New Orleans Lab Rescue Finding permanent adoptive homes for homeless Labs www.nolalabrescue.org March 2018 Dog Friendly Gardening Spring has sprung and many of us are spending more time outdoors, working in our flower and vegetable gardens. It is wise to review your plants and make sure they are safe for your furry companions should they happen to ingest something. The ASPCA has a detailed listing of toxic plants for dogs, cats, and horses that is very informative. Be cautious when using mulch in your garden areas. Cocoa bean mulch is highly toxic to dogs. Safer alternatives are cedar, hemlock, and rubber mulches. These can also cause problems with choking and blockages should your pet enjoy chewing. Use pesticides and herbicides carefully. The author had a close call with carpenter ant bait that was left out by the pest control company. All ended well but it was touch and go. Many people think they cannot have a nice yard because of the dogs. It is doable with a little planning. Does your dog like to run around the fence line? You can accommodate him by leaving a 3 -foot wide path covered in pea gravel or mulch next to the fence. Then place your landscaping on the edge of the path. Driftwood, large rocks or commercial landscape borders can be used on the edges so your dog has a visual of where he is not supposed to go. With a little training, he will stay out of your beds. Many people provide a place just for their fur friend to dig and have trained them to eliminate in one area. Spending some time working with your best friend will create a stronger bond and a nicer yard that you both can enjoy. Volunteer Spotlight Kim Tamburri Kim is a mom and wife who has been involved with dog rescues for over 4 years. Being in Pennsylvania doesn t keep her from helping NOLA Lab Rescue. Kim jumps in where ever, and whenever help is needed. She does phone interviews for potential out of state adopters and data entry for dogs on intake, keeping track of the foster dogs locations, medical records and expenses. She has also helped organize several successful fundraisers including keeping track of the donated auction items in the US and Canada, keeping on top of the bids and who won each item, contacting each winner for payment. Kim also organized NOLA's calendar contest from A to Z this past year. She promoted the voting contest for each month and the cover which might have been the easy part. She went above and beyond having people donate to have a special dedicated day in the calendar for their pets birthday, gotcha day or the day they went to The Rainbow Bridge. When the votes were in and special days were reserved, Kim then made sure each pet was given their special day in each month before sending this all to the printer. With her final stamp of approval the calendars were printed and sent to her and she made sure that each order was filled and mailed. Kim does all of this while helping out at a local dog groomers for the past 5 years and currently is a dog walker and pet sitter. Volunteering for a rescue hundreds of miles away is still rewarding even if she is not capable of actually fostering a dog. There are so many other, every day, behind the scenes things needed in rescue to make it work. We are so glad to have Kim as a part of NOLA rescue. Kim says, The reason I do it is to try to make a difference in just one dog's life.
March 2017 Volunteer Spotlight continued Stacie Stevenson My family and I began fostering for NOLA Lab Rescue in August of 2016. I started following the rescue when they took in several dogs from a hoarding situation in my area. It didn t take long for me to see that they were a group that was committed to helping dogs and seeing them through their care; no matter how long it took to get the dogs well enough for adoption. I knew NOLA Lab Rescue was a group I would want to help. When the floods of August 2016 hit south Louisiana, a plea was sent out for fosters to step up and take some of the dogs that were in the affected shelters. My husband and I knew it was time to step up and that is when I picked up my first foster, Boyd, a HW positive chocolate lab. I was nervous about fostering a HW positive dog. I have 3 of my own and none of them had ever had them, so I had no experience with caring for a heartworm positive dog. Education from the treating veterinarian and some online research helped prepare me for what he would be going through. Treatment went well for Boyd, it was hard watching him in pain after his injections, but the end result would prove to be worth it. Of course prevention would have been key, but it wasn t part of his care prior to becoming a NOLA rescue. After getting the all clear from his heartworm treatment Boyd was adopted. It was a heartbreaking and heartwarming experience all at the same time. I was sad to see him go, but knew that he was going to lead a happy life. A life he truly deserved. After Boyd, we fostered another heartworm positive dog, this time a petite lab mix girl named Daisy. She was a little spunkier than Boyd and keeping her calm was a challenge, which is a crucial requirement during treatment. She too persevered and found her forever home in Canada. Our third foster, Vader, was lucky enough to evade the evil disease that affects so many dogs in the south and he is currently being fostered in Canada. We are now about to start the treatment process with our fourth foster, Sarah, but before she can begin treatment and her road to recovery, she has to deliver puppies. She won t ever have to bare that burden again. We will love and nuture her during her time with us, just like the others. We will be sad when she goes on to her forever home, but thankful we had her in our lives. These dogs bring so much joy to us and my children learn compassion and responsibility from fostering. It s a wonderful experience for them and a lifesaving experience for the dogs. It is truly rewarding. We are so happy to have Stacie on the NOLA Lab Rescue team. It is our volunteers that make the organization work. Please contact us at NolaLabRescue@gmail.com if you are interested in becoming a volunteer. We have many opportunities that include fostering, administrative, transports, fund raising, and the list goes on..
