Colleen's winter weekend at RLRR

Kristin took these great photos, but just look at the sad eyes on all of these dogs.
Denise

PUPS WITH BLUE EYESCOLLEEN SAYS:
Hi everyone- I know some of you enjoy hearing about weekends up in Red Lake so having just come back I thought I would give you a weekend recap.

REILLYI left and drove up to Karen's mid day on Thursday- in time to help with chores around 6:30 pm. I arrived to find blood on the snow and ice and come to find out one of her dogs, Riley had cut his pad on ice or something and was was bleeding pretty readily. Looked worse than it was on the snow, but he ended up getting a couple of stitches and now has the "cone" head attire.

BELLE & BONNIE HAVE RICKETS AND MANGEBUT THEY NOW HAVE BEAUTIFUL SWEATERSThe saddest story of the weekend was about Kena- a large golden retrvr mix whose people had called Karen earlier in the week to come and get their dog as "he had been hit by a car"... Karen brought him to the vet where it was determined that he didn't have any broken bones and most likely would mend with time. So the next day we drove to Gonvik vet to pick him up. We kenneled him on Friday nite and by Sat am found that he has passed in the kennel over nite. It was sad and unexpected as he had looked like he was doing quite better the night before- so his internal injuries must have been pretty extensive.

SPRUCED UP CATHOUSEKristin and a new volunteer Heidi arrived on Friday night and worked very hard all day Saturday cleaning and moving cartons from the cat house to the new storage shed, clearing room in the cat house and lessening the claustrophobia. They cleaned light fixtures, put in new bulbs, did continuous laundry and dish cleaning.

KARMAIn the midst of that they socialized "not so social" puppies that were brought in on Friday, while Karen and I took a trip to Thief River Falls to do a WalMart run. The kid in the pet supply area about fell over when we asked for 15 bags of cat litter!


It was beautiful up there as the temps were fairly mild and the fog hung on the trees in the morning both days and it looked like a crystal forest.

ONE IS THE LONELIEST NUMBERTWO IS BETTERTHREE IS BEST: CRYSTAL, COCO, CURTWe transported out 16 animals on Sunday, but not before I managed to slide off the new road a bit, near the kennel and get stuck. So Karen and the girls then had to push me out!!

Many thanks to Kristin and Heidi for their very hard work and to Karen for her endless commitment to animals at RL. For anyone thinking of making a Red Lake trip the road is always open and Karen is always grateful for the help. If any of you would want a firsthand report from the new recruits I could put you in touch with them!

Colleen

All sad eyes, except the dog in Karen's arms.

Denise

A Long Journey to Good Karma

Karma came to Red Lake Rosie's Rescue August 10, 2009. She was in very bad condition and came in as a lactating female but without any puppies. She was literally skin and bone and full of mange.

She ate in a frenzied state the day she arrived. We fed small meals at regular intervals so she would not injure herself eating. The first 2 stools were only black dirt. Apparently she had eaten dirt to survive hoping to find some nutrition in it! I had only seen this in one other dog we had last year.

After several days of food she began showing signs of severe diahrrea and bloody stools. She was treated for parasites and put on antibiotics. She gradually healed and started a long road of recovery simply brought on by neglect and malnourishment.

She eventually was spayed, vaccinated, and had a heartworm test.
Again, poor Karma was diagnosed with anaplasmosis, lymes, and heartworm. She was treated with doxycycline for 4 weeks and then finally on November 19th and 20th got her heartworm treatment.

It has been a long process for this girl and she is now very beautiful, with a healthy weight and sleek, shiny hair. Not only is she beautiful outside- she is also beautiful inside. Karma gets along well with all her friends at the shelter. It is rewarding to see her playing happily and recovered from her broken state when she arrived.

We are looking for a special placement for this girl. She is harder to place because she is black and has challenges due to her neglect and abuse- but we want her to have the best. She is a lab mix and weighs about 45#

Sincerely, Karen and RLRR