Help Needed For Little Victories.

From the Vice President, Jennifer Holley.

Hello, at the farm we have close to 100 puppies and dogs. We have many more in foster homes and also about 40 cats and kittens. We want to thank all of you who have dropped off food and supplies, but we would once again like to ask you to think of us when you are getting your groceries this week.

Feeding 100 hungry animals takes a lot of food! We feed then Purina dog chow and puppy chow and Pedigree because one brand is better for their tummies! (and the girls who pooper scoop love this!!) We also gladly accept other brands which we mix with these. As for cats and kittens, once again, Purina and we mix other brands. Any type of litter is appreciated. If you can help, please drop these off at the farm, or you can drop them off at Complete Petmart at the Target Mall Plaza (Merritts Creek) in Barboursville. They have very generously allowed us to do this to help the animals. (You can also donate by PayPal on our website.) www.littlevictories.org

Also, we need lots of heavy duty garbage bags, bleach, chlorox spray cleaner, paper towels, hand cleaner, dish washing detergent and laundry detergent. We also accept clean, used toys, leashes, collars, crates, towels, blankets, wash cloths, etc.

We also need a used air conditioner and a used clothes dryer (for so much laundry!!) if any of you have one you no longer need.

If you can help in any way, please help. We have enough food till the weekend. Every time we can save on food, we have more money for our expenses for the dogs-including utilities and vet bills, which is our largest expense. We currently have a dog who needs leg surgery, a blind one yr. old beagle who needs help, and other dogs with pressing needs. We also have about 35 puppies at the current time and some newer dogs, not even on the site yet. PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT ADOPTION, SO THESE WONDERFUL ANIMALS CAN FIND HOMES!

Thank all of you for your help in the past. The animals could not make it without you. Every time you help, go to Happy Tails and look at all the wonderful dogs which you have helped get into wonderful new homes! None of this would be possible without YOU!!!!

Therapy Dogs Can Unknowingly Carry Germs.

Definitions were gotten from Wikepedia.

As a therapy dog owner and handler, I always was very concerned about spreading germs to my patients. So, before each visit, I would bathe my dog in a all natural shampoo. i.e. no perfumes or dyes. Then, the minute before I walked into the room where the patient was, I sanitized my hands.

Well, evidently, my caution was right. I was reading an article in Dog World that says Therapy dogs may carry germs. Those germs they talked about were MRSA, vancomycin-resistant enterocci and C. difficile. The vancomycin I will explain first.

Enterococci are bacteria that are normally present in the human intestines and in the female genital tract and are often found in the environment. These bacteria can sometimes cause infections. Vancomycin is an antibiotic that is often used to treat infections caused by enterococci. In some cases, enterococci have become resistant to vancomycin and are called vancomycin-resistant enterococci or VRE. Most VRE infections occur in people in hospitals.


The next one is MRSA. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a type of bacteria that is resistant to certain antibiotics. These antibiotics include methicillin and other more common antibiotics such as oxacillin, penicillin and amoxicillin. Staph infections, including MRSA, occur most frequently among persons in hospitals and healthcare facilities (such as nursing homes and dialysis centers) who have weakened immune systems.

MRSA infections that occur in otherwise healthy people who have not been recently (within the past year) hospitalized or had a medical procedure (such as dialysis, surgery, catheters) are known as community-associated (CA)-MRSA infections. These infections are usually skin infections, such as abscesses, boils, and other pus-filled lesions.

The last one is C. difficile. Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) is a bacterium that is related to the bacterium that cause tetanus and botulism. The C. difficile bacterium has two forms, an active, infectious form that cannot survive in the environment for prolonged periods, and a nonactive, "noninfectious" form, called a spore, that can survive in the environment for prolonged periods. Although spores cannot cause infection directly, when they are ingested they transform into the active, infectious form.

So, if you have a therapy dog, or even take your dog to work and you have a friend or relative in the hospital, remember to sanitize your hands and bathe your dog after each visit. I know you can't bathe your pet if you have multiple visits in a day, but you can carry hand sanitizer and do your hands. I also carry those Clorox cloths and wipe down any area my dog touches. Plus, I have the patients use the hand sanitizer, too.

Just some information to make it safer for you and the patients, and your loving buddy.

Natural Or Chemical - Your Choice.

Hey everyone, so sorry it has been quite awhile since I posted. But, I am back and ready to get after it. Today, I want to talk about your groomer. A good groomer is like a good hairdresser for us. If you find one you and your dog like, you stay with that groomer until he or she retires or re-locates to another area away from you.

I always used all natural products in my shop. By this, I mean, organic. I felt that chemicals did nothing but damage the coat, and possibly the animal, health wise. In the summer time, fleas and ticks are a huge concern, so many people ask for their pets to be dipped with a flea dip, or have a flea shampoo used on them.

Whenever a client of mine would ask for a dip or a flea shampoo, I carefully explained that I did not use a chemical dip, and gave my reasons. The reply I most invariably got was, "well, how do you kill the fleas?" An organic dip works just as well as a chemical dip if used correctly. My dip contained pennyroyal, a natural insect deterrent. If left on for the right amount of time, it not only nourishes the dogs skin and coat, but will deter fleas and ticks. Now, remember, you want to nourish the skin, not burn it with chemicals.


Let me share a story with you from my grooming days. I had a young lady bring a Yorkshire Terrier into the salon I owned in Huntington, WV, called Doggie Do's. This dog had not a single hair on her back. Her former "groomer," and I use that term very loosely, put the dog under a sunlamp and literally burnt all of her coat off her back. She was so pitiful. So, I immediately, ran my hands over her body and felt her coat, what she had left, and found that she did have a really nice texture to her coat.

I told the owner that I had a great shampoo that had some really fabulous botanicals in it. So, we started a weekly regiment of medicated shampoo, all natural, and air drying. By air drying, I mean that I put her on my grooming table and dried her with a regular, small fan. Well, long story cut short, within 2 months, she had a full coat again.

Ask your groomer to use natural products on your dog, if he or she doesn't already. These botanicals were being used by people centuries ago, now it has been found that they work extremely well on dogs and cats.