My Desperate Plea For Help

dralionagogo · 02-14-2012

I've posted on here a few times about the abused and emaciated American Staffordshire my boyfriend and I rescued, eluding to the whirlwind that has been. We're in Toledo, Ohio and resources are very limited for us.

It's been stressful to say the least. She's a great dog that we love very much, but we're not the right fosters for her. Juno is obedient, loving, and would be pretty easy if it weren't for a couple of things.

The main problem is she has a strong prey drive. Although great with strangers, children, and dogs, she wants to go after cats - and being a cat rescue, we have five. One has gotten incredibly sick due to stress, lost two pounds and antibiotics aren't helping her G.I infection. We need to get this cat's health back and unfortunately can't do that with the source of stress still around.

We've contacted over 25 rescues in Ohio and Michigan, the best help received being the occasional courtesy post. It's been 3 1/2 months since we found Juno and although we've had an adopter lined up since the second week, there's been many delays. If left to them, we'll have Juno for another month or two.

Now, one or two months doesn't sound like a long time, but given the situation, it's much longer than what we can do.

Juno has to be tethered to us all day long. That's having no more than 4 feet in between you and a dog for months, relying on her to move a few steps for any given chore. That also means the five cats who have been neglected for over three months must always be at least 5 feet away. That means you have to constantly be alert to where every cat is and how much slack Juno's leash has, b/c a lapse in attention could mean a dead cat.

While we're at work or when Juno's eating or when we both are needed to do anything that steals our attention, Juno goes to her room. This is a very small room that she's sick of being in. When in the room, she cries, barks, and scratches at the door. It doesn't stop, so one of us also needs to sleep in there. Juno has a nice comfy bed. We do not. We sleep on two sleeping bags on a hard floor, the ache and stiffness of our muscles wakes us up several times throughout the night while Juno sleeps peacefully through, waking up refreshed while we're feeling like we're about 80 years old.

Lately she has taken to destroying her room. This means tearing the carpet a third of the way off, peeing, and tossing bedding and dishes everywhere. She doesn't want to be locked in a room, and we don't blame her. Outside of the room she's extremely well behaved (save for the cats), but in there by herself she'll do anything to get your attention.

Money is tight. We're creeping up to the $1,000 mark and we don't make much, much of that going to rescues anyway. The good news is, she's had a lot done and shouldn't need much if anything more for awhile.

Sadly, we're considering what we may need to do is we can't place her soon. Our biggest rule is to never put the other animals in danger for one more rescue, which is exactly what we're doing. Five cats could be dead if she gets out of her room or if her leash snaps. Having one cat as sick as she is b/c there's a dog around is concerning enough. If it keeps going, she may need to be hospitalized. And on top of all of that, the cats just aren't very afraid of a dog who hasn't been able to get them for over three months now. They're becoming very trusting of her, making us need to supervise even more than ever. If this goes on much longer, we may need to look into taking her to shelter. We rescued her to keep her alive, she didn't go through hell just to be put to sleep, so that concept is causing even more stress.

We're tired, we're frustrated, and our stress level is through the roof. We really want to see this through to a forever home, but if that's not in the near future (of about a month), we have no problem handing her over to a competent foster.

Please put out a plea to find Juno a great home that's right for her. You can google "Forgotten Felines of Toledo" to find her webpage. We'll drive up to three hours away for this adoption.

Lunareclipse · 02-14-2012

Do you have facebook? If so add me. I will post it to everyone I know and also some rescues too. Luna Rios is my facebook name. I have a pic of a saint Bernard (Sammie) for my avatar.

dralionagogo · 02-16-2012

Thank you. My fb is Forgotten Felines, which I had deactivated awhile back, losing all my followers so now am starting again from scratch. I don't think I could ever take her to a shelter, but if there were an accident with one of the cats I can't say it wouldn't be an honest option. The family interested in her still really wants her, they just didn't anticipate everything that goes into buying a house. Right now the hold up is waiting for the paperwork to be ready, which could be two weeks or it could be two months depending on the bank they used and the loan they applied for, then once the yard and fence are fixed up they'll be ready to move her in.

Lunareclipse · 02-16-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by dralionagogo

Thank you. My fb is Forgotten Felines, which I had deactivated awhile back, losing all my followers so now am starting again from scratch. I don't think I could ever take her to a shelter, but if there were an accident with one of the cats I can't say it wouldn't be an honest option. The family interested in her still really wants her, they just didn't anticipate everything that goes into buying a house. Right now the hold up is waiting for the paperwork to be ready, which could be two weeks or it could be two months depending on the bank they used and the loan they applied for, then once the yard and fence are fixed up they'll be ready to move her in.

Forgotten Felines in Toledo? I keep forgetting you are also in Ohio. Seems weird hearing about things that I have also heard about. Are you the one who is coming out to do a house inspection after Mr. Kitty gets here to how he's working out. The rescue is supposed to send someone out from Manfield or Toledo.

dralionagogo · 02-17-2012

I haven't heard about a Mr. Kitty. What organization is he from?

Lunareclipse · 02-17-2012

Puzzled
He's at the end of this link.

dralionagogo · 02-20-2012

Gorgeous cat. He looks like my Captain Rahmah (except Rahmah was missing an eye and half his tail). Good luck with your new addition, looks like a lap cat to me!

Lunareclipse · 02-20-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by dralionagogo

Gorgeous cat. He looks like my Captain Rahmah (except Rahmah was missing an eye and half his tail). Good luck with your new addition, looks like a lap cat to me!

I think he might be a great lapkitty. Fluffy will be angry for a few weeks, but she will get over having Mr. Kitty in the house.

Are you supposed to do my house inspection? Someone from a rescue in Mansfield or Toledo is supposed to come and do a house inspection.