lewis • july 5, 2008
we saw lewis running on 3 of his 4 legs for about a week leading up to july 4th. he'd been on the streets a long, long time and could get away from three people easily. after several arduous attempts, we came up with a plan...
lewis had a habit of sleeping during the hot hours under various vehicles along our street. while he was sleeping, three of us got blankets and eased in on him, covering 3 of the 4 sides of the vehicle. i worried he'd dart out of the fourth side, but then i forgot that i'd been praying for a few days for him to surrender. he positioned himself dead center underneath, while i inched closer to him over about a twenty-minute period. finally, i put the slip leash over his head and he pretty much let me.
i would call that a surrender. but he gulped so hard, he didn't know what was in store for him. had he known, he would have smothered me with kisses. but that wasn't possible because lewis was almost out of energy. he was emaciated, dehydrated, fleas, skinned up, you name it. the picture doesn't show how skinny he really is. the good thing is that he wasn't coughing or breathing heavily. the leg that he favors, however, is probably an old fracture which healed inccorrectly; we will find out about that in a few days.
next we fed him soft puppy food & chicken soup with rice, gradually adding in kibble. we towel bathed him. towel baths are recommended for dogs, so i have read. it resembles a mother licking her pup. i thought lewis would run away from the water, but he stayed and clung to me. he'd found a little piece of heaven.
speaking of puppies, we think lewis is 5-6 months old and he's a white shepherd mix. his ears lead me to believe he's not pure white shepherd. i named him "lewis" for LWS (Little White Shepherd). don't you just love the one ear up, one down look?
i think lewis is a discarded puppy. there's a white shepherd who runs my neighborhood; the people let her roam to do her business. i believe lewis was an unexpected puppy and they could not sell him as pure because of his ears, and perhaps because his snout is too short. so they let him loose. i haven't seen the big white shepherd now in several months. certainly letting her roam is risky business for her safety, but by not spaying her, now more lives are at risk.
i could be wrong, but i have a gut feeling about this.
PLEASE! SPAY OR NEUTER YOUR PETS!! and go to a shelter or rescue to adopt your little soulmates. you will not be disappointed.
as much as i've fallen in love this beautiful spirit who pulls on my heart strings, i'm letting him go to a bigger rescue, because we are maxed out. he'll be going on june 10th, after staying with us 5 days.
click the picture below to see my lewis drawing...
learn more about the homeless pet crisis
my music video about pets in shelters. i photographed each of these beautiful animals, half of whom undoubetedly were later euthanized for lack of shelter room.
please read this brief article by the humane society
humane society's overpopulation estimates.
excerpt from a page by this humane society in texas:
Animal guardians who do not spay and neuter are the greatest single cause of the companion animal tragedy. Many of these "owners" have no intention of breeding their animals, but it happens. Some, on the other hand, want their children to "experience the miracle of birth," but don't think about the results of letting their animal have "just one litter" -- the tragedy of death.
Simple arithmetic illustrates how "just one litter" contributes to the mass killing: Two dogs breed. Six offspring are born. The six offspring reproduce within one year, and are responsible for six offspring each. In one year a litter of six can become 36. And unfortunately, it doesn't stop there. At the end of ten years just one unaltered dog can be responsible for 4,372 births. One unaltered cat can be responsible for 420,000 kittens in just seven years!
resources
- creating a humane los angeles: a call to action (see ed boks' july 3 post)
- there will be a series of public educational meetings starting july 22nd in l.a; see post above
- animalconcerns.org
- humanespot.org
- elementary school lesson plan on pet overpopulation
- book: the pet surplus, by susan seidman (book summary here)
- videos