My Aunt Tina started Cody’s Friends Rescue to make a difference. When she was younger, she adopted a five-week old Shih Tzu puppy and named him Cody. Cody experienced a lot of health issues because he was mill-bred, and puppy mills can force dogs to live in terrible conditions.
After eight years, Cody passed away, and Tina wanted to help prevent any more dogs from being treated badly, so she created Cody’s Friends Rescue! My Aunt helps connect people who want to help dogs who need a home, either through fostering or adoption! Her team has rescued over 1,600 dogs so far, y’all – DANG.
This is something that’s really close to my heart and our hearts as a family because of our girl Lola! If you haven’t heard Lola’s story, we found Lola on the street after she’d been hit by a car. Her hip had been shattered, she had pelvic fractures, she had to have multiple surgeries that YOU GUYS made happen.
It was honestly such a traumatic few days and and exhausting few weeks trying to take care of this little girl, but thanks to you guys, my aunt, everyone who helped advise me and the LORD, my Lola girl is happy and healthy! She even walked up the STAIRS on her own the other day. The vets told me to put her down. People said her quality of life wouldn’t make the surgeries worth it. And now she’s dancing around to “her name was lola” like the sassy little mama she is!
My girl is still alive because we all believed in her. There are THOUSANDS of dogs out there that aren’t so lucky. But we do have the power to help when we choose #adoptdontshop, when we support charities like these, and when we make sure that we are being responsible with the animals God has given us.
How does she take care of 25+ dogs at once!?!
Okay so back to my Aunt Tina – taking care of 25+ dogs at once is a CHALLENGE! Having so many dogs in one place means that disease can spread like wildfire, so she has to be really careful to keep everything clean and disinfected.
She likes to use Clorox® Clean-Up® Cleaner + Bleach because the bleach knocks out those germs like POW POW! Toys, food bowls, surface areas – they all have to be disinfected.
Do you know what Puppy Parvo is? It’s a super contagious virus that’s common in dogs. It can make them really tired and lethargic, vomit, lose their appetite and lose weight. SEVEN OF THE DOGS SHE HAS RESCUED HAD PARVO. So she has to be extra, extra careful to disinfect everything and make sure the pups don’t spread their germs to each other.
Disease can spread really easily in dog rescue centers because of the close proximity AND because not all of the pups will have gotten their vaccinations yet. Canine distemper is another virus that can be fatal. However, prevention is included in basic vaccines – if these pups get adopted, they have to be vaccinated… So seriously, adoption could save their lives in more ways than one!
Here are a few areas to make sure you’re regularly disinfecting in YOUR home to keep your dog and other dogs safe!
- Disinfect their toys. This might be the number one! It’s so easy for disease to spread through saliva left on a toy. Make sure you’re using a diluted solution of some Clorox® Regular Bleach₂! For hard, non-porous toys, soak or wipe them with a bleach solution made up of ½ cup of bleach in 1 gallon of water. Wait 5 minutes before rinsing. Air dry. Easy as that!
- Clean up after them thoroughly and right away. It may sound obvious, but just make sure to be quick and to do a good job when they make a mess. If they go to the bathroom on the floor, or throw up after getting into the trash (*cough* Hazel), don’t just wipe it up – make sure you get in there with some Clorox® Clean-Up® Cleaner + Bleach to really kill those germs and keep them from spreading.
- Don’t forget their collar, leash, and bed. If you use fabric collars etc, throw them in the washer and use cold water. You can also easily hand wash them, too.
Our furry friends need our help, but thankfully, there are good people out there like my Aunt Tina who are willing to give it. If you’re thinking about adopting a dog in Dallas, hit her up! She has plenty of dogs who would love to join your familia!
xo,
Dani
Thank you to Clorox for sponsoring this post. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.