Before & After

Buttercup

Buttercup was adopted as a puppy from a local shelter, only to be dumped 6 years later at a kill shelter. Luckily we saw her and got her out ASAP, working with Project Rescue Chicago. She was treated for an upper respiratory infection and received a once over from the vet. A few weeks later she was adopted to a family who had two autistic kids. She loves them and has provided them with comfort and stability in return for a great home.

Red

On a visit to a local shelter, I was stunned to find the fattest little dog that I have ever seen. Red was cowering in the back of his cage and shaking uncontrollably. Seeing that kind of fear and sadness in a dog’s eyes is something that stays with you. It is what keeps you up at night and what keeps many volunteers away from open access shelters.

To say that Red was obese would be an understatement at 18 pounds. Red’s legs would tremble when he stood up and when he tried to sit down they came out from underneath him. When you looked at his front legs quiver it was as though you were watching two twigs about to snap. Once taken to the vet, it was discovered that Red was in poor health due to his obesity. Red was pre-diabetic, had crystals in his urine, bladder infection and we feared kidney damage. Poor Red’s front teeth were even rotting. TAF worked with our vets and our boy has beautiful teeth and is nice and lean.

After weeks of working with him Red met his perfect new mom and got the happily ever after he deserved.

Trea

TAF first came across Trea at a TAF-sponsored volunteer day at AWL's intake facility. She had been surrendered for unknown reasons and while everyone loved her, she was very stressed and unhappy. Fortunately Project Rescue Chicago also fell in love with her and knew they had an open foster home who would take her.

TAF sponsored her medical care. While she was at the vet for her spay surgery, a large growth was found in her uterus which made all of us very nervous. We were very relieved to learn the growth tested benign and Trea was listed for adoption.

A few months went by while this chocolate chunk was living in a foster home with another dog and two cats. A few weeks ago she caught they eye of a great friend of PRC and they set up an intro with their dog. It was a perfect match and Trea has officially been adopted! 

Payton

FANTASTIC NEWS... TAF sponsored Payton has found her forever home!!!

When TAF came across this little puppy she was suffering from mange and needed immediate vetting. Even though her buddy Birdie was stealing the limelight, our little puppy Payton was being treated behind the scenes.

Now... Payton has a wonderful new mom and dad that love her and a new best friend for life!

Thank you to Project Rescue Chicago for working with us and finding Payton the perfect forever home!

Albert

TAF helped to sponsor senior Albert who was surrendered to a shelter with his two canine family members after their owner could no longer care for them. Albert was suffering from a terrible skin infection, allergies, and tested positive for heartworm infection as well.  His road to recovery was long but with the right food and medication, plus a lot of TLC, Albert made a full recovery and was adopted to a wonderful home thanks to Young at Heart Pet Rescue.

Dozer

Dozer's story is a horrible one. Dozer was shot by someone. He was able to run to the neighbor's house and hide under her porch. Even though the elderly woman was initially afraid of Dozer, she protected him for days. Dozer sat under her porch, untreated, for 5 days. During this time, Dozer repeatedly scratched at his gunshot wound. His wound is now 8 inches long, 4 inches wide and has a depth of 1 inch. Dozer’s wound was severely infected, he was positive for heartworm and was in very bad shape. He was hospitalized for  almost two months, received several surgeries, and ultimately recovered. TAF was thrilled that one of the veterinary technicians who had cared for him through his terrible ordeal wanted to adopt him. He now lives with her and has a wonderful life! 

Eloise

TAF came across Eloise on a trip to AWL's intake facility with Project Rescue Chicago. She was slated to be euthanized but we begged them to give us a few days to raise money to help her.

Eloise was urinating blood and trying to urinate often but with little to no success. The vets needed to do an ultrasound and urinalysis to see exactly what is going on. We assumed that she had a urinary tract infection and very possibly bladder stones. She also had an upper respiratory infection that required x-rays to ensure that it is not pneumonia. She also desperately needed a dental and a full senior blood panel to ensure that she had no pre-existing conditions before going under for surgery. 

Luckily, TAF raised enough money to take her into our program and PRC agreed to take her.

