Update: Sammy was pulled and rescued.

Sammie gave his owner 13 years of loyalty and attention. But now, he’s old, his fur is thin, he has thyroid issues, and his anal sacs seem to be impacted. Instead of getting this faithful pet the medical care that he needs, his heartless owner dumped him at a kill shelter to swelter in a hot, airless kennel before he is killed. 13 years of loyalty and this is the end for Sammie.

The volunteers love Sammie and are begging for a rescue to pull him. He does need some medical care, but he could live the rest of his life in comfort and dignity. Sammie is sweet and still has lots of love to offer. If a foster offered to keep him, a rescue might step up and pull him! But his case is urgent! He will be killed tomorrow if the shelter does not receive an email before 9:00 am tomorrow!

The shelter email said:

“A1649676: Sammie is a 13 year old neutered male Chow Chow. He is an owner surrender. His owner reported thyroid issues but didn’t provide us any medical records. Testing would definitely be recommended based on his appearance. He has marked dental tartar and would need a dental cleaning. He has thinning hair and lesions on the lenses of both of his eyes. He has two masses associated with his anal sacs (possible impacted anal glands vs. anal sac tumor). He is heartworm negative. He is very friendly.”

There is more information on his Facebook thread. Sammie is ID#A1649676. He is urgently in need of an adopter or rescue. He is at the Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center, 440 N. Falkenburg Road, Tampa, FL 33619. The phone number is 813-744-5660. The shelter is open daily from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm.

If someone is interested in Sammie, they must email rescuepets@hillsboroughcounty.org and rescuemetampa@yahoo.com as soon as possible. In the subject line of the email, write: Do Not Euth Sammie ID#A1649676. In the body of the email, include your contact information. You must be willing to pick Sammie up tomorrow by 3:00 pm.

Please note: Only comments that are respectful and profanity-free will be published.

Mater when he arrived as a stray — note patchy fur and skinny body

Update: William/Mater was adopted! Cross fingers for a permanent home for this poor dog who has been in and out of the shelter for too long. Maybe if the shelter counseled adopters on proper introductions and how to ease a new dog into a household there wouldn’t be as many returned dogs…

Mater is a dog who is confused. He has been in and out of the Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center (shelter) since the beginning of March. At first, luck seemed to be with this handsome and goofy guy. When he got an upper respiratory infection and was going to be killed, he got a temporary foster with Melissa. She couldn’t say enough wonderful things about him, except that he was way too interested in her cats. And not interested in a good way. He wasn’t offering to share his dinner with them. He might have been thinking that he would like them for dinner. He didn’t share his exact thoughts with Melissa, but she said he shouldn’t be in a home with cats. (Note: all her cats made it through the foster unscathed.)

Dog, however, are a different story. Mater seems to love dogs of all sizes. While one note stated that Mater didn’t get along with intact neutered males, all the other shelter notes seem to indicate that he is good with all dogs. In fact, one note says he was used as a greeter dog. Watch the video of him in the play yard with another dog.

By April, Mater was urgently in need of adoption or rescue. Everyone loved him but he was getting passed over. Finally, he was fostered to adopt and he was treated for heartworm. However, two months later he was back at the shelter. The owner returned him for being aggressive with her daughter. She believe that Mater was trying to protect her, but it was unprovoked. There was no puncture or injury.

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Diamond has been overlooked because of her color and breed. She is a four-year-old black pit bull mix, and one post says she has been at the shelter for almost two months. The volunteers describe her as sweet and loving. Watch her video and see how attentive she is. She sits for treats and takes them gently as her tail wags. While waiting for the next treat, she sits calmly, watching, waiting. She’s very gentle and affectionate.
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Update by Stacey Palacios on Facebook:

Today, I went downtown to CCPD and spoke with Commander Houston with my two kids in tow. We spoke about the dog named Geralt. He played for me the call to police that was made on July 4th. The caller explained that a gray pitbull that had been chasing children earlier was attacking another dog, you could hear another person come up and say it was their dog being attacked by the gray one. You could hear the dogs fighting on the tape and the location of the call matched the location were Geralt was picked up. He also showed me the report of investigation of Geralt running loose in his neighborhood were neighbors stated he was constantly loose and aggressively chasing neighbors to where they couldn’t leave their houses at times. He stated the owners were cited at that time and the owner was cited again when surrendering Geralt before he was EU.

A dog arrived at the Corpus Christi shelter on July 4th with clear signs of having been in dog fights. This poor dog’s nose had been torn and a piece was hanging down. One eye was injured and swollen shut. He was covered in scars from old wounds and bloody new wounds on his legs. His back was missing huge patches of fur. And this dog, Geralt, was microchipped. He had been adopted from the shelter almost exactly one year ago. A picture shows the difference in Geralt’s condition in just over 12 months.

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Update: Andy was pulled from the shelter and is safe. Here is a link to his Freedom Ride, his ride away from the shelter.

Andy was picked up by a good Samaritan who couldn’t keep him. He happily jumped into their car and they took him to the county shelter, hoping that he would be reunited with his owner or adopted.

Unfortunately, Andy is terrified at the shelter. When a volunteer visited him, his video shows that he just whined pitifully. His back legs quiver either from cold or fright. While the shelter is air conditioned, he is probably scared. Watch his video and you can see he is sweet and friendly. His tail wags when the visitor interacts with him and he gently kisses her fingers. But his whining and obvious fear are heartbreaking.

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Look at the plea in her eyes. She’s in pain, she has a horribly broken leg, and one of her eyes was destroyed by her accident. This young dog is begging for help.

A sweet black terrier mix is in urgent need of a foster home and rescue. She was hit by a car and is in the Clayton County shelter in Georgia. The vet’s office diagnosed her with a fractured front left leg and severely injured eye. They believe the eye will need to be removed. She has what must be painful road rash on the right side of her face and on her leg.

In spite of her pain, she has been sweet and gentle. Look at her picture — all she wants is to be held and loved and feel safe. She urgently needs to be with a rescue so that she can get the medical care that she needs immediately! Her leg and eye need to be treated. The shelter cannot provide the care she needs.

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Update: Thanks to social networking, Kash was adopted and has left the shelter!! He is safe!

Kash is handsome, calm and knows basic obedience commands. The volunteers adore him. But in spite of his sweet temperament, he will be killed tomorrow unless someone emails the county shelter that they can adopt him or rescue him.

Kash is six years old and that mean that most people looking for a dog will walk right past him. People want puppies or young dogs, and at six, Kash is “too old” for most. It doesn’t matter that Kash is really in the prime of his life. He is old enough to learn quickly and he will certainly appreciate anyone taking him out of the shelter. Watch his video at this link and see how responsive he is with the volunteer. He’s just adorable!

Kash is afraid of thunderstorms and good with other dogs. The shelter did note that he is dominant when he plays with other dogs, so he may be dog selective. He would probably do well with a female or submissive male. The volunteers highly recommend making introductions very slowly. It takes a few weeks for animals to decompress after being in the shelter, and they need to get situated before they meet the animals in the home. And the beginning meetings should always be supervised. New dogs should always be separated from others during feeding. Kash is heartworm negative and already neutered.

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