We currently have: 28 dogs available in Our Dogs.
PugHearts has successfully placed: 164 dogs since February 2007
Pug Hearts of Houston is a true non-profit pug rescue founded in the Houston area by dedicated pug owners and lovers. Our mission is the rescue, rehabilitation and permanent placement of needy pugs into loving homes.
FOSTER HOMES NEEDED
We have take in an unprecedented number of dogs recently. We have several dogs which are in need of a foster home but we have no place for them.
While some of our newer dogs are ill and will remain boarded at our Vet clinic while they undergo treatment, we have several more which are ready to be “sprung” from the clinic and live in a foster home.
Ever thought about fostering? Wonder what’s involved? It’s pretty simple. Are you a loving, responsible pet owner? Think you could handle one more pug to cuddle? Maybe fostering is for you!
All of our Rescue dogs receive their medical care through our Vet at the expense of PugHearts. Fosters are not obligated to pay for any medical care, including Vet visits and any medications – even monthly Heartguard. However, we do need the Foster parents to be able to take their Foster Pug to any necessary Vet appointments. Also, as we are a non-profit organization we do ask that our Foster parents pay for the food the Foster Pug receives. But that’s it!
We try to match the Foster Pug and its needs to the Foster parents. We want to make sure that this is the best possible place for the Pug to stay while we search for its new forever home. That means we match the gender, medical issues and temperament to the home the Foster will be staying. We strive to make this a happy, pleasant experience for everyone. We want the Pug to make the transition as smoothly as possible and we want the Foster parents to feel comfortable and satisfied as well.
Think you might be interested? Want to learn more? Please fill in the Contact form and select the option for Fostering. Someone will get back with you to see if this might be for you. There is no obligation. Meanwhile, check out our “Why we Foster” page to read some of the stories from our existing Foster parents. You’ll see what a difference you can make and how your life will be touched as well.
RECURRING MONTHLY DONATIONS
Friends and Supporters of PugHearts. We have now added the option of making a recurring monthly donations through PayPal.
PugHearts need for donations is never ending, due to the ongoing medical costs we incur from our long term care pugs and incoming pugs. Each and every dog we rescue receives a thorough medical examination including blood tests and chest x-rays for heartworm checks.
All our fosters are on monthly heartworm and flea treatment which is paid for by PugHearts and not by the foster parents. It is our policy that none of our foster parents have to bear any costs when caring for a PugHearts Pug and we feel that this makes PugHearts of Houston unique in our level of care.
Your ongoing donations make this possible. Thank you.
CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC
20th April 2008
We have been waiting to post an update on Jewel and her puppies until we knew for sure what was happening. Unfortunately we are still waiting but the signs are encouraging. We are happy to report that Jewel’s fever is gone and she is eating. Joey and Jennifer are still being closely observed but they are active and eating. The Distemper does not appear to have progressed. Only time will tell for sure, but we are hoping the worst is over. They will remain at the clinic for close observation a little while longer. Jewel will need to remain for her heartworm treatment but that will not begin until we are sure this crisis is over.
We thank you all for your kind words and encouragement over the past few weeks. This has been quite an ordeal. We are just so thankful that we were able to take these guys in and get them treatment. Though we are so sad we lost Julie, we are comforted to know that she passed peacefully and without pain surrounded by people who truly cared. And we are very thankful that we were able to give Jewel, Jennifer and Joey a fighting chance. This is in great part thanks to you. Without your generous donations we would not be able to provide this life-saving medical care. Thank you for giving these guys a chance at life.
WARNING
Loquat Tree Owners Please Be Careful!
It is that time of year again: Loquat trees everywhere are heavy with fruit. We felt we should pass along a word of caution for those of you with Loquat trees in your yard. Please be aware that there is a risk of cyanide poisoning for animals eating the fruit. The danger is not in the fruit itself but in the pit at the center of the fruit. Inside the pit are 2 “kernels” which contain trace amounts of a type of cyanide. If the pits are eaten in large amounts, they are toxic to animals. So don’t worry if your dog has eaten a couple of these lying on the ground, but be sure to pick up any new ones that fall so that your dog does not over-indulge.
WE'VE LOST ONE
Goodbye Sweet Julie.
5th April 2008
Our beautiful little girl Julie lost her fight today.
Julie, just last week in her Foster home.
Julie this morning before she was set free from pain.
She had taken a turn for the worse during the night with her fever spiking higher. She made it through the morning but by early afternoon her symptoms had progressed to include neurological damage. Her poor little body had no more fight left. As it appeared that she began to show signs of discomfort and distress, we made the difficult decision to set her free. She quietly went to sleep in Cindy’s arms, never to awake.
Cindy & Julie - A difficult decision had to be made.
While we grieve for this sweet, innocent little girl we have to also think of her family. Little Jennifer has also worsened and is fighting a fever as we speak.
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Jewel with her baby Julie. |
Momma Jewel continues to fight, her breathing rapid and shallow. Joey is the strongest of them all and may stand a chance to pull through this. We are hopeful for all of them but it is really out of our hands now.
