and broken hearts. They had needlessly suffered enough.

Had they been given up to our rescue earlier they would have been fostered, fully vaccinated and adopted.
SADLY, THIS DID NOT HAPPEN! Even sadder their is another female dog in the household which we are desperately trying to get spayed and vaccinated for free, but that does not seem to be happening either.
And we continue to try...................

Animal Care Network Food Assistance Program

The Animal Care Network is in desperate need of dog and cat food!!!

The ACN goes through AT LEAST 100 bags of dog and cat food every single week in our target areas. This program assists pet owners that are struggling financially, pet owners with no transportation, seniors and pet owners that are home bound or medically unable to get out to get their dogs and cats food.

This program is VITAL to the community. It also works two-fold and is double important because every single dog and cat that we assist MUST be spayed and neutered.

Therefore, not only are we assisting needy pet owners but we are helping to decrease the pet overpopulation and achieve EVERYONE’s goal of NO MORE HOMELESS PETS!!

PLEASE CONSIDER HAVING A PET FOOD FUNDRAISER, SEND IN A FINANCIAL DONATION TOWARDS THE FOOD ASSISTANCE PROGRAM OR SHARE THIS POST SO THAT WE MAY CONTINUE TO SERVE THE COMMUNITY.


WE NEED DONATIONS IN ORDER TO KEEP UP WITH THE DEMAND FOR HELP.
Here are some of the happy food assistance recipients WHICH ARE ALSO ALL SPAYED AND NEUTERED. NOTHING BUT A WIN WIN SITUATION FOR THE OWNERS AND THEIR PETS!!!

Bowser

Bowser’s owner just moved to our target area and had no idea if and what programs were available for animals.

The owners were struggling financially and really needed some  guidance and assistance, so they stopped at the local animal shelter, Michigan Animal Rescue League and boy were they glad they did!!! Bowser was not neutered and had no vaccines.

MARL heard their story, took down the information and set the wheels in motion by relaying the info to the Animal Care Network.

ACN made a visit to the house and explained the program to the owners and made arrangements for them to bring Bowser to the upcoming All About Animals Pontiac vaccine clinic that weekend, which they did!!
For $10.00 they got Bowser’s shots updated, they could not believe it! Next step NEUTER!!!!!!

Thanks to our amazing friends at Ross Hospital for Animals and a spay and neuter grant, Bowser was neutered at no charge.

Transportation was provided to get him to the veterinarian and back home. They also helped with a medical condition that Bowser had while he was at the clinic being fixed!

The Animal Care Network has been partnering with Ross Hospital for over 20 years and they are simply amazing, patient, compassionate and accommodating.

Since this is an outreach and community service, things are not always normal for the dogs and cats that Ross assists us with. We are always running into special cases and special situations with the dogs and cats and Ross does their best to assist with whatever they can.

We would not be able to help the animals in our target area nearly as much without their assistance and invaluable service.

Thank you to Dr. Ross, Dr. Mazzuchi, Cindy, Kelly, Jenny, Jennifer and all of the staff! These guys are the best!!!

 

Animal Care Network rescue Max

While on a routine ACN run, volunteers noticed a dog in a back yard that was not very visible and jotted the address down to be checked soon.

After going back to the address, the team found a very skinny Bull Mastiff outside with no apparent food, water or shelter and no one at home. The neighbor behind stated that she had been giving him food and buckets of water.

The Animal Care Network team is very thorough and adamant about doing rechecks on the animals that we are concerned about.  Many times the situation has improved, many times it has not and that is the reason for rechecking EVERYTHING!!

Thankfully, we did a follow up and Max was surrendered to the team because the owner was no longer able to keep Max and they were moving. We are so thankful we stopped back to check on him, Lord knows where he may have ended up if given away or sold to the wrong person.

Once again, our Ann Marie from No Place Like Home rescue offered to take Max into her program. Max will be neutered as soon as he gains weight and then adopted out very carefully. There are already several people interesting in adopting this very nice guy!

Another great job team!!

A big thanks to our Kim Montgomery for making many more dogs and cats in the community much for comfortable and happy.

Kim has an affordable grooming mobile and does an amazing job!!