Once she received medication and her initial ultrasound, Eloise was starting to show signs of improvement. Sadly, her health dramatically crashed and she was very very sick with pneumonia. She was hospitalized for 10 days at the vet on IV fluids and antibiotics until she could finally shake the illness.

Fast forward several months...after living in a wonderful foster home, Eloise met her perfect new mom and was adopted! She now is showered in love and affection and will never be without again. 

THANK YOU to all our supporters who helped TAF save Eloise...she deserved it! 

Geiger

Geiger was turned in to Chicago Animal Care and Control after some sort of accident. The vet’s at the shelter amputated his arm and he was left without pain medicine. Fortunately he came to TAF where he immediately went to foster with Sue, the Founder and President of TAF.  Geiger is hands down the friendliest chihuahua that I have ever met. He will let you do anything to him and the best part is that he loves to socialize and play with other dogs. He has helped countless foster dogs and other little dogs in the TAF program heal from their wounds. He is one in a million!

Farmer

Look who is healthy… FARMER!!!

TAF first came across Farmer on 11/13/13 at a local open access shelter. The poor guy had open oozing sores all over his body and his paws were easily 3 times the size that they should have been. He was defeated and looked like he just wanted to die.

When we talked to the facility about pulling him, we were told that he had to be held for 10 days because he was microchipped. As senseless as this seemed, it is the law in Illinois and we had to abide by the rules.

Finally, on the evening of 11/21/13, with the help of Project Rescue Chicago, we were able to pick up Farmer and get him to our vet first thing in the morning. 

Farmer underwent a slew of testing to try and determine the reason for his medical condition.

Right off the bat, it was confirmed that Farmer had a temperature of 105 degrees and that his gums were pale. Initial blood work confirmed that he was anemic and a skin scraping tested negative for both demodectic and sarcoptic mange. It was at this time that bite wounds were also ruled out.

As Farmer sat quietly in the room, his raw skin could not stop twitching because of the exposed nerves in his open wounds. The pain that Farmer must be experiencing would bring many of us to our knees. The poor guy’s paws were still so swollen that they look like water balloons about to burst. There were no signs of a tail wag or even a glimpse of light in his eyes.

It was at that point that Farmer was hospitalized on IV pain medications, fluids and antibiotics. If his quality of life didn’t improve soon thereafter, we knew that we had to consider his quality of life and do what was most humane.

On 11/25/13, the biopsied tissue, that was sent off to the lab, was able to also rule out blastomycosis, allergies and a reaction to flea bites.

At this point, we decided to continue treatment and kept Farmer on his IV fluids, strong IV pain medications and antibiotics. Farmer was also sedated so that he could have his wounds cleaned out and his dead skin debrided (removed). 

Once Farmer’s fever started to go down, we knew that his immune system was kicking in and that there was a good chance that he was going to make a full recovery and… he did just that.

After weeks of hospitalization and months of vet visits and skin treatments, our Farmer is now happy and as healthy as could be. Just look at that smile on his face!

Abigail

The day after Trio passed, I visited a local open access shelter in hopes of finding a female pitbull puppy to save in Trio’s honor. As fate would have it, I stumbled across a sickly little puppy that had been at the shelter for quite some time. The moment that I realized she was the one I scooped her out of her cage, wrapped my arms around her and buried my face in the crook of her fuzzy little neck. It was then that I decided to name her Abigail as that was Trio’s original name.

I swear this puppy knew that she had to put on a strong face at the shelter because within an hour of coming into TAF’s care, her health quickly deteriorated and she was hospitalized with pneumonia. After weeks of hospitalization and vet visits, our baby girl pulled through and was ready for adoption with the help of our friends from Project Rescue Chicago. The day that PRC let me know that they had found the perfect forever home for Abigail I was elated. As hard as it was to say “goodbye” to Abigail, I knew that she was destined for great things. I am happy to say that I receive almost weekly photos of newly named “Hazel” and it is absolutely wonderful to see her with the beautiful family that loves her unconditionally. As you can see from the photos, Hazel has hit the jackpot and is the luckiest dog around… truly a fairytale ending.