Bomber

So I was going to post on Bomber a couple weeks ago and never got around to it.

So I will now!

A month or so ago the resident handyman at the shelter came in exclaiming that there was a dog loose behind the dumpster and he needed my help so it wouldn't run away. I ran around the back side while he went the front. We needn't have bothered. There sat little ole Bomber, his tummy hugely swollen and his ribs sticking out despite that fact. He sat there patiently. I approached him slowly, not knowing his demeanor with a loop leash expecting him to react in some way. He didn't.

I put my hand out asking him to smell it and he looked at me like "oh please, just do it already".

So I looped the leash around his neck and he stood up like "about time. Lets go inside."

I thought he was a she. Why? Because his abdomen was so grossly swollen with fluid that he appeared largely pregnant. I had a few ideas, once I realized she was indeed an intact male, as to why this should be.

I tested my first theory. YUP!!! Practically oozing heartworms. The test was a super strong positive for the antibodies to heartworms! His heart musta been crammed full of them. To the point that his body was having trouble returning all the fluid to it and was shoving some out into his abdomen!! Takes A LOT of heartworms for a very long time to do this. And he only appears to be about 5 years old! His heart has a murmur, and will for the rest of his life.

Well he was malnourished and had most of his bones fairly identifiable under his skin. But he never lacked for the happy enthusiasm of a good boxer.

Bomby, as we called him, was looked at by the Boxer rescue but they could not take him due to the cost of treatment. Well, we decided to give it a try. Not all vets would advise treatment with heartworm disease that advanced. But as a shelter we aren't under the luxury of most clinics. We kept him in the clinic and went for the modified treatment, which takes several months.

I pulled some of the fluid off his stomach, started feeding him, and then started his first round of shots. NOW! A month later, we are on his second set of shots. Once the fluid had gone down, we put him out for adoption. OF COURSE he got adopted, he's just a wonderful dog.

He is still at the shelter, waiting till the first of November so we can do his last segment of treatment and then his neuter.

He is such a wonderful dog, even though the shots are extremely painful and deep into the muscle tissue of their back, he still gives us a shake of his rump and a lick when we are through injecting. Such a wonderful dog.

Number 2 we love you. :)

I don't have any pictures of him the way he looks today, but show quality, you betcha!!!

I will try to take somemore with him all filled out where you can barely see his ribs...

He came in at a fluidy 47lbs,

Dropped down to 42 once we removed the fluid

And is now up to 60!!! And not yet fully fleshed!

Poor baby

Well, I have some sad news. After my last update where it seemed Chevy was doing so much better, she relapsed again. Her snot came back with a vengeance and clogged her nose with green. Her cough was keeping her up all night and she stopped eating very much. This meant pretty much one thing. Distemper. She was housed at one point with a puppy that had come down with the neurological (nerve) form of distemper. But they were in and out of the same places at odd amounts of time and we really didn't think they'd had enough contact to transmit. They never had any physical contact just shared air. But that's how contagious distemper can be. So unfortunately, even if Chevy never showed any of the nerve symptoms her upper respiratory symptoms would linger and linger until months from now they might subside. And that was too far in the future for her to have to suffer through the discomfort of her leg and hip injuries that had yet to be fixed and were causing her great pain. There was no way for her to undergo surgery to correct those with her congestion as bad as it was. So in her best interest we opted to put her to sleep.

It was very sad, holding her head and thanking her for fighting with me. But her sleep was quick and her comfort returned as she slipped away. I cried over her soft, thin head and held her until she was completely gone. You think in the world of shelters that this kinda thing gets easier. But it doesn't.
And, in my honest opinion, it shouldn't. Cause when they stop mattering. Each and every one of them, then its time for you to find a new line of work.

So next time I will introduce a new patient, Bomber. A youngish Boxer with heartworm disease so bad it was shutting down his heart. The boxer rescue is looking to take him, but until they do, I will let you in on his story!

Quick update

Miss Chevy is doing very well today although we have had a bit of a setback. Her coughing has returned. Its not as bad as originally and she can still breathe but its making her a little miserable. She's eating with a vengeance and I hope it only takes her another week to ten days until she can get that nasty pin outta her leg. Looks like it hurts!
Again, no new pictures. My brand new camera is in my mother's posession currently. Probably won't get new pics till this weekend.

Chevy is doing soooooo well!
Her appetite is improving almost by the minute. After the handful of kibble last night, she finished her handburger and butter, all but the last few ounces. So this morning I gave her a third a can of some iams chunks food and another handful of kibble. I came home this evening after a long day of errands and it was all gone!!

I of course, promptly gave her a new bowl. She dove into it, eating on some of the kibble before deciding that she had just finished her other meal not too long ago. I am confidant that she will finish the rest of it later this evening. Her first real meal in weeks!!!

LOL, she is laying on the floor in the study being a real puppy. She rolled around feeling the cool floor and then started chewing on a local piece of