06/02/2026
After a more than 12 hour day, I’m finally sitting down to write this. I tried to make this short, but it is going to be long because a lot happened today.
Kayla and I finally had time to go get tags for the van. We were so excited. We dropped off Clover and Brisket at the vet, headed to the DMV (which proved to be a pain because apparently they don’t deal with many nonprofits), and planned to get a quote for van decals.
Then we got a video of an emaciated dog.
Thanks to someone stepping up to foster Stitch, we were able to make room. We’re still over capacity. Still behind. Still exhausted. Still wondering how we’re going to catch up. But that’s rescue.
We headed out to look for the dog in the woods but had no luck. We needed another sighting before setting a trap, so we decided to leave and hope she’d show herself again later.
We stopped at Walmart for a few supplies and then headed to the decal shop. After that, it was time to pick up Clover and Brisket.
Clover had a rough day. His ears were in terrible shape. He’s been miserable for who knows how long, and honestly, we are angry. The neglect he suffered means he’ll likely need ear medication for the rest of his life. Both ears were badly infected and one had started bleeding. He had to be sedated so they could thoroughly clean them out. While he was there, he also received vaccines and a surprise neuter since they had a surgery canceled. Unfortunately, he also tested positive for heartworms. We’ll be starting treatment soon, and tonight I’ll be spending my evening putting ice packs on his swollen neuter site because he is extremely swollen and apparently that’s what my life looks like now.
Brisket has been dealing with pretty severe diarrhea and vomiting. Thankfully, all of his tests came back looking good, and he actually had a much better night last night. He went home with some tummy meds, and we’ll be keeping a close eye on him. We’re hoping it’s nothing more than a simple case of garbage gut.
We left the vet (today’s total: $453.83) and headed toward Kayla’s house.
We *almost* made it to her driveway.
Then we got a call.
The super skinny dog was back.
The same dog we’d been searching for earlier.
So, we turned around and headed straight there.
Y’all… she’s a puppy.
We drove to my house, unloaded Clover and Brisket, and Kayla headed home with our newest rescue. We had a foster step up, so while we are still over capacity, we were able to make space. I’m leash walking everyone because we still need to build a secure fence, so Kayla stepped up and I am so thankful. Leash walking a million dogs is a lot on top of everything else.
This little puppy is covered in hundreds of ticks and fleas. She’s painfully thin. She reminds us so much of Calypso, who came to us with a body condition score of 1.
And then, just to put a bow on the day, our accountant sent over last month’s numbers. We ended the month more than $4,000 in the hole. So that was fun.
BUT we are going to focus on the good.
When we got to my house we noticed we had two more crates delivered and then Kayla got home and there were so many donations from KKids (a Northside elementary group) So, that made things a little better. 🥹
The dogs are all safe. Everyone has eaten. Everyone has their meds. We’ve finally showered. And now, for the first time today, we’re about to sit down and eat.
If you’d like to help with today’s vet bill, Clover’s upcoming heartworm treatment, or the care this new puppy needs, you can donate through Cash App, PayPal, Venmo, Zeffy, or directly to Jacksonville Animal Hospital. The comments will have the linktree. From there you’ll find all donation options, including the vet’s number.
Thank you for reading our novel tonight. 🥲
And thank you for helping us continue this work. 💕