Ask the Vet WHY SLOW KILL HEARTWORM TREAT- MENT IS A NO NO Unfortunately, we are seeing more and more dogs that test positive for heartworm disease. This might be because the dog hasn t been given a heartworm preventative on a timely basis, but even dogs that have been given heartworm prevention on a regular basis have the possibility of becoming heartworm positive due to a seeming increase in the tolerance of the heartworm to many of the drugs used to prevent this disease. March 2018 heartworm treatment, and is perceived to be lower in risk. This perception, however, may be wrong. Using a monthly heartworm prevention to kill adult heartworms may take more than two years before the parasites are eliminated completely. Strict exercise restriction would be required for this entire period of time, which is a lot to ask of most pet owners. Without exercise restriction, risk of complications including sudden death are increased. Also, for this time period the dog would still have adult heartworms, leading to worsening of the damage that the heartworms cause to the heart, lungs, and pulmonary arteries. Even more importantly, the slow kill method of heartworm treatment exposes the heartworms to a small amount of the monthly preventative. This increases the likelihood that the heartworms will become resistant to the drug, rendering it useless in preventing heartworms. If this happens, the drugs that we currently use as monthly heartworm preventions will cease to be effective. This would be a tremendous problem, especially here in south Louisiana where heartworm-carrying mosquitoes are ubiquitous. A great resource for pet owners is the American Heartworm Society website, http:// www.heartwormsociety.org. There is an entire section under Pet Owner Resources detailing the life cycle, diagnosis, and treatment of heartworm disease. With this increased incidence of heartworm disease, it is very tempting to try the slow kill method of treating heartworms. Instead of hospitalization and treatment with the drug melarsomine, these animals are simply given a dose of heartworm preventative each month. This method is tempting to some owners, and even some veterinarians, because it avoids the cost of
March 2018 The Toy Review Submitted by Laverne Mars The Testers: Layla, Cleo, and Maddie The Toys: JW Pet crackle ball, Leaps & Bounds tug toy, and Kong squeaky stick. Layla Oh wow! All those toys for me. I really enjoyed (yes, past tense) the crackle ball. It had a fun crunchy sound with a satisfying rubbery chew. It only took 10 minutes to break through the rubber and get to the plastic crackle. The Kong squeaky stick was a lot of fun too and it lasted 20 minutes before I was able to chew off pieces. The tug toy was sort of OK. It doesn t bounce or squeak and that is disappointing since my Lab sisters have no interest in playing with me. Maybe I can get the little Shih Tzu, Nola to play a little game of tug. :) Would you like your furry companion to be the toy tester in our next newsletter? Send us an email at NolaLabRescue@gmail.com put Toy Tester in the subject. We will do a random drawing on April 30th and send a new toy to the winner. All the human has to do is write the review in time for the June newsletter. Maddie I ll just sit here and watch Layla destroy the toys. Cleo I want to play with the Lady that brought the toys.
March 2018 Shout Out to our Sponsors Bryan Automotive Williams Co. Porter Group New Orleans Softball Assoc. Ryan s Paint and Body Dog ID Collar Why Join NOLA? Our mission is to provide: Permanent adoptive homes for unwanted, abandoned or abused Labs. Medical care and foster homes for rescued dogs. Education to pet owners regarding spaying/neutering and responsible pet ownership. Public information about irresponsible breeding practices and animal abuse in an effort to end both. Your membership supports: Vaccination, sterilization, heartworm prevention, and veterinary services for all dogs. Heartworm treatment. Rescue of canine seniors with high expenses. Orthopedic surgery for rescued dogs in need. Transportation of HW neg., fully vetted dogs from the overpopulated South to pre-approved foster and forever homes.
March 2018 You can make a difference! Contact us at : nolalabrescue@gmail.com Donations are accepted through PayPal at: nolalabrescue@gmail.com We are always looking for fosters to join the team.