CHARLESTON AND OLAF: RESCUE STORIES THAT MAKE YOU SHAKE YOUR HEAD! (AND WE HAVE HALLOWEEN CONTEMPLATIONS, TOO)

EDITION OF FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2020 [PetPowellPress] What we’re discussing in the early part of this report is a mutilated Dachshund boy named Charleston. And a poorly maintained Chihuahua named Olaf. 

And, honestly, Dear Readers, before I can type another sentence about these two I need to stop and gather my limited senses. As you read along, you may need to call a time-out, too. But remember, it is good hearts such as yours that are giving these two throw-aways a new chance.

We learned about Charleston from our pal Karen Lee of barkleyworld.com. She’d tipped me to the story after spotting Charleston on the Pound Pals Rescue Facebook page. Yeah, Karen was moved, too. She’d been communicating about Charleston with Kerri Thorn of Pound Pals Rescue (based in Emory in East Texas).  I emailed Kerri and learned about not just the state of Charleston, but also of Olaf, the Chihuahua. Nobody in the rescue chain knows Charleston’s original name — probably wasn’t used much in his life anyway. Olaf actually is that Chihuahua’s name, so he won’t wonder if he’s supposed to answer to something new.
About, Charleston, how does a dog wind up with a face like that? Here’s what Kerri told us: “He came from the Palm Valley Animal Shelter (in Edinburg in South Texas). The shelter staff is good about notifying us when seniors with extensive medical needs enter their facility. There were actually two with critical needs that they sent us information on.

“They suspected Charleston was blind, had some neurological issues and tested him for suspicion of distemper," Kerri reports.

 “They also had a Chihuahua who they thought had neurologic issues.”

[LARRY ASIDE: This should serve as a reminder that not everyone who has a dog or cat is a licensed veterinarian capable of skilled diagnoses. Keep reading Kerri's report.]
“The Chihuahua underwent a procedure the day he and Charleston arrived to remove a huge ball of wax from his eardrum. It's hard to think the little guy was surrendered by his owner and was in danger of being euthanized for ‘neurological issues’ when it was an ear issue. Although Olaf will need some follow up care, we got much better news with him than we were expecting.
“We didn't get that lucky with Charleston though. He is a severely neglected train wreck and it is going to take a while to address all of his issues. We have started treatment for his ears, eyes and skin. We are waiting on lab results and hoping he can get into surgery next week (have to clear some of the infection prior to surgery). From the first photo I saw, I wasn't even sure what kind of dog we were pulling with Charleston. Now that we have him, I can verify that he is a Dachshund. I don't know if Charleston is his ‘real’ name. He was turned in as a 'stray' but often owners turn their dog in with the claim of being a stray to avoid having to pay a surrender fee or criminal charges for neglect. So who knows. It was his shelter name and fits him, so we kept it.  … 

“I do want to clarify that although we initially suspected that Charleston's jaw may have been broken and healed incorrectly, our vet team says his face rotted away due to dental decay. His face is ‘loose’ and his nose flops from side to side. That is all from bone loss.”

[LARRY NOTE: Dear Readers, I’ll let you pause for a moment to take that in and then we’ll move along with Charleston’s prospects.]

