HELP - Bad Rescue

[simplymisty]

Hey Guys,

I really need some help or advice. I got involved with an animal rescue back in Feburary. With in being involved with them for 2 weeks I had set up a vet much closer to where most of the foster homes were (the only vets they had were an hour plus away and didn't do weekends - which is hard for those of us who work full time) getting them to match most of the prices. I also had made calls to several dog food and treat companies in the area to see if they'd be willing to donate items.

Since being with them, I've witnessed myself and have heard several horror storries.

Pretty much my first foster dog was a pregnant dog (who delivered 4 days after arriving). The rescue told me that I couldn't take her to the vet, before or after she delivered her 7 puppies (she was suppose to be vet checked per what they say that they vet check all dogs before they're put into foster homes but she never was). They moved her to another home because I kept complaining about things she was doing and that I really wanted to get her to a vet. The new foster home that took her was also told that she couldn't be taken to a vet (and they pulled her from me when her puppies were almost 5 weeks old). Later the person in charge of the rescue told me after I kept asking why she wasn't on the site to be adopted, that she had gotten a really bad infection from drying up and that her nipples and skin fell off. It was too late for the vet to do much help since the infection was so far gone. It's now June and she's still suffering.

About that same time that I received her 3 other foster homes split up a litter of 8 5 week old puppies. Again they weren't vet checked and later they found out the puppies had lice. Finally 2 weeks later the organization was still refusing to let these homes take the puppies to the vet to get checked because the lice was so bad and wouldn't provide treatment to the homes to get the lice removed that one of the husbands picked up all 8 puppies and took them to the vet anyway. When they hooked up the iv's to the puppies, one of the poor guys had the iv fluids coming out of his body because the lice had ate completely through him. 3 of the dogs later died, but the rescue didn't put them down to help with their suffering, they died on their own.

Those are just 2 of the many horror storries.

Here are some questions I also have:

Is is safe to feed dogs expired dog food and treats?
Is is safe to give dogs expired shots, flea & tick meds or heartworm?
Is it safe to give a puppy adult shots, heartworm meds, flea and tick meds or adult dog food?

These are other things that they also do but I'm not sure if those are safe or not.

I had one of the puppies returned to me last night (now on 5/24 I got into it with the person in charge because the did not follow my wishes with the last puppy that I wanted to adopt but had to go to MO because my dad is dieing. They adopted him out to a college student who lives in an appartment when I had stated and was told they "had to follow" that he had to go to a home that had: at least one dog, at least one kid and a fenced in yard), I called them to let them know that this dog was dropped off on my door step and now they won't return my calls. All the shelters in my area are kill shelters and would put this dog down ASAP which is not what I want, but I also can't keep him because it would put me over the limit of how many dogs we're allowed to own in my area and they check to make sure you're not over your limit.

PLEASE HELP or give me some advice. I can no longer sit back and watch them do this to the animals that they're suppose to be saving!

 

[Sweet72947]

Is is safe to feed dogs expired dog food and treats?
Its probably not particularly dangerous to them, but expired food will have lost its nutritional value. Also, some foods can grow mold which is VERY dangerous to dogs, it will make them very sick.

Is is safe to give dogs expired shots, flea & tick meds or heartworm?
NO. The effectiveness of these medications will have diminished with their expiration.

Is it safe to give a puppy adult shots, heartworm meds, flea and tick meds or adult dog food?
Absolutely not! Adult shots and meds are formulated for ADULTS. The amount given could be overdosing the puppies and cause sickness and death!

These are other things that they also do but I'm not sure if those are safe or not.

I had one of the puppies returned to me last night (now on 5/24 I got into it with the person in charge because the did not follow my wishes with the last puppy that I wanted to adopt but had to go to MO because my dad is dieing. They adopted him out to a college student who lives in an appartment when I had stated and was told they "had to follow" that he had to go to a home that had: at least one dog, at least one kid and a fenced in yard), I called them to let them know that this dog was dropped off on my door step and now they won't return my calls. All the shelters in my area are kill shelters and would put this dog down ASAP which is not what I want, but I also can't keep him because it would put me over the limit of how many dogs we're allowed to own in my area and they check to make sure you're not over your limit.

PLEASE HELP or give me some advice. I can no longer sit back and watch them do this to the animals that they're suppose to be saving!

PLEASE report them to animal control!!! This is a bad rescue, its giving good rescues a bad name! Can you tell me what rescue they are and where they are located?

 

[wookie130]

Oh dear...this is AWFUL!!! I agree with Sweet completely...you must report these people to someone! They are denying the animals access to critical medical care, separating pups too early from each other, and are basically fascilitating the pre-mature and wrongful death of several animals, from the sounds of it.

I'm not sure if animal control will be the best route in your situation, as it sounds like they may stick these animals in a kill shelter. If I were you, I'd do a bit of undercover work with a digital camera or camcorder, and visually document EVERY crappy practice you're witnessing with this rescue, such as the expired food, adult shots, separating pups at too young of an age, the sick animals being denied critical medical care, among whatever else you see. Keep a written record, of dates, times, the specific thing you're documenting, and the attempts you made at correcting the problem...also document their response to your attempted corrections. Don't tell the rescue that you're documenting anything, and do NOT tell them you're planning to report them.

