IFAW Canada: Northern Dogs Veterinary Effort - Montreal Pups

This post was filed by the International Fund for Animal Welfare's Jan Hannah, working from remote Cree communities, in the James Bay region of Quebec, Canada.

I received a call from a woman in one of the communities that IFAW’s Northern Dogs Project visits each spring. Over a number of weeks she had managed to take in six puppies –not littermates; just picked up one by one. Her question to me… could IFAW help her rehome them if she could get them as far as Montreal. I said yes. If I can get to Montreal and you can get the pups on the plane, it’s a go. Emaciated and mostly too young to be on the street, the pup count kept increasing until the night before she was leaving… final puppy tally = 11. If it had been any later, I’m sure she would have had more. All different ages, colours, sizes and litters. It’s cold up north and pups born at the end of August or early September have the added disadvantage of harsh winters to contend with. Small, young animals certainly feel the cold more than older, larger animals.

Sunday: A good friend volunteered to accompany me and this is such a big treat. Twelve hours of driving is long when you’re alone and a second pair of hands is invaluable when dealing with the pups on the way home, especially for the pee breaks. Lucille is awesome. You want a volunteer who sees something that needs doing and just does it. That’s Lucille.

Monday: We stayed overnight in Montreal last night so it only took us five minutes to get to the airport this morning. The plane arrived, the baggage hatch opened and I could see the crates with the dogs. Just as she said, all different sizes, ages, and colours. It never ceases to make me smile to see the way the baggage handlers talk to the dogs and stick their hands in the crates. Never. They gently offloaded the three crates and wheeled them off the tarmac and straight to us. No matter how dogs are described to you, you always build your own picture so of course none of them looked like I had imagined. There were two chocolate labs (or crosses) about 6 weeks old; one golden retriever cross about the same age; one black lab about that age and two that looked to be about 10 weeks old; one six month old female who looked like a flat coated retriever; one black wiener dog cross; and the only littermates in the bunch, a black and tan female and black and white freckled male, about four months old. Everyone looked in good shape, yapping and wagging their tails as we quickly took them out one by one, walked them around quickly to do their business and stretch their legs, and then put them into the crates in the van. Ten minutes and we are ready to go.

The only fly in the ointment was when I heard that the bigger of the chocolate pups had had diarrhea that morning. My heart sank… Parvo came to mind. With so much change and excitement in their young lives, it’s certainly not a for sure, but un-vaccinated, young puppies with diarrhea equals alarm bells. But what do you do? They’re there, you’re there… all you can do is start driving home. In two tries, we were on the right highway going in the right direction and motivated to make it to the shelter near the IFAW office by closing.

I did the first bit of driving while Lucille was in the back checking on the pups and reporting back on how sweet they were. The two brownies were full of beans; the little blond had the big worm belly that puppies have but was in good spirits (and trying to sleep with the rambunctious browns); the male and female littermates were sandwiched happily together in another crate; the black dachshund cross was in with the flat coated girl (with a sharpei shaped nose!) and the larger black labby male; and then there were the two blacks, the one with the one blue eye who spent the majority of her time yapping at us, and her crate companion who was down and out. He worried me but I crossed my fingers that he might only be motion sick. I wanted to get the pups to the shelter and settled in as quickly as possible. It’s not possible to synchronize bathroom stops for that many young puppies but it’s amazing how few accidents you have -- they really let you know when they have to go and the key is finding safe places to stop. Whether they are used to be confined or not, dogs do not like to toilet in close quarters.

We made it to the shelter in just about six hours. We missed rush hour in Toronto and headed up the 407 to get out of the jam that starts on the east side of the city. The shelter is first rate. They have an incredible adoption rate and the dogs are under super care while there. Dropping off all the pups at one place is a logistical dream and I can’t thank the shelter enough for taking the whole group. Drop them off, drive away, watch for them to come up on the adoption page of the web site and read about their new lives in the adopted section. Done.