Kerri says, “Charleston is permanently deformed but he does eat soft food. He is thin but not emaciated so I think with proper assistance when eating and a good quality food, he is going to be okay on that front. He is going to feel better once that infection is gone. He is already showing marked improvement. He is up and around now. A volunteer visited him yesterday (Wednesday) and said he just wanted to climb under her jacket and snuggle. We have a great vet team so I do think he is going to survive. He has been surviving for years with absolutely no care and he is getting spunkier with each passing day. Personally, I don't see him throwing in the towel any time soon”
[LARRY REACTION: It was that last sentence about throwing in the towel that made me stop typing and turn and hug the only dog within reach, Porche Noel, my baby. Sometimes the behavior of humans just mystifies the devil out of me. And here's one more good look at that dog's face -- I still ee beauty in his face but not in his past. Just to make the point.]
As Karen of barkleyworld.com said to me, “Kerri truly takes the saddest cases — I just had to step in and try to help through Barkleyworld — these seniors get to me.”
Donations to help Charleston and Olaf and any of the tough cases in the care of Pound Pals can be made by  going to poundpals.com.  You also can donate through barkleyworld.com and Karen will forward, but the best route, she says, is directly to Pound Pals. And you can keep up with Charleston and Olaf and the other animals Pound Pals has embraced by going to the Facebook link HERE.   Email Pound Pals Rescue at [email protected].
VIRTUAL STRUTTING
AND ACTUAL ANIMALS
The SPCA of Texas' 15th Annual Strut Your Mutt, the Race to End Animal Cruelty, goes virtual on November 8 -- catch the details at spca.org. This is the 15th “Race to End Animal Cruelty” so you may be “virtually struttin’ with a mutt,” but you’ll be helping other types of animals, too. As examples, we’re presenting this photo of the elegant Alice, a year-old “blue and white do- mestic shorthair” who was transferred from Dallas Animal Services with her kittens so they’d benefit from having Mom around. That other handsome SPCA fellow is Billy. Billy the Pig. The name was open and they didn’t have any goats. All the info about adoptions, donations, signing up for Strut Your Mutt is on the spca.org site.

CONTEMPLATIONS
BLUE MOON FOR HALLOWEEN & OTHER NOTES….
That’s the illustration The Old Farmers’s Almanac sent out in honor of the Blue Moon — the second full moon in a month — and this time it actually appears on Halloween. Pretty unusual. Bound to be some daring trick or treaters out on Halloween. Usually we just say “Wait ’til next year” for the Texas Rangers, but I think it’s appropriate to say ‘Wait ’til next yeart” in honor of Halloween 2020. Lots of pressure to avoid scary things -- like maybe a virus. … Halloween always makes me miss my first school, Highland Park Elementary School in Texarkana, Texas. In those days — 1954-60 was my era — we always had a Halloween Carnival — after we heathens left, it became an Autumn Festival or something like that. Anyway, we had a cake walk — last place I saw one of those — you walk in a circle stepping on numbers on the floor. When the music stops, someone draws a number out of a bowl and if you’re on the number, you win a cake baked by a mom (or maybe bought by a mom). Room mothers of the ‘50s, bless their hearts. … My little boys, Bret and Bart, when they were about 4, went trick or treating in Fort Worth in the Wedgewood and Ryan Place neighborhoods (we had Fort Worth Press colleagues in the area) and Bret dressed as Groucho Marx with a painted-on moustache, Bart as Harpo Marx, big wig and all. A lady made us wait on her front porch while she found her Super 8mm movie camera and filmed our little boys in their costumes. So, if there’s someone out there who has run across film (or maybe converted video by now) of pint-sized Marx Brothers, let me know. I can solve the 45-year-old mystery of “Who the heck are these crazy people on Mom’s front porch?” [A few year later, the boys went into their Hee Haw era — not for Halloween, but to accomodate their female loved ones. Such good boys. I swear.] … Everyone be safe, keep your animals safe, enjoy the cool air, the cool sky and hold off on the high-cal candy — it’s the smart thing to do. Though I’d swap my car for a box of sea-salt milk chocolate right now. Alarms just went off in my assorted doctors’ offices. That is my office cat William Powell - yeah, I love the guy — joining me in celebrating National Cat Day on Thursday (later, I caught him sleeping it off o the protective covering of his personal bookcase at the window. Of course, for us every day is Cat Day. Dog day, too. Save 'em all. More than once in a blue moon.
—- Offer Trick or Treat Tales by clicking on ‘comments' below or by emailing [email protected]. and put “NO APPLES” in the subject line.  They’ll blow the bottom of a paper grocery bag wide open and candy will scatter everywhere on a stranger’s porch. —-