They are all being given all the medical care that can be given. We can only hope and pray. Please join us.
WILL THE BAD NEWS STOP?
We have a very brave, selfless momma dog and 3 sweet puppies who are currently involved in a fight for their lives.
Jewel is a Dachshund mix who came to us with 3 pug mix puppies. Obviously daddy was a Pug and the puppies look quite a bit like him. We have named them Joey, Jennifer & Julie.
Upon taking them all in, we had them checked out by our Vet. Unfortunately Jewel had been out on the streets for a while and tested severe heartworm positive. As she was nursing at the time it was not possible to begin aggressive treatment. This sweet girl has given everything she has for her puppies. She has been an excellent momma, nursing and caring for these babies to give them the best start in life she can. Sadly, this devotion may cost Jewel her life. In giving all of her energy to them, she has left herself very weak. As if the heartworms were not devastating enough, we now believe that she and the puppies are suffering from distemper.
There is no test for distemper, but she and the puppies are demonstrating the classic signs. Jewel is now on IV fluids and antibiotics. She has stopped eating completely. She is running a fever and is very lethargic. As Distemper is a virus and there is no “cure” for it, we can only treat the symptoms and give supportive care. The heartbreaking fact is that there is a readily available vaccine to prevent distemper. Had Jewel and her babies not been living on the street this would not have happened.
As Jewel has progressively worsened, the puppies have now started to show the early symptoms. Jennifer & Julie have now stopped eating too and have low grade fevers. And all 3 puppies have started losing weight.
This is so frustrating. These poor little creatures are victims through no fault of their own. We got them too late to prevent this. And we may have found them too late to save them but we will certainly try with everything we can.
While the medical care can be expensive and we would certainly appreciate any help with that you can give, we would ask that if you cannot give money please give a prayer. These sweet little babies can use all of the help they can get – in any form.
OPRAH TO DO PUPPY MILL SHOW
We are so thrilled to share with you that Oprah will be featuring an investigative report by Lisa Ling on her show this Friday, 4/4/08. This is such an important topic and we know that Oprah and Lisa will do it justice!
So tell all your friends, co-workers, neighbors and family! TiVo it, DVR it, or if you haven’t yet joined the 21st century, videotape it! Then watch it and share it with everyone you can to help get the word out about how puppy mills operate and where those cute puppies in the pet store come from. We have had several of our rescues come from mills and we know what goes on there – it’s about time everyone else had a chance to see for themselves.
MORE INFORMATION ON THE OPRAH SHOW
FOSTER HOMES NEEDED!!
Thought about fostering? Now is the time. We are in urgent need of foster homes. If you are interested please complete the Contact Form. We are looking for a special type of person who is ready for the challenges and rewards of being a foster parent. Prior experience is a plus but is not necessary.
If you think you would like to be a foster parent, take the first step and complete the contact form. We will then contact you to discuss what is involved.
PAWS IN THE PARK
03/29/2008
We would like to give a big Thank You to those of you who came out to see us at the Paws In The Park celebration at Independence Park in Pearland. It was a great success for all involved. We had a terrific time, met lots of great people and had a chance to spread the word about PugHearts as well as heartworm prevention and treatment.
Carry Watts of Pearland Parks and Recreation
(Back wall: Poster of our dear departed Winston ready for the Heartworm Talk)
Cindy gives a talk on Heartworms
We had a double booth set up with several of our available rescues meeting the public. One of our current rescues, Bunny, was even chosen by PetCo to participate in their doggie fashion show! She had the time of her life and thoroughly enjoyed her run on the catwalk.
Bunny in one of THREE costumes she wore for the Fashion Show
Though we never adopt out any dogs during these events, it is a good way to increase word of mouth about our rescue. While we had several people come to us and say they did not know of a Houston Pug Rescue prior to seeing us, we are thrilled at the number of people who came by and said they knew of us and had visited our website. Thank you for that!
Levi
Bunny
And thank you to Pearland Parks & Recreation and Pearland Animal Control for supporting Rescue!
You can view more photos from the event here
UPDATE AND A THANK YOU
It’s been a little while since we’ve posted an update here at PugHearts, so we wanted to let you know how some of our babies are doing thanks to your generous donations towards their medical care. We are thrilled to report that we were able to meet our goal of $5000 thanks to all of you "chipping in" to help us! That may sound like a lot of money but with all of the expenses we have had lately it is going fast. We have surgeries and diagnostic tests to pay for, not to mention a lot of medications. This is all in addition to our everyday costs for vaccinations, spay/neuters, microchipping and heartworm prevention. We rely on your donations to help us cover these costs and you have come through for us once again. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Patsy has been on steroid treatment to help shrink her mast cell tumors. We have also been trying a bit of homeopathic medicine too. We are pleased to report that she is doing quite well and has no visible masses at this time! We will continue to watch her closely to see if any tumors reappear.
