Lucky Ones Ranch

24/07/2024

The BEST video of Tommy caught in action!

We already miss him so much. 😢

24/07/2024

Another Tommy classic!

This.

This is Tommy.

On a daily basis, he is doing something bad. It's like he knows he's being bad, but he still does it.

This is Tommy, on top of the food cart. He is trying to break into the pantry where we defrost the meat for the dogs.

Or maybe he doesn't understand that he's being bad.

Either way, he definitely does not care. 🤣

23/07/2024

This is one of the funniest videos, but most accurate portrayal of Tommy and Bentley. We lost Bentley at over 17 years old in March.

Now Tommy can harass and bark at him in Heaven!

If this made you laugh, please consider helping us cover Tommy's last vet bill and aftercare cost of $608. Thank you for your support. 🌈💗🐾

DONATION
❤PayPal:
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/luckyonesranch

❤Venmo:
LuckyOnesRanch

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=5979992348689482&id=476825585672880&mibextid=w8EBqM

23/07/2024

We are heartbroken to announce that Tommy rapidly declined on Sunday evening. We had to do what was best for him, and we had the emergency vet give him his wings to cross the Rainbow Bridge. 🌈 😭🐾

For an old, deaf dog, Tommy was such a character... always getting into trouble, whether it was into the bagels and bread, or the trash can...we knew wherever Tommy went, there would be trouble!

In September 2021, we pulled Tommy aka Gramps from the Riverside County Animal Shelter. He was part of an 80 dog seizure case where he lived with his sister at an illegal encampment. Unfortunately, she was euthanized for health reasons and Tommy was completely lost without his sister. Since he was deaf, he relied on his sister quite a bit and he slept on her so that he could wake up when she got up.

After we took him in, his former owner reached out to us and gave us more insight to Tommy, whom she called Tigger for the way he bounced due to his long, slightly sway back. Since he was deaf, and we were not keen on his name, we changed it to Tommy. He was our first deaf dog.

But I tell you...I could swear he was not deaf!! He would do something very naughty and then turn his head to look up at me, as I was yelling at him. Yeah, I yelled at him...we all did - me, the volunteers, and even Vince. We felt that the other dogs needed to know that we were reprimanding Tommy. Otherwise, they would have thought he was getting special treatment from us.😜

One of our volunteers even said that Tommy was the best listener. Oh goodness. 🙉

Tommy was always looking for food. He would get into our pantry and find the bagels and bread. He was always knocking over the trash. We had to make special adjustments because of Tommy!

Tommy and the seized dogs had been fed primarily spaghetti served in kiddy pools. With such a poor diet, he had mouthful of painful and infected teeth. He initially walked so slowly that I thought he was much older than 11 years old. We had our vet perform two very expensive dental surgeries on him. We also had him neutered, despite the fact that his previous owner insisted that he had been fixed!

With the pain from his teeth gone, Tommy started to act like a younger dog. He began to run and he built up the stamina to gallivant around our 10 acres with the other ranch dogs. It was so amazing to see his physical transformation.

Tommy initially had severe separation anxiety. He would clamor up the kitchen counter and attempted to break out the windows. He hated being alone, which his former owner verified.

Eventually, Tommy figured out that we would always come back. He learned our routine and he also sought comfort in sleeping next to the other ranch dogs, just as he had done with his sister.

Some dogs, like sweet Henry and Cozette didn't mind Tommy. But for the most part, Tommy managed to p**s off the other dogs. He would purposely walk up to them and bark in their faces.

"Oh Tommy, stop that!", was a frequent stated phrase.

So when Tommy would fall sleep... it would be a relief for us. That dog .. kinda like my husband, Vince could fall asleep anywhere. In the grass. In the gravel. In the mud. Next to trailer tires. Next to horses in the pasture!

And if he was on a dog bed, it was always in a funky position!!

Tommy was with us for nearly three years. He was born in 2010... so 14 years old this year. For a dog to go through so much trauma in his lifetime and still reach that age is pretty amazing.

But it never feels like we have enough time with these seniors dogs that we keep rescuing.

For the last 3 years of his life, Tommy was a Lucky One. It never seems long enough...but as Dr. Seuss said - "We can't cry because it's over, Smile because it happened".

I will miss hearing your bark and the sound of your bells as you walked around the ranch. And I will miss seeing you inside the barn. But I will not miss picking up your 💩💩💩 on your bed or the 💩💩💩 trail that you would leave behind you as you walked!

