We love our dogs and they are part of our family. Unfortunately we live in a city where lots and lots of people do not love and take proper care of their dogs. Greedy nasty puppy stores like Puppy Corral in Collierville, TN sling puppies for a hefty profit without caring at all about animal welfare. I am currently fostering one of their former dogs who was traced back to an Amish puppy mill via her “pedigree” papers.

We have been fostering with a local rescue in town and I am volunteering at Memphis Animal Services so that we can try to clean up the mess of the  irresponsible bad people who just dump animals at the shelters after they tire of them. Most puppies are abandoned before they are one year old at a shelter or in newspaper “free to good home” ads so also make sure you are ready for a 15-20 year commitment to the animal before you fall in lust with a puppy or kitten. Guess what, the euthanasia rate is 82% in Memphis due to too many dogs and too few good homes.

Anyway, back to the distemper situation. We mentioned Rufus in earlier posts. He was our first Memphis Animal Services shelter dog. I’m glad to report that he has found a WONDERFUL forever family and is living the life he deserves to live. Our latest, Rose the rat terrier, has not been so lucky. We named her Rose because she has the cutest little pink nose.

Rose is only about five months old and did not receive an inexpensive distemper vaccine by her previous owner(s) who dumped her at the shelter. Puppies just don’t have as strong of an immune system, which is why they NEED vaccinations. She seems to have come down with this horrible and very deadly disease and most likely picked it up at the shelter. It is not entirely the MAS shelter’s fault. They do not have the resources at MAS, for whatever reasons, to quarantine new intake animals and minimize infectious disease risk. There are some really good employees and volunteers at that shelter and they do the best they can with what they’ve got. You can blame your local corrupt city government. You can blame it on our city’s minuscule and overextended CONTRIBUTING tax base that is tapped out. Blame it on the backyard breeders, or the criminals, or whatever but if everyone vaccinated their animals these shelter diseases would not be so rampant and deadly.

I’m sitting here watching this poor sweet baby puppy waste away in my arms and it was all preventable with an inexpensive round of shots. EVERYONE gets all fired up about the Memphis shelter and how terrible it is but they are not helping by running their mouths. I have cried all day long for Rose and feel powerless. Our whole family is working around the clock to give her supportive care. I’ve been up since dawn with Rose so I am exhausted. Her poor nose is crusted over and cracking and she is coughing nonstop. Her eyes are oozing mucus. She can barely find the strength to stand unassisted long enough to even urinate without collapsing in her own waste.

We are still hoping she does not start showing neurological signs because she will have to be euthanized at that point. This is a terrible disease! Oh, and all the other dogs in our house are fine and they have nothing to worry about. We love them so of course they are up to date on their vaccines THAT SAVE THEIR LIVES.

Please GOD spay and neuter your animals and keep their vaccinations up to date!!!