SCARS (Second Chance Animal Refuge Society)

10/19/2026

Joy is a six year old purebred Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. (I have her papers) She is playful, outgoing and absolutely precious and weighs 9.5 lbs. Do not ask me about kids and cats since I have none here....but she loves the other dogs although I would not recommend a rough and tumble playmate. If interested fill out an app at scarsusa.com

10/04/2026

...A Requiem

On July 31 I answered the phone from a fellow animal rescuer. She had been notified about a dog out in Osage County who was found torn up and bleeding, collapsed behind a lawnmower in someone’s garage. Could we help.
It was getting late, but Kelli and I loaded up blankets and supplies and headed into a darkening sky. Finally, after what seemed like endless miles on gravel roads, we turned into a driveway where a family was standing with worried expressions.
Behind their mower, an old hound dog had collapsed in a bloody heap, possibly attacked by coyotes. Kelli managed to pick her up and carry her to the van and we headed back here, hoping we had gotten to her in time.
Kelli immediately began giving her Sub Q fluids and I was able to get her to eat some wet food laced with antibiotics and we held our breath. Early the next morning I found her still alive and able to lift her head. The fight was on.
Mabel slowly pulled ahead with me hovering constantly and the vets doing multiple X Rays.
I fed her boiled chicken and hamburger with vitamins and she continued to gain strength. But the worrisome cough continued and her stomach became more distended, the X Rays revealing cancer throughout her abdomen. How long could this continue, I asked myself daily.
Despite the odds, Mabel made multiple forays into the backyard and soldiered on, barking bravely at the squirrels and dancing among the fallen apples from the tree. At night she slept deeply, but her breathing was labored.
I knew today she had turned a corner when she spurned her food, and collapsed under the tree, unable to get up. Her gums were chalk white and I texted our vet who miraculously was able to see her later in the morning.
While she rested in the sun in my van, with me waiting for the vet, I marveled at the myriad colors and hues of her ears. They were chewed up, probably from years of being an outside dog. And yet, her coat was still beautiful. .
Mabel clearly had not had a soft life, but she remained stalwartly brave and positive, finally succumbing to an ever encroaching cancer that nothing and no one could stop.
Today I realized how much I loved her, and because I did, I could no longer let her suffer and I steeled myself and made a decision.
And I was comforted knowing of a dog lover who would be waiting, with open arms, for an old hound dog whose time had come to go home.

09/28/2026

Last spring I got a message from a friend in a city two hours from here about a dog, a few months old, who had 24 hrs before euthanasia in the city pound. Her crime? She sneezed too often and was declared sick with kennel cough….a death sentence in that pound.
The picture was blurry…she was white and some sort of a pit mix, of course. The rule in that shelter is that a dog with a “communicable disease” must be tagged by a Kansas shelter and taken IMMEDIATELY to a vet. However, once cleared there was some rescue in Iowa who would take her. I never heard from them.
Anyone who knows me, knows I never forget a favor and the woman asking me to help this dog had answered my call for help and saved a life one severe winter night of a dog who was dying, one I could not get to in time. But she beat the odds, rescued him and I am forever in her debt.
So “Pinky” became a SCARS dog. Off to the vet who did not think she had kennel cough, but I had done my due diligence and got her spayed and up to date on vaccines. Time marched on and no one seemed interested in this adorable white pit mix with blue eyes. Pinky needed a quieter environment with fewer dogs as she got too worked up and created problems. She went on two adoption events and adored people, particularly children but no applications. I began to lose hope until one day two weeks ago I opened my email to a message….we think we would like to adopt Pinky. They were retired but active and had recently lost a dog who reminded them of her.
OK Pinky, we are off, I said as I loaded her into the car, flowered collar and all, in 100 degree heat. This had to be the hottest summer on record but I was not going to miss this appointment.
As we drove along, she looked curiously out of the window and we had a little “talk.” I told her to be on her best behavior and no accidents in the house.
The couple loved her and she adored them. Other than the fact that Dad took her upstairs where she left a little puddle as a present, she behaved quite well. Pictures of her come in regularly with her sitting on the chair and lying luxuriously on the living room rug. She and the grand daughter have bonded. How wonderful.
Driving home, Pinky no longer in the back seat, I remembered the day my friend reached out to me about a little dog who was on “the list” by morning. I did not need another dog, for sure, and especially one who might have kennel cough which spreads like wildfire. But I owed my friend, and on some level, I owed this pup a chance at life. And I remembered saying, “Of course, we will take her.”
And the wheel of fortune turned in favor of a little white dog with blue eyes who had almost run out of time.

