The Los Banos Puppies
We got word of a lady who had five Bichons, and was moving to a gated community, in Southern California., and could only take 2 of her Bichons with her. We agreed to take three of them into rescue. Oh my. The two, 3 month old puppies, were in critical condition when we got them. Here is an account, as written by our volunteer.

Subj: The Los Banos Puppies
Date: 8/13/2000 1:16:16 PM Central Daylight Time
From: LitlSybil
To: Pup3

I was finally able to get the pups turned over late Friday afternoon. "XXXX" was late leaving on Thursday so made arrangements to meet Friday morning. Well, finally at 3 PM she called and now she tells me she'd had an appointment with someone who might buy one of the puppies but the person didn't buy so now she'd meet me. OK, drove down to San Juan Capistrano and somewhere around 5:30 she arrived. The two puppies were in a stupor on the floor of the car and when she brought them out they were staggering and trembling but I assumed they were sound asleep and didn't wake easily and I was new to them so we made the transfer.
During the release I'd brought a bottle of water and some dried Nutro and the puppies seemed confused but they got into the water and ate the kibble from my hand. "xxxx" couldn't believe that the little girl made eye contact with me and came right to me. She said she thought the girl particularly was "Autistic" and never looked people in the face and even when she tried to pet her she'd slink away, and the boy wasn't all that interested. Well, I already knew from Flo that Jean-Charles had a flea problem and now it was too late for me to get them to the Vet's office so I brought them home, gave them a double bowl of water and thought I should give them food and rest. The poor little things were starving but it just didn't seem right so I gave them only what I thought they could handle and they fell dead asleep. I have since found out XXXX hadn't fed them for two days because they'd never been in a car before and she didn't want them to throw up in her car. No wonder they were in the state they were in. Later Jim and I bathed them (they have that fine fly-away hair that Bungee has) and brushed out any matting, but not their ears or nails as they'd had enough, and they looked darling but still smelled very bad. Gave them more food that she'd told me she thought she gave them (Nutro - turned out I don't think that's what they had for food as Nutro doesn't seem to sell what flavor she said she gave them). They slept through the night and we went off to thelow cost animal clinic. They got their first set of shots and then had the visit with the Vet who immediately said "What's that smell?" Well, not to worry, one look at the ears and there was no question. Both sets of ears were very badly infected and filled with gooey crud and hair and they had to be left for anesthesia and thorough cleaning, flush with antibiotics, anti-inflammatory shot (low dose so as not to interfere with neuter/spay next week). Unfortunately they both came down with severe vomiting and diarrhea (worms to boot so they had worming medication as well) so they got shots for that and we brought them home with 3 types of pills and ear ointment and I/D food for diarrhea problems. The bill was horrendous $130 for the shots and worming (I have invoices for everything) and then the treatment for ears, vomiting and diarrhea came to something like $290.84, and they haven't even been spayed or neutered yet. I know it's horrible and I apologize but it had to be done.

They were completely wiped out so we kept them quiet, they had no interest in food (they'd never had canned food before, only dried kibble) so we made sure they had plenty of warmth, a comfortable crate and by the end of the day the little girl, who we've named Zoe had stopped vomiting and the little boy, now named Christopher, was still going both ends but not nearly so bad. Of course we've given them their meds and hooray, this morning Zoe (who's the larger at 9 lbs) was finished with the bad stuff, and Christopher had stopped vomiting and had what I think was his last diarrhea episode (he's 8 lbs), and both were wild with excitement to see me. There's NOT A THING wrong with their personalities. They squirm with excitement to see you, want to be in your arms, and don't have any major problem with other dogs (but they both growled at the cats at the Vet's office).

Both have long legs with the tiniest faces and will be very delicately boned dogs. Zoe's the taller of the two but just as finely boned as Christopher and once they've been chubbed out, they're going to be lovely, though not the classically shaped Bichons I've seen. Definitely have the tail over the back and faces similar to Bungee. Bear in mind I'd never seen a Bichon pup until I got Bungee and I don't even know if he's what they look like so I'm not a good judge on that score. All I know is they're darling little pups and very sweet, with no outstanding medical problem once we get the ears cleared of infection.

I'm enclosing a number of pictures with the hope that you can post them. I didn't take as many as I'd have liked to because of their condition when I got them home but I think you'll find something that you can use.
Love, Sandy

Little Christopher right after rescue.

Christopher after a BATH and vetting!!


Christopher going night night on Foster Dad's lap.


Christopher and Zoe. Zoe, on the right, has been adopted.