Living in the far Arctic sometimes comes down to survival for both human and animal. Our temperatures have been sitting in the minus -40'c range. Last weekend our Search and Rescue team and the military were hard at work looking for stranded hunters. Luckily they were all found alive and I take my hats off to our local SAR team and the military.
When I first moved up here I found it very hard to accept some of the conditions that the dogs were living in, some with no shelter, but then I noticed that some of the northern dogs that had shelter most of the time they were sleeping on top of their dog house. I do my part with Diamonds in the Ruff when they need help with a sick dog or puppy and this past Friday morning Al called me to see if I can have a look at a small pup.
This little guy was given away from it's original owner at about 3 weeks old as a Halloween Trick or Treat. Way too early to be without his mom. Thursday the new owner called our by-law officer and asked if he could take it and with all of his wisdom forgot that this tiny puppy was in the back of his truck. (don't even get me started!) The pup finally ended up in the caring, loving hands of Al and Bernie, the couple who run Diamonds in the Ruff and then into a foster home.
I made a date with Al to meet up at 10am on Friday morning for me to give this little guy some much needed fluids. After leaving the foster home I couldn't get this pup off my mind so I called Al and asked if he wouldn't mind bringing the puppy back to me to foster. As I waited for Al to bring him to me I put in a call to my old boss from the animal clinic to get some more advise of what else I could be doing for this little guy, whom I called Chill.
After a couple of days of giving him sub-q fluids when needed, feeding him by syringe and keeping him warm, I am very sad to say that this little guy lost his fight early this morning. I was up with him at about 3am and when I woke up again around 5:30am he was gone. It absolutely breaks my heart that he didn't make it and of course it angers me that the owner gave him away at 3 weeks old and the by-law officer forgot about him in these temperatures.
It's hard to look at the good in all of this but Diamonds are scheduled to send Chill's mom and another dog out as soon as the Yellowknife SPCA has room. I am glad that Chill ended up in the hands of Diamonds and that he passed away knowing that someone loved and cared for him and that he died laying on a warm heating pad instead of outside.
I would like to personally thank Diamonds in the Ruff for allowing me to look after Chill, Philipp for the advise you gave me and to the wonderful, caring and supportive GSP group members who were all pulling for little Chill.
I leave you with a couple of pictures that I took of Chill.
Trying to warm his body up as his temperature was 32.1' when he first arrived
(should be 38 - 39'c)
Chill laying on the heating pad and a space heater in front of him.
In his true Husky style he hated to be covered up
Talk soon!
<3
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