Posts in Category: AHF Grant Recipients

A week and a half before Christmas in 2014, Mary Parmer and her son Bill were in her Apple Valley home when there was a sudden eruption of noise outside – barking, snarling and shrieking.

They quickly investigated and discovered their two small dogs – a Corgi mix named Lucy and a Chihuahua mix named Lady under attack by three large dogs in the yard next door.

Before the three large dogs, including a Boxer mix and a Pit Bull mix, could be chased away from the smaller dogs, Lady was dead and Lucy had suffered severe lacerations.

“We didn’t have a car here, so Bill ran to a neighbor’s house and asked them to take us to the vet.  Lucy was ripped open in several places. She had surgery and was in [Bear Valley Animal] hospital several days, then she came home. But she had to go back for more surgery a week later. And she had to go back for more treatment after that.”

Mary is a retired widow who worked part-time for 25 years at Victor Valley College and Bill had been laid off from a maintenance job there so there was little money to pay Lucy’s bills.  The hospital suggested Angel Fund, which stepped in with $500, a sum matched by the hospital. Mary is grateful for the assistance that saved her pet’s life. A daughter helped her with subsequent veterinary bills.

Lucy still shows signs of the trauma she suffered.  Now about two years old, “she has good days and bad days and every now and then you can tell that her wounds still bother her,” Mary said. “She has trouble jumping. She is usually a very active dog and sometimes she gets real still and doesn’t have much energy.”

Before the attacks, Lucy slept on her bed, Mary said.  Since Lucy could not jump up on the bed during her recovery, Mary made herself a bed on the floor and slept there with Lucy for a few weeks after her surgery.

For a long time after the attacks, Mary said, Lucy would go out in the yard and look for Lady. “She missed her so much.  So we went out and got her another pal. They have a great time together.” The new dog is Crystal, also a Chihuahua mix.

Lucy came to Mary’s house originally when a friend found her at the side of the road not far away.  “She couldn’t keep her so we took her in. We checked with animal control and people in the neighborhood but no one claimed her.” That was about six months before the attack by the neighbor’s dogs.

The two yards are separated by a wooden fence. “I don’t know how our dogs got into their yard. I think the big dogs dragged them through the fence,” Mary said. The three large dogs still live next door, although all is now peaceful.

Courtesy photo Monterey Park Police K9 Robin, with handler Agent Peter Palomino, recently received a $950 protective vest as a donation from nonprofit organizations Vested Interest in K9s Inc. and the Animal Health Foundation of Lake Forest

If you live in Southern California, you probably remember the story about the Monterey Park K-9 Officer Robin being stung by bees while helping to apprehend a suspect.

Thousands of people were praying that the beautiful black shepherd would survive the bee attack.  And, he did.

Officer Robin’s handler, Peter Palomino, wanted to protect his partner in other ways as well and put in a request to receive a bullet-proof vest for Robin.

The Animal Health Foundation who had partnered with another local police department to donate a vest was contacted by Vested Interest and donated a custom-made vest for K-9 Officer Robin.

Press Release from Monterey Park Police Dept.

On June 26, 2015, the Monterey Park Police Department’s K9 Robin was awarded a ballistic vest thanks to nonprofit organizations Vested Interest in K9s, Inc. and the Animal Health Foundation of Lake Forest, CA who provided $950 for the vest. The vest will be embroidered with the sentiment “This gift of protection provided by the Animal Health Foundation.” This is the second vest to be awarded to a Monterey Park K9 this year since K9 Veeda in May.

Vested Interest in K9s, Inc. is a 501c (3) charity located in East Taunton, MA. whose mission is to provide bullet and stab protective vests and other assistance to dogs of law enforcement and related agencies throughout the United States. Each vest costs $950 and has a five year warranty. The nonprofit was established in 2009 to assist law enforcement agencies with this potentially lifesaving body armor for their four legged K9 Officers. Through private and corporate sponsorships, Vested Interest in K9s, Inc. provided over 1,395 law enforcement canines in 49 states with protective vests since 2009 at a cost of over $1.3 million.

