Ganawenjige - a protector/caretaker for a RLRR animal

Many dogs and cats come into Red Lake Rosie's shelter and stay for weeks or months or, sometimes, permanently. They stay, because they have mange, starvation, illness, and injuries that need to be healed before they can be placed with rescues. They stay, so that Karen can socialize them and teach them how to trust again. They stay until they know that there will always be enough to eat, and they lose their food aggression. They stay waiting for an opening in a rescue. A few will never leave, because they are semi-feral and cannot live as pets in the Cities.

These animals need emergency medical care, antibiotics, vaccines, spay/neuter, heartworm tests, worming medications, flea and tick preventative, and other treatments. The permanent animals also need heartworm preventative, teeth cleaning and care for all of the other things that affect a dog or cat throughout its lifetime. Since, eventually, most will move on to other rescues, Rosie’s doesn’t receive any adoption fees to help defray the costs involved in saving and healing the animals. 

We are going to begin sharing the stories of the animals at the shelter, those that are there for a while, and those that are there forever, in the hope that some of you, our wonderful supporters, will choose to become Ganawenjige – a protector/caretaker for a shelter animal. 

We rely on individual donations to run the rescue. That often makes it difficult to budget, since we don’t know from month to month what our bank account will look like. We need Ganawenjige who are willing to donate monthly to help us continue to provide veterinary care for the shelter animals.

Our How You Can Help page, where you can sign up to be a Ganawenjige, is not up, yet, on the website, so stay tuned for more info.

In the meantime, our first story is about Jasper, and, sadly, he is a fairly typical example of some of the animals Karen rescues. His medical bill is $325 so far.

JASPER'S STORY
On February 5th, Karen organized the rescue of a six-month old puppy from one of the villages on the reservation. She named him Jasper.

Taking one look at him, Karen knew he needed immediate help. He was very emaciated, dehydrated, and had an infected wound on his side. Jasper walked with his back arched as if in severe pain. Karen was sickened at this sight, yet so thankful to have this boy in her care.

She rushed Jasper to the vet clinic 35 minutes away. The vet determined that Jasper had been shot by a rifle, but, miraculously, the X-ray revealed that no pieces of the bullet hit any major organs or bones. The bullet passed clean through his body with no damage and the prognosis was excellent.

After spending the night at the veterinary clinic, Jasper returned to the shelter where he became a resident in the cathouse.

At first, he was very agitated, trying desperately to get some morsels of food. After getting his fill, he became more relaxed and seemed to absolutely love his life in the cathouse.

His posture has since improved and what an angel he is – making friends with the cats and Blonde, another resident dog.

When Jasper goes outdoors to do his business, he always wears a coat.

Jasper is on antibiotics and pain management during the healing process. The warm environment with good food and lots of water all help in his healing. Jasper responds so well to kind words and now feels very worthwhile.