Check out Bentley, one of our spay neuter and food assistance recipients after Kim came for a visit!!

Check her out!!!

Thanks Kim!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Goober-Ps-Splash-Dash/366091573506809

Cat Rescue

These four beautiful friendly cats were abandoned and left behind when the owners moved.

They were left in this box. How disgusting is this?

Whatever happened to taking them to an animal shelter or calling someone to pick them up? Isn’t it not better for them to be safe at an animal shelter? In our target animals left behind or let go are very much at risk of many things worse than death!

All three animal shelters in Oakland County, Oakland County Animal Care Center, Michigan Animal Rescue League and the Michigan Humane Society are wonderful shelters that do their best to find homes for each and every animals. So many people nowadays are so negative about animal shelters, could that be why people just leave these animals behind to fend for themselves?

If you walk through any one of these shelters, they are all completely full of dogs, cat, puppies and kittens up for adoption!!!

Thank you to the Michigan Animal Rescue League for taking these deserving cats. Here they will be well cared for and spayed and neutered before adoption just like they would at the other two shelters!!!

Pablo and Tiger

Meet Pablo and Tiger! Tiger is quite the feisty little guy!

Pablo needed a ride to the All About Animal Pontiac April vaccination clinic so our transport team Sue and Dawn picked him and Tiger up.

After talking with the All About Animals team and ACN volunteers Pablo decided it was time to get Tiger neutered!

The Animal Care Network provided transportation and financial aid to get Tiger to All About Animals to get neutered.

A very big added bonus was that Tiger got his nails trimmed at All About Animals, which they do for every dog and cat that is getting fixed.

Tiger does not like his nails trimmed when he is awake!!!

Good job team! Pablo and Tiger are doing great!

Spay and neuter success

Meet Josh, the owner of Angel and Debo. Josh fell on hard times and really needed help with dog food…but….Angel and Debo were not fixed!

The Animal Care Network explained the food assistance program and he agreed to get them both fixed in order to qualify.

Both dogs and cats must be spayed and neutered in order to receive assistance. We have to have guidelines, just like any other assistance program!

The ACN provided financial assistance to get the dogs fixed and vaccinated.

Well Josh got back on his feet and then acquired two more dogs that were dumped by someone he knew. He immediately called ACN to get them both spayed and neutered, just in case he needed our help down the road. So Blue and Missy got fixed and up to date on shots too!

Moral of the story: GET YOUR DOGS SPAYED AND NEUTERED!!!!!

You never know when you may need assistance help down the road.

Many of us fall on hard times these days and it is better to be prepared isn’t it!!!

The Animal Care Network got a bunch of nice large dog beds donated from one of our rescue partners that could not use them.

We hit the streets to visit some of our senior dogs to surprise them with new dog beds, what fun this was!
All of these older dogs are spayed and neutered and live in the house.

Totally deserving of these beds!!!

More Spay and Neuter Successes

The Animal Care Network team does not give up trying to convince people to get their animals fixed.
We even offer transportation and financial assistance in our target areas.

We had been trying to get Tyson and Nemo neutered for years. Andrea wanted to get it done, but of course the male friend was refusing for obvious “manly” reasons which we are very tired of hearing. The dogs were also beginning to get into male dog scuffles which can really escalate into horrible fights.

The ACN had already had Andrea’s dog spayed and many cats fixed for her that she has rescued off the streets.

In order to qualify for food assistance ALL ANIMALS IN THE HOUSEHOLD must be spayed and neutered, both dogs and cats, males and females. Andrea’s male friend was doing nothing but preventing Andrea from getting the assistance that she needed and deserved for her animals.

Well guess what, the man departed from the scene and left Andrea with the dogs, so what did she do? Called ACN to get them neutered!! Yay Andrea!

Andrea had no transportation, so we took her and two very feisty boys to All About Animals in Warren to get them fixed and vaccinated.

We were able to do this at no charge thanks to your donations and private grants!

Food donations are needed!!!

Thank you Donovan!

Three cheers for Donovan who opted to receive donations for a charity instead of presents for his 11th birthday! The lucky recipients? Animal Care Network!

How impressive for a kid to even think of doing such a thing!

Thank you so much Donovan you are an inspiration!