*Seek out an animal advocacy group in your area, and present to them your findings...see what can be done about shutting this rescue down permanently.
*Go to www.lcanimal.org (They are a FABULOUS animal rights group, who produced, "Dealing Dogs" for HBO a couple of years ago, and they'd be a great contact for you...I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to get them involved.
*Contact another Humane Society or ASPCA in your state, and tell them the situation, and how they animals need to be taken to a NO-KILL facility, and the rescue shut down permanently, with all licenses revoked...get friends or volunteers to help with the transporting of animals, if need be.

This probably won't be too easy. But, you must stay strong, and help to make sure this "rescue" is not allowed to stay open to other animals in need. Perhaps all that will come out of it initially is a slap on the wrist, but if you continue to document and present your case to some of the larger organizations, perhaps someone will begin to take this seriously.

 

[simplymisty]

Rover Rescue
North Aurora, IL
http://www.roverrescue.org/
http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/roverrescue.html

This is the pregnant dog - read her comments about the scaring:

http://search.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=8531634

 

[Aussie Red]

If you can get some of this documented on video you should and deff. keep written records and turn them in. Good honest rescues need not be confused with this type of rescue if you can call it that. I would go for the throat dear.

 

[SeniorPetLover]

As far as the expired meds, it really depends on how expired they are. Our vet gives us items that have recently expired and she can no longer sell, but the medication is still good for us to use. I wouldn't want to do this without being under the advise of a veterinarian, so I don't advocate doing this unless you talk to your vet and make sure that the product in question is still safe for post-expiration usage and they will also tell you how long the product can safely be used. This has included dog food and dog treats...it is sort of like a gallon of milk...there is a sell by date, but your milk doesn't magically go bad on the day following the sell by date. There are usually a couple of days following the "expiration" in which the milk is still good. I think dog food should be okay as long as it is not years past the expiration date. Canned food would be more sensitive to spoilage, so I would be less inclined to use it if it were very old. Common sense plays a role here...I wouldn't feed dry (or wet) food that had a foul smell, had changed color, or had started to break down. As far as shots go, there is really no such thing as adult shots, however, there are shots in different "formulations" or combinations. Normally, you do not want to give a puppy less than 12 weeks old Leptospirosis, so most "puppy" shots will simply not include that in the formulation. A formulation called MLV should not be used on puppies over 12 weeks, etc. It is important to check the label of the vaccine and follow the manufacturer's instruction on the safe ages for usage. To address the other issues, the agency that governs rescues in the State of IL is the IL Dept. of Ag, and I recommend that you file a complaint with them because it is IL law that pups cannot be separated from mama before 8 weeks of age. However, if the pups were split at the high kill shelter, then the rescue would not be in violation, the kill shelter would be. To me, there is no excuse for not providing good vet care. That is the single most important factor when it comes to doing rescue work, in my opinion. It also represents the single largest expense in most organizations. Contact Ag and they will do a surprise inspection and audit the rescue. There are guidelines that have to be met in order to stay licensed. Good luck!

 

[squirtsmom]

What a mess. They will help you here.

 

[simplymisty]

Sorry it's been so long but I've been very sick for over a week now and my father is in really bad health so I've been busy with a lot of traveling out of state to be with him.

UPDATE:

The expired meds - they were 2 years past the expiration date.

The expired teats and food - they were at least 6 months past the expiration date and some were well over a year or two.

Yes - the "puppy" shots - I couldn't remember what it was called that was in the shots that they said the puppies shouldn't have at 6 weeks of age and it was Leptospirosis. Before they were 12 weeks old they had 3 shots with the Leptospirosis.

I reported the rescue to our county & town. Talked with the local animal shelter and animal welfare league. Animal welfare donates money to this rescue and they were shocked and asked me to contact the IL Dept. of Ag. The Dept. of Ag. started an investigation that day and they've even called and emailed me a couple of times to get more information and asked me to forward emails that the resuce sent me. She also went through the member listing that the rescue emails us to keep us up to date with who are foster homes are and they found out that NOT ONE of them have a license to foster. They are also going to do an audit on them. When I was telling the dept. of ag. about the resuce they informed me that with what I was telling them that they broke MANY state laws. Like no more than 4 rescues in a home, that every home has to be licensed, and that you're not allwed more than 1 rescue litter of puppies at a time. So the 18 dogs I had in my house was a huge no no.

I also told them how the mom was removed from the puppies before they were of age and how sick the mom got. I also gave them all the vet info for the vet who treated them.

I'm no longer with the rescue because we ended things on bad note when we were throwing threats back and forth to each other when they gave the dog I was going to adopt away because I had to leave for my dad. So I can't get any additional info on them since they've cut me off of communication (which is fine). One of the treats was that I was going to turn them in about the mom who had the puppies - well so they thought that they were being smart. They listed her as a different breed dog, changed her name, etc. But I knew it was her from her pic. They even said something about her scaring from an "old injurty" that is healing nicely. They also state that she's only 1-2 yrs old, which like the vet said, because of the white around her mouth she has to be at least 6. The dept. of ag. agreeded and wasn't happy that they were misleading people with her age when they could tell by her pic that she was at least 6 not 1-2.

 

[Saje]

Good for you and all the work you are doing! I'm so relieved that people are stepping in to do something. I hope there are some changes soon for those poor dogs. I'm so happy there are people like you out there.