Hurricane Assistance/ Letter From Sara Rhodes/ We Have Only Two Days. Higgins Is In Agonizing Pain And Must Have Surgery.

Early Tuesday Morning, Sept 3, 2019

Gem Of The Day: Every animal has his or her story, his or her thoughts, daydreams, and interests. All feel joy and love, pain and fear, as we now know beyond any shadow of a doubt. All deserve that the human animal afford them the respect of being cared for with great consideration for those interests. ~Ingrid Newkirk~

First of all, if you are in Florida, and you and/or your dogs are in the path of Hurricane Dorian, Vickie Inglee, our Florida Team Leader, sent out an e-mail last night to you, making sure you are safe. Please check in with her when you can. If you need to evacuate, and need a place to go and stay with your pets, please let her know at vette99@tampabay.rr.com. If you are in other states up the eastern coast, and think you may need a place to go, with your pets, let me know at robin@smallpawsrescue.org.

Over the past 21 years, we have moved dozens of Small Pawsers and their dogs, cats, birds, AND a rabbit to safety during previous hurricanes and this one is no different. Listen to your city, county, and state officials for instructions. If they say to evacuate, DO IT! You and your babies are precious to us!

We are all praying for everyone’s safety! 

Higgins” is in desperate need of bilateral (Both ears) surgery on Thursday, Sept 5.  That’s when the surgeon can do it. He is in acute pain, which they are controlling for now, but the vet and surgeon both say he can not wait any longer.

Please see below. This is very serious.

 See Vet Bills Paid by Small Paws Rescue for August, 2019 coming to

$28,889.42 which is an average of $931. 92 per day.

To make a one time donation, or a monthly donation to Small Paws Rescue, you may use your major credit card securely, at this site. Enjoy our new, user friendly, secure site to make your credit card donations.

If you’ve made a past donation by credit card, you may e-mail Louie Bertolino at louieb@smallpawsrescue.org to let him know the amount of your donation for the Bichons.

You may also call Louie on his cell phone at 1-337-3Bichon (1-337-324-2466)

Louie is on Eastern Standard Time!
(Please leave a message and Louie will return your call if he is not available!)

You may also send a check or money order to:
Small Paws® Rescue Inc.
3316 S. 72nd. W. Ave.
Tulsa, Ok. 74107

Dear Small Pawsers,

My husband of almost 34 years, Dale and I, took our first vacation in three years, last week. 

My sincere and most heart felt thanks to Joanne Raus, National Team Leader, as well as a member of our Board of Trustees, and to Bonnie Ferguson, our Director of Adoptions, for covering for me.

While I was gone, unfortunately for Joanne and Bonnie, emergency rescues were happening left and right. And they handled them beautifully. Sara Rhodes helped as well. Thank you to all of you!

RIGHT BEFORE AN UPCOMING HOLIDAY WEEKEND, “Higgins” in the Chicago area, was seen by one of our Board Certified Surgeons, Dr. Andrea Hayes, VMD, DACVS, at

Boone Animal Hospital

4720 Commonwealth Ave.

Western Springs, IL 60558 

“Higgins” has “Cauliflower Ear” in both ears. This is EXTREMELY painful to him. He screams if not sedated. He just turned six years old. This is how we found him in the shelter. (He must have met a Bichon, sometime.) He was in truly agonizing pain, alone and scared. He was scheduled to be euthanized that day at the shelter. After all. who was going to adopt him? What rescue could afford his care?

We have had him two weeks now. We tried treating this horrible neglect with antibiotics and our regular vet, Dr. Paul Blasso, sedated him and tried to see if he could see in the ear canal. He could not.

Thankfully, he had the expertise to know that Higgins needs a Board Certified Surgeon.

What is “cauliflower” ear? It’s an Aural Hematoma.

WHAT IS AN AURAL HEMATOMA?

A hematoma is a fluid-filled swelling created by a broken blood vessel after bleeding has occurred inside a tissue. Hematomas within the ear flaps (“aural hematomas”) occur when head shaking breaks a blood vessel within the ear flap. The ear flap may partially or completely swell with blood. The swelling may be so large that the opening of the ear canal is occluded. The extra weight of the ear flap may be uncomfortable and may lead to a permanent change in the carriage of the ears. This condition is more common in dogs but can occur in cats as well. The ear flap will feel fluctuant and fluid-filled, like a water balloon.

His ears are filled with infection.. We have treated him with antibiotics but the ear canal is completely closed, trapping the infection inside. There is blood and pus pressing on his ear drum. The surgeon has to go in there, remove the growths. open up both ears and insert drains.

We can not leave him in this pain. 

It would be cruel and inhumane to leave him in this pain. That’s probably why he was at the shelter.

He just turned six years old.

From: Sara Rhoades <pacess4@att.net

This is Higgins who was rescued a couple weeks ago. 
Julie Lyne took him to see Dr. Hayes at Boone Animal Hosptial to have an evaluation on his ears. He has been at our vet since coming into rescue because he needs daily pain medication and antibiotics. He has horrid ear infections that went untreated that have cause his ears to become “cauliflower “ ears.  We emailed the estimate to you! He is in pain and needs surgery ( bilateral ear ablation).  Please forward to the mailing list as soon as you can! He has been suffering for a long time! 

This is the estimate for the surgery which includes a 20% rescue discount.

It is for between $3,443.97 and $4,129.08 after our rescue discount. He just turned six years old.

We checked and this was the best price we could find in the area for this type of surgery.

