Another rescue, this time from my neighborhood

I received a phone call from a dear friend, Karla, this morning about a dog roaming outside her apartment complex in Condado (a neighborhood in San Juan). Before I had a chance to call her back, Karla had already brought in this sweet, yellow lab mix into Dr. Ramos' to have her checked out. Karla's main concern is that she was bleeding from some orifice.

Blondie, rescued this morning and bleeding from her back end (yes, that's blood on the floor), most likely ingested rat poison, a toxin commonly used to eradicate stray animals in Puerto Rico.

Upon initial examination, Dr. Ramos was hopeful that she was simply going through menstruation, though there were far worse possibilities. Based on a blood test, Dr. Ramos has concluded that dear Blondie, as Karla named her, most likely ingested rat poison somewhat recently. Rat poison is often used in Puerto Rico to kill stray animals, however I suppose we can't be sure how she came upon this type of toxin. Regardless, I'm irate about this and am assuming the worst, that someone intended to poison the roaming dog.

From stories I have heard from my neighbors in Condado, it wouldn't be the first time. It would seem the reason there is such a small population, to no population, of strays in the tourist trap that is Condado is because of tight "animal control"...translation: dogs are regularly picked up and brought to a "shelter" or are poisoned and disposed of. The worst part is that these Condado strays belonged to someone at some point. For example, four or five months ago Colin and I befriended a sato roaming right outside of our apartment, too scared to be picked up or pet for too long. Turns out a woman who lives two buildings east of us thought "Linda" (pronounced leen-dah, meaning "cutie" in Spanish), as we all called her, was more work that she was willing to deal with and decided that putting her on Condado Beach would be the right thing to do. Fortunately, those of the dog community of Condado put our heads together, socialized her a bit, and found her a great home.

Blondie, here safe and in Dr. Ramos' care, desperately needs a sponsor!

Colin and I just got back from Dr. Ramos', where we got to meet Blondie. She's an absolute angel. Considering what she is internally going through right now, she greeted me with tail wags, a couple licks on the hand, and those darling eyes of love.

Karla told me she had seen Blondie about two weeks ago as well, but figured she was just off leash with someone since she had a collar on. Well, thanks to Karla, Blondie will hopefully pull through her terrible ordeal. Because Blondie is already showing symptoms of being poisoned, it is too late to try to remove the poison from her by inducing vomiting or other less complicated methods. Dr. Ramos will try some sort of antidote, though a blood transfusion may necessary...whatever it takes.

We are hoping to find a sponsor and/or adopter for this special dog. Please contact losmachossatos@gmail.com or simply donate through the "Donate" buttons on this blog if you would like to contribute towards Blondie's recovery.

And a quick peek at our darling Chalupa, still a little sick, at Dr. Ramos' today.

We're gonna get you outta there, girl, I promise!!!!