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Sad abandoned Casey
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My daughter Daniela and I went to collect the puppies when I finished my early shift at the bar at 6pm and expected to be home by 7pm to spend some time sorting out the kennel options before going to work at 9pm. On the way home with the pups we saw this German Shepherd wandering in the middle of the road at the busy traffic lights. You could see all her bones and her legs were collapsing under her and we couldn't leave her there. It took half an hour to catch her (she was so afraid she wouldn't stop walking) while the cars were swerving around us and blowing their horns and shouting. The car was full with the pups and dog food etc and I had the bench I was lending Peter for today. The only way to get the Shepherd in the car was to take the bench out, which I did. When I went back to get it later it had been stolen. Now I have her people are saying they had heard about her wandering around for over a month - how could people leave her on the street like that? She is beautiful - she just breaks your heart to look into her big, sad, innocent eyes - it makes me cry just thinking about her. I can't believe she lived 9 years in hell. I think she will be ok - she seems a little better as the hours pass and being near other dogs really helps - she's just a big mother and wants to be with the puppies - she will when she is clear to be with them. We didn't know if the Shepherd (Casey) would make it through the night but she did and we took her to the vet this morning. Her blood tests were clear and it looks like she has just been starved and dehydrated, almost to death. She is 8 or 9 years old - her face doesn't look that old to me but her teeth are a mess and her claws are longer than I've ever seen (getting them cut next week) - her feet are a mess and she has hair missing all over and sores and growths on her which the vet said are not cancer or leishmania but just from the conditions she was kept in and the lack of nutrition. It took half an hour for the vet to find a vein on her to draw blood. Tonight she is a little brighter so I really hope she will recover so we can try to make up for the 8 or 9 years of hell she has lived through. She is so sad but very sweet and gentle. She absolutely loves other dogs and puppies and she actually smiled when we got back from the vet and she saw the puppies.
Casey is so beautiful and so sad and totally exhausted. When Daniela ran into the road to try to catch her she turned round, without stopping, and tried to push her hand away - not even to bite but more to stop Daniela from holding her back - like she had to keep walking. We followed her down the middle of the road, her legs buckling under her, for half a mile but luckily she loves other dogs so much she went into a place where there were two dogs inside a fence and as she was sniffing them through the fence Daniela slipped a collar on her. We had four puppies in the car and a huge bag of puppy food plus a load of the usual dog related crap I always carry around, including a flight box I was lending to a guy who rescues cats and sometimes dogs in Sitia. There was no space to get Casey in the back of the car so I had to take the flight box out and leave it in the parking place and when I went back to get it someone had stolen it. I gave him another much bigger box which was all I had left but Holland said they have three of our boxes in the post so that's a relief. Casey was so scared we didn't know how on earth we were going to get her in the car (and I didn't want to lift her because she was scared and looked so sore all over) but luckily I had just bought some tins of dogfood for Dixie (who refuses to eat dry food) so I opened the tin and when she got a taste of that she managed to clamber into the back of the car slurping the food while gravy sloshed all over the back seat. After that she just gave herself up to us - we brought her to the kennels and the only space was a little pen where we store the food so we moved the food and put a bed and blanket in there. She has obviously never slept on anything soft and she just collapsed on the cement beside the bed and slept until morning. At the vet the next morning she was really scared but didn't struggle or growl or anything - he had to try three legs before he finally found a vein he could draw blood from. As she lay there being poked and prodded her eyes looked up at us huge and terrified but totally submissive - it makes you want to cry just thinking of that look in her eyes. She has obviously had no (pleasant) human contact at all and just looks us at with a puzzled expression when we stroke her. When her pen was open the puppies ran inside and went to eat her food as she was walking towards it. She is so slow they got there first so she took a step back and let all four of them eat their fill and only when they had finished did she go up to eat (I'm feeding her puppy food and multivitamins).
I want to tell you all that's been going on here - some not so good - some fantastic and the minute things calm down (who am I kidding I'll tell you all about it. Was woken up this morning because a little dog that turned up on the doorstep of an English couple in the village a few days ago has just been run over by a car. The German vets are here now and looked her over but she's in a lot of pain and needs an x-ray. They've given her something for the pain and I'm bringing her to the vet tomorrow, along with Dixie for her operation and Casey for a proper checkup (we just took her to the nearby vet that first day but we want the more experienced vet to see her) and, hopefully, to have her nails clipped, only if he can do it without sedating her because she's not strong enough for that. Her nails are so long her feet are like that of a sloth - they look deformed and one front foot turns out sideways. The first (nearby) vet said she is 8 or 9 years old, maybe older but I don't thinks so - her teeth are terrible and her body is a horrible mess (she is bald in many places and has tumours all over her - the vet said it's not cancer (will get a second opinion on that) and she is negative for Leishmania) but her face is not that of a very old dog. Greek dogs don't live to that age, especially if they are owned by a bastard like whoever had Casey. I will feel better when these two Heraklion vets see her and check her over properly.
Love
UPDATE JAN 2011 Casey has since been adopted by a Dutch couple and is enjoying her new life in Holland. Ton and Angele, (the couple who adopted Casey) already have eight dogs along with 18 horses (all rescues!) - so Casey has plenty of friends to keep her company.
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At the end of July 2010 we received the email below from a lady called Joan who runs P.A.W.S, a voluntary animal welfare organisation on Crete.
A few days later on Sunday 31st August we received a further email from Joan with an update on Casey.
Last night I moved round all the (11) dogs so Casey could have a bigger pen but she didn't seem happy in there and stood at the gate as if asking out and when I opened it she went straight back to her tiny pen - she must feel safer there so she can stay there as long as she wants. She has the freedom of the garden all day and when she wants peace and quiet from the other dogs she goes inside on her own. She is eating well and drinking and peeing a lot - I hope her kidneys are not permanently damaged. Will know a lot more tomorrow.
Added: 8th August 2010 Updated: 12th January 2011