Tommy, please behave while you're running amok in Heaven with Henry. We know you're both knocking over trash cans and grabbing bagels and bread from old ladies.

22/07/2024

Elliott just came home from a splenectomy on Saturday. He needs to be taken out separately and kept quiet until he heals.

Hudson has an eye ulcer, confirmed by our vet on Friday. He needs eye drops and ointment twice a day until it's healed.

We thought Tommy was dying on Saturday afternoon. He had diarrhea and became dehyrdated. After giving him fluids, he perked up later that evening.

We are soaking Frankie's foot because he has an infected toe. He also needed a toe nail trim that was done by our volunteers who have never done a nail trim on a turkey, but under my guidance.. they did it!

Folks..we also have over 130 more animals to take care of. WE.ARE.BUSY. on a regular day, but when animals need extra care...it takes more time out of our busy schedules.

We are well aware of the many animals that need a home. Since we do not adopt out, the number of animals that we take in is extremely small.

We thank you all for your support and donations in helping us do what we do!

21/07/2024

Good Sunday morning!!

Elliott is doing great. He's a bit quiet but that's OK. We want him to heal and wait to be active in 2 weeks.

Thank you so much for the donations for his splenectomy. We have an angel donor who will match up to $7500. So this is the time to make your donations count!

❤PayPal:
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/luckyonesranch

❤Venmo:
LuckyOnesRanch

💗🐕🐾About Elliott 🐾🐕💗https://www.luckyonesranch.org/animals/elliott

🐕 Donate $50 or more for a limited edition Elliott sticker!!
https://www.luckyonesranch.org/lor-stickers

20/07/2024

Wahoo!! Elliott is on his way home!! 🙌

We got the text early this morning that Elliott's ECG and red blood cell count are normal. So, it's safe to bring him home.

He will be on pain meds - Carprofen and Gabapentin, as well as an antibiotic Cefpodoxime and, if needed, Trazadone to help keep him calm.

Since we do not know if the mass is benign or hemangiosarcoma (cancer), we will be proactively starting Elliott on Yunnan Baiyao, a Traditional Chinese Medicine. It stops bleeding, but also acts like a blood thinner to help with blood circulation.

We're so thankful to the wonderful, professional and friendly staff at OakVet. We hope this will be the last of Elliott's crazy odyssey of medical issues since we rescued him in late January!!

Elliott's total bill is $8240.93.

We have an angel donor who is offering to MATCH up to $7500. We have raised a small portion of the bill.

This has been an extremely expensive week for us. We had our livestock vet come out twice, hay was delivered and Elliott's ultrasound and surgery brings us to $10,317.76. We really need help with all of these costs!

Thank you for supporting us and being the good in the world.

❤PayPal:
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/luckyonesranch

❤Venmo:
LuckyOnesRanch

💗🐕🐾About Elliott 🐾🐕💗https://www.luckyonesranch.org/animals/elliott

🐕 Donate $50 or more for a limited edition Elliott sticker!!
https://www.luckyonesranch.org/lor-stickers

19/07/2024

We have high temperatures again! 🥵🥵
Our 6 rabbits and 1 guinea pig will be staying inside for a while!

19/07/2024

Big day for Elliott!!

We made the hour drive to OakVet Animal Specialty Hospital and met with Dr. Wignall, a very nice surgeon about Elliott's splenic mass. Elliott is a good candidate for the surgery. Whew!

This is our third experience with having one of our dog's spleen removed, but this is the first time that it's not a dire emergency. Nevertheless, there is a mass growing within Elliott's spleen and his entire spleen needs to be removed.

And they have time to do the splenectomy TODAY. 😬😲😊

SO MANY EMOTIONS!

The surgery quote is $8443.

We have an amazing angel donor who is offering to MATCH up to $7500. That means your donations will make twice the impact!!

Please make a donation towards Elliott's surgery. He is a cancer survivor and already been through a mass removal surgery and two rounds of electrochemotherapy. If you can not donate, please say a prayer for Elliott and for the vet team that will be taking care of him.

