Tuesday, October 27, 2009

TOYS FOR TOTS

Please help ABC Veterinary Hospital suppport San Diego families this holiday season by donating an unwrapped toy to TOYS-FOR-TOTS!!

You can drop off at ABC Hospital
330 Rancheros Drive
San Marcos 92069

Thursday, October 8, 2009


This little surFUR girl... is surfin' for paws-abilities!!


Click here to see Channel 8's segment of me tandem surfing with adaptive surfer, Patrick


My path in life was to become a service dog breeder for
Puppy Prodigies, and provide service dog puppies to assistance dog organizations for people with disabilities. But, as I grew, so did my interest in chasing birds, and small, furry prey animals! That's a no-no for a service dog. A "board" meeting was held, and my career path changed. Because I still want to help people, my title went from service dog to SURFice dog! I want to take my natural ability of balancing on a surfboard, and make it meaningful... I want to make a difference. So, rather than a litter of puppies being born... Surfin' for Paws-abilities was born!... which is a fundraising initiative carved out for me through Puppy Prodigies. So, I'm still able to be part of Puppy Prodigies! Yay! But, now I'm a fundraiser instead of a breeder. Hmmmm, I think I'm going to call myself a FUNraiser though!
My mission is, to achieve my highest surfing paw'tential so I can participate, and compete in dog surfing events to financially support individual charitable causes through organizing, leading, and coordinating fundraising campaigns.Most surf dog contests raise money for their own specific charity(s) through registration fees, vendor charges, raffles, etc. So, I'm already helping charitable causes in an in-direct way.
But, I want to do more with my surfing. I want to take it a step further and make it more up close, and personal... helping a specific individual or cause. Often, when I enter a competition I make sure it's ok with the contest organizer, and if given the paws up, I may surf for an individual with a disability, an adaptive surfer, an athlete with a disability, an individual pet, or other causes. By doing this... I'm able to unleash more paws-abilities!
Often, when I enter a contest, a person/cause is chosen to fundraise for. What usually happens is people make tax deductible monetary donations for the specific charitable cause I'm surfing for. I also try to find individual sponsors from my family, friends, or generous strangers! who would be willing to make a larger tax deductible donation if I win first, second, or third place in the contest. So winning generates more funds for the charity! I also collaborate with other people/dogs who want to assist me in my fundraising efforts by getting additional pledges from their family, friends, co-workers, etc.
In addition to those type donors... I "hunt" for corporate sponsors who would be willing to match the total donations of individual donors, or make a larger, lump sum tax deductible donation. If you'd like to hang loose and support my surfing efforts,
see below for the Paws-abilities events coming up! If you're interested in becoming an individual or corporate sponsor, please surf on over to Sponsors/The big Kahuna's page, or send an email to pawinspired@aol.com. I get extra specially motivated to win when I know someone is sponsoring me! Pawabunga!!!
All donors will have their name on the sponsor page, and corporate donors will have their logos on that page too, plus other benefits! After the contest is over, all the proceeds go to the individual or cause I fundraised and surfed for, and any videos, photos or other paw'parazzi stuff, along with results are emailed to all donors and sponsors.
In addition to donations, if you'd like to support Surfin' for Paws-abilities in other ways, It'd be rad to have your help! You could volunteer to join
Team Ricki and assist me in the water during practice sessions or actual competitions, donate a surfboard, become an on-going sponsor, make an in-kind donation, take pictures or videotape, be one of the (cheer)leaders of the pack, and attend a contest, or ? Just send me an email, and let's consider the paws-abilities!
SURFIN' FOR PAWS-ABILITIES EVENTS:

September 13, 2009, Helen Woodward Animal Center, Surf dog Surf-a-thon
In this contest, my efforts will be benefiting the homeless animals at Helen Woodward Animal Center.
Click here for information on Helen Woodward, as well as how to make a donation to the animals on my behalf!



October 11, 2009, Surf City Surf Dog, Huntington Beach, benefiting Patrick IvisonI will be fundraising and surfing in this event to raise money for Patrick Ivison. This fundraiser will help support Patrick, a 15 year old boy who suffered a spinal cord injury when he he was run over by a car, and pinned underneath. He has used a wheelchair ever since.

There are two different options for donating to Patrick's fundraiser. The first supports Patrick with his "Help Patrick Walk" fund which helps pay the costs of his ongoing treatment at Project Walk, an intense physical therapy program. The second will help Patrick pay for his new service dog, Kona. To learn more about each option, please click on the link under each heading below, and then choose the one you'd like to support. If you want to be a big Kahuna, you can donate to both!!... thank you for the paws-abilities!

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Our Feathered Red Head Friend


Our big feathered friend, Rabushka, (redhead), was brought in the other day because her crop was impacted. This is a serious problem for birds. The crop in birds is used to soften the food and as a storage pouch and regulates the amount of food that continues its way through the digestive system.
Rabushka had stopped eating for several days and was in danger of damaging the crop either by inection or by perforation, so we needed to come up with a plan to relieve her discomfort.
We did not think that anesthesia was safe at this point, so we wrapped our feathered patient in a big fluffy towel, and very gently passed a soft rubber tube into the crop and flushed several times with warm water, slowly drawing out small bits of impacted food, and gave her an injection of antibiotics.
We did this several times over the weekend, and by Monday we noticed that Rabushka was defiantley feeling stronger but there still was a good deal of impacted material in the crop that we needed to remove.
We wrapped Rabushka in the towel again, and used a rapid acting gas anesthesia to quickly anesthetize her. We passed the catheter into her crop again and while massaging the outside of her chest (where the crop is), we were able to remove a great deal more of the impaction.
Rabuska is going home today. She is finishing up her chicken food and making quiet clucking sounds in her hospital kennel. She will go home on antibiotics and with all our well wishes. She is a great patient.