09/24/2026

Many dogs, to say the least, have come through these doors. I have probably loved all of them but I must say, this little gal is a heartstealer.
Evie was pictured in my post with the kids yesterday being hugged and adored until she fell into a deep sleep. I don't think she moved a muscle all night.
At 6 mo of age and weighing about 30 lbs, Evie is some sort of a lab mix. She is close to being perfect. Evie plays great with other dogs and must have a playmate, but she is sort of timid and retreats under the bed if the going gets too rough.
Her history is sad. She was part of a hoarding case in KC and ended up in a large city pound where she was adopted and returned. Then she was adopted to an elderly couple who was unable to give her adequate exercise beyond a nightly walk on a leash...no other pets. They then adopted her to yet another elderly couple who had multiple cats and mom and son were disabled.
One morning I received a somewhat hysterical call saying the entire family was in distress over adopting a dog who was
"sitting on their kitties." To be honest, I decided then and there to get in the car and rescue this poor animal. After being in the home, with a cat on every surface, I knew wherein existed the real problem and left with dog in tow. Neither Evie or I ever looked back.
She will be the most delightful addition to some lucky family but must have a nice dog to play with and be surrounded by loving humans. Evie has been shortchanged three times and it won't happen again under my watch.
scarsusa.com

09/23/2026

Thank you to Ms. McDonald and her "Making a Difference " club of students from Washburn Rural Middle School North for inviting me to speak on our dog shelter, SCARS.
Evie and Lester were model guests! Evie got so much attention that you can see from the picture after the kids left, that she was pooped out! Lester was handed from one student to another and seemed to love the attention.
The kids were great, respectful and asked intelligent questions and it was wonderful to be back in a public school again. It was a packed classroom but I did not have time to get permission to post the pics of the students, so use your imagination.
And kudos to Ms. McDonald for her efforts to remind us all that we are here , not for ourselves, but to make a difference in our world.
And that is a lesson one must never forget.

09/20/2026

Iris is up for adoption, but I haven't had time to write her story yet! She is a year old Aussie Shepherd mix female, who is an absolute delight

09/15/2026

09/14/2026

This is about a little dog named Max who is imperfect, This does not work in our new world of people demanding perfection. I am not sure when the world changed on its axis, maybe after Covid, but gone are the people who said “We will make it work.” (well, there are still a few I could count on one hand)
So, if you check off even ONE of theses boxes, pass this post on by.
• We have brand new carpeting…no accidents allowed
• My husband has the final say and I will wait til you and I have spent tons of time on the phone to let you know his final decision which will probably be NO. Sorry , not sorry, for taking up so much of your time.
• No shedding
• No biting
• Doesn’t need to be groomed
• Must get along with cats and grandkids
• No barking
• No digestive problems
• And so on
If you think I am exaggerating, answer my phone
Max is a year old and was put out on a porch in a cage, matted and starving, I guess to survive alone. Not sure how that would have worked. The neighbor intervened, took him and cleaned him up but had no money for vet care. She called SCARS and we took care of all of his medical needs.
Max went to a foster and although he did well, he did not g et an A for effort. He chased the cats ….a no no but a friend of hers adopted him. I will not go into details but they dumped him after four months. He spent one night in a city pound before I went to get him and he contracted kennel cough which he passed on to about ten of our dogs. UGH,,,,and all of this during an unprecedented heat wave. Not a fun two weeks.
All have now recovered and I asked my Yorkie friends to keep him overnight and give me some info. He did fine but is too rough with the other dogs who are elderly. He needs to be an only…I agree. Once again, I went to get him and she said that he rides really well in the car, so there’s that!
OK….here is total transparency. He shows his teeth to a few people and dogs,but has never tried to bite. According to the prior owners that is not true, but it is here. He smiles. He must be picked up gently or I think he would bite..but not hard. He is friendly to people and would be a great companion but NOT if you have trouble with balance, cannot bend over to pick him up, and have tons of screaming grandkids flying in and out.
Max will take work. He is loving and I have no problems with him at all. In a world of imperfection, why don’t you join our group of non perfect people and dogs, and think about a survivor who needs love and patience. Who knows, he might just be perfect in your eyes.
scarsusa.com
785-221-6247

