UPDATE 8/6/08!

Ariel saw the vet yesterday (8/5). The vet is not 100% sure if she will make it. She is severely malnourished and very dehydrated, but he did say he was not ready to give up on her yet either, and neither is DARE!

The vet also said:

* her ears are not infected any more just dirty
* her eyes are not infected any more but they are

sunken in because of dehydration and malnourishment & that is why they are so dry & putting out mucus - we
are putting natural tears in them
* she is very dehydrated so she is getting IV
fluids under the skin every other day
* she was put on a prescription canned food, she
is actually so malnourished she is not having bowel movements, her body is absorbing every ounce of food
we put in her
* her teeth are horrible, terribly infected,
rotting - but we can't do a thing about them until she
is stable other than give her antibiotics
* she is taking a prescription liquid vitamin
called pet tinic

DARE would like to thank everyone for the numerous emails we have received about Ariel. Your concern and compassion for her has been overwhelming.

We hope that out of her story you will help us to spread the word that if you can not afford your pet, or if you have lost your home & must move to a place that does not allow pets, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do NOT turn out your pet in the streets hoping some caring person will find him or her and take your pet in & care for it. As you can see from Ariel, that does not happen for every pet and Ariel is an example of the tragedies of those cases. Anyone who can not care for or keep a pet any longer should take the animal to their local shelter,SPCA, Humane Society or contact a rescue group.

You can help my making a donation or bidding on our ebay item that we have posted especially for Ariel.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200244378103

Thank you to everyone for your generosity and helping us with her expenses. We have a long way to go and so many other dogs to take care of also. We can't do it without you!

Meet Ariel. Ironic isn't it? We've given such a tragic little dog the name of a Princess. We hope some day she'll be a princess. But right now, we are fighting for her life, literally. She is 6.5 pounds, almost 4 pounds underweight. Four pounds may not seem like much but each 1 pound for a dog her size is like 10 pounds for a human. She is so underweight, she can not even stand up on her own. She is sitting in all her pictures, which gives her the impression of looking "fatter" than she really is.

We know what you're thinking, who is responsible for this? We will never know. She was picked up as a stray. Probably turned out when the family no longer wanted her or could not care for her. How incredibly sad no one took the small amount of time to take her to the shelter or SPCA or Humane Society or call a rescue group. This would not have happened to her.

We think Ariel is about 6 years old but all we can do is guess. She has massive ear infection in both ears. She has an infection in both eyes. Her teeth are rotting in her mouth, but she is far too sick to even think about taking care of her teeth. She is missing most of her fur because she was flea infested and is flea allergic, which caused her fur to fall out. She is so weak that she could not even scratch herself when the fleas were biting her skin. Imagine mosquitoes biting you, making your skin itch terribly, and not being able to swat them away or scratch the bite when it itches. She was so weak she could not walk so she could not search for food or water, or to try and find her way back home. At some point she likely just laid down, wondering where her family was and why they were not coming to save her, just waiting to die in the 90+ degree Florida sun. Thankfully an Animal Control Officer found her in time and then called DARE.

Ariel is on antibiotics for the multiple infections she has. She is being fed soft food (since she can not chew hard food with her rotting teeth) in small increments (too much food at one time could make her throw up since she is so undernourished) many times a day to bring back her strength. She drinks on her own if you help hold her up so she does not fall face first into the bowl. She has an enormous, fluffy bed that she lays on. She sleeps any time she is not eating or drinking. The other dogs in her foster home seem to know she is in trouble. They watch over her, lay near her. We are doing all we can for Ariel. She sees a vet again tomorrow (8/5). Her recovery will be slow and will take time, and money. The sad reality is that if DARE had not taken her she'd have been put to sleep. That is no fault of the shelter, they are more than overflowing as the economy and foreclosures increase the number of pets they are receiving, they have few choices. And so the sick dogs like Ariel go to rescues like DARE.

The plain and simple fact is WE NEED YOU! Ariel needs you. A lot of DARE dogs need you.

It costs us money to take care of them. We stretch the dollars you give us farther than you can imagine. We do so much with very little. But times are hard and that means its even harder for the pets. We use all the money you give for the dogs. We don't pay any of the DARE folks. We don't have a building, all our dogs are fostered in the homes of our volunteers, so there are no fees for rent, electric or water. It ALL goes to the dogs. Please, help Ariel be the Princess we know she is. No donation is too small. All donations are tax deductible. All donors are greatly appreciated, and greatly rewarded when they see the dog they donated money toward recover and go on to be adopted into a great new home to live a happy, healthy, long life.

You can help my making a donation or bidding on our ebay item that we have posted especially for Ariel.

Please make a donation of any size by sending check or money order, made payable to DARE, to the address below. You can also make a donation online via the secure paypal link below at www.DAREtoRescue.com.

DARE
4495-304 Roosevelt Blvd.
PMB 179
Jacksonville, FL 32210

I have to start by saying that I was typing this post, quite far into it, and my cat JUMPED ON THE KEYBOARD and made it disappear. I swear she knew I was talking about her!
So, here I go again.
My cat's a bitch. Seriously, she is. When I adopted her, the rescue group told me straight up - she's a bitch. She's gorgeous and she knows it. She will run your house. I told them as far as being a bitch goes, she'll be in good company because I'm the queen bitch around here.
Let me describe Lilly to you. She's a ragdoll cat (adopted, of course). Her original owner paid $900 for her, then got terminal cancer and could no longer take care of her. She is truly amazingly beautiful. She's white and chocolate sealpoint. I'm going to post a picture, but they never come close to doing her justice. Her eyes are an amazing dark blue that the camera can never capture. She has long, luxurious, incredibly soft fur, all the way down to the bottom of her paws. Her fluffy chocolate tail has a teeny bit of white at the tip. She's just the ultimate in cat beauty. And she knows it!
When we first brought her home, she was pretty intimidated by the dogs (shh, don't tell her I told you). She was fostered with dogs, and they said she got along fine with them. But that didn't mean she had to like MY dogs! Pffft. Please. She thought they were ignorant morons. You could just tell.

She mostly hid in the bedroom.
But in time, she decided To hell with that! I'm going to let them know who's the boss around here.
So now she goes wherever she pleases in this house. And if a dog comes near her, or even looks at her funny, she smacks him.
She has no front claws (the original owner did this, I'd never declaw a cat), but the dogs don't seem to know that. She smacks them, hisses at them, and they cower in terror. I've actually seen her smack one of the dogs on her ass like she was spanking her!
She 'lives' in the girls' room, meaning her litter box and food are in there. We shut the door while she eats so the dogs don't bother her, and as soon as she gets done, she opens the door and comes out. She simply hooks her paw under the door and pops it open! And if she's outside the room wanting to go in, she simply pushes against the door until it opens.
The instant I get up from the computer chair, she gets into my chair and gets comfortable and looks like she's been there for hours. When I come back and boot her out, she gets PISSED like it's her chair and I'm disturbing her!
Everyone in this household, 2 legged or 4 legged, bows to her command.
She's not just a bitch, she's The Bitch.
And that's Miss Bitch to you!

Our dogs are not our whole life.
But they do make our life whole.

My ranking went from 40 to 18 in one day?!
Was there a glitch somewhere??