21 Mangy Mutts
21 Diamonds in the Ruff
It's been six years since officials in eastern North Carolina had to remove over 50 small dogs from a home. Conditions were bad. Very bad. Fortunately, the owner was reasonable and voluntarily released all of her dogs to animal control. A lengthy court case was avoided. The dogs went to new homes. All was good - at least so it seemed.
Collecting and hoarding is a disease and an addiction. An addict can quit for a day. It's easy to promise to reform but the doing is a different matter. It's now six years later and the same owner is once again releasing dogs voluntarily to animal control. This time, DSS prompted the turn in. With her daughter going to jail, the dog's owner wants to provide a home for her grandchildren but DSS would not consider letting toddlers live with so many dogs. Hoping it was enough, the owner took seven shaking, shivering, and naked dogs to animal control. 
And told them the dogs were poodles. Naked poodles. Naked poodles?
All poodles have hair. Where was their hair?
Animal shelter officials contacted CPR on the seven and we agreed at once. When the dogs were turned in, the owner had mentioned that she had "a few more" to bring. How many was "a few"? With shelter officials blessing, board member Debi Raby was about to find out. Debi called the owner to let her know CPR was taking in the group at animal control and to ask if there were other dogs that might also need a new home. There were - and all in all CPR took in 21 dogs that day including a mama dog and her three six week old puppies.
None of them had much hair. Where was their hair?
Debi called me to let me know she had the dogs but they had a sharp, decaying odor and most of them were hairless. I asked her to head straight for her vet. If she broke a few speed limits she could get there before they closed. She did and one skin scrape later, we knew what we were dealing with.
We had 21 dogs with mange. All of them. Some have sarcoptic (contagious) only. Some have sarcoptic and demodex (stress and non-contagious) mange. All of them have at least sarcoptic mange. All 21 including the puppies. 
What do you do with 21 dogs so infested with parasites, parasites that humans can catch, that you can't touch them for six weeks?
If you're CPR staffers and volunteers, you stay up all night and convert an old camper into a puppy palace and you invite them in.
Since it's a weekend and everything else is closed, you chase down 
the local equine mobile vet as he's the only one still working and he has the dip you need to start the healing process. Wearing protective suits and gloves, you stand outside in 100 degree temperatures and gently hand dip the scared and mangy mutts in a caustic, smelly concoction that gets up your nose and burns your eyes. You know that 
the discomfort you are causing will help in the long run. You hope they won't remember it was you that held their bodies in the liquid for if your eyes are burning, their oh so sensitive noses must be screaming. You smile when you do it, because if you don't you'll cry. You know a few hours of discomfort for both of you means the start for them of a new life.
And then you wait, for healing takes time. For our pups with only sarcoptic mange, it takes three treatments over six weeks before their mites are banished and their bodies are parasite free. From there, we can start our normal routine of spay and neuter and temperament testing and then finding homes. For the pups who also carry the stress mites, it may take months. It may take years. We'll give that to them with your help.
For now, they are content in their puppy camper palace. The routine is falling into place. Kind people come and get them out every day, several times a day for outside play time, a new concept for these dogs. Kind people make sure they have clean newspaper and clean food and clean water. Kind people are touching them with hands that are gloved but always gentle. They each have a private crate to eat in peace, not having to fight for food with bigger brothers and sisters. The bugs in their skin no longer itch quite so bad. A few are starting to try to play. We haven't tried leash walking yet. None of these dogs have ever seen a leash or even a collar.
For our young family, the healing is happening faster. Today, at seven weeks old, the puppies received their very first bath and groom. They seemed to like that itching and scratching was no longer needed every few minutes.
It's hard to believe but they have already been here 10 days. We have just over four more weeks to go before starting the final steps that will allow them to journey to new homes.
My estimated cost for 
this rescue is $ 500 per dog. We need everything from special shampoo to three doses per dog of Revolution (a topical flea/tick that also kills sarcoptic mange), and from Mitaban dip to high quality food to dewormer and for some antiobiotics to heal the skin. We need rubber gloves to protect our caregivers and extra staff time to pick up and feed and medicate and play with them while we teach them how to live clean as well as free. That's a lot of cash for one dog but they are young (the oldest is about 5 years old) and this is what it takes to give them a chance at a long life.
I believe there are 500 caring people out there who will donate $ 21 each - one dollar for each of our mangy mutts. We've never had 500 donors for a single project before and it's a very big goal but this is a very big rescue. Just $ 21 from 500 supporters will make sure that we can give these pups a new start on life. That we can heal their bodies and restore their spirits. I believe these dogs deserve a chance and I believe our supporters will give them that chance.
Will you help? Will you donate $ 21? When you do, will you also share the news about our mangy mutts with your friends? 
We need to reach 500 people. With your help, we can do so.
$ 21 per dog
500 supporters
Help us reach our goal.
To donate, please visit our webpage at
http://carolinapoodlerescue.org/donation.shtml
And specify it's for the mangy mutts or if you prefer, say it's for diamonds in the ruff.
Thank you. With your help we'll save these lives and 21 very special people will one day have a very special dog to fill their lives and laps.
Donna Ezzell
Director
Carolina Poodle Rescue
PS - There's more to this story for 5 dogs still remain in the home. If funds allow, CPR will ask the owner to let us spay and neuter her remaining dogs and treat them for mange. Collector/hoarders will hoard again but sometimes, leaving altered animals in the home will help curb the need. We want to stop this cycle from ever happening again.
Any funds received over the needs of these dogs will be used for our medical emergency fund.