Vince is at work today..so I FaceTimed him so that he could say hi to Elliott. It was so sweet and Elliott started to wag his tail when he heard his dad's voice! 🥹

❤PayPal:
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/luckyonesranch

❤Venmo:
LuckyOnesRanch

💗🐕🐾About Elliott 🐾🐕💗https://www.luckyonesranch.org/animals/elliott

🐕 Donate $50 or more for a limited edition Elliott sticker!!
https://www.luckyonesranch.org/lor-stickers

19/07/2024

Everyone, please wish Fonzie a very happy 11th birthday!! 🎉🎂💕

He is the sweetest boy, but also our most "controversial" sanctuary animal. Fonzie has cerebellar hypoplasia, which is a neurological condition that he has had since birth. He is unsteady on his feet and shakes and wobbles.

Whenever we post videos of Fonzie, inevitably, there is someone who gives us their unsolicited opinion that Fonzie should be euthanized. It's sad that some people will see Fonzie and think he's suffering and is better off dead.

Yes, Fonzie is different. He can't walk without tumbling over. We carry him outside to put him in a sling to go potty and to eat. Then he goes in a stroller and we push him around the ranch where he can watch us do chores and be a part of the pack.

He barks when he's done being in the sling. He also barks when we walk too far away from his stroller because he wants to be with us. He wags his tail and gets excited when he sees us and he loves meeting new people.

Fonzie's life is different than most dogs. But he's happy and to us.... he's perfect.

Happy Birthday Fonzie!! 💗🐾🐕

19/07/2024

Happy Fonzie Friday!! 🎉🥳

We're celebrating the 6th anniversary of us going to Connecticut to take Fonzie back and making him a permanent sanctuary resident!

19/07/2024

Two kiddy pools are back inside of the house because of the 100+ degrees.

Any guesses on what we're doing with them?

19/07/2024

👩 Me: Leyla, CAN you explain why there's a dog food can on your bed?

🐕 Leyla: No, mom. I CAN'T.

👩: Hmmmph!!

18/07/2024

The flies are just awful right now! Poor Crouton. We made a fly mask out of a door screen for him. 😂

18/07/2024

1030p - This is what running an animal sanctuary looks like.

The horses are hard on the hay nets and have been breaking the zipties. I had to wait for the industrial super strength ones to come in so that we could fix the hay nets.

My husband, Vince worked 7a to 5p, with a one hour commute each way. 🚔👮‍♂️ When he finally gets home, all he wants to do is crash out and sleep. I let him.. for about an hour, but then we still need to eat dinner, finish our turndown service for the animals and also make minor repairs, as needed.

So, it's usually about this time that everyone's fed and I can ask Vince to help me with repairs.

18/07/2024

Many of you saw our plea for more ranch volunteers...thank you for sharing our post!

We have been blessed with an exceptional team of about 35 volunteers. A few have been with us for over 5 years! Unfortunately, some of our volunteers are experiencing health issues and are on extended leave. We really could use additional help to ensure that we're doing the best we can for the animals in our care.

We have had a few inquiries on whether young children would be able to accompany their moms while they volunteer with us. We think it's fantastic to expose children to a variety of experiences as they grow up. However, volunteering with us AND watching a young child as you navigate through animal pens filled with a variety of large animals... it's a total safety issue.

I'm really trying to paint a realistic picture of what we do here. It is NOT rainbows and butterflies here. It's been exceptionally hot, the yellow jackets have been stinging us, and there's flies everywhere and of course, there's 💩.

Lots of 💩💩💩.

It is strenuous work caring for over 130 animals. In a typical 2 to 3 hour shift, our general chores volunteers walk a few thousand steps as they feed, water and clean. I typically do about 12k steps in a day, but with the extra monitoring during the heat, I have been walking 18k steps!

Our produce sorting volunteers stay mostly in the barn and in the pantry, so they don't take as many steps, but they do lots of lifting and cleaning. The barn gets hot, so we have a multitude of large fans blowing to keep everyone cool. It's loud, but refreshing to have chilled air blowing on us.

To feed the animals, the volunteers cart over heavy loads of produce and hay in wheelbarrows over a gravel pathway. It's quite the workout! They also pick up lots of p**p and cart it out to the horse pasture which is hundreds of feet away.

Our volunteers also go inside of the pens where they put on fly masks and apply fly spray and give medications to animals that weigh up to 2000 pounds.

On the bad days, when we have sick or injured animals...we have the vet come out to look at them. There's usually blood and pus involved.

On the really bad days, when we have a large animal that passes away..we may have to wait for hours, sometimes even days for the pickup service to come to us.

