Mattie's Place

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Mattie's Place

Mattie's Place is a volunteer run, Toronto based dog & cat rescue focusing on Canadian pets in need.

02/25/2025

[ FOSTER DOGS CAN'T ALL BE CUTE & EASY ]

It's really disappointing that these 6 pups are being let down again. I'm holding the bag on let-down, as I was confident I could find some reputable rescues to step up and take 3 or 4 of the pups between a couple rescues. I was certainly confident my foster list would put their hand up for a few. I even put it out to my adopters, thinking at least 1 adopter would welcome a foster dog as a pay it forward for their dog.

I was wrong.

Only a few foster offers. 1 so far is a perfect match, so 1 pup is confirmed placed in foster care with Mattie's Place. 1 reputable rescue stepped up - Hank's Haven Rescue Foundation, thank you Nicole, for welcoming 1 pup.

So many rescues ask me to transfer dogs into Mattie's Place & rarely do I say no. It's a head scratcher why I can't find rescue placement for a few dogs in return.

Fosters in 2025 seem to only want cute and easy foster dogs. The boring brown dogs without a lot of do***ng experience are shunned (unless you're an imported dog from a different country, then seems there are foster line-ups). It's important to know, the plain-jane, challenging dogs need support too.

When I make a commitment I stand by it and I committed to these 6 sweethearts that deserve rescue support and they deserve the chance to overcome their past and have bright futures ahead. They will get that with Mattie's Place.

Tomorrow, those that don't have foster placement will head to the kennel. It's a kennel I trust so they will be well taken care of. Sadly, it comes with a $50/day boarding cost X's 5 dogs so $250/day for Mattie's Place. Shame. Money not well spent.

But they will be safe and I will drive to them multiple times per week to work on their do***ng skills and get them up to speed on where they should be. I'll also overnight as many as I can on rotation so they can get used to living in a home setting. This is the worst case scenario for rescue, but here we are.

I will share their full story tomorrow when they officially transfer to my care.

It's not to late to put your hand up to help: www.mattiesplace.ca/fostering

02/25/2025

[ KALI IS OUT OF EMERGE .... FOR NOW]

Kali is doing really well and is stable again. She's been discharged into the care of her foster Mom.

Big thanks to Anne, who is taking on a massive commitment of care; feedings around the clock every 3 hours, being fed upright & then held upright for 15 minutes after each meal. Kali also has a lot of medications to take daily to keep her stable.

🔴 WHAT'S WRONG WITH KALI? 🔴

We still don't have confirmed answers. What we do know is she has a badly ulcerated eyeball. She also has a dilated esophagus which is likely the reason for her small size, low blood sugar and presumed pneumonia.

Kali is a megaesophagus dog. We have not been able to confirm why she is megaesophagus. Megaesophagus is when the esophagus is stretched and loses the ability to move the food through to the stomach. Her food goes in. Her food, regurgitates (not always but often enough. MEGA-esophagus.

There are various megaesophagus reasons; persistent right aortic arch, congenital stricture or if no cause is found then congenital megaesophagus will be the diagnosis.

Further testing with a CT Scan for PRAA and endoscopy for a stricture or swallow study will be needed. She is currently too small for any of those further testings, so our focus is more weight gain.

A respiratory virus panel was submitted to rule out distemper or herpes virus and we're awaiting results for that also.

The good news is, her bile acid test result is favourable, that she does not have a liver shunt!! That is very good news.

So, for now, she weight gains until she's big enough for us to complete further testing to find out the reasons why. And we do our very best to keep her stable until that time comes.

She's a cutie, isn't she?

02/24/2025

[ IT'S KOODLE, NOT NOODLE ]

Yesterday, little boy Koodle, arrived safely to Mattie's Place, with thanks to the safe transport by Critter Cabs: Animal Rescue Transports.

Koodle's owner passed away over a year ago and he's been in a few homes since then. He's a good boy, but he can be be a bit tricky to manage if he's not in the right home setting.

Koodle is suspected to be 8-10 years old. He's another teeny tiny that weighs in around 5 pounds.

He does not like children, cats or dogs bigger than him. The last home he was in, the past year, he was nipping the young kids continually and it just was no longer a fit.

Koodle has no vetting history. He has a mouth full of missing teeth and the remaining teeth are in awful condition. So, he'll need a dentistry completed. He'll need his neuter. And of course vaccines and parasite control. We'll also get some geriatric bloodwork done to get a baseline on his health

Welcome little man. It's been a lot of change for you the past couple years, but you're safe in your foster home and one more stop to your forever home without ever having to move again. I promise.

