Hello,
I just posted my intro on the 'introduction' forum. In case you hadn't seen it there, here is a little more info.
I manage and operate a horse farm in upstate NY in one of the areas that was very badly flooded this past week. We had always toyed with the idea of getting a pair of Pyranees for the farm, but never moved on it. I grew up with dogs my entire life so it isn't like I am 'new' to dogs.
Anyhow, just yesterday morning 3 emaciated, grime encrusted, cherry eyed blue tick coonhounds wandered into the farm yard! At first we thought that they must have been washed away from home during the flood...more on this later. Anyways, they were very shy but desperately looking for food and attention. They began to follow my fiance and I around like lost little souls. We ended up feeding them, putting them into the fenced in yard and discussing what to do next. We decided to notify the local vet, dog warden, and put up signs with pictures of them. If no one claims them in the next few weeks we will keep them as our farm dogs! This way we won't have to spend a lot of $ on the expensive ones we were considering before....besides, these poor babies obviously need TLC that they weren't getting before.
Fortunately, the local vet lives just down the road from us and stopped over on a Saturday morning. She verified that all three of them have 2 'cherry' eyes each! She also said they are actually about 6 months old now. This coming week I am bringing them in to be spayed, dewormed, shots, and have the eyes fixed. They probably need ear mites cleaned up too. One of them has ringworm on an elbow.
After looking at these poor babies and seeing how thin they really are, we decided that this could not have happened in just 2-3 days, which was how long ago the flooding occured. They had been hungry for a LONG time. Also, the crud on their bodies was not just mud, it was 'you know what', probably from living in a dirty kennel their entire lives. We are now pretty sure that they were dumped by some one who did not want to spend the required $ to make/keep these girls healthy.
Anyhow, two of them are eating well, the third will only eat from our hands. They are pooping now, but it is very runny. I am guessing this is not only due to finally eating after who knows how long, but also parasites. We bathed them tonight and removed as much of the crud that we could. They need one more bath to be totally clean.
These dogs are so sweet tempered and seem to be getting attached to us already. Does anyone have any advice on taking care of these thin dogs, getting weight on them, or just anything in general? Also, I know they are scent hounds and will wander after smells sometimes. Do they need to be contained all the time unless on a leash or under watchful eyes, or can they be trusted to be loose on the farm for a good part of the day? We have 76 acres of space here, 12 of which is wooded. I grew up with GSDs so these hounds are something new to me!
I just posted my intro on the 'introduction' forum. In case you hadn't seen it there, here is a little more info.
I manage and operate a horse farm in upstate NY in one of the areas that was very badly flooded this past week. We had always toyed with the idea of getting a pair of Pyranees for the farm, but never moved on it. I grew up with dogs my entire life so it isn't like I am 'new' to dogs.
Anyhow, just yesterday morning 3 emaciated, grime encrusted, cherry eyed blue tick coonhounds wandered into the farm yard! At first we thought that they must have been washed away from home during the flood...more on this later. Anyways, they were very shy but desperately looking for food and attention. They began to follow my fiance and I around like lost little souls. We ended up feeding them, putting them into the fenced in yard and discussing what to do next. We decided to notify the local vet, dog warden, and put up signs with pictures of them. If no one claims them in the next few weeks we will keep them as our farm dogs! This way we won't have to spend a lot of $ on the expensive ones we were considering before....besides, these poor babies obviously need TLC that they weren't getting before.
Fortunately, the local vet lives just down the road from us and stopped over on a Saturday morning. She verified that all three of them have 2 'cherry' eyes each! She also said they are actually about 6 months old now. This coming week I am bringing them in to be spayed, dewormed, shots, and have the eyes fixed. They probably need ear mites cleaned up too. One of them has ringworm on an elbow.
After looking at these poor babies and seeing how thin they really are, we decided that this could not have happened in just 2-3 days, which was how long ago the flooding occured. They had been hungry for a LONG time. Also, the crud on their bodies was not just mud, it was 'you know what', probably from living in a dirty kennel their entire lives. We are now pretty sure that they were dumped by some one who did not want to spend the required $ to make/keep these girls healthy.
Anyhow, two of them are eating well, the third will only eat from our hands. They are pooping now, but it is very runny. I am guessing this is not only due to finally eating after who knows how long, but also parasites. We bathed them tonight and removed as much of the crud that we could. They need one more bath to be totally clean.
These dogs are so sweet tempered and seem to be getting attached to us already. Does anyone have any advice on taking care of these thin dogs, getting weight on them, or just anything in general? Also, I know they are scent hounds and will wander after smells sometimes. Do they need to be contained all the time unless on a leash or under watchful eyes, or can they be trusted to be loose on the farm for a good part of the day? We have 76 acres of space here, 12 of which is wooded. I grew up with GSDs so these hounds are something new to me!
