SWEDEN COLD BUT WITH A BIG WARM HEART

Currently I am in Stockholm Sweden to visit the new AWL office with the new big warm wonderful crew. Before leaving Napoli I told the AWL vet that Stockholm doesn't have any strays --and to see my happy daughters face when she saw all the "happy" dogs visiting the wonderful cafe' Himmelska Hundar

AWL Sweden will have their first meeting tonight, a lot of Amore people.
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TWO BEAUTIFULGIRLS IN DIFFERENT NEEDS

Amore Bella in need of a yard! A wonderful 96lb mastiff named Bella. She is approximately 2yrs old. She is currently living on base, but the base is forcing the owner to find a new home for her. So it is nothing wrong with the dog! (like 97% of the time)

This little sweet puppy was found together with her sibblings in the garbage. For several days no mother was in sight. Bea, a fantastic Italian woman, made sure all 5 got homes, and AWL is helping Abe and Martha's little new friend (above picture) in their house with up-to-date shots and microchip and later steralization.

UPDATE ON BRANDY (SULLY)

Do you remember this little girl that AWL Todd and Angie went out rescuing? Read and look

This is her now!!! Isn't it wonderful?

Her family is taking so good care of her and Bless is home with her every day. One vet wanted to put her down to sleep and was even very concerned over that Bless would take care of Brandy (former Sully)

Brandy fooled death several times, and suprised many humans. This is so Amore

COBY GOT DUMBT AND NEED A FOREVER LOVING HOME

The foster family named him Coby. He is a sweet, naive and kind Doberman mix who so enjoys life.

His fostermom picked him up yesterday he has been staying in a Parco area. Now he stays with them and his new friend. Coby loves to ride in the car, he can sit, stay and give a paw when the food is coming. He is also castrated. Tomorrow he will go and get his shots.

He loves to admire you, with a little kindness, he will think highly of you and give you loyalty; and in return he never wants to be dumped again.

If you can meet his standards, please contact AWL and we can give you more info from fostermom Karina.

ANOTHER HELPING DAY AT THE SHELTER

Melissa joined AWL in the dog walk, a very windy day, but it was sunny.

Puppies make us smile and bond together. Everyone loved Star Stripe! He is up for adoption!

Even Olivia wanted to bring him home....she already have 17 dogs....so mom said NO!!!

Leah walked Phillipo who is waiting after two years in this shelter to come home to his new owner Ulla in Stockholm ,Sweden.

Thank you all for giving your time and love to these who ended up locked in against their will.

AWL love you guys.

Please for more pictures visit www.miamattsson.blogspot.com

A BROKEN LEG BUT A HEALED HEART

Our little Abby. Found on the gas station bleeding. At the clinic they found her tooth right up her nose and now she got a broken leg! At Dr Damiani clinic they called in a specialist that made the surgery on Abby.

Our little Lady was such a fantastic client and is our true Amore favorite.

Here you can see the fracture, and it seemed like it was an old fracture. We don't know what happened, but suddenly was she jumping on three legs.


Abby's family in Sweden are waiting and waiting. Their little daughter Engla is drawing pictures to Abby. I know Abby will have a wonderful time in Sweden, normally I don'l like dressed up dogs. But Abby is a freezing little spirit and I think she would love a sweater with a big heart on.

• Thank you Jackie (US) and Jennifer (Belgium) for your donations.

PICKED UP, CHECKED, SPAYED AND RELEASED

Dr. Longo examine a stray cat before getting spayed.

Jackie goes out and trap cats to have them spayed and neutered and later on she picks them up and releases them where they where found. AWL takes care of the bills, our way to say, "Thank you for your hard fantastic work!"

Dr. Longo checking out the girl. She needs antibiotics for her skin condition.

One beautiful little female stray cat that needs to be spayed and treated for a skin condition.
Jackie trapped her in Castel Volturno.

