Zilla's dream residents at Vet Taxi Pet Transport

Lobster

Lobster came to Zilla's Dream about 2 years ago. I found him driving back from work
one night. He was in the middle of the road crawling, which made me stop thinking he
was hit by a car. To my happiness, I realized there really was not anything wrong
with him physically, and he looked like a 6 month old puppy. Little did I know at that
moment that he was hurt mentally. I brought him home like the rest, thinking it should
be easy to find a home for a cute little puppy. In the next few days we had him, we
realized he was scared to death of people, and could only crawl around trying to get
away from us which made us call him Lobster. He loved the rest of the animals and
was just a happy puppy as long as no human was around. A few days later, he got
away from us in the yard, and that was the last time we could get close to him for 8
months he lived outside. Nothing could make him come out of the shed he kept
hiding under. He would come out, eat and drink, play with the rest of the dogs, and
even horses as long as there was no human around, but run and hide under the
shed the moment he thought we will come out. Through this time, we realized he was
here to stay, too. We tried everything we could think of to make friends with him to
no avail. 8 months later, still scared to death of us, I realized he hurt himself, so I had
to drug him to get him to a vet. He is a neutered healthy dog, that actually loves us
even wags his tail and climbs on our laps now, as long as there is no other human
around. He lives inside with the rest, and once in a blue moon he even allows us to
catch him outside. He is a dog that lives on his own terms most of the time,
nevertheless very happy, playful and loving deep inside. He makes us laugh
regularly, and surprise us constantly. He is our much loved special ed child.

BRUNO

Our latest addition came to our lives 2 months ago, right around Valentines Day. He
traveled over an hour at the back of a pick-up truck to get to M.A.S.H. where I worked.
He possibly was hit by car the night before and had a broken leg and was very
underweight. The owners that brought him there had him only for 1 week and allowed
him to roam free at night. As this breed is virtually invisible in the dark, he got hit by car.
And now, they did not have any money even to pay for the exam. Poor Bruno lay on the
blanket we provided, as they tried to decide what to do with him. 18 months old,
beautiful purebred Neapolitan Mastiff without a place to turn. I called and left a
message with a Neo mastiff rescue volunteer but never got a call back. At this time, I
had nothing to do but take his responsibility and try to help this poor boy.

Dr. Nwadike of Mid-Atlantic Animal Specialty hospital performed the surgery. He had to
place a pin and a plate to hold the leg together. The outcome seemed miraculous even
to me who has seen many surgeries of this type. Bruno almost didn’t even have a limp
right after the surgery. M.A.S.H gave us a much discounted price of $1500 and chance
to make payments. Bruno thanks all the staff of M.A.S.H for their generosity and efforts
in saving his leg. He will have many years to enjoy this gift he was given.

Now started the grueling task of keeping this puppy calm and in a crate for 2 months.
This was no easy task; poor Bruno could not understand why we would punish him and
keep him in a crate. After all, he was a great puppy. He got along with our 4 other dogs,
was very respectful and also house broken. He chewed a few things here and there but
I believe this was because of boredom. During this recuperation period he got vaccines
and got tested for heartworms. He was POSITIVE. It would have been wrong to think
that people who would shoot him with buck shots, let him roam would keep him current
on heartworm prevention. Yes, you did not hear wrong, Bruno also has many pellets
from buck shots all around his body including one in his eyelid. By recommendation of
Dr.Gordon a close friend of mine I used to work with, we put Bruno on Heartguard. He
possibly will still need to be treated when he is better and the drug to treat the disease
becomes available (possible cost of another $1500)

Although not diagnosed, Bruno possibly also has hip Dysplasia and will need to be on
supplements for the rest of his life. Although he went through a lot in his short life of 18
months and was never treated right by people, Bruno never stopped wagging his tail
when he saw us. Amazingly he still had a lot of love and trust for people and just
wanted to be loved.

Bruno had his final X-Rays at M.A.S.H yesterday (4/6/05) and Dr. Nwadike allowed him
to gradually go back to normal activity. So, Bruno will be ready for adoption as soon as
the right family is found to love and care for him for the rest of his life.

UPDATE: BRUNO WAS ADOPTED BY A VERY NICE FAMILY AND LIVED WITH THEM
FOR 1 MONTH BEFORE WE REALIZED THIS WAS NOT THE RIGHT HOME FOR HIM.
HE CAME BACK TO OUR FARM, AND HAS BEEN DOING WONDERFULLY WITH OUR
FAMILY. BECAUSE OF ALL HE HAS BEEN THROUGH, AND SO MANY NEW HOMES
HE HAD BEEN THROUGH IN SUCH A SHORT TIME, WE DECIDED HE WILL NEED TO
STAY WHERE HE FEELS VERY COMFY AND HAPPY. WITH THE BOYLE PACK AT
ZILLA'S DREAM FARM.