02/23/2025

[ UPDATE #3 ON KALI ]

Dr. Lane from TVEH provided the following update today and it explains all of what we know at this point:

"Kali is stable in hospital. She is eating frequently and able to keep up her blood sugar on her own.

New developments include chest x-rays which show a dilated esophagus. This is concerning for a congential issue, such as congenital megaesophagus, persistent right aortic arch, congenital esophageal stricture or congential hypothyroidism.

Testing is pending to rule out a liver shunt, hypothyroidism, viral infections and parasites.

We plan to review her case with the team tomorrow to determine next best steps to find the cause of the esophagus issues, but will likely need her to be a bit bigger through frequent feedings of a slurry diet to gain weight given her condition."

----------------

If you're not familiar with her case, here's her welcome post:
www.facebook.com/share/p/1A4Xp3BoKd

And her 1st update with her estimate that gets us to tomorrow:
www.facebook.com/share/p/1A3GkDq6Yk

02/23/2025

UPDATE: THANKS EVERYONE!! Driver found and pup is on her way. Appreciate all of you!

[ DRIVER NEEDED ]

I can get the puppy as far as needed to avoid me having to do the entire trip.

If you can help, please email: [email protected]

02/23/2025

[ IF YOU LOVE HELPING POTCAKES .... ]

Here's your chance to help the Canadian version of Potcakes.

There are 6 puppies, 9 months old, that need our help. Myself and other rescues are trying to find fosters and there's a real struggle to make that happen.

(Mattie's Place has confirmed 1 foster, thank you Melissa)

Few people seems to want to help these Ontario babes that need the security of a foster home this Tuesday. Even my foster list of 149 fosters is silent for these cuties.

Other reputable rescues are welcomed to jump in and welcome 1 or 2 of these sweeties that need us most. Just message me.

5 fosters still needed for these sweet but shy, medium sized kids.

➡️➡️ www.mattiesplace.ca/fostering

02/22/2025

[ UPDATE ON PUPPY KALI ]

If you missed Kali's post last night, she arrived from a Quebec shelter as a medical case. Surrendered with an expected euthanasia by her breeder because she was sick.

We're here to save lives at Mattie's Place

Kali has been stable overnight. Testing continues, but she's only 400 grams (not even 1 pound) so getting blood from her is something that needs to be done strategically as she doesn't have that much to spare.

😷 POSSIBLE MEDICAL ISSUE 😷

Shunt
Distemper
Respiratory disease
H3N2 Canine Influenza
Pneumonia
Or ..... some other random finding

It's really a quest for answers at the moment.

⚪ She has a significant eye ulcer.

⚪ She is hypoglycemic (though her levels have come into range again today with eating every couple hours).

⚪ She has liver values through the roof.

⚪ She's underweight (though the ultra sound completed today shows her food is making it to her belly and moving through as it should).

⚪ She has some coughing and nasal congestion

The estimate is to get her through to Monday with a fairly significant amount of testing. If it's a shunt issue, then surgical intervention will be added in.

A life worth saving.

CATCH UP ON KALI & DONATION OPTIONS:
www.facebook.com/share/p/15SctHVuUa

02/22/2025

[SHE ARRIVED, THEN CRASHED & WE THOUGHT WE LOST HER]

Tonight, Mattie's Place welcomes 2 month old Pomeranian pup, Kali from a Quebec shelter. Kali weighs a whopping - 400 grams (not even 1 pound!!)

Kali was surrendered to the shelter this week from a breeder who was not willing to put the money into saving her life. Breed for profit. Discard the sick like garbage.

Marisa from One Last Chance Rescue snuck into my DM's and asked if I could help save her life & of course, I said yes.

Thank you Brandy (Kelly), Megan & Tracy for getting this little raisin to me tonight. When she was getting triaged with me at Toronto Veterinary Emergency Hospital - TVEH (I previously arranged for her to be admitted so we could begin to fact find) she crashed. We all, TVEH team included, thought she was gone.

It was all hands on deck to revive her and it didn't take long for her to perk back up again.

Good golly Kali! This girl has fight in her!

The shelter / Quebec medical team, suspect pneumonia or congestive heart failure. I will disagree and put my bets on a shunt. Either way, they depleted their funds available for Kali for her continued medicated support.

Over the weekend TVEH will get her workups completed and Monday hopefully will have more confirmed answers on what is causing Kali to be on a medical rollercoaster ride. She also has a small eye ulcer. The least of her medical problems.

The last shunt dog we had, was 2.5 pound Jazz in June 2024. Her total cost of care with surgery and hospitalization was $11,007. That is worst case scenario.

Best case scenario is sometimes these teeny tiny pups are really challenged to keep their glucose at optimum levels and they crash fast and hard, mostly due to their teeny tiny size. That could be the main issue with her hypoglycaemic crashes. BUT, this could also be symptomatic to a shunt.

I'm awaiting the written estimate & will attach as soon as it's emailed. Verbally, to get her to Monday in ICU, with multiple testing, $3,000

Let's see where Kali's journey takes us. At only 2 months old, she deserves to have someone fight for her life. We don't give up that easily at Mattie's Place.

TO JOIN TEAM KALI:

🟠 Credit card: https://square.link/u/7VO80uHU

🟠 E-transfer/Paypal: [email protected]

🟠 SNAIL MAIL:

Mattie's Place
1468 Victoria Park Avenue
PO BOX 420
Toronto, ON
M4A 2M2

02/21/2025

❗ FOSTERS NEEDED ❗

6 puppies need rescue help. I've agreed to intake all 6, but hoping to place some with other rescues (if you are a reputable rescue & have space for 1 or 2, please let me know).

I will be welcoming all 6 on Tuesday. I'll help all 6 if other rescues can't offer space. They are currently 9 months old.

Travelling Tails K9 Rescue is trying to secure fosters also, to help this situation out.

More on their story when they are officially Mattie's Place dogs.

FOSTERS urgently needed. They deserve this rescue chance.

www.mattiesplace.ca/fostering

02/20/2025

[ HELLO POLAR BEAR CUBS ]

This afternoon, we added 2 to the Mattie's Place rescue family.

When Snowflake Meadows reached out to ask if we could make some room, there was no denying these 2 girlies.

Born in a junkyard & living outdoors it was important to get them inside and safe with rescue. Kristyn from SFM gave them a safe space for a few days and today, with the help of driver, Liana Gassyt, they made their way to Mattie's Place.

I have agreed to support the cost of spaying Mom(s) so this doesn't happen again.

I headed straight to the vet and these girls are healthy. They were dewormed and vaccinated. Parvo testing in underway. They do have the Pyrenees dew claws but seeing the parents, I don't think they're purebred but I don't really know for certain.

Puddles (pink nose/blue eyes) weighed in at 2.1 kg (4.5 pounds) and Perdita weighed in at 2.4 kg (5 pounds). They're just a couple days shy of 6 weeks old.

They are projecting to be about 50 pounds given the current weight, but we'll see how that tracks over their next few vet appointments. They'll continue to grow until they're about 18 months old. These 2 girls are about 1/2 the size of what a Great Pyrenees should weigh at this age so calculating weight, puts them at less than the average adult weight. But again, we'll see how they track and they could blossom into 80-90-100 pound girls.

We'll get them settled into their foster homes and they'll be available for adoption soon, on a contract for the remainder of their vetting and spays down the road, all at the cost of Mattie's Place.

A big welcome to these fluffy girls; Puddles & Perdita.

02/20/2025

UPDATE: DRIVER CONFIRMED - THANKS TRACY (and Sloan also for offering)

[ DRIVER NEEDED]

I have a crated puppy with supplies that needs a drive to Pontypool tomorrow. Preference is to arrive by 1:00

If you can help, please email: [email protected]

02/20/2025

[ GRETCHEN UPDATE ]

This morning, Gretchen was in to see our veterinarian.

She is in good physical condition.

She weighed in at 17.4 kg (38.5 pounds)

The vet agrees with my 8 month age prediction.

She had a slight fever. She is negative for any tick borne disease as well as heartworm. Her lymphocytes were slightly elevated, but the vet offered the below feedback:

"I am happy to state everything is within normal limits. The mild lymphocytosis is likely normal (can be a response to stress), could be due to a juvenile immune system and her having chronic antigenic stimulation. I would not worry about this for now."

Though yesterday she was pooping out tinfoil and various soft items, that stopped today. She is doing well with energy, eating, drinking and moving her stool through her system. The clinic today is actually in the middle of a building move, so their x-ray machines were moved but the vet wasn't overly concerned and if anything changes I will take her to one of my other vets for x-rays.

We will x-ray her when she goes in for her spay soon, so she doesn't have to undergo added stress when I'm thinking she's passed what she needed to pass yesterday.

She's a SUPER sweet dog. Really nice. She does have some clingy behaviours = abandonment issues, but isn't showing separation anxiety, though that may surface in the coming days.

Super toy motivated, loves the dogs she's hanging with and just a really, sweet, loving and gentle pup.

Seeking a foster home.

📷 Amber Remedios

02/19/2025

UPDATE: DRIVERS FOUND - THANKS ALL!!

🆘 CRITICAL PUPPY 🆘

There is a 1 pound/2 month old puppy at risk in a Quebec shelter. Looking for anyone travelling from Quebec to Toronto in the next 48 hours.

She will be admitted directly into emerge, critical care.

She can not be on a regular transport with multiple stops and transferring from vehicle to vehicle. 1 or 2 drivers needed to do this run to save her life.

This is anticipated to be a shunt and previous shunt pups we've had at Mattie's Place, ran upward of $20,000 in medical care per dog, but ultimately lives were saved. Point being, not a lot of rescues can take her case on.

Please hMattie's Placedriver or 2.

Gas will be covered by Mattie's Place

EMAIL: [email protected]

02/19/2025

[ KIT KAT UPDATE ]

To catch you up, Kit Kat joined Mattie's Place in November. She required all her basic vetting care plus a dental and spay.

Kit Kat is a "lumpy" girl but she had one larger mammary mass that was interfering with her comfort, so we opted to remove & send out for testing which came back as a benign mammary gland adenoma.

Unfortunately, Kit Kat struggled with healing of the incision and had to go back into surgery to remove infection and dead tissue. She's also had multiple recheck appointments and laser therapy sessions to promote healing.

I'm happy to say, 2 weeks after her latest surgery and almost $4,000 in medical care since arriving, she's healing beautifully and should be fully recovered very soon.

Now let's get this nekkid little girl adopted! www.mattiesplace.ca/adopt

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/157x3K4G6Q/

02/19/2025

🇨🇦 WE'RE IN A CRISIS 🇨🇦

Not forever, just for now.

02/19/2025

[ I CALLED IN SICK TO WORK TODAY .....]

It doesn't happen very often, but today I was tired and needed a "me" day; in my pjs, indulging on food I shouldn't eat and Netflix series not deserving of my binge time.

And just when you have those days planned, the rescue Gods chuckle from above and ensure it goes quite differently.

Rescue is a roller coaster of emotions alongside the pile on of debt adding to the exhaustion of volunteers struggling to stay afloat. But we keep going, day after day, for so many Ontario dogs and the neglect they face, just like Gretchen, in a broken system.

Today, a message came in from a government program about a dog that was left behind in the apartment after the owner was brought into custody. Nobody realized she was there, alone, trying to fend for herself for a week.

Finally, thanks to the a great group of determined people, it was realized a dog was left behind and forgotten and she needed help today.

The agency workers tried contacting multiple shelters and various authorities that manage these situations of abandoned dogs, but everyone is at capacity and nobody really takes ownership of these situations. So after hours of going in circles someone suggested contacting Mattie's Place.

The message came in that a dog needed immediate help.

I exhaled. I processed a moment. I contemplated my options. I knew I had to help. I wanted to make it someone else's problem. But .... Pjs off. Street clothes on. And I was on my way to walk into the unknown to rescue this dog that I knew nothing about.

I did have the agency arrange a recorded surrender of the dog from the owner, verification that various City and Provincial agencies were contacted without response and to have an authority on the premise when I removed the dog. I'm happy to help, but we need to follow protocols and ensure rescue efforts don't come back to bite me in the be-hind!

On my way, I of course called my friend, Amber Remedios, and asked her if I could park this dog with her in boarding, as I had no idea what the temperament was and I'd need her to do some assessments this week before determining proper foster placement. Of course, always there to help, Amber said yes.

I arrived to the horror that was this dog's existence for over a week, without food, water and access to outside. Day after day, after day, alone. She was understandably nervous when I entered but I could see in her eyes she was a gentle soul. I sat with her a bit and then got her slip lead on and away we went.

Exiting this hell forever.

She'll head to the vet in the morning for all her basic care. My biggest concern is she ingested couch or bed stuffing, which was literally everywhere - and she was sensitive to her tummy when I lifted her in the vehicle which could be an obstruction sign.

We'll see how this plays out.

She's otherwise in good condition. She's very darling. We'll get her assessed and then hope to have her in a foster home for the weekend, so I'm not blowing up another boarding bill. A necessary cost for responsible rescue protocols, but it does add up quickly.

Please welcome, Gretchen to the Mattie's Place family. About 35 pounds. Maybe 8-12 months. I love her.

02/17/2025

[ LION KING TICKET GIVEAWAY! ]

Thank you everyone for your continued support. I will email the winner for ticket transfer.

I also have my 2 tickets for "Just For One Day" - March 4th.

I will continue a giveaway for 2 "Just For One Day" - March 4th. tickets

Watch for details, and anyone entered into the The Lion King draw will be entered to the "Just For One Day" - March 4th. I'll email everyone to confirm you'd like to be added to "Just For One Day" - March 4th.

02/17/2025

[ WHO'S AVAILABLE FOR ADOPTION? -- 16 BEAUTIES ]

🟥 From 4 pounds to 80 pounds.
🟥 8 weeks to super senior.
🟥 Sweet to sassy.

Adoption fees include full vetting and all supplies needed.

www.mattiesplace.ca

Address

Toronto, ON
M1N2V2

Telephone

416.551.7005

Website

http://www.mattiesplace.ca/

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Contact The Business

Send a message to Mattie's Place:

Videos

LION KING WINNER!

[ LION KING TICKET GIVEAWAY! ] Thank you everyone for your continued support. I will email the winner for ticket transfer. I also have my 2 tickets for "Just For One Day" - March 4th. I will continue a giveaway for 2 "Just For One Day" - March 4th. tickets Watch for details, and anyone entered into the The Lion King draw will be entered to the "Just For One Day" - March 4th. I'll email everyone to confirm you'd like to be added to "Just For One Day" - March 4th.

Happy 1st birthday Cashewwwww!!

Senior bully Nana has been lost since December 25, 2024 in some challenging winter terrain.

Mandy's_iphone

[ THIS IS CHRISTMAS! ] Today, I got to meet an awesome human that works at a local vet clinic and wanted to uplift some rescue dogs in foster care for the holidays Check out Mandy, from Mandys_Iphone: YOUTUBE: www.youtube.com/@mandys_iphone IG: www.instagram.com/mandys_iphone Mandy put together gift baskets for Bauer, Marshall, Chase, Lobster & Agnes. Today, she stopped by to meet Chase & Marshall and deliver their holiday basket personally. This was so kind and so much fun for the dogs (I'll deliver the other baskets soon to the other foster dogs) and I'm super grateful for the effort put it to personalize each basket.

GRINCH PHOTOS

TODAY! It’s busy but no line up so come on over before 2:00 !!

Cashew Surgery Day

[ WE GOT THE CASHEW PARTY STARTED EARLY TODAY ] Cashew was admitted at 7:00 am for his ligament surgery at Toronto Veterinary Emergency Hospital - TVEH His surgeon, Dr. Wainberg, updated me this afternoon that his torn ligament was reconstructed and repaired with an artificial ligament and he should have a full recovery and be back on all 4's soon! He'll be discharged tomorrow. Unfortunately, he still needs to keep the splint on so continued weekly splint changes; November 18, November 25, December 2 and finally more x-rays and hopefully no further splint at his final appointment December 9. Thousands has already been invested in Cashew and this is the final big money spend, hopefully: $5,726.86 + $1,000 splint changes and $1,000/month in-home boarding. His invoice for this surgery can be found at this link, and he'll have another $1,000 added on top of that for his splint changes plus x-rays and his continued boarding costs: www.facebook.com/share/p/1Ep36U5qTu PLEASE HELP IF YOU'RE ABLE. I'D REALLY APPRECIATE IT SO MUCH. 🟠 CREDIT CARD: https://square.link/u/7VO80uHU (choose one-time or monthly depending on your preference) 🟠 E-TRANSFER: [email protected] 🟠 SNAIL MAIL: Mattie's Place 1468 Victoria Park Avenue PO BOX 420 Toronto, ON M4A 2M2

[THANK YOU CP24 FOR WELCOMING ROCKY TO THE STUDIO] Did you happen to catch Amber Remedios representing Mattie's Place today with Rocky? She did amazing, didn't she!? Rocky has officially been with Mattie's Place 14 months. Such a good boy. Let's find him a home!

PETition Reading in Parliment

[OUR PET-ITION WAS TABLED YESTERDAY] Big thanks to Julie Dabrusin (MP for Toronto-Danforth) for getting behind our mission to bring awareness to our lack of animal welfare laws in Canada and the need for immediate change. She did an incredible job presenting yesterday and I'm appreciative of her efforts. Special thanks as well to each of you for also rallying behind the pet-ition and getting the needed signatures. More to come on the politicians that also stepped up to support yesterday at Parliament.

Mattie's Place

02/25/2025

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02/24/2025

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02/19/2025

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02/17/2025

02/17/2025

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LION KING WINNER!

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PETition Reading in Parliment

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