Vested Interest in K9s, Inc. also announces their signature tank top is now available online for a $20.00 donation at www.vik9s.org. Proceeds will provide bullet and stab protective vests, for police dogs actively working without the potentially lifesaving equipments.

The organization orders the U.S. made vests exclusively from distributor Regency Police Supply in Hyannis, MA. who also does the custom embroidery on the body armor. Vests are manufactured by Armor Express in Central Lake, MI.

New K9 graduates as well as K9s with expired vests are eligible to participate. The program is open to law enforcement dogs who are U.S. employed, certified and at least 19 months of age.

For more information regarding Vested Interest in K9s, Inc. or to learn about volunteer opportunities, please call 508-824-6978. Tax deductible donations accepted via mail to: Vested Interest in K9s, Inc. P.O. Box 9 East Taunton, MA 02718 or via their website at www.vik9s.org

The Pasadena Star News wrote this story:

By Melissa Masatani, San Gabriel Valley Tribune

About three years ago, Julie Waters found a young female cat she named Sabrina alone in a parking lot. “She was a stray and she was tiny,” Julie recalled. “But ever since she came into my house – she was just a couple of months old – she has been in charge. I have another cat and big dog but Sabrina is the boss.”

In December, 2014, more than a year after finding the kitten, Julie noticed that the usually high energy Sabrina was lethargic. “She wasn’t interacting with the other pets. She was just laying around a lot. I thought maybe she was sick but I didn’t think it was anything serious.  One of my friends saw her after a week and she said, ‘She doesn’t look good. You should take her to the vet.’ I was thinking the same thing. Sabrina wasn’t getting any better. So I took her in and it was like, oh no, this is really bad!”

Julie took her cat to Redwood Animal Hospital in Redondo Beach not far from her home.  Dr. Veronica Pirotto examined Sabrina and found “a mass of some sort. Sabrina was very uncomfortable when she was touched in the abdomen.  Two days later, they did exploratory surgery. They called me while she was still on the table and said that they needed to send her to a specialist. She was going septic. All the tissue around her organs was infected and there was some leakage into her kidney. If she doesn’t have surgery to remove the infected tissue she is going to die of kidney failure, the doctor said.”

Julie took Sabrina home with medications to keep the infection at bay and made an appointment with Dr. Mary Somerville at Animal Specialty and Emergency Center, also in Redondo Beach.

Dr. Somerville performed surgery to remove the infected tissue. “But she called me and said that Sabrina needed a second surgery to removed one of her kidneys. Dr. Somerville quoted me a price of $3,500 for the first surgery and the hospital stay. And with the second surgery and longer stay, it was going to more like $5,500. But she honored the original quote. She was really wonderful.”

At the time, Julie had just earned a graduate degree at Cal State Dominguez Hills and had begun the 3,000 hours of practical work needed to qualify for a license as a marriage and family counselor. She is self supporting and had little income. She did not know how she could pay for the surgery. “It was very scary,” she said. “My cat was just a year and a half old. She is not supposed to be dying of kidney failure. And I was like, I can’t afford this [second surgery].  I could barely afford the exploratory surgery.”

The doctors and staff at Redwood told Julie about Angel Fund and helped her apply. They also told her about other foundations that might help.  And, she said, they provided her with free services.  “I am very thankful to them and to Angel Fund because that whole time was so stressful. My grandmother passed away in surgery a week before Sabrina had her surgery and that whole time just feels like a blur.” Julie now has her counseling license and is launched on her career.

And Sabrina still runs the house. “She has so much energy,” Julie said. “She is totally the boss of the house again. . . . She is a hussy.  That’s what she is.”

On an August morning in 2014, Robin – a writer and editor who lives in West Los Angeles – heard a cat crying in her courtyard.  “He was yelping and he was really upset. He just kept crying and crying,” she said, “and his mouth looked swollen.”

