Buster, who is currently living at our kennel, needs hospice care in a home. Can you help us by fostering Buster for the weeks or months he has left to live? We knew when we rescued this sweet senior dog that he had medical issues, but we didn’t know how serious.  While living at the South Los Angeles shelter, the staff adored him, but they could not figure out what was wrong with him.  He was vomiting and had diarrhea for weeks. The medical staff at the shelter did the best they could to treat him, but could not diagnosis his condition. When we pulled him from the shelter, we sent him to Alondra Animal Hospital for tests and observation. He was referred to a specialist who gave us the sad news that Buster has a mass on his spleen and hemangiosarcoma.  Right now, he is a happy dog, who has  mostly good days. He has a good appetite, is happy to go on short walks, and loves to snuggle in one of his three beds while living at our kennel in his senior suite. We are looking for someone in the Los Angeles, who does not have other pets, or can keep him separated so that he can rest (he is NOT dog aggressive). We would provide veterinarian care and medication Are you able to give Buster a loving home?  

Big Donut is gearing up for the biggest race of his life on Saturday October 12th

BIG Donut has been busy trying on costumes, working on his leash skills in order to prepare for our big fundraiser Race for the Rescues.  DDR is one of many dog rescues, all walking and running to save more shelter dogs, like Big Donut.

This year, we have dedicated our fundraising to our senior dog adoption program.  When we rescue a senior dog, we typically spend $1500 to $3000 + for medical care.

Shelter dogs like Astria, who needed a major life saving surgery, now have loving homes because of your support.  When we decide to rescue a dog from the shelter, we look for the under dogs, the senior dogs, the dogs that have spent months waiting for someone to adopt them.

Astria was adopted after having a major surgery to remove cancerous tumors. She spent over a year at the North Central Shelter before we rescued her. 

Sometimes, we can’t save them, despite a surgery. We all hoped that Phoebe would recover from her surgery, and get adopted.  Sadly, she was full of cancer, and did not find an adopter before she died.  During the brief time that she spent with us, she lived in one of our senior suites, had multiple dog beds, lots of volunteers who spent time with her, made sure that she was comfortable up to the last day of her life.

Sweet Phoebe did not survive. Her surgery revealed that her cancerous tumors had spread throughout her body.

Can you help us reach our goal of raising $20,000 so that we can continue to rescue more senior shelter dogs?  Check out our page here 

https://www.racefortherescues.org/team/DDR

Please donate to the DDR team, even if you can’t come out to walk.  All of the DDR dogs and volunteers

THANK YOU for your support!

See you at Race for the Rescues!

Gemma a former South LA Shelter medical dog

Reo the day he found out he was adopted!

It’s with great sadness that we received the news that Reo aka Oreo crossed the rainbow bridge.  His forever foster family gave him the best five months of life. He was a loved family member, and went on great adventures with his pack.

We all knew when we rescued this special dog, his time with us would be months, maybe a couple years if we were lucky, due to a large tumor that turned out to be thyroid cancer.

He had a very extensive surgery that removed all the cancer, at that point in time, but the cancer came back. His amazing family has already expressed interest in bringing another senior dog into their home.

As the City of Los Angeles shelters are able to find more and more homes for puppies, small dogs, young healthy dogs, it’s the senior dogs and the dogs with medical issues that often are the most overlooked and do not get adopted.  Therefore, when we search for dogs to join our adoption program, we look for the true underdogs.

Recently we took two new dogs, Astria and Phoebe.  Both dogs required surgeries to remove mammary tumors.  Astria’s surgery was so extensive, she required over a week of hospitalization.  Phoebe was alerted, with less than 24 hours before she was scheduled to be euthanized, we decided to bring her into our adoption program.

Both dogs are a great example of how LAAS shelter staff and rescue work together to save lives!

8 year old Astria spent over a year in the shelter

In order to save more senior shelter dogs, we need more forever foster homes.  To become a DDR forever foster, you open your home and your heart to one of our senior dogs who might not have a lot of life left to live.  Give them the best months or final years of their lives, and we cover the medical costs when you take them to our approved animal hospitals where we have accounts in place.

You could make it possible for us to save another dog like Phoebe, a dog that had hours at the shelter before being scheduled to be euthanized.  To see all of our adoptable dogs, check out our dogs for adoption, and fill out our questionnaire.  Let us know that you want to forever foster, and we will match you with a wonderful senior dog.