Unfortunately some of the neighbors feel that only the females should be spayed, that the males are not the problem...
Difficult to change a mindset.
So we do what we can and if we're lucky we enlighten some people. Ciao Jackie."

Warmhearted Anna picked up the cats, here together with Dr Damiani.

DAISY IS A NADA

Daisy didn't see well and fell down between the seats in my SUV.

Remember the English Setter that collapsed in my arms? She stayed at Dr Damiani's clinic for observation and we also found out that she had an Italian microchip. Dr Damiani found the owner (after some detective work, nothing is easy here) and the owner had made a police report 3 weeks earlier about their missing English Setter.

Daisy stayed at our house and we discovered that something was wrong with her. She constantly bumped into things. When we would open the big pen door, she came out from the dog house and turned to the wall looking very confused. She was acting like she couldn't see. She ran into our dogs, the children's yard toys, and you had to guide her into her pen again and to her food plate.

I called Dr Damiani and asked for an appointment with their eye specialist. It was now lunch time and we were going to meet the owners in the evening.

I wanted to do everything in my power to figure out what was wrong. I couldn't stand myself handing over a dog telling the owner that "something is wrong" I would never get inner peace, constantly wondering what it was, and why and would the owner continue searching for Daisy's health?

The eye specialist made a very long examination with different tests. Daisy had a slight eye infection.

In the waiting room Daisy tried to walk through the glass door, like she didn't see it. She bumped her head into Dr Damiani's desk twice. It was heartbreaking.....

I had seen this kind of behavior in Bosnia after the war, there were many dogs with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Maybe Daisy had it?

We took blood samples that hopefully will tell us what is wrong. We will have the results at the end of this week. Keep your paws crossed for her.

We went home to take care of other things and Olivia walked Daisy. What a wonderful dog.

I was nervous for the meeting with the owners on this evening, so many questions.
At 18.30 I brought Daisy to her--who's real name is Nada--owner, actually the true owner is the father in the family, who adopted Nada from a hunter. His daughter and her husband came to pick up Nada. Nada hadn't qualified as a hunter, and so came to this family a couple of years ago. This couple promised to follow up with Nada's health, and it felt very nice to know that Nada was a wanted --- and missed--- dog, heading to her home.

I cannot stop thinking though that no one stoped and picked Nada up to check if she had an owner! I could see how many there are that just doesn't want to get involved, or have the time. And also, in this region with 70,000 strays, she was one among them all.

Can it be that the amore in the universe brought she and I together so that she could get home again?

GOOD-HEARTED AND SKILLED HELPERS

Running an organization or foundation, you are seeking good-hearted, skilled and trustworthy people to have around you; ones that have passion and belief in life. Dr Damiani's clinic has showed AWL a lot of those things through many difficult stray cases. Above on the picture you can see me and Dr. Longo who spent more than 2 hours to get out the "object" that was stuck in Abby's nose. He also worked to remove the chain around Ranger's neck. He has the skills, and the passion we are looking for.

Dr. Damiani made the biggest impression on me when we brought in Benjamin, our stray with mange and scabies all over his body. Nobody wanted to even look at him, but Dr. Damiani showed true professionalism, skill and compassion in his treatment for Benjamin, and his guidance to us to help bring about Benji's recovery. Above picture, Dr. Damiani is working with another of our clients, Chloe, as she is getting prepared for sterilization.

Dr. Damiani (right) and Dr. Longo, with "the miracle kitten", Francesco, during the checkup after numerous sessions where he was anethetised and had stitches removed and bandages changed. This was another client where Dr. Damiani's clinic and personnel showed their "true colors". And because of their skill and caring, the kitten can now walk, and is on the road to full recovery.

Dr. Damiani's clinic, and doctors have what it takes for the animals here in Campania. They are some who help with what we are trying to do here. Thank you.

KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED FOR THESE TWO LADIES

Yesterday I dropped off our dear Abby for blood work and for Dr Damiani to examen her right front leg. Lately she has not used it, jumping around on three legs. I left her there for x rays and are soon going to pick her up. Keep fingers crossed.
So I went on base to do some shopping. When I walked out in the rain I saw something more or less crawling in the rain. A young Setter maybe pregnant.

She was in a horrible shape, skin and bones and "dead' tired. I called her, and it took long time for her to move, she was in a lot of discomfort. I took out some food and she took only three bites. She was to tired to eat.

AWL Jackie came and helped me lift her into my SUV and the poor Setter collapsed. In high speed I drove 30 minutes to the vet. clinic were wonderful Dr Damiani came out and carried her in. She will stay there under observation. Keep your Amore fingers crossed for this young beautiful soul that I named Daisy.

Dr Damiani thank you for your fantastic help! That's Amore.

FAREWELL TO KEEGAN

Keegan's last mission with AWL (at least for now) was the 30th of December, because she was getting reassigned to a unit in Philadelphia early in January. We wanted to send her off with a video "thank you", and here it is:

INTERNET OUT--HEAVY WIND AND RAIN

We have had hard wind and a lot of rain! Our power went on and off constantly so I have not been able to update AWL blog for two days. Sorry!

Today is a sunny day so after the missions this morning I am back with some updates.

Picture: Jackie's rescue cats that got adopted to Miss Elisabeth. More updates about them later!

RANGERS RECOVERING

Today my family and I went to visit Ranger. Remember, the German Shepard from earlier blog this week? He had been abused/neglected, and Dr. Longo had to remove half his neck since his chain had "grown into" his neck. Ranger is getting his strength back but we have to have some blood work done on him. And it also seems like his eye vision is not the best.
He is curently staying at a wonderful, warm home with a great animal-loving family. Ranger is such a sweet old man but he still need a lot of medical help. Please help us help him!

WITHOUT YOU WE WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO SAVE LIFES

AWL says; Amore Thank you for your donations.

• Family Schmidt, USA
• Herbert Boutwell, USA
• Christina Platou Sweden
• Sara Hoover, Sweden/USA
• Tracey Nettles, USA
• Karin Ericsson Organization Lexia Rio de Janeiro (Sweden)
• Elizabeth Frey donated 2 bags off dog food
• Cat Franscesco's fosterhome Rita donated 2 bags off dog food

.....you are making the changes. That's Amore!

NEGLECT and ABUSE

This is here, this is me behind the video. It doesn't have to end in tragedy, but it's time to stop having excuses. If you don't want to watch this video you can maybe understand what we are dealing with and help us in another way. Please make our hospice become a reality by donating on Paypal

MARIO BACK TO HIS GAS STATION

Mario, our gas station dog, is a happy stray. You read on earlier blog entries that we picked him up for castration and would later on release him. His guardian angel, the coffee lady at the station's cafe, doesn't want him to be adopted away. He is her friend and he also guards her. The gas station people love him, he greets everyone and he escorts the car to the exit.

At LegaProAnimale it turned out that he had a microchip, and according to Italian law you are not allowed to do anything to a dog with a microchip until you find the owner. Of course it was the holiday season, Internet was down and finally the name was found, but no phone number.

We just hated to put him in a kennel box, Mario who was so used to his freedom and work at the gas station. He was a happy stray.

The address was a closed industrial area! For ten days LegaProAnimale and us tried to find someone to get permission from, yet nothing. We couldn't reach the owner. Dr Friz was frustrated and so were we, and Mario.

To make matters worse, LegaProAnimale was closing for the month of January, it's their vacation month, so keeping him there would be made more difficult. I just felt like we had to release him, his soul would die in that kennel. I asked Tracey for her opinion and she felt the same. I asked Jackie to visit him during the days.

