8/31 Update

If anyone is a Reiki or HTA practitioner and you would like to donate energy work please let us know and we will list you on the thank you post. Momma Stormy could use more thoughts, prayers and energy. 

Another rough day for Stormy - she has a very bad upper respiratory infection - temp of 104 which is pretty high for a dog.   She isn't making much milk so I am supplementing the pups like crazy.    The Vet was here and we both agreed that the very best outcome for both Stormy and babies is if Stormy can stay here with her puppies rather than be at a Vet Clinic where she would be completely stressed out - and the babies really still need their Mommy.

She is receiving SQ penicillin and because she is starting to dehydrate we are also giving her SQ fluids here at home.   She is tolerating it all pretty well considering the life she has had.   She absolutely fights being contained or cornered and I can only guess what horrors she has endured in the past.    She watches me feed her babies and after I had wiped the puppies off this morning with "wet wipes" she came over to me and wanted her head wiped too!   She is very smart.

Dr. Josh will be back in the morning along with Auntie Adrienne and the plan is to give her a bath - both to help reduce her fever and also just to make her more comfortable.

I took a few photo's of the pups - this little girl eats AND sleeps on her back!   She nurses upside down - she is very funny to watch.   The ring leader of the bunch is little Ava - she is one of the tiniest and gets around really well - she has also managed to climb out of the pool 3 times this afternoon so a good thing a whelping box is coming tomorrow!

Thank you again to all who have contributed to her care and have kept her in your prayers - she is so very tired and yet will not let herself close her eyes in case something happens to her babies.   I have never seen a better Momma dog.

Molly

 

 

Not entirely sure which little girl this is but she is also a back sleeper.

 

I am pretty sure this is "Link" getting a group hug!

8/30 Update

Awww, please send your thoughts, prayers, energy to Stormy so that she can kick the kennel cough.If anyone is a Reiki or HTA practitioner and you would like to donate energy work please let us know and we will list you on the thank you post. 

Momma "Stormy" cannot catch a break it seems - she has a very bad case of kennel cough and had a really rough day.  Her milk for the puppies did not seem to be enough so I supplemented some of them for the 8pm feeding and will supplement again at 10:30 for her.   I am using the Leerburg formula of goat's milk, whole milk yogurt, and a little Karo syrup to make the formula.

Stormy continues to be a wonderful Momma dog - her trust of me has grown but she wasn't so sure she liked me feeding her little ones!   I think she might have been a little jealous!   I keep telling her that once these puppies are raised she will have a wonderful new life ahead of her with her new family of Judy and Gerry!

Cowboy is a sweet name but I am telling you he should have been named "The Big Gulp" or "Guzzler" or "Little Fatty"!    That puppy can eat!   He grabbed onto the bottle with his two little front paws and just went to town!

Two of the puppies are quite a bit smaller so I am trying to make sure they get the little something extra tonight.   If possible I'll try to get some photo's of them bottle feeding tomorrow.

Please keep Stormy and her little ones in your thoughts and prayers.   Continued Thanks for all of the love and support sent their way - they need all the love we can give them!

Molly

Virtual Fosters!

 A puppy can have more than one Virtual Foster - for more information see How Can You Help?  

Feel free to post the thank you below on your Facebook page! 

We cannot thank you enough for helping this special family.

 

Riley has a Virtual Foster!

From Judy to Kerryn in South Africa!

Thank you.

Missy has a Virtual Foster!

Thank you Carolyn. 

Penny has a Virtual Foster!

Thank you Erin. 

 

Baron has a Virtual Foster!

Thank you Kellie. 

Link Has A Virtual Foster Family!

Thank you Brett and Jake. 

 

Cowboy Has A Virtual Foster Family!

Thanks to Wookie who donated so that Frank, Pat & Shelah K could be 

little Cowboy’s Virtual Foster Family.

How can you help?

A huge way that you can help is by linking to this page, sending it to friends, putting it on Facebook and if you are on Twitter, why not Tweet about it!

