Gordita is a two year old, daschound-mix female who arrived in the Humane Society of Cozumel early May 2008. A concerned citizen found her lost, wandering the downtown streets and brought her to us. She was in relatively good health and not too skinny, which meant she had not been alone in the streets for long, but she had a terrible neck wound around her neck from having been kept tethered with a string or a wire, probably since she was smaller which made the string dig into her skin three quarters of an inch in some parts.

She was the sweetest dog from day one, happy to be at the shelter amongst friends. And with the help of antibiotics and daily wound care, Gordita´s neck healed quickly. Yet she lingered for quite a long time, as no potential adopters seemed to set eyes on her. She eventually became depressed, even though the staff did everything they could to cheer her up. As, luck would have it, on the last day of an intensive spay/neuter campaign, during which we had a lot of traffic, a very nice lady who brought another pet to spay took notice of her. She walked with her for a little while, they got to know each other a bit, and soon after the adoption papers were signed. Gordita was finally on the way to her forever home the next day, and there was not a dry eye amongst the staff and volunteers as she left with her new owner.

Lucky is a 2 year old street dog, who in spite of a few scars seemed to fare quite well on his own. Fairly small and light-footed, marked under-bite, coarse shaggy coat and interesting hazel eyes, he is quite a charmer. Being foot-loose and collar-free, he befriended Valentín, a young guy from Tabasco who works at a restaurant. Every night, Valentín brought scraps from work for his friend (whom he called Ponchis), and they spent time together while Val waited for his wife to come out of work. The couple would have loved to adopt him, but they lived in a small rental apartment, and dogs were not allowed. They did secretly keep a rabbit, but a dog would be impossible to hide.

One night, we received a call for help: Valentín had found the dog after several days of being missing, and his eye was hanging out of its socket. Dry blood was all over his face, and he still seemed to be in good spirits. He was so lucky to have been found by his friend. Ponchis spent the night at a volunteer’s home, and the next morning he took a long bath; probably for the first time in his life. He stayed for more than an hour in a tub with warm water, wagging his tail and patiently letting us remove an incredible amount of ticks of various sizes. The scabs came off from his face, and it was evident that the eye could not be saved. Our vets enucleated the eye that day. Also that day, Valentín made a decision: they would find an apartment where a little dog would be allowed; and his name would now be Lucky.

During the time that Lucky received his medical treatment at our shelter, his new owners found a home for all of them. Roughly three weeks after his accident, whatever it may have been, Lucky went home with his new family.

Little Layla arrived at our shelter in June 2008, brought to us by someone who found her wandering the streets, very sick and very, very skinny. She was so badly infested with fleas that we called her Pulga (flea in Spanish). Pulga was extremely weak and depressed when she arrived, and had a nasty abscess on her neck from so many flea bites. She was in such poor shape that she required for one volunteer to take her as her project, otherwise she would not make it. Our volunteer Andrea stepped in to nurse her and baby her, in addition to the medical treatment she was receiving. Her energy soon got better, but she still had this very sad demeanor and always wanted to be held., which made it difficult finding suitors to adopt her.

Then along came Liz and Michael Ritchie and daughter Emily, long time friends of the Humane Society who visit the Island several times a year. They always stop for a visit and take one of our dogs out to their condo at the beach for some playtime. Pulga was a good candidate for 11 year old Emily to provide extra love and care. A few days after, it was a done deal. Pulga could not be separate from Emily or she would start crying bloody murder, so they decided she had to move to Pensacola FL with them. They re-named her Layla and she now lives in a lovely farm, with a variety of animals including miniature donkeys.

Three kittens were literally thrown in the vicinity of our shelter. We didn’t even know it had happened until a neighbor came to tell us about it. He saw a car pass by in front of the shelter and some little things were thrown out the window. We rushed out to look and there were two of them, totally helpless newborn kittens laying on the dirt in the middle of the –luckily not busy- dirt road. We picked them up, followed a faint meow coming from the bushes and found the third one. They were so young that their umbilical cords were still attached.

Every spring and fall we get overwhelmed by litters of puppies and kittens. Mostly people bring them to us, sometimes they just leave them in a box by the gate. But this was a first. Still, we were glad they were not dumped elsewhere.

One of us was foster mom for these little ones: bottle-fed them every three to four hours, wiped them frequently like a mama cat does, stimulated their bellies so they peed and pooped, kept them clean and warm. Two girls and a boy, they were named India, Trouble (yes, the boy) and Tigrilla. All three got all the love and care needed right away and they all three took to the bottle beautifully. They were de-wormed and medicated for diarrhea, and they seemed to respond very well. However, Tigrilla stopped eating by the fifth day, and by the seventh she didn’t wake up.

India and Trouble continued to grow healthy and strong, India always smarter than Trouble, and Trouble always more adventurous –and accident prone- than his wiser sister India.

Like other times we foster siblings, our dream is that they get adopted together. It might have been easier had they been white with blue eyes, or had a peculiar fancy feature. But these little ones were tabbies, like the majority of the cats at the shelter. So, we looked beyond our borders. It was a bit convoluted and involved networking, but it happened. The Eric Holby Animal Welfare Foundation (for cats) sponsored their flight, a friend of ours escorted them from Cozumel to Minneapolis, and a volunteer from the Holby foundation picked them up and drove to their permanent home, together, in Chicago. India and Trouble will be one year old this April.

These puppies are very special to me because I fostered them. They came to the shelter one morning in a plastic blue crate; eight tiny babies with no mother. Terrible diarrhea and vomiting took all their energy. They required small and frequent amounts of fluids, medicines oral and injected, constant cleaning, etc. They were so infested with worms and other parasites that in spite of our best efforts and my nights of little sleep, 6 of the 8 puppies slowly wilted away and died. As I saw the first 6 little ones perish, my hopes that the last two would make it were getting slimmer all the time. The morning that I feared I would find them dead too, I walked in the room to find both of them sitting up looking at me. Both heir heads hanging low, small, weak and skinny but steadily wagging their tails. They had made it! From that day on they started making slow progress to full recovery. A few days later Beano weighed 600 grams and Scooby was already a bit over 1kg. Still, he held his ground as top dog and she conceded gladly. She would want to play, but he could barely hold his own weight so he would tumble down and struggle to get up with the cutest little growl, scolding his stronger sister. He went to another foster mom for a couple of weeks because he needed someone who could dedicate all day to him. She did wonders, and after three weeks of a lot more efforts they were both beautiful and healthy.

Now the challenge was to find a home for the two puppies together. They had had such a rough start in life that we really hoped they could enjoy each other after all they went through. And it happened! Their owner is a retired lady who was more than ready to adopt both puppies. Lucy (Scooby’s new name) and Beano get several walks a day, go to the beach, tussle at home, and when it is bed time they sleep like angels next to their favorite human.