If you can’t foster, you can donate to help us cover the cost of each senior dog’s medical care.

On average, it costs $1100 or more for surgery, hospitalization and follow up care.  Thank you for your support!

Our August dog clinic at Fred Roberts Recreation Center, partnering with the Southern California Veterinary Medical Association and Spay4LA saw more than 230 puppies and dogs.  202 dogs were vaccinated, microchipped, dewormed, protected against fleas and ticks.  30 dogs were spayed and neutered and more than 60 dogs signed up for free spay and neuter services next month.  7 dogs received medical vouchers after being examined by one of the volunteer veterinarians.  We issue medical vouchers for pets that have chronic painful conditions that cannot be treated at the park clinics. 5 dogs were groomed, most of the dogs were severely matted and suffering.

We could not run these free monthly clinics without the support from the volunteer veterinarians, technicians, student veterinarian and technicians. All of which make the time on their very early Sunday morning to bring much needed services to the community.  We want to thank Merial who donates all the Frontline which prevents fleas and ticks from living and infesting the pets and their families’ homes.  So many pet owners have learned about flea and tick prevention from our clinics.

These clinics are more than just “free shots” every pet is offered a brief exam, all pet owners learned about and sign up for spay and neuter services. Pets are microchipped and our volunteers register them.  We invest in a community, often staying at one location, for up to two years, vaccinating the population of puppies and dogs, driving down the infectious disease rate for diseases such as Parvo, which has been documented by the Los Angeles County Public Health Department.

This model is strategic, increasing spay and neuter, increasing the numbers of pets that are vaccinated, increasing general knowledge of pet health, providing both free and low cost resources so that when we leave the location, the community knows where to go, and how to continue to access services for their pet so that no dog needs to suffer because someone didn’t know better.

DDR pays for the vaccines, microchips, and sponsors all additional costs involving spay and neuter surgeries and covers all or a percentage of the medical vouchers.  No one is turned away at these clinics unless we know someone is breeding and selling puppies, and that is very rare.  Most pet owners are unsure of how to get their pets spayed and neutered, how often they should be vaccinated, why a microchip is important.  To sum it up, most people need more support.  You can help us by volunteering at one of our South LA dog clinics, and / or donating to cover the costs.  We are in year 4, and thousands and thousands of puppies and dogs are in better health thanks to a mission of working together with the SCVMA, SPAY4LA, LA Animal Services and Los Angeles Park and Recreation.

Our July South Los Angeles Dog Clinic at Fred Roberts Recreation Center was one of the BUSIEST clinics that we have had this year!

A total of 291 puppies and dogs came out last Sunday

Working with the Southern California Veterinarian Medical Association, DDR is able to provide free vaccinations, micro chipping, de-worming, wellness exams and medical vouchers for more extensive care, including tumor removal surgeries, treatment for chronic health issues that cause a great deal of suffering.

The veterinarians and vet techs volunteer their time each month.  We purchase all the vaccines, microchips and other supplies to make these clinics happen every month for more than three consecutive years.  Thanks to a generous donation from Merial, we are able to provide Frontline to every dog who needs flea and tick prevention.

Here is a rundown of what services were provided

291 puppies and dogs received services of which 159 were already spayed or neutered

54 dogs were signed up to be sterilized later this month, or in August using the Spay4LA mobile clinic which provided the free spay and neuter surgeries at our clinic.  There was a full clinic, with a long waiting list of pet owners who didn’t have an appointment but hoped to get their dogs into the mobile clinic.

No one was turned away without some type of spay/neuter resource.

12 dogs required medical vouchers for a variety of conditions such as infected ears, eyes, growths/tumor removal, hernia repair surgery, medical care that we could not provide in the park.

Our monthly clinics would not be possible without our dedicated volunteers and YOU who support our work.  These free clinics are free to dog owners who live in some of the most under served areas in South Los Angeles.  Areas that lack veterinarian care, and other pet services.  The pet owners who attend the clinics are often homeless, on the verge of becoming homeless and very low income, living on a fixed income.  During our time hosting these monthlyclinics, we have increased the rates of pets sterilized and vaccinated, and decreased the number of pets being diagnosed with parvo and other infectious diseases.

Will you consider making a donation to help us continue this important work?  Thank you ! 

https://downtowndogrescue.org/donate/