However, we did have one sticking point -- the diarrhea of the chocolate guy. We hadn’t seen any on the drive but then again, we hadn’t seen much of anything from that end of the pups! Parvo is a highly contagious virus that causes damage to the intestine. It doesn’t sound like much but it can kill a pup in no time, even with veterinary care. There is a vaccine for Parvo but these pups have no access to veterinary care except when the Northern Dogs clinic visits. Symptoms are diarrhea, vomiting, lethargy and lack of appetite. I crossed my fingers. Parvo is very expensive to treat and the death rate is up to 35%. When shelters have dogs and puppies coming in, they have to take the health of the population into account, and most protocols call for euthanization if pups test positive for the virus.

The pups had just the best accommodations waiting for them! Everyone was put into a special communal run just the right size for them, and left in utter comfort… fleece blankets, toys and food and water. And just as we were leaving, we were able to do a fecal test on one of the pups to test for Parvo. We waited. And waited. Walked around with butterflies in our stomachs. They can’t have Parvo… they look so healthy, are behaving so normally. But what if this one does test positive? What will I do with ten puppies who will all likely test positive over the next few days? I’ve never had Parvo pups come south and now I may have ten! Tick, tick, tick. Positive. My heart sunk. I knew what my options were. Euthanize or take to a vet for treatment and keep my fingers crossed. Euthanizing those animals who are sick is one thing but these weren’t even symptomatic yet. I made the decision to take the one who had tested positive and the blue eyed black one who he had been crated with. The shelter did me a huge favour by keeping the others. This is a big deal. The pups have to be quarantined and such a contagious and persistent disease in a shelter environment requires extreme care or it can run through all the other dogs. Together we decided that we would make decisions about the others as they tested positive and keep our fingers tightly crossed that they wouldn’t.

Lucille and I left feeling really down. We were tired, we were bummed, and we had two sick pups to get to the vet. To be honest, it was naïve to think the others wouldn’t get sick but I think when you have put so much effort into a rescue, you want so badly for all the dogs in your care to be okay. Especially when so much work and time had gone into taking care of them up north, flying them down and getting them into a good place.

An hour later, we showed up at the side door of the vet clinic. Nava came out with what looked like HazMat gear to take the two black pups into quarantine at the back of the clinic. I’m looking at the cages in the quarantine room… counting them. I can’t fit 10 dogs into this room if they all come up positive. The pups are put in a cage together and treatment with dewormer and TamiFlu begins.

Tuesday: I called the shelter to see how the other pups were doing. They are fine so far! Great news. I think we can beat it. Off to work I go.

Early afternoon, I get a call from the shelter. The larger black one is down and out and has tested positive. One of the brown ones is also positive and the little blond girl is down. They have diarrhea and are vomiting and it’s the dehydration that’s so deadly. Puppies easily succumb to dehydration, and on top of the virus, each one is chalk full of worms, Giardia, coccidia, covered in lice and fleas and undernourished. It’s surprising any of them survive in the communities. We make the very difficult decision to euthanize. I’m heading over to pick up the still bouncy chocolate girl and deliver her to my vet for treatment as well.

Back at the vet’s, the two black ones are responding well to treatment. The blue eyed one is full of beans. The other one, Hank, is still down but eating. Good news. We add chocolate girl and head home.

Wednesday: I received a call from the vet to say that the pups are doing well but so full of worms that it’s like looking at a text book. Cleaning up after puppies is a messy job at the best of times but this is beyond normal duty. The girls doing the cleanup deserve a medal!

I had just arrived at work when the shelter called. The black and tan female littermate is down. Her brother is not well. Another day of difficult decisions. We euthanize the female and I drive to pick up the black and white freckled brother and take him to the vet. He’s symptomatic by the time I get him to the clinic and into a crate on top of the others. Now the quarantine room is full and I am resigned to the fact that the remaining two at the shelter will test positive and I will have nowhere for them to go.

Thursday: My morning call from vet is good… everyone is doing fine! Full of parasites but eating and drinking. “Freckles” is doing much better! Surprisingly, the two at the shelter are not showing symptoms. Fingers crossed.

