Karly, A Case of Cruelty
by Eileen Andrade
This has been a day of blessings [7-Oct-06], though one fraught with emotion.
We started the day at my church where we held a Blessing of the Animals
in the garden. Three of the rescue Kerries in this area were there
– Lucy with the McCrossan family, Ollie with the Olens, and Lola with
my mother, Helen Read. They were all well behaved and happy though
the girls are still a little shy. They all made favorable impressions
on the congregation gathered. The service consisted of a short sermon
originally given by St. Francis, the singing of “All Things Bright
and Beautiful” and a short homily by our minister, Doug Moss. Then
one by one the assembled dogs went up and were blessed individually and
given treats of dried chicken. It was a beautiful day and there was
a great spiritual feeling in the air.
The day was made even more special as just before the service a florist
arrived with a beautiful arrangement of flowers sent by Georgia and Kent
from Southern California who have Kerries Blue and Sheamus. Thank you
so much – you are very dear to me. We took pictures of the three Kerries
there and the flowers are in the background. I hope to send the picture(s)
to John tomorrow to include on the website.
Immediately after the service I got in the car to make a 50 mile drive to
Palo Alto where a Kerry waited for me in a shelter. I had received
word from a wonderful dog friend on Monday that this Kerry had been surrendered
by her owner. The owner had purchased two female Kerries from the same
litter two years ago from a “breeder” (read puppy mill). At
first they got along just fine – but as their hormones hit in the
last year they had begun to fight with each other and after three serious
fights he had decided to surrender one of them. To protect the innocent
(the dogs) I will draw a veil here as to the other circumstances surrounding
this situation.
The shelter workers had contacted me immediately about this girl. They
were terrific. On Wednesday she was spayed and unfortunately also had
to have an eye removed – the result of an injury from the last fight. They
turned this little girl over to me today, having performed the surgeries
and taken care of her for a week, without asking for a dime. It was
heart breaking to see how anxious she was to please, how happy to see me,
and yet how badly damaged. It’s not just the eye – she
will accommodate to that just fine, but she was heavily matted and even
through then I was able to see and feel how thin she was. Once home
with a groomer friend we had to shave her down and every bone in her body
stands out in acute relief. From the medical records that came with
her I verified that one year ago she weighed 32 pounds and today she is
23 pounds. No, it isn’t a typo – she has lost 1/3 of her
body weight.
Karly at 23 lbs.
Karly's right eye was remove.
Her new foster mother, Yolanda, met me at the grooming shop
where we introduced her to this little girl. All of us had a good cry,
but this kerry girl just distributed kisses. She has now gone home
with Yolanda, who at this moment is cooking for her and returning kisses
with promises of delicious meals and loving care. In the next few weeks
we will work on her healing, fattening her up and evaluating her needs. Then
we will begin the search for a new forever home for Karly – one where
she will be safe and loved and fed well. At the moment she looks a bit like
Frankenstein but we can see that wonderful kerry spirit shining through
and know that she will once again be a beautiful girl. Please hold
Karly in your thoughts and prayers.
14-Oct-06 Update
by Eileen Andrade
While most of us watch our weight to stay trim or try to lose extra pounds,
Karly has been on a strict diet for the last week in an attempt to put some
weight on her – cautiously, sensibly, but to cover those poor little
bones. Her foster mom for the past week, Yolanda, told me not to worry:
she knew how to fatten dogs up! We put Karly on a 3 meals a day plan, giving
her a scant cup of kibble at each meal but supplemented with “Fatten
Balls” in between meals. These are made from ground beef (raw) with
oatmeal, molasses, egg yolks, and peanut butter. Add a supplement powder
of lecithin, Vitamin B, kelp, malt and barley to this plan and you have
Karly’s diet for the last week. And it is working!!
While she is still thin Karly is already looking sleek, her
coat is shiny and soft and her surgery sites are healing.
Karly is proving to be a sweet and loving girl. She rarely barks, frequently
kisses, and can be a little busybody, but knows when to settle down too.
She doesn’t appear to be used to riding in a car, they seem to scare
her but in a crate in the back of the car she settles down and tolerates
it. Loud or unfamiliar sounds startle her momentarily, but she rebounds
from these too.
Today we moved her to a longer term foster home where we will continue the
diet and work on evaluating her more thoroughly. She needs some work on
leash manners as she tends to pull but not badly. Other dogs and cats don’t
seem to distract her. She was very interested in her new surroundings, exploring
the yard carefully but always coming when called. She has the energy and
gawkiness of a new lamb or foal and is delighted in her freedom and any
attention you can give her. Karly is going to be a wonderful companion for
someone – the missing eye won’t hold her back at all and once
her facial hair grows back in no one will even realize it is gone. If you
or someone you know is interested in adopting this girl please fill out
the Adoption questionnaire and contact my3kerries@comcast.net