Donation Information - if you are able, donations are appreciated:
$10 donation will help buy food and formula for a puppy for a week!
$15 donation will sponsor a worming treatment - not so glamorous but oh so needed!
$25 donation will give you the privilege of naming a puppy - up to ten of course! Update: All puppies have names - thank you so much.
$50 donation and you will be a virtual foster parent or family!

Additional donor amounts also greatly appreciated!

To donate:
Click on the donate button on the left hand side of home page of the website (right above the phone number):
http://www.southerncrossgsd.com/

When you donate, let us know if it's okay to list your name on the thank you post!

Puppy Pictures!

Will you look at this adorable group. All puppies have been named - thank you for helping this family! There are still many other chances to help by helping to sponsor food and worming, or by being a Virtual Foster, or any other donation amount you'd like!

Click on the donate button on the left hand side:  www.southerncrossgsd.com

And now....Stormy's babies!

Female puppy #1 - her name is Ava.  1lb 10 oz
Thank you to former dog shelter mom Ava for giving your name to one of the puppies!

Female # 2  Lilah  - 1 lb 12 oz.

Thanks to Denise for Lilah's name - after her own sweet darling Miss Lilah Anne from Rhodesian Ridgeback, NYC chapter rescue.

Female #3   Penny   - 1 lb. 8 oz. 

Named in memory of their first beloved rescue GSD, who had the most gentle heart. Gerry and Judy

Male #1   Riley  - 1 lb. 12 oz.
Thank you to John, Natalie and the girls for Riley's name!

Male #2  Meet Cowboy!  2lb 4 oz
Thank you to all the IAMRA Malamutes for naming Cowboy, in loving memory of Cowboy Kral.

Female  #4   Rose    - 1 lb. 10 oz.
Rose - named by Susan - thank you!

Male #3  I has a name! Call me Link   - 1 lb. 13 oz.
Thanks to Brett!

Female #5  Buffy   - 1 lb 12. oz
Thanks to Yvette, in memory of her own best girl, Buffy

Female #6  - This is Missy! 1 lb. 13 oz.
Thank you to Pat!   

Male #4  Meet Baron   - 1 lb. 8 oz.
Thank you Dorothy!

Great job Stormy!

8/28 Update and Mama Stormy Pictures

You can see that she has no muscle mass in her hind legs - all of the nutrition she is taking in is going to feed the puppies but the good news is that she is making more milk -  and that she will let me near enough to feed and pet her a bit - that was my biggest worry - she is consuming tons of cooked chicken, puppy chow and cottage cheese and continuing to be a wonderful Momma. 

She is also starting to trust me although she wasn't sure about the camera just now but I think the last picture shows just how far she has come in a few days and that she will be willing to trust and love some day.   She is still terrified of me touching her neck but I am working on desensitizing by just softly rubbing with one hand while I feed chicken with the other :)

Puppies are all seeming to thrive - have loud cries when they are hungry - some are even trying to get their little legs under them and they are only 1 week old yesterday.   I will send photo's of them tomorrow.

So many thanks to so many for all of the Good Wishes, Love, Help and Support that has been sent her way!  We will continue to take each day as it comes with her and the pups.   I know that "Stormy" is grateful that she finally has a safe and peaceful place to raise what will be her last ever litter!  :)

Molly

About Stormy and the Ten Babies

This is a story of a dog family in Georgia who was at a shelter - mom and fifteen puppies. 

This was the information on the shelter Petfinder page -

This is one of those stories that sticks with you. We got a call that there was a dog under a house having babies, so when we got there and crawled under the house to the far back here is Stormy and about 15 babies. This poor momma had to give birth at night, by herself, while it stormed all night long. (It was a BAD BAD STORM!!!) Then some stranger (ANIMAL CONTROL) comes and takes her and her babies away!!!! When we pulled up at the shelter to unload the mom and babies the momma took off. We were so scared the babies would die and then out of nowhere here comes MOMMA!!!!! She was pacing back and forth on the side of the fence her babies were in. There are woods around us and that momma could have been gone for good but SHE HAD COME BACK FOR HER BABIES!!!! That just shows a mothers love and instinct. She knew we had them and she was going to get them back no matter what the cost!!!! All this Momma has been through I think she deserves a chance at life. Stormy is a beautiful German Shep and she has kindness and gentleness in her eyes. PLEASE SAVE STORMY!!!!!!!


