eyeslikelenses

windycity:

I just received this email from the Chicago Canine Rescue:

Four days ago in the late evening, a puppy was admitted to our shelter that was transferred to us from another shelter.  This puppy was being treated for upper respiratory illness, a common ailment in animal shelters and, at that time, his symptoms appeared quite normal for a pup with a bad cold.  However, as a precaution, the puppy was seen by a vet on day 1 and on day 2 in our shelter, unfortunately this morning (day 3), the puppy began having seizures
 and we rushed him to Chicago Veterinary Emergency Services where he was diagnosed with canine distemper.  At that point, we were advised to euthanize him because he was suffering and his prognosis was bleak, at best.  Canine Distemper is a highly contagious and often fatal disease to unvaccinated and under-vaccinated animals. 
 
Our shelter, with the help of our advising veterinarians, has deduced that due to the completed vaccine status of the vast majority of our shelter dogs, they can remain available for adoption.  However, as a precautionary measure, for all of our under-vaccinated dogs, we have elected to hold those dogs for the next four weeks and they are fully vaccinated    We feel that this is the only way to continue to monitor all of our animals’ health statuses carefully and to protect adopters from bringing home a seemingly healthy animal that could later become ill with distemper due to the virus’ incubation period.  Our physical shelter will be closed to volunteers and adopters until this period is completed.  At the end of this period of time, if our animals remain healthy and we have had no further incidences of distemper, we will re-open our shelter and all animals will, again, be available for adoption.
 
However, in the mean time, we have many, many WONDERFUL animals that are fully vaccinated, and/or being housed in foster homes and are boarded off-site.  This means that they were never at the shelter and, therefore, never exposed to the sick puppy. 
 
During the quarantine period, sadly, we cannot have volunteers come to the shelter to help with or walk the animals.  However, there are still ways that you can help - AND we , REALLY, REALLY need the help now!
 
1)      Plan a fundraiser! - Throw a “Shelter 911” Party!  Contact lisa@chicagocaninerescue.com for help!
2)      Collect or donate items on our supply list.  Click here for our supply list on our home page. 
3)      Make an online or mail in a donation!  Click here to make a donation.
 
Thank you for your support during this very tough and stressful time and keep our animals in your thoughts as we hope, beyond hope, that they remain healthy.

Help some puppies today!

Come on guys! These pups need our help! Having worked at a shelter and unfortunately seeing distemper first hand, it sucks. So do what you can to help out these doggies.

eyefivestyle:

I was one of those kids who had every square inch of my room covered in magazine covers, clippings and poster. It was like Tumblr before tumblr. 

ditto