Robin, who asked that her last name not be used, recognized Tarzan, a friendly cat who lived outdoors in the neighborhood after his owner died. eH “At first I thought he had an abscessed tooth. I could see he was in pain. . . . So I took him inside and started researching veterinarians on the internet.”

Robin took Tarzan to the Westchester Veterinary Center and Cat Clinic. “When I got there, I explained that I was not Tarzan’s owner and that I was just a concerned animal lover. The staff . . . was really friendly and concerned about the cat,” she said.

A staff veterinarian said Tarzan’s jaw was shattered and that he needed surgery. She said that he probably had been hit by a car.

“I sat inside the exam room with Tarzan and I was massaging him and talking to him and the [clinic] staff was talking about what to do.  Someone came in after a while and said that I could apply to Angel Fund for Tarzan’s surgery. I said I was willing to chip in $150. Angel Fund and the clinic paid the rest.”

Dr. Henry Yoo, owner of the clinic, did the surgery. “He did an amazing job with Tarzan,” Robin said. “There were a couple of months of feeding him with a turkey baster and going to the clinic regularly for follow-up appointments. The people at the clinic were always friendly and helpful.”

The time she spent caring for Tarzan had an impact on Robin.  “After a couple of months,” she said, “I got very close to him. And I didn’t want him going back outside. It’s healthier for cats indoors [where they’re unlikely to pick up diseases] and there are no cat fights.  And I certainly didn’t want him to get hit by a car again. So I just had to adopt him.”

And, she said, “without Angel Fund, who knows what would have happened to him. He might have been put down. I really think that the clinic and Angel Fund saved his life.”

Today, she said, you can’t tell he had surgery. “He’s a special cat. He eats normally and has a good appetite. He has a lot of energy. He’s very clean and he was always really friendly. One day I woke up and he was lying there beside me.” She thinks Tarzan is “teen or pre-teen” in age.

Are she and Tarzan living happily ever after? “He is.  I am.”

Are you doing it together. “Exactly.”

In June, 2014, Ligia Solano noticed that her dog Khloe was urinating blood.  “It was a lot of blood,” she said, “not just a little bit.”

Ligia was worried so she took Khloe, a fetching Shih Tzu mix, to Pomona Valley Veterinary Hospital.  Dr. Tahir Khan did an x-ray and urinalysis. “He told me she had a bladder stone,” she said. “You could see it on the x-ray.  And he told me he could do the surgery and it would cost $1,500.

“I told the doctor and the receptionist I didn’t have that amount of money.  I was worried because I wanted to take care of my dog. She’s been with us since 2009 and she’s part of the family.  She’s like my baby.”

The receptionist told Ligia about Angel Fund. She filled out an application form and submitted the documents the foundation asked to see.  “They told me they would review my paperwork and see if I could qualify,” Ligia said. “Thanks to God and thanks to them I qualified.  And I only had to pay $300.”

Dr. Kahn did the surgery and Khloe – who is about 7 years old – is fine today, Ligia said. “I have to buy her prescription food and it’s much more expensive. But it’s worth it because I love my dog.”

People at the hospital “were so kind. They care about the dogs.  They tried to help me as much as they could. Every time I go there they make me feel very, very welcome.  They’re really good.”

Ligia, a part-time dental assistant, lives in Chino with her husband Leonel and Khloe. She expects that Klohe will be a part of her family for many more years.

In November, 2014, the Montoya family’s dog Blue was having problems.  “He was showing signs for about a week,” Vera Montoya said.  “He lost his appetite and stopped eating.  I thought he might have eaten some of the kids’ Halloween candy. But then he didn’t eat for two days and he had a fever. Then he had a seizure. “

Mrs. Montoya, who was not working at the time, said that she didn’t have pet insurance and not much money to spend.  “I felt kind of helpless.  I didn’t want to take him to the hospital, knowing I didn’t have any way to pay for it.  I didn’t know then that there were places that offer people financial aid in those situations.”

But Blue, a pitbull, was shaking and feverish.  So she took him to an emergency hospital near her home in Santa Ana. “They took x-rays and found a small piece of metal that had punctured his intestine. And they told me that he needed emergency surgery.”

