Greetings!
Another week has flown by. Here is a summary/review of what has happened and
what we expect to happen in the near future:
Feb. 11 - Custody of the Wimauma basenjis was awarded to HCAS. The 30 day
appeal period was waived by the judge. The scramble begins as we make
arrangements to move dogs in a couple of weeks versus a bit more than a
month. Terry and Jackie from out of town visited "the nursery" (our house,
which is also a hospice…) to take pictures for posting.
Feb. 13 - Kenyatta, the heartworm positive, anemic, emaciated, hypoglycemic,
very sweet and cooperative, pregnant female went into labor early in the
morning. By noon, she had her last viable pup. She finally delivered the
last one, a stillborn, around 8 PM, after multiple doses of Oxytocin.
Surgical removal was not an option without serious risks because her
condition is so poor. Her body score out of 9 is just 2 (determined prior to
delivery - without pups, she, of course, appears to be even thinner, perhaps
just a 1). Tube feeding of her pups every two hours begins (the only "milk"
Kenyatta has is a tiny amount of mastitis - and her body condition certainly
cannot support nursing). Reasonable efforts are ongoing to help Kenyatta
make a recovery. She has been to our regular vet, the emergency/critical
care vet (through delivery), and HCAS (they are able to provide transfusions
and injections that would have continued to accrue significant expenses at
the ER/critical care vet's). Kenyatta and I, along with Debbi or my folks,
have spent a lot of time together in the vehicle, running from one place to
the next.
Week of Feb. 15 - All basenjis currently located at HCAS are
spayed/neutered/vaccinated. They are ready to leave HCAS as soon as we have
all arrangements in place. Five of the older pups who are still at HCAS that
have been doing quite well with socialization activities will first go into
short-term foster homes. Potential applicants are invited to submit
applications through BRAT to adopt them. There are approximately 10 others
that will move to Pam's Basenji Town for a chill-out/evaluation period prior
to being moved to longer-term foster homes. The nine pups in our nursery
visited HCAS for boosters, more deworming and weighing - they are getting
chunky! It is determined that they are about 8 weeks old and big enough to
be spayed and neutered. These procedures will be done soon. They will be
ready to move on to their new adoptive homes before long.
Arrangements have been made with HCAS regarding vetting of the basenjis who
are at Pam's nursery and no longer at the shelter. HCAS will
spay/neuter/vaccinate all basenjis, including those still "in the oven" (one
more mom-to-be has looked ready to pop any second for days...), so all pups
will stay in the area until they are at least 8 weeks old.
This "in-house vetting" is a huge help to BRAT. Our expenses for vetting
these b-kids is already high. The stress from shelter and/or bad body
condition took a couple over the Rainbow Bridge. We were able to snatch the
rest back from the brink. We haven't even begun to consider other vetting
expenses the older basenjis will need. Amazingly, there is only one who
tests heartworm positive at this time. I have begun to check what other
needs they may have; for example, one of the older moms has
broken/tartar-covered teeth that may need some attention. Because of the
condition of the mom during pregnancy, the pups currently being
tube/bottle-fed every two hours
have a very uncertain future. They may need additional vetting. Donations
for these basenjis is greatly appreciated. A special link will be added to
our website soon.
Many people and groups have offered help throughout the past month. If you
have not received a response, please accept our apologies. We have been a
little busy... Given the abbreviated time that we have to get the basenjis
out of HCAS, we are asking your help to reorganize more quickly. If you
would like to help in some way, could you please send an email again,
complying with the following:
Please label the subject line with one of the following:
a. FOSTER -<your name=""><your location="">
b. TRANSPORT -<your name=""><your location="">
c. ADOPT -<your name=""><your location="">
d. OTHER -<your name=""><your location="">
If you are able to help in multiple ways, please send multiple emails.
If you are able to help with fostering or transporting , we ask that you
become a BRAT member. Please note on the "Join BRAT" form you are joining
to help with the Wimauma basenjis. If you wish, you can ask to drop your
membership later. There is no membership fee to join BRAT.
http://www.basenjirescue.org/Volunteer.htm .
If you are interested in adopting one of the Wimauma basenjis, please submit
an adoption application through BRAT's website.
http://www.basenjirescue.org/ApplDB/AdoptForm.htm .
Please note on your adoption application you are interested in the Wimauma
basenjis.
These basenjis are different from our "normal" rescue basenjis and are
different from the puppy mill basenjis BRAT volunteers have met in the past.
I have been saying this for a month to Debbi (though, to be completely
honest, I've made my statements based on what I've heard about puppy mill
basenjis - I've never had basenji that was an abused puppy mill breeder b).
She has now had the opportunity to meet the basenjis down here - and agrees!
(She confessed that she was dissin' my thoughts…). These basenjis
generally need more exercise and are bigger, stronger, more energetic, more
sensitive to body language, and more capable of "taking care of themselves"
than most basenjis. It is neat to have the opportunity to see what their
behavior is like having come from a natural, wild pack. One of the greatest
benefits is that the adults seem to be almost house-broken from the first
moment in
a house, possibly because soiling the area near the den would attract
predators. Though there may be exceptions, their desire to escape should be
expected to be very high. They do like the creature comforts of a home,
though, so they should accept being in a home if great care is taken to make
sure that the introduction is nothing but pleasant.
We have had basenjis from this line in the past, some as pups, some as
adults. We have a fair amount of experience regarding what works for these
basenjis and what doesn't work for them. Adults that have come into rescue
have often been relinquished from individual owners because of behavioral
problems. We have been able to rehabilitate them and provide their adoptive
families with handling techniques to prevent the behaviors from resurfacing.
Please realize that it is necessary
to follow the advice and procedures that are recommended regarding these
basenjis. These are really basenjis of a different color.
Thank you again for your support!
Pam Hamilton
FL District Coordinator
Advisory Director
Basenji Rescue and Transport
and
Debbi Johnson
BRAT Treasurer & Director
Germantown, TN
debbijbasenjirescue@comcast.net</your></your></your></your></your></your></your></your>
