In June of this year, we were asked by our friend Grace if we could help two adult pups – Jack a shih tzu, and Lily a yorkie. We work with her pulling dogs from the farms in the Lancaster area of Pennsylvania, which are often referred to as ‘puppy mills’. Now, I know we have all heard this term, and I want to flesh out a little what this means. A ‘puppy mill’ is a commercial breeding operation. This set up is where the animals are treated as assets, not pets. They live in

In 1991, Animal Rights Awareness Week was created by the organization called In Defense of Animals (IDA) as a way to honor animals around the world and to raise awareness about their rights, needs, and wants. To be honest, even to this day I believe that animals in general are woefully unprotected when it comes to their rights. There are lots of great organizations workings to change this though, and there are also a few easy ways that you can help animals too! 1. Buy cru

During our 2018 trip to Big Corn Island, Nicaragua, we had the pleasure of helping a furry version of Miss Miley Cyrus. This Miley was a big chunky, 9 year old female Doberman who came to see us at the clinic the first day. Unfortunately, Miley was not doing well – she had been losing weight for a few weeks, and in the past week had stopped eating all together and was very lethargic. After examining her and running our tick test, we found out the poor girl was positive for

My very first job out of vet school is where I met Dr Jen Heller. We went to the same vet school, but she was 2 years ahead of me, so we never really knew each other during school. During my fourth year I was pregnant with my son, Connor, and that sealed the deal for me of going right into private practice instead of an internship. I knew there was no way I could do the internship thing with an infant, and really preferred to just start being a vet anyway. Jen had a friend in

Going way back in the rescue’s history, all the way to 2013, I want to tell the story of the piggy puppies. We came across an urgent posting from ACCT, the Philadelphia shelter, for a litter of 4 puppies who were surrendered for severe skin infections and needed out of the shelter ASAP. These puppies were so sad…they were completely naked, with horrible skin infections – crusted skin, raw spots, bleeding sores, they were so uncomfortable! And when I say horrible, I mean horr

I do not have a good track record with chickens. I like chickens, don’t get me wrong…and one day I’m hoping I can talk Tom into us having chickens. But in the realm of veterinary medicine when dealing with an ill or injured chicken, my statistics are not great. I think mostly it’s because once they get to the point where they are reaching out to us for help, it’s probably something more serious that perhaps we can’t fix? But it doesn’t give me great confidence in my chicken h

Our first year on BCI on our veterinary mission trip, one of the very first dogs we came in contact with was Monica. At the time we met her, we thought she was a friendly stray who liked to hang out at the hotel where we were staying called Casa Canada (yes, it is owned by a bunch of Canadians). She is an adorable little brown ‘island dog’ – about 30lbs, with lean legs and a short coat – a mutt through and through. She wandered down that first morning at breakfast where we

The very early days of Pennridge were challenging in so many ways. Working out of just one room, with half hearted heat in the winter, and only one computer and one phone, was definitely an experience. For those who missed that fine time period, the main entrance to the hospital was the tiny door on the left of the building that now enters into an office area. Back then, it was a small, non-insulated porch, that then led into the living room (as we affectionately called it).

This first year of traveling to Big Corn Island was definitely an experience. This tiny island is not exactly easy to get to – after leaving our houses at approximately 4:30am, we arrived in Managua, Nicaragua in the afternoon, to prepare for the final leg of our journey. A huge part of the success of our first trip was making contacts with a group called NicaVets, who also travel in Nicaragua doing mission work on the mainland, as well as on BCI. This group of amazing people

As I have introduced you to both Harley’s Haven and Pennridge Animal Hospital, I do believe that this secondary project requires its own introduction. Though Harley’s Haven primarily focuses on helping animals right here in Pennsylvania, there is a great need for help for animals around the world as well. It is unrealistic to think that one person, or a small group of people can help everyone, everywhere. However, thinking about our work on Big Corn Island always makes me thi

So last week we started our story of Pennridge – our vet hospital was my childhood dream, that also now allows us to manage and run our dog rescue, Harley’s Haven. If you missed last week, check it out to get the whole story of our beginnings (below this here on our blog!), but here is part two…the continuation of PRAH’s humble beginnings. As we were trying to get PRAH up and running, Dr Jen Heller and I would take turns having the calls forward to our phones and spent a lot

We are starting up a new weekly series that highlights some of the stories of the good work we have done with Harley's Haven and Pennridge Animal Hospital - read on to hear more, and be sure to tune in on Sundays for more stories! The story of Harley’s Haven starts in April, 2003. I was a freshman in college, and was working at a local vet hospital as a technician part-time during school for experience. I was there one day when we took a call from a woman who was calling to