Vera told the doctor that she could not pay a surgical bill. He told her he would not do the surgeryH and he gave her the names of hospitals that he thought could help. The next day, she took Blue to one of the hospitals. The doctor said he could not do the surgery without payment and wanted $70 for the consultation.  “It was kind of hard right there,” she said.

In the meantime, she had gotten a call from one of the other hospitals – Mesa West Pet Hospital in Costa Mesa. “They said that they could treat Blue. So we rushed right over there.  The doctor took him in to emergency surgery and she did what she could for him.  She found a piece of metal and we tried to figure out what it was.  After careful consideration, I think it was from a spiked collar we had bought for him but never used. It was hanging on a door knob and one of the spikes was missing. He loved to chew on anything he could get ahold of and we think he chewed on the collar and swallowed it.”

The hospital suggested seeking Angel Fund help. Vera filled out the forms and was granted nearly $500 in assistance. She is grateful for the help that gave Blue a chance to live.

The hospital did not have 24-hour staffing so Vera was told that she should take Blue home at night and bring him back in the morning. “The first night, we brought him home on a gurney because he was heavily medicated. . . . He woke up at 4 a.m. and I offered him some water but he didn’t want a drink. The next morning he seemed to have bounced back – very resilient. He seemed almost himself but he was weak. We took him to the clinic and he looked at me like he didn’t want me to leave him.  I was planning to pick him up and bring him home later that afternoon.

“But at 2 o’clock I got a call from the clinic. The doctor said: ‘He didn’t make it.’ She said he had had a seizure and didn’t survive.”

Today the Montoya family has another dog, a Rottweiler-pit bull mix. “We got the dog because my five children were so heart broken. We mourned for several weeks and it just seemed like we couldn’t get past it. We’d never had to deal with death before and it was so hard. I got the new dog to try to help us recover.  It’s still a very hard thing to discuss.

“Blue slept in my oldest daughter’s bed.  He was close with the entire family.  When I was pregnant with my two-year-old, he knew it and when I came home from the hospital, he was very welcoming of the baby.”

Vera now is employed in a medical office and her husband, Bladimir, works in maintenance and as a janitor. Their five children range in age from 2 to 20.

“In my culture we celebrate Day of the Dead,” Vera said. “So it was ironic that it was on November first [when Pulse initially contacted her]. And I thought it was really surprising because I was doing the best I could to remember Blue – all the wonderful things about him.”

Goofy’s owner is homeless and Goofy is the only family she has:  “…he is my son and the other half of my soul…”  When Goofy was attacked by a German Shepherd while on a walk with his owner, she didn’t know how she was going to pay for the needed veterinary care for Goofy.  Thanks to Drs. Weatherford and Toro at the Tustin Santa Ana Veterinary Hospital applying for an ANGEL FUND Grant from the AHF, Goofy is recovering from his wounds!

K9 Robin, with handler Agent Peter Palomino, recently received a $950 protective vest as a donation from nonprofit organizations Vested Interest in K9s Inc. and the Animal Health Foundation of Lake Forest.  Courtesy photo Monterey Park Police

MONTEREY PARK >> A police K9 officer received a ballistic vest recently after the Monterey Park Police Department received the needed $950 in donations, officials said.

K9 Robin received the equipment June 26 from nonprofit organizations Vested Interest in K9s Inc. and the Animal Health Foundation of Lake Forest, Monterey Park police Sgt. Gus Jimenez wrote in a statement.

Vested Interest in K9s provides protective vests for $950 and offers a five-year warranty. Vests provide the law enforcement canines some protection from bullets, knife attacks and other dangers.

Robin’s vest will be embroidered with the sentiment “This gift of protection provided by the Animal Health Foundation.”

This is the second such piece to be awarded to a Monterey Park K9 this year. K9 Veeda received one in May.

Thank you Lomita Pet Hospital for applying for an Angel Fund Grant to help Angus!