Volunteering with us is an amazing experience for the right people. It is extremely rewarding and fulfilling. But sometimes it's also heartwrenching when we lose an animal. Our volunteers are amazing and we look forward to adding a few more to our ranch family!

18/07/2024

Thank you so much for the shade from our Amazon wishlist!

🫏 Kim L., Val B., Susan C., Betty P. &
Melissa B. 💗

17/07/2024

🆘️ Urgent need for ranch volunteers! 🆘️

We are in need of hard-working and dependable volunteers to help us care for over 130 animals at our non-profit sanctuary located in Vacaville, California.

Please understand that this is WORK. We are outside in the heat 🥵, in the rain 🌧, and in the wind 💨. Animals need to be cared for, regardless of the weather. 💗

We are feeding, we are watering and we are cleaning and washing dishes. When our volunteers are done with their chores, they are dirty and sweaty, but their hearts are full, knowing that they made a positive difference. 🙌

We have grandmas to grandkids who volunteer with us!

🥕🍅🫑A few volunteers prefer to only sort through the produce, but it's a huge undertaking! We receive hundreds of pounds of donated produce a week. It all needs to be sorted and stored away.

💪 Our general chores volunteer duties include: lifting heavy bales of hay, giving medications to animals, distributing hundreds of pounds of ice and so much more.

Although we do occasionally make exceptions...
Volunteers must:
➡️ Live within 20 miles of Vacaville
➡️ Make a weekly commitment of 2 hours

For more information and to apply:

https://www.luckyonesranch.org/volunteers

17/07/2024

Elliott update:

Unfortunately, today's ultrasound confirmed a mass within Elliott's spleen. The good news is that it is not bleeding and it appears contained within the spleen. It appears his initial abscess was from a dog bite and not a foxtail. The ultrasound shows the pocket of fluid to be smaller and no signs of a foxtail track.

Elliott will need his entire spleen to be removed (splenectomy). At that point, the surgeon can send it out to the lab to determine if the mass is benign or cancerous

In our past experience, this surgery was done on an emergency basis. So we're grateful that we have time to figure out which hospital should do the surgery.

Our vet, Dr. Riddle is too booked to do the surgery. However, she has heard great things about OakVet Hospital in Oakland, including good care and fair pricing.

If you recall, Henry had his spleen removed at VEG two years ago. It was just his luck that a board certified surgeon happened to be on duty to perform the surgery. The cost to us at the time was about $7000.

We are firm believers that everything happens for a reason. We initially took Elliott to VEG. The VEG vet looked at Elliott and instantly decided that his condition was outside her scope of care and gave us a referral sheet to more specialized hospitals in the area.

We're grateful that the SAGE vet used an ultrasound to determine that the inflammation in his chest was a simple abscess and when they did a cursory scan over his abdomen, they happened to see a splenic mass.

Our vet aged Elliott to be about 10 years old. We feel that he still has a lot of life in him. Bentley had a similar surgery at SAGE when he was 13 years old. He was over 17 years old when he passed away this year.

There's a reason why Elliott ended up with us. He came to us from North Carolina at the beginning of the year. Someone abandoned this sweet boy with a bulging, infected mass on the side of his body. We didn't know it was cancer until we had it removed.

Elliott went through treatment for a tick-borne infection and he also had two rounds of electrochemotherapy.

The Universe connected Elliott to us because we have the resources, support, love and dedication to get him the best medical care possible.

Please save a few bucks for Elliott and continue your good thoughts for him!
Thank you very much!

16/07/2024

Please send Elliott good vibes! He's getting an abdominal ultrasound right now. We will know more about his splenic mass in about an hour. 🙌

16/07/2024

15/07/2024

Chloé looks so snazzy in her new fly mask!!

We're hoping the tassels will keep the flies away from the corner of her mouth where her summer sore is located. She was such a great patient during this morning's vet appointment. 💗🦄

15/07/2024

Chloé was such a good girl this morning!

Dr. K examined Chloé's summer sore on the corner of her mouth. She debrided it and was able to remove a few worm larvae. I know.. so gross. 🤢

But Chloé stood still the entire time while Dr. K used a razor to shave off some dead skin. She said that's there's not many horses that would have tolerated that as Chloé did. She's definitely a unique girl...a unicorn 🦄!

Chloé definitely seemed to know that we were helping her!!

Dr. K created a special ointment made of Swat (fly repellent) with triamcinolone ( itchiness) and ivermectin (dewormer). We already dewormed Chloé with ivermectin last week. She'll need two additional dosages, two weeks apart.