So we have today and tomorrow, Wednesday, to tell Dr. Hayes if we have raised the funds so we can do this surgery.  I’m going to send out another mailing with pictures and estimates of our latest rescues a little later in the week, but Higgins is our first and most important priority at this time. I am here and will issue all matching challenges for our little Higgins. He’s ours now. And we are going to love him like he’s never been loved before. All My Love, Robin 

How to Become a Much Needed Small Paws Rescue Foster Parent!

South Texas, North Texas, and Chicago are most in need! 

A POEM TO MY FOSTER DOG
By Diane Morgan

I am the bridge,
Between what was and what can be.
I am the pathway to a new life.

I am made of mush,
Because my heart melted when I saw you,
Matted and sore, limping, depressed
Lonely, unwanted, afraid to love.

For one little time you are mine.
I will feed you with my own hand.
I will love you with my whole heart.
I will make you whole.

I am made of steel.
Because when the time comes, 
When you are well, and sleek,
when your eyes shine,
And your tail wags with joy
Then comes the hard part.

I will let you go-not without a tear,
But without a regret.
For you are safe forever–
A new dog needs me now.

 See Vet Bills Paid by Small Paws Rescue for August, 2019 coming to

$28,889.42 which is an average of $931. 92 per day.

To make a one time donation, or a monthly donation to Small Paws Rescue, you may use your major credit card securely, at this site. Enjoy our new, user friendly, secure site to make your credit card donations.

If you’ve made a past donation by credit card, you may e-mail Louie Bertolino at louieb@smallpawsrescue.org to let him know the amount of your donation for the Bichons.

You may also call Louie on his cell phone at 1-337-3Bichon (1-337-324-2466)

Louie is on Eastern Standard Time!
(Please leave a message and Louie will return your call if he is not available!)

You may also send a check or money order to:
Small Paws® Rescue Inc.
3316 S. 72nd. W. Ave.
Tulsa, Ok. 74107

Ya’ll Come to the 21st Small Paws® Rescue Oklahoma Bichon Bash, Oct 18 & 19, 2019! Hurry to Make Your Reservations as Sleeping Rooms Fill Up Fast! We Have Two Rooms Left!

___________________

 You Are Also Invited To The Emerald Coast Small Paws® Rescue Charity Festival in Beautiful Destin Fl. Sept 27-29, 2019!

The Day Of The Bash Is Sunday, Sept 29, 2019 

Support SPR by doing your shopping at Amazon with this link! If you are going to shop AMAZON anyway, why not help the Bichons while you do it! We get checks from Amazon Smiles quarterly! Small Paws Rescue Inc. has received $14,040.46 as of June 12, 2019 since Amazon Smiles began!

How to Become a Much Needed Small Paws Rescue Foster Parent!

South Texas, North Texas, and Chicago are most in need! 

Dear Small Pawsers,

Welcome to the Small Paws®  Rescue Online Newsletter, especially to those of you who may have seen us over the years on our guest appearances on Fox and Friends in New York City, or on Animal Planet on “Dogs 101.”, or you may have read about us in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Find Your Happiness, 101 Stories about Finding Your Purpose, Passion and Joy . You also may have seen us on “Inside Edition” with Deborah Norville! (To see backstage photos of one of our trips to NYC and Fox & Friends, click here.)

Also, Small Paws Was Featured on a “The Chicken Soup for the Soul Podcast”. It’s was an interview of how Small Paws Rescue was born, almost 21 years ago! 2019 was our 21st Anniversary!

How to Become a Much Needed Small Paws Rescue Foster Parent!

Support SPR by shopping at Amazon with this link! If you are going to shop AMAZON anyway, help the Bichons while you do it!

Dear Robin,
Dear Charity Administrator,

Your current charity Small Paws Rescue Inc.
has received $11,818.27 as of October 2018 since Amazon Smiles began!

Companies Who Match Employees Donations

If you are going to shop at great stores anyway, why not help SPR at the same time and use Igive.com? Join now for free and select Small Paws Rescue Inc. as your cause!

This is the link to sign up for Small Paws Rescue!

The iGive Support Team

P.S. If you want to track how your cause is doing, please visit http://www.iGive.com//html/causestats.cfm.

We have links up here to our SPR Cafe Press Store for SPR Logo Items.

Try GoodSearch.com as your search engine and as your online shopping portal!
Small Paws is signed up and each time you use it, either to search or to go to an online seller, funds are sent to Small Paws for the Bichons! You can buy those shoes at Zappos and those books at Amazon *AND* donate to Small Paws Rescue! Try it out! So far, Small Pawsers have done over 100,000 searches and have shopped to raise $$2,641.38 for Small Paws Rescue!

How to Become a Much Needed Small Paws Rescue Foster Parent!

See how we REALLY feel about our volunteers!

Florida Charity Registration # CH37698

Humphrey Sisco
Dec 26, 1993~ Aug 30, 2006

When I first saw this beautiful picture of Cheri Sisco’s “Humphrey”, I thought it was truly the epitome of what we do, and why we do it. I wanted to use this black and white picture of Humphrey, taken only days before his death due to congestive heart failure, to let those who may be new to Small Paws, know what we do and why we do it. Without Small Paws, Humphrey would have never known love. He would have died in a kill shelter, sick and alone. Because of Small Paws, and Cheri Sisco, he lived, he loved, and he smiled.

(All recipients of the Small Paws Rescue newsletter receive it voluntarily. Small Paws never gleans e-mail addresses from other e-mail lists. Small Paws never solicits e-mail addresses or shares them with other “lists” or organizations.)

(Always remember. God loves you more than anyone else ever has,
and more than anyone else ever will!)