Southern Cross German Shepherd Rescue  http://www.southerncrossgsd.com/ had to help, even though they knew it would be a rough road ahead. 


How could you say no to this mom? 

This was the update on the day they were pulled and taken to the vet: 

Date: August 24, 2010 8:32:06 PM EDT

Subject: Momma and pups - Good news and Bad

OK - finally got home - we have 6 little girls and 4 little boys!    Sadly between the time the dogs were posted until we picked them up this morning 5 have been lost but the remaining 10 all appear healthy and all weighing in at a little over 1 lb. 2 oz.  A good weight for their age.   They all have shiny coats and were active.   All good signs.

Momma Dog is much worse than we even feared as you can see from her photo's.   She weighs in at 59.7 lbs. and is heartworm positive.   She is covered in fleas which we can do very little about because of the nursing puppies.   We can give a capstar every other day so that is a beginning.    She is emaciated - has bald spots, pressure sores, extreme hair loss and sores over much of her body and her look is one of shear dejection.   She was so exhausted she fell asleep at the Vet while her pups were being examined.    Her front teeth are totally worn down to nubs, the Vet explained,  because she was eating rocks to keep her poor belly full.  She is going to need long term rehabilitation - both physically and emotionally - she is terrified of people - and yet like every wonderful GSD heart I have met is so wanting to trust.

At one point today she had to walk past me to get to her babies - I saw every inch of her quiver at the thought and yet she did it - she is a wonderful, wonderful Momma and just as deserving of her precious babies of being rescued.   The Vet estimates her age at 3 years of age.    So very, very sad.   Please keep this family in your hearts and prayers - and remember that Momma dog is going to need a wonderful respite home after she has weaned her pups.

Thank you all for all you do!    Let's try to get this up on as many FB pages as we can because we are surely going to need long term donation money.

Molly

So if you could link to this blog, the Southern Cross website, and display this flyer all over the internet, it would be greatly appreciated!

Mom and Pups Say Thank You to Their Donors!

These ten little sausages and their mom want to thank everyone who is helping them. Our next post will have more of their story and updates, this will be for the thank yous!

Puppy Names!

Thank you to former dog shelter mom Ava for giving your name to one of the puppies!

Thank you to all the IAMRA Malamutes for naming Cowboy, in loving memory of Cowboy Kral.

We have a Missy puppy now too! Thank you to Pat!

To Brett (and Zelda) for puppy Link's new name!

To Dorothy for newly named Baron!

To Denise for Lilah puppy named after her own sweet darling Miss Lilah Anne from Rhodesian Ridgeback,NYC chapter rescue. 

Welcome to your new name, little Rose, named by Susan!
Little Penny puppy - Named in memory of their first beloved rescue GSD, who had the most gentle heart. Gerry and Judy
John, Natalie, and the girls are thanked for Riley's name.  


 

More Thanks!

Many thanks to Kim and cats, including Mother Henry and Mother Koch, kitten caretakers!

Thank you to  “Wookie”  who donated so that Frank, Pat & Shelah Kral could be little Cowboy’s Virtual Foster Family!
Thanks to Link's Virtual Fosters Brett and Jake!
Thanks to Baron's Virtual Foster Kellie!
Thanks to Penny's Virtual Foster Erin! 
Thanks to Missy's Virtual Foster Carolyn! 
Thanks to Link's Virtual Foster Kerryn from Aunt Judy! 
Thanks Michelle for the wonderful shampoo!

If you would like to help:

$10 donation will help buy food and formula for a puppy for a week!

$15 donation will sponsor a worming treatment - not so glamorous but oh so needed!

$25 donation will give you the privilege of naming a puppy - up to ten of course!

$50 donation and you will be a virtual foster parent or family!

Additional donor amounts also greatly appreciated!

To donate:

Click on the donate button on the left hand side of home page of the website (right above the phone number):

http://www.southerncrossgsd.com/