About Newf Friends

Newf Friends Newfoundland Dog Rescue is a volunteer run, foster home based rescue group for Newfoundland Dogs in need in Ontario, Canada.
We place Newfs into carefully screened homes in Ontario and surrounding provinces and states.
Established in 2008.

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Visit our Frequently Asked Questions page for general information about our program and our adoption policies and procedures.



Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Ella

Ella's newspaper debut......more updates to follow...

Click the image to see it in larger size


Ella's first vet visit -- September 21

Ella weighs only 3.08 lbs at 5.5 weeks of age
She is underweight and dehydrated
She has myositis in that stump -- has likely had a terrible infection for several weeks

Ella does not have a fever, which amazed her vet. This is very good news -- shows she is strong and a fighter. She SHOULD have a fever given how infected her stump is.
Ella is alert, bright, feisty -- all good signs

So first things first we are waiting on her blood results. If her liver or kidneys have been affected by the infection we may not be able to save her depending on the extent of the damage -- we will have to make that decision once we have her blood work back.

Good news is her urine sample showed that she is concentrating her urine well -- indicated proper kidney function.

Her urine this morning was milky, probably pus, so a bladder infection secondary to the infection in her stump is likely.

So, we have started her on antibiotics. I have some recovery food to add to her Orijen to get weight on her. I am to continue with salt water soaks twice daily....and we will make decisions once her blood results are back.

We will amputate the stump if the infection has not already spread to her organs. If we are able to amputate, we will need to get her weight up a bit first and clear the infection. Kim believes she can save the shoulder and just remove the leg bones -- but it is difficult to say for sure given how enlarged her stump is at the moment.

So, little Ella needs some positive thoughts. I hope we got to her in time. If the BYB had just taken her to a vet the infection could have been prevented. Instead she has a life threatening infection that may have progressed beyond the point of us being able to save her.

Update: Sept 22nd

Good news, good news!

Ella's bloodwork shows that her organs have not been terribly compromised! The infection had not yet spread through her body.

She does have a nasty UTI -- caused by ecoli. Likely entering via the wound on her stump. Hopefully we will be able to clear it with one round of antibiotics.

Her serum protein levels are low -- which would be caused by her little body fighting the infections. We can not safely amputate the stump until her protein levels rise, since her ability to heal after surgery would be too compromised. The vet figures we will be at least 2 weeks getting her levels back up, so we will recheck at that time.

One kidney enzyme was elevated, but that would be due to dehydration, and should sort out now that she is getting adequate fluids.

The challenge will be getting the stump to dry up over the next two weeks, and keeping her from re-injuring it.

This is all good news.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

It takes a team to run a rescue -- and we're looking for more team members.

For those of you in Ontario who are interested in helping out with rescue we are always looking for volunteers.

There's lots of ways to help out so you don't need to jump in with both feet if you're more of a stick-your-toe-in-the-pool kind of person.


A few key areas we always need help with:


1. Foster Homes - short or long term - this is our greatest need. Most of all we need fosters who offer home-like settings and a structured environment. This can be a home with or without other dogs. We also have a need for emergency kenneling (including quarantine areas) throughout the province--and this can include outdoor kennels.

2. Fundraising -- we need help with fundraising in any capacity. We are not only looking for people to help out with this but we need someone to fill the role of Fund-raising Coordinator--overseeing all fund raising initiatives.

3. Home visit volunteers -- we always need people who can do a home assessment for us to assess potential adopters across the province

4. Help with transport - this could be driving a Newf to the vet, picking a newf up from a surrendering family and bringing them to a foster home, or helping with a leg of transport across the nation. Whatever you can manage.

5. Intakes/Assessments -- this would involve meeting with a surrendering family and assessing/possibly picking up the dog and all of the paper work involved with that.

6. Behavioural assessment/training -- any pros out there who can spare some time?

7. Photographers -- sometimes the dogs are too far away for me to go and photograph them so we need volunteers in different areas who are skilled at capturing the perfect petfinder picture. You would need to be able to visit foster homes to take pictures of
dogs. Not all of our foster families have cameras!

8. Reference checks -- We need volunteers to check personal and vet reference of potential adopters.

9. Writing a newsletter -- we'll be starting our own newsletter soon -- but for now we add articles in HART's newsletter. Please, someone volunteer to do it, I am terrible at this!

10. Anything else you can think of -- we always need help!


So please, if you have been thinking about helping rescue but are not sure of what to do to help, drop us a line and let us know you are available -- we'll find something for you to do!
And for those of you in other parts of Canada, why not contact your area rescue and see if you can help? We have a full listing of reputable rescues across Canada on our Newf Rescue Resource Site www.newfrescue.ca

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Liam

Thank you everyone who offered help with Liam's transport.

Arrangements have been made for his trip to Ohio thanks to the generosity of a Newf lover who just happens to be driving from Toronto to Ohio this weekend. Liam is one lucky guy who gets to hitch a ride to his new home.

Thank you!

Need Help with Transport

We are trying to fill in a few remaining legs of a rescue transport for this Sunday, Sept 13 to help get a very special newf from Ontario, down to his new home in Ohio.

Here is the Proposed transport route for Liam. Here's the map with each leg broken down, showing roads, etc. We could break legs down further to accommodate drivers that can only fit in a shorter leg, but we are trying to keep this as stress free as possible for our special boy. He's been through a lot.


Times need to be verified. I am allowing 15 minutes for a potty break, drink and chin scratches between legs -- and am asking drivers to be at their pick-up location 15 minutes before scheduled driving time.


Sunday, Sept 13 -- if you know anyone who can help with a leg please have them contact me at blacknewfs@hotmail.com

A) 830 am -- 1130
Lindsay, ON to Niagara Falls, ON
Covered

B) 1145 -- 1
*Meet on Canadian Side of border preferably*
Niagara Fall, ON - West Seneca, NY
NEEDED

C) 115 - 245
West Seneca, NY -- Erie, PA
NEEDED

D) 300 - 515
Erie, PA - Akron, OH
Covered

E) 530 - 730
Akron, OH -- Zanesville
NEEDED


Thanks for any help you can offer to get Liam to his new life!