Friday: All good news today. I’ve spoken to the shelter and the kennel manager is going away for the weekend but we’ll stick to the same plan. Call if there is a positive.

Saturday afternoon: I received a text that the chocolate girl is sick and the vet will keep me posted. The blue eyed black girl is also not doing well. This comes as a total surprise because I’ve not seen her at anything other than her yappy tail wagging best.

Sunday morning: The blue eyed girl died over night. The girls at the clinic who have been taking care of her are shocked and sad. She was so feisty. There are now three at the clinic and two at the shelter.

Sunday afternoon: The chocolate girl is depressed but shows no other symptoms. Thankfully, Hank and Freckles are doing well.

Sunday evening: The vet is on her way to euthanize the chocolate girl. She is very sick and can’t lift her head. I will have to tell the kennel manager at the shelter that one of her favourites didn’t make it. It’s a roller coaster.

Monday: No news is good news. The remaining four seem to be holding their own.

Tuesday: I have a potential adopter for Freckles… a friend of mine who has just moved into the neighbourhood. I’m excited about taking her in to meet him because I think he’s not only cute, but the perfect dog for her and her lifestyle. We can only stand outside the quarantine room but it will give her an idea of what he’s like. When we arrive, the girls are cleaning the cages and he’s playing on the floor with Hank. They look fantastic! The girls say the pups are happy when they have human company (like when the cages are being cleaned) but seem a little depressed otherwise. My ears perk up… depressed? They assure me it’s not medically depressed, just down. It didn’t take more than that short look for Joan to fall in love with Freckles. The news at this stage is that if they eat and drink consistently, they should be fine! Fingers still crossed.

Tuesday evening: Hank is down. I can’t believe it because he looked so healthy this morning. The vet tells me that there is no way he’s going to die and she’s hooking him up to fluids immediately. I feel sick all over again and tell her that if he needs to be euthanized at some point during the night, to please call me.

Wednesday morning: Hank is back up! Eating like crazy. They are watching him closely but everyone thinks he’s going to make it.

I called the shelter this afternoon. I had figured no news was good news but I wanted to check in. The flat coated girl and the dachshund cross never became symptomatic and are fine so far. More great news! Parvo incubates for up to 10 days and tomorrow is 10 days. They should be clear!

4pm: The clinic called to say they had tested the puppies and both are negative! How amazing to hear those words. Joan is totally going to take Freckles and now I just need to find a place for Hank so that he can get on with his life.

Friday: Joan is picking Freckles up this afternoon and Hank is being taken in by Animal Rescue Foundation (ARF) out of London. ARF works with local First Nations communities to provide veterinary care and find homes for unwanted animals so they are perfectly suited to take on little Hank. ARF does fantastic work with many dogs from similar environments to the one these pups came from. They are often working with dogs who have medical or behavioural issues stemming from the lifestyle they experience in the communities. ARF’s experience working with and rehoming these dogs means that they understand the issues and have the protocols that fit. A local asset for sure and one that does so much with grass roots fundraising alone. I’m picking Hank up at the clinic tomorrow and driving him to London to hand him over to his ARF foster family.

Saturday: I picked Hank up at the vet’s office at noon. Because he was down and out on the way back from Montreal and then in quarantine, I’ve never really spent any time with him. What an unbelievable joy he is! He’s little and still a bit skinny but his tail never stops wagging! Non stop tail wagging and total interest in what you are doing. We went for a walk along the trail so that he could do his business and hopefully tire for the 2.5 hour drive. The drop off went smoothly. He is one of those puppies who just wins your heart over in a second. Again, I’m so happy that he’s in ARF’s hands as I know they will find him the best home. Thankfully, Freckles is also doing amazing in his new home and I will get to see him often. I tell you, it’s been a tough two weeks with a ton of driving and heartache, but if those pups hadn’t come south, none of them would be alive today. It’s amazing how hard everyone worked for 10 pups who were nothing but strangers before this journey began. Thank you.

Comments

[montreal chien Garderie]

Thats so heart touching, I render my appreciation to the work you've been doing