Welcome to Autumn everyone,
Bichon FurKids Rescue is a non-profit organization (the technical term is 501 (c) (3)) sustained by volunteers and donations. As we enter the Fall we're finding more and more FurKids who need our help. Every week we are contacted by owners surrendering one or more bichons (last week it was a threesome from one owner and a twosome from another) -- and there are more bichons and bichon mixes than we want to count, in shelters ranging from LA to the border.
Perhaps our greatest need, more than any other, is to find foster homes for these precious little bichons, who deserve better than what is happening to them.
When a bichon becomes a FurKid the first thing we do is get him or her groomed, then find out what medical needs need to be addressed (that ranges from dental cleaning and spays and neuters to surgery for broken legs, fractured pelvises and luxating patellas (kneecaps.) Then we give each FurKid a ‘foster kit’ with his or her own bed, a darling fleece blanket made by our junior volunteers along with a leash, collar, harness, name tag, food, vitamins, toy and treats. We ask our fosters to provide love and socialization. And, between us, we have already made a difference for more than 350 bichons and bichon mixes this year.
Unfortunately there are still many more waiting for us to help.
Most of the little ones coming out of the shelters warm up immediately in a loving home (especially when there is another little creature that looks a lot like they do right there in that home!) Can you open your heart and home for about two weeks to help us save a life? We can only rescue as many dogs as we have foster homes – and there is a lot of heartbreak when we have to say ‘No!’
While we know that, very sadly, we cannot save them all. We do the best we can and need to do more. Many of these little ones look and act like the ones you have and love – they are easy to foster and quick for us to place. Then there are the more ‘special’ or exceptional. Let me share a few current examples:
There is Howie, a little less-than-two year old bichon who was paralyzed and left at a shelter to be put to sleep. The vet techs liked him so much that they reached out to the rescue community and begged someone to take him the night before he was going to be put down. I must have received 25 emails from people asking me ‘Can’t you do something?” We did – and found out that Howie’s paralysis did not have to be a life sentence. There was a neurologist in San Diego that could operate on Howie’s herniated disk. His prognosis to walk again on all four legs is 90% and Howie was trying to walk less than 20 hours after surgery. (We have to keep him quiet and contained as he never thinks there is anything wrong with him.) Starting in two weeks Howie will need ‘aqua therapy’ three times a week for an hour each time to help him retrain those muscles and be able to walk. It will be a few weeks of that kind of dedication and commitment to help him heal and walk. We are hoping, and praying, that one of our wonderful bichon owners will offer to help this exceptional boy. We call him Happy and Amazing Howie – for he truly is.
Then there is Lucy, a Maltese Bichon mix who needs surgery on one of her eyes (that’s the easy part actually) but needs to go to a foster home with no other dogs or cats. (Not an easy thing to find when you are talking with bichon owners,) She is about two years old and cute as can be (check our web site for photos of Lucy). If you know someone who could help foster Lucy, that would be wonderful, too!
As in the past, there continue to be many medical and special needs FurKids that needed to be attended to in order to provide a ‘normal life’ for them. Take a look at baby Henry, all six pounds of him. We spent the night with him in Urgent Care a week ago, helping him to recover from exposure to poison. The medical bill was bigger than he is – and I can happily say Henry is fine and will soon be able to meet his forever family. We have cared for little ones like Henry, McGreggor and Miley -- and your support has made that possible.
If you can, please take a few minutes to look at our website, you'll find more than 35 FurKids, both young and old, in need of forever homes. Each of them is in foster care. Please visit our APPLICATIONS page and become a Volunteer and help us foster a bichon. You will help save a life and enrich yours. Please also visit our DONATIONS page and read the mini-bio summarizing the battle each FurKid is fighting. Watch Howie’s video and let us know if you, or someone you know, can help us help him!
The horrors and pain that FurKids like Howie, Landry and McGreggor have endured is often unimaginable, yet our vets continually comment on their sweet and uncomplaining nature. (We think they are falling in love with the bichon breed the way all of us have!) If you can, please become a foster or make a donation so that these FurKids can put the traumas of the past behind them and begin the healing process. Ultimately, they will find forever homes – perhaps with some of you.
Please visit our donations page. Perhaps you might want to sponsor one of our special angels, or make a recurring monthly donation which we will apply to help as many of these FurKids as possible. Either way your contribution can make a huge difference in their lives. (A $10 a month donation is equivalent to only 2 Starbucks coffees but can make a huge difference to a little one needing special medications or treatment!) And please know that none of us takes a salary! ALL your donations go towards saving a life or making a fur kid better! And your donations are tax-deductible!
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for being the Bichon lovers you are! Without people like you in the world, these FurKids would never get a second chance – one that they truly deserve.
Marti
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There are so many more that need our help.
Please look at the little faces in these photos.
These are just a few of the bichons in local shelters NOW who need our help. We cannot rescue them without foster homes.
If you can open your home for two or three weeks, we will find forever families for these bichons, too. |