Puppy Dogs and Sunshine----not really, it's not always this pretty.

Life isn't always a big ball of sunshine, over these high school years of mine I have come to this realization. There's no way around it. 


There's no good without bad, and there's no bad without good, no matter how hard we wish for it to work differently, it wont. I came to this conclusion after getting an email this afternoon from a fellow animal-rights advocate. He was telling me the story of a dog named Crusty, and how his owners had neglected him so much he suffered from a severe case of sarcoptic mange, they then dumped him. For those of you who don't know what sarcoptic mange is, here's my next lesson:


Mange (manj)-A skin disease of mammals caused by parasitic mites that causes severe itching, hair loss, and the formation of scabs and lesions. In humans it is known as "scabies" or "the seven year itch." The kind that affects canines is sarcoptic mange.

The mites burrow into the skin and cause a severe allergic reaction, which causes the dog to intensely scratch at its skin and raise the chances of skin damage and infection. Hair loss and crusting over of the skin is as common as it is painful. Dogs with this condition are in extreme pain most of the time and are also in the worst condition imaginable. 

Their weight drops to the point where they are just a sack of bones, their skin crusts over from the various wounds they open by accidentally scratching too hard, and the infections cause the dog to maintain a horrible body odor. 

You tell me, if your pet were suffering from something this severe would you ignore them? Would you let them sit around in pain that would make their teeth rattle? I sure as hell wouldn't.

 That baby did nothing wrong. I mean, the worst he could've done is what, pee on some slippers? Does he look like he needs to be going through that kind of pain? No. He doesn't. That's why amazing funds and people are out there fighting for the ones with no voice.

Labs and Friends.org set up a page for people to chip in for Crusty, and so far they have raised $1,366 out of the $2000 they are shooting for. I am proud to say that I donated to Crusty tonight. I thought about my dog, Jonah, and I felt the pang of pain at the image of him suffering, so I took out my debit card and teamed up with PayPal.

I feel accomplished.

If any of you guys want to help him, here's the link to his page: http://labsandfriends.chipin.com/crusty-severe-mange-dog-from-north-central.

Lesson taught. Maria out.