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BCRT is a volunteer
non-profit organization which accepts Border Collies from
owners, shelters, and other rescuers. Some rescues are
pedigreed, some look and act purebred but have no verification,
a few are known BC mixes. Rescues are 1 to 3 years old, on
average, but we do receive puppies and seniors on occasion. All
BCRT listed dogs are spayed or neutered, fully vaccinated and
heartworm free and on preventive. Due to the recent increase of
incoming dogs with Hip Dysplasia, we have elected to include a
veterinary screening for this with all of our dogs. Adoption
fees and completed applications are required. Application
information will be verified.
BCRT matches
families with Border Collies of compatible temperament and
abilities. Fosters whenever possible try to evaluate all Border
Collies with cats, other dogs, children, herding, agility,
obedience, etc. A rescue dog will bond with a new family.
Dogs seem to know when they've been 'saved' and have a desire to
work with the new people in their lives.
If you want
to help Border Collies, contact
BCRT for more
information. Foster homes are screened before acceptance.
Volunteers are needed for transporting dogs, shelter checks,
distributing posters and pamphlets, writing articles, training
for herding, obedience, agility and much more! A hard copy of
the dogs listed on this site may be obtained at no charge by
contacting BCRT.
Our Mission:
- To
provide proper emotional and physical care to Border Collies
whenever possible.
- To
spay or neuter all rescued dogs unless precluded from doing so
for health reasons.
- To
educate the public in regards to the nature, needs and natural
tendencies of a Border Collie.
- To place
rescued Border Collies in appropriate homes after proper
screening.
- To
euthanize those dogs that are unable to function properly
within society due to health or mental reasons.
- To
actively raise funds to meet Border Collie needs.
- To
respectfully come to the aid of other Rescuers whenever
possible.
- To
teach and support those individuals that have adopted Border
Collies.
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This is the face of Advanced Heartworms
 Meet
Livy, she's only about 7 years old. A Border Collie this
age should be in their prime, full of energy and full of
life. It's not unusual for them to either be working as
a herding dog or actively competing in dog sports way
into their teens.
Instead, this girl was found panting and disoriented on
Thanksgiving day and she could barely stand. The good
Samaritan that found her took her to an emergency
clinic. Her breathing was labored, she had a fever, and
she could barely stand up. Radiographs were done that
showed that her lungs were full of fluid, and her heart
was enlarged. She was taken to the local shelter and
when her stray time was up, Border Collie Rescue, Tx
took her in. She was overweight, partly from retaining
so much fluid and she was covered in mats. It was
obvious that she had been an outside dog, but her foster
found that she was crate trained and housebroken.
Initial blood tests were done immediately and showed some
irregular readings in her liver values. But worse than
that, the heartworm test showed a very high heartworm
count and the damage to her lungs and heart indicated
that she has been heartworm positive for a long time.
Border Collie Rescue spared no expense and began
treating her aggressively, hoping to get her well enough
for heartworm treatment. Every day, she was getting
weaker and the violent coughing was racking her body,
she had a fever and her tongue was turning blue from
lack of oxygen. This was all despite proactive daily vet
visits and medications. She was on steroids,
antibiotics, codeine cough meds and Lasix for her heart.
After a weeks time and this treatment, she could hardly
lift her head or walk 3 feet. She was admitted to the
hospital and was put on IV fluids and meds. After a
couple of days, Livy was dying from the heartworms, she
wasn't going to get well enough for treatment, so as a
last resort to save her, the vet gave her a heartworm
treatment. It's no doubt that her spirit and will to
live got her this far. We will continue to help her and
fight for her life. Her treatment will take months and
is very risky, every day she survives gives us hope.
The saddest, most ironic part is that heartworm
prevention costs only about $7-10 a month. Instead,
Livy
is suffering constantly and her treatment will cost into
the thousands of dollars. There's also a very high risk
that the damage is too great and she cannot survive the
treatment. Waiting to see if a dog gets heartworms to
take action is not only expensive but very dangerous for
the dog. Death from heartworms is not quick, a dog
suffers immensely, they go into congestive heart failure
and slowly deteriorate until they go into cardiac
arrest.
As with any of our dogs in Border Collie Rescue, we will
do whatever it takes to save Livy and give her a quality
life. Her care and treatment will be very expensive and
donations are not necessary prior to treatment, but any
donations will help us to continue to provide care for
all the dogs that come into our program, and it is
tax-deductible*.
Please read the updates on Livy's
treatment and keep her in
your hearts and prayers.
Click here if you would like to make a secure online
donation
Or
you can mail your donation to:
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Border
Collie Rescue Texas, Inc.
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P.O.
Box 1338
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La
Porte, Texas 77572
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* All
donations will be acknowledged by a letter of receipt.
Border Collie Rescue Texas, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit
corporation registered in Texas. |
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