Caleb has a bit of bad luck lately. We were unable to start his heartworm treatment as he developed stomach issues. He has been diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome and is currently going through treatment for that. He has experienced relief since being put on medication for that but will be tapered off this week. We are hoping that the IBS can be controlled by diet after that. Now that his stomach is better, he will be starting the heartworm treatment in the next couple of weeks. We have our fingers crossed and are hopeful that his treatment goes smoothly. We will post updates on him to let everyone know how he is doing.
Samson has had a month of ups and downs. He has gained weight and strength and more of his personality comes through every day. He is a happy boy who is dealing with his illnesses with much dignity and courage. He still has a lot of congestion in his lungs and is still on antibiotics as well as daily nebulizer treatments. Of course his gait and head tilt are unchanged and will remain. Unfortunately he has had complications with his right eye. When he came to us he had resolving ulcers on both eyes. The left eye continues to heal without problems. However, the right eye has ruptured which resulted in loss of fluid. It appears that he has lost all function in that eye now. If he were physically able to tolerate surgery, we would have the eye removed. But as his lung function is so impaired, that is not possible. So we are keeping the eye moist with drops and antibiotic ointment to prevent infection. We are hopeful that we can get his lungs clear enough to withstand surgery. He also has several small mast cell tumors that we would like to remove should he be admitted for surgery. In the meantime, he is comfortable and happy. If we cannot fix him, at least we can keep him as content as he is now. We will post updates as his story progresses.
We have also taken in a couple of new pugs with health issues this past month. China came to us severely neglected and ill. Her eyes were coated with debris because of chronic dry eye that had been untreated. She underwent hourly eyewashes at our Vet’s office for her first couple of days with us. Once we were able to clean up her eyes we found that she was able to see some light and shapes. In addition to her eye issues, China was suffering from a bladder infection, ear infections and a severe skin infection due to untreated flea infestation. She was doing much better once placed on antibiotics and medicated baths. However, earlier this week she stopped eating. She is now being treated for Colitis and is making good progress. Thankfully she is back to eating and seems comfortable. We will of course post updates on her as she continues to recover.
Izzy came to us with symptoms resembling a head injury. She has difficulty walking and appears to have vision issues. We have consulted a neurologist who ruled out head injury as a cause. It is possible that she is suffering from hydrocephalus (water on the brain) but it is also possible that her neurological symptoms are due to a liver shunt causing brain damage. Izzy is on medication for a liver shunt right now to see if she has any improvement. Placing her under anesthesia for an MRI right now is just too dangerous so we are trying conservative therapy. We are hoping that through the process of elimination we will find out the cause of her symptoms.
Levi is a little guy that we thought had a bad sinus infection when we first picked him up. However, after 4 weeks of antibiotics, his sinus draining kept coming back. So we took him to have a head CT to find out if he had a growth in his sinus tract. As it turns out, this poor little guy has been suffering from a cleft palate – probably since birth. What this means is that he has a hole in the roof of his mouth with has allowed food and liquid to leak into his sinus cavity every time he eats. This explains why the poor little guy has to pause frequently while eating and why he keeps getting sinus infections. He will be having surgery to close the hole very soon. After that, he should have a normal life with no further infections or problems eating. We will let everyone know how he recovers from the surgery.
Obviously there are a lot of expenses with these guys. We want to make sure they all have the best chance at a normal life. We thank you for all of your generous donations which allow us to give these guys that chance. We know if they could, they would thank you themselves.
PUGHEARTS EMERGENCY LINE
281 968 4958
Got an Emergency? Need to Surrender? Found a Pug? Know of a Pug in Danger?
GENERAL QUESTIONS? PLEASE USE THE CONTACT FORM
INTERESTED IN ADOPTING?
Here's a quick step by step process on what you should do...
- Click the Pugs? tab at the top of this website to read more about the breed. Taking the time to do some research about the breed will ensure that this is the right breed for you.
- Look over the Our Dogs section to see if we have a pug available that would be a good match for you and your family. Any dog listed in this section is available unless their bio states they are on medical hold. As soon as a dog is adopted out they are moved to our Success Stories page.
- Complete an adoption application using the Adopt tab on this website. Be sure to answer every single question as an incomplete application will not be processed.
Remember, there is no obligation or commitment when you fill out an application. Even if you are approved, we will not place a pug with you until you (& we!) are certain you have found the perfect match.
To make sure of this we will conduct a home visit as well a Meet & Greet with you and your potential adoptee. Our goal is to make sure that our Rescues find their true FOREVER home and never find themselves homeless again.
Thank you for supporting PugHearts of Houston Pug Rescue!
FOSTER HOMES & DONATIONS
As we are a non-profit rescue, we rely solely on donations from people like yourself to fund our dogs' treatments. We have had a influx of Pugs with extensive medical problems. If you click on the Our Dogs page you will see the full stories on some of these cases.
We rely on your donations and the help of volunteers to care for these dogs. We urgently need help in both of these areas. We need more donations as well as people to volunteer their time. If you or someone you know can open their homes to foster a recuperating pug or help transport our fosters to & from Vet appointments then we ask that you please use the Contact form to let us know. We desperately need your help.