09/02/2026

Mabel's Journey>..
On July 31, a Friday night, my phone rang. I was from a friend working at a vet clinic who had taken a call from someone in a neighboring county....in the middle of nowhere! Well, of course, it was not good news. A family found a collapsed and dying dog in their garage behind the lawnmower. Its neck was torn open and they had no idea what to do. "Becky" called us and fortunately Kelli was working here that night and we got into the car and headed out as the sun was setting.
We pulled into the driveway with several family members standing around and they led us into their garage where we saw a collapsed and immobile hound of some sort. Kelli gently leaned over, examined her, and lifted her and carried the dog to our van with the concerned family thanking us immensely.
When we got back Kelli gave her a bag of sub q fluids which she badly needed. Initially the family thought someone had beaten her almost to death, but in closer examination, she was either attacked by coyotes or a pack of dogs as her throat was torn open and she had multiple punctures around her head and body. This dog would not have survived the night without immediate intervention.
Of course, it is always a weekend but we made her comfortable and she ate a little which I laced with strong antibiotics. She made it through the night and I took her to the vet as soon as they could see her
Mabel had pneumonia and the xrays revealed questionable areas in her abdomen, which on the following two xrays, appeared to be cancer.
Her story slowly unraveled as she was microchipped and 15 yrs old.The owner said she had been gone for a month and he assumed she was dead. He however could not take her back as he himself is battling cancer so Mabel has settled in at SCARS to live out what years she has left.
Mabel spends her day in air conditioning and has decided she has earned "the good life." She lounges on the sofa at night, and eats two large meals a day. She likes to bark at the squirrels in the trees who do not seem particularly intimidated by her, but she feels she is a force to be reckoned with .
Her neck has completely healed and the pneumonia is gone. It took time and carefully monitored days. She does not know she has a slowly spreading cancer, and she does not need to because she is safe and loved now and will remain so until her journey is over.

The first pic is now, the second she is peeking into the food bowl and the last two were taken the night she was rescued.

08/25/2026

Several months ago I had a call about a little Yorkie who had made the owners mad, so they put him in a carrier, matted and thin, and left him on the porch. No food, no water. The neighbor couldn’t stand it and left a note on the carrier saying she had taken the dog and if they didn’t like it, too bad. They never came for him.
She shaved his mats but had no money for shots or neutering and called me. I drove over and loaded him in my car and got him fattened up and up to date on everything at the vets.
Max went to a friend who said she had time to work on his potty and leash training in which he earned barely passing scores. In time a friend of hers adopted him but fell ill. However, the deal breaker was he nipped the grandkid for some reason. THE END! Off he went to the city shelter where his future was questionable.
Fortunately, I found out and messaged my friend at the shelter at eleven at night who immediately responded (animal rescuers never sleep) and promised me they would transfer him back to us . He was not being totally cooperative so she probably didn’t mind losing him as a customer.
So, today I drove to get him and the staff member brought him in with a warning about picking him up.
I leaned over and looked at his little face. Hi Max, we meet yet again. I gently picked him up and off we went to the car.
Tonight he is settled in a large pen with toys and several fluffy blankets. I cooked him ground beef which he ate with gusto and I said goodnight.
Max is around ten pounds, a year and three months, and not perfect. He still has accidents, should not be around small, scary children and needs patience and love. The right home is out there, but people do not realize the hours and hours spent on the phone, posting his story, going through applications…it is not a quick fix.
When I was in high school in Japan and my father was at sea, my mother bought a French Poodle from what I now know was a puppy mill. He was cute but poorly behaved. In fact we all wore bandaids from time to time and he hated children and strangers. When my daughter was a toddler he nipped her while he was eating. My father told me to teach her to respect animals….it was never Sukoshi’s fault. When people came to our house, he went to the bedroom. I asked my Mother years later why they never got rid of Sukoshi and she looked horrified. “He is our responsibility,” she said.
Where have we gone wrong in our society. Where have we lost our compassion. Whendid we become so arrogant and judgmental. How can one just discard a precious little dog like this without taking steps to keep him safe from situations he cannot handle. How did we become such a disposable society. And when did we demand perfection from animals, when we ourselves are imperfect.
I turned and looked at his little face in the back seat when I stopped at a light and my heart melted. He looked so timid and small. He is entirely at our mercy, he has no voice of his own to fight for his rights. No, he is not a straight A student, but most of my favorite students weren’t either.
I am too full here with far too many discarded dogs, and I am very tired ,but that is no excuse. His life is important and if I rescued him once, I can and will do it again
scarsusa.com