19/11/2025
***update*** Hilton is in a hospice foster home. He's doing very well. He has issues associated with senior dogs, he is a little off balance, dribbles some., all manageable by his awesome fosters, Cindy and now Shelley. Wish Hilton lots of love.
Hilton is doing well. He does need a hospice placement. He will be the responsibility of rescue for the remainder of his life, but needs a forever place, however long that might be. If you would like to be considered, please apply for Hilton at www.chihuahuarescuein.org and fill out a foster application under the How to help heading.
Stay tuned for some "pupdates". But, while I'm here, I'm going to express myself about "giving away your dog for free".
The reason? Hilton, a dog owned in KY who was neutered and microchipped, and was given away to people TEN YEARS AGO, who had lots of room for Hilton, a Chihuahua, to run outdoors. So Hilton was found in a rural part of Indiana about a month ago, very weak, and thin. He had intestinal worms, and fleas. He was at least 3 # underweight. He's hard of hearing and has some cataracts. He had fur loss probably due to malnutrition and flea dermatitis. His ears are crinkled from exposure or injuries, we don't know. Hilton was taken in right away by Cindy, who has other foster dogs and cats, she didn't ask for anything, she asked Chihuahua Rescue Indiana Inc. if we would help her to help Hilton. And we did, Cindy drive from as far south in Indiana as you can be without crossing the river to KY to Greenwood IN to our vet. Hilton got blood work, and a stool test, flea and heartworm prevention. He got some pain control, and a follow up appointment. Today was his followup. Hilton hasn't gained any weight in spite of eating well. He's drinking lots of water, his labs shows some kidney failure, so that might be why. But Hilton is wagging his little nub of a tail. He can barely stand. The cold of the past few days hit him pretty hard after the warm weekend. It's a certain bet that Hilton would have perished when it was real cold a week ago if Cindy hadn't taken him in to foster. Lots of people probably saw this sad old man and thought"poor dog", and went on about their day. And the other part of Hilton's story is that the people who gave him away actually were reached since he has a microchip. But they weren't taking him back. They felt really bad, they thought they gave him to nice people with lots of outdoor space for him. But they didn't really know them, they didn't check them out. I have to wonder if Hilton ever had a soft space to live in, a bed indoors, decent reliable food, a kind voice? I know that Cindy isn't looking the other way. Even though less than 2 weeks after taking in Hilton her husband passed away unexpectedly at home, leaving Cindy and their daughter alone, and it's not been easy. Cindy made the trip back to Greenwood with Hilton today. Rescue gave Hilton more meds, food, sweaters for Hilton and for a couple of the other fosters from a different group. And a little gas money. Is this a sob story? You bet it is. I hope it gets folks in the feels for all the right reasons. 1. Don't give dogs and cats away. Use Rescues to try to avoid the uncertainty that's part of giving them to a person who seems "really nice". If Hilton hadn't been microchipped, the previous owner never would have known, so it's hard to say how they feel about this. 2. Do the best you can for pets in need, because we can all do hard things, just ask Cindy. There's lots of "Cindys" out there doing hard things everyday. 3. Be as kind as you can, because you just don't know what a person or pet has gone through and you might be their make or break moment.
