It is now 2 years from that sad day when I was faced with the cruel reality of his leaving.. It was incredibly cold that day when someone asked me to go help a dog with an exposed tumor on his side. He was not a homeless dog.. he had a family.. in fact the bastards were there that day and told me all about Sheffield and the tumor.. They never took him to the vet, and it was not that they were poor cause their house was the best looking in the block with several cars parked in the garage and driveway.. they simply didn’t give 2 shits about their dog. Sheffield saw severeal vets, and they all diagnosed him with cancer. He received several chemos, got the tumor removed and for a little while I thought that he would surprise me and get better.. He put on weight and was always smiling and wagging his tail at the refuge, playing with his friends.. until After spending almost a month at the clinic, I decided to take him to the beach and see the ocean.. but the rain came out of nowhere and flooded the goddam island.. Next morning when I went for him.. the vet took him out of his crate and he couldn’t even stand anymore.. he looked starved and couldn’t breathe.. blood was coming out his nose and mouth and I knew right then, that I would never get to take him to see the ocean in this life.. The vet said the cancer had already spread all over his brain. In a blink of an eye he was gone. I held his paw all the way to the funeral home while his head laid peacefully on my lap. Ohh, these children of mine come into my life to bring a smile and heartbreak. ~Mr. Sheffield~ …………………….. In my head, I see you; the lonely puppy walking the roads, looking for a home and wanting to be happy. You did not have a fairytale of a Prince charming and toads... No mother, No father, They are all gone; they left you behind all alone... I wanted so badly to give you the world, to make you forget the pain; But sadly, destiny hurled Its wrath in your path and flooded the world with the rain... All my hopes and dreams for you, go down the drain. I am sad again... All that is left now are the echoes of my screams. And so it is... This is the end. My woes do not move God. The broken woman inside of me, the one that is always sad, will never mend. Now I go hide to cry in the yard brokenhearted and torn apart from your depart.. Welcome to my lonely graveyard. By Chella Phillips The Voiceless Dogs of Nassau, Bahamas@ (fb)

Almost 4 months ago, I found Pooja abandoned at the beach on a cold day. Whoever dumped her threw her right in the ditch with putrid garbage and pestilent water. I have never seen a dog with such an infestation of fleas. I have been doing rescue for 21 years in the Bahamas, but I have never seen another dog this bad, like her. People all over started attacking me, saying I staged the whole thing and put ants all over her because those weren’t fleas, according to them. 🙃 Believe me. They were fleas. Thousands of them! After a couple of weeks, I could tell her tummy started to get round and on top of everything going wrong with her, she was also pregnant. Because she was anemic beyond belief, the vets didn’t want to risk it by aborting her because she wasn’t going to handle the anesthesia well and most likely would die on the table; so I took her to another clinic where they used gas and she did fine. Pooja is now waiting patiently for a rescue to help her in the States, and a family to adopt her. She gets along beautifully with other dogs and is sweet with people in general. (fb)