Today's vet bill was $227. This is going to be another expensive week for us. Elliott's ultrasound is tomorrow, at an approximate cost of $700. And we're almost out of hay and need to place an order for 80 bales. Hay prices have fluctuated wildly and we never know how much it will cost until it's delivered. Last year, we were paying nearly $2000 for 80 bales. Our most recent delivery was half that amount! We're hoping for a low price of hay again.

DONATION
❤PayPal:
https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/luckyonesranch

❤Venmo:
LuckyOnesRanch

🍀 Become a monthly sponsor:
https://www.luckyonesranch.org/our-animals

Side note: We fixed the issue with FB Donate button not working anymore. Unfortunately, it'll take a few months for the paperwork to be approved and for us to get the button back.

PayPal and Venmo are the best ways to donate to us, as the funds come directly into our account. FB fundraisers are also essential, but can take up to 45 days to reach us.

We also take old-fashioned checks! Please ask us for our mailing address!

Thank you for the support! 💗🦄

15/07/2024

We are down to our last few bales of hay. The sanctuary animals eat 80 bales (100 pounds each) about every 40 days.

Our llamas, Precious, Cassidy and Molly took advantage of an open gate and helped themselves to the hay. Edgar, our gentle giant of a German Shepherd is good with them and does not bother them.

We llove that we can give our girls the freedom to roam around the sanctuary. We have lots of mulberry and willow trees for them to nibble on. We move them often and also give them the choice to go into a pen or to roam.

Of course, the hay barn is one of their favorite places to hang out!

15/07/2024

Who fed watermelon to your animals during the heatwave? 🍉

🐢Polo, our Sulcata Tortoise is munching on one of the 40 that we bought at a discounted rate from Larry's Produce!

14/07/2024

Don't you just adore all of these colors? 😍

The crazy intense heatwave had us hustling for the past 2 weeks. We went into "Don't let anyone die from the heat" mode with lots of emphasis on putting out ice, making sure everyone had fresh, cool water throughout the day with electrolytes and purchasing dozens of watermelons and feeding them to the animals. The last thing on our minds was grooming and brushing the animals.

This morning, it was unusually cool and refreshing. We took the opportunity to love on Chloé and use the brushes from our new grooming tote bag. ( Thanks Kathleen 💕)

There's something so soothing and therapeutic about grooming horses! Our volunteer of 4.5 years, Christine is just smitten with Chloé.

If you are a monthly sponsor and would like to come over in the early morning (8a to 10a) or evening (6p to 8p) to hang out and groom our equines, please email us to set up a date.

If you are new to our page, we are a Blue Family 💙🚔 and operate the sanctuary out of our home on the outskirts of Vacaville. We do not have regular business hours. Besides our jobs, we are constantly busy with frequent vet and farrier appointments along with obtaining feed and supplies for over 130 animals.

If you would like to visit, please take a look at our website and choose an animal that you connect with and become a monthly sponsor. There are so many to choose from!

The hot weather coupled with Vince's new work schedule has prevented us from doing our 🌮 Taco Nights, but hopefully, we will have one soon!

https://www.luckyonesranch.org/our-animals

13/07/2024

Come today, Saturday July 13th at the Brass Tap in Vacaville. Have a meal and 25% will go to fallen Vacaville Police Officer Bowen's family. We plan on going after we finish morning chores!

🚨 UPDATE: Thank you all for the support for us and the support for the Bowen family! We have been graciously donated bonus supplies for an additional outside BBQ by 4edges Construction company. We will doing ribs, hot link sandwiches and candied bacon as well as brisket and beans as separate food options. 100% of the BBQ proceeds will be donated on top of the 25% of our menu items! BBQ items will be ready by noon! We hope to see you tomorrow! 🖤💙
•

As most have already seen, our community tragically lost one of our Vacaville Police Officers just up the street from us yesterday.
We would like to do what we can to help support the wife and boys he leaves behind.

Saturday, July 13th, we will be donating 25% of food purchases to the family of Officer Matt Bowen.

Join us for Brunch, Lunch or Dinner and help give a family the support they need during this difficult time. Both dine in & take out orders will be donated.

Thank you all in advance 💙🖤

If you can't make it, please consider supporting the family via the donation fundraiser set up by the Peace Officers Research Association of California: https://bit.ly/BowenFamily