Jackie wrote,

"What a warm and wonderful greeting I received from Mario today! It was worth the drive out in the yucky rain.
The first thing I did was give him some wet food. You can't tell by the photo, but he was wagging his tail as he ate! "

Tracey and I went out to pick him up, and we met Dr Friz who was very kind and carried Mario out since he refused to walk with a leash on. We took off to the gas station and when we got closer to "his" fields, Mario started to whine in the back seat.

We have never seen such a happy stray! He jumped out from the SUV and ran around the place like crazy, the gas station people came, the coffee bar owner came out together with the coffee lady and greeted us with big hugs and thank yous.

Mario was home, and you could tell it. I loved Tracey's warm comment, that she was happy to have seen/explored that there indeed are happy strays.

This was a warm Amore day!

LAST WEDNESDAY SHELTER WORK

AWL went out to the shetler and as always was greeted by a lot of happy dogs but one was curled up on his pallet and I could tell right away that something was wrong. I called the vet Mariagrazia and she went in and looked at him. His belly was swollen and breathing hard, she thought he had the flu. Rosco would be transported later to the clinic, the vet couldn't take him in her car. I carried Rosco into my SUV so he could be warm and comfortable in a blanket. Keep your paws crossed for his fast recovery.

Our sweet guy! If only he could get a wonderful home. This big guy doesn't have any teeth so his tounge is always falling out. He is a big Amore guy!

When we came to build frames for new pens, a donation had been made. 10 doghouses that AWL Eric, Todd, Keegan and Brandy put together (unraping by Tracey and Mia) I hope the dogs won't chew the wood, they were gorgous "gucci" dog houses.

Other dogs were not doing so well, blood tests are being done. Hoping for fast pawfect recovery; its not nice to be sick in a shelter especially when it is cold and rainy, and a terrible storm hit Campania where trees fell and a big hailstorm went through.

Tracey, Keegan, Brandy, Todd, Eric, Jackie thank you so much for helping out on your free time, I know that we soon will be able to see and feel the progress in our hard work. "Rome wasn't built in one day" Amore to you all.

More pictures pls visit www.miamattsson.blogspot.com

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL

FRANCESCO THE MIRACLE CAT

AWL got an e mail from NFOA, asking if we could help find a foster home for a badly wounded kitten? They had gotten a request from the persons that found the cat. The family that found him took him to the vet and then kept him in their bathroom since they had two big dogs that doesn't like cats. This couldn't continue, so they needed help!

Francesco's injures sounded horrible and some thought it would be more humane to put him to sleep, but how could we judge that over some written words (email)? I called our "cat section" AWL Jackie and told her what I knew. Of course AWL wanted to do some research and meet the kitten.

Jackie took care of this case with AWL's support.

This is Francesco. He is a lovely 3-4 month old kitten, he loves being petted, loves his toy and he is very affectionate despite being a stray kitty. He had a very rough start to his young life. He fell from a balcony, was immediately run over by a car, and being so traumatized tried to hide in the engine of a fire truck where he sustained additional injuries!

His hind legs were severely damaged and he suffered a dislocated hip. Dr Damiani called him a " Miracle Cat" because not only did he survive this ordeal but is recovering at an amazing rate. He must have his bandages changed every few days, requiring anaesthesia each time. He is able to use the litter box and moves around surprisingly well even using his one bandaged leg to help him get around at his current foster home

His dislocated hip is not a problem and his prognosis is good for the other injury to his legs. He likely will have very limited use of one of his hind legs. But it's not stopping him from curiously checking out his home with the company of the other resident kitty! He had to be confined initially to a bathroom for his own well being. His new foster family will understand that he must be kept strictly indoors for his own safety.

Francesco is a fighter and deserves every chance at happiness in a forever home!

Please help AWL with his medical bills by donating money on our PayPal account. You can make a difference, he doesn't know you but his recovery will tell that there are good-hearted people out there. Some would say its wasted money, or too much money to put on "a stray cat" but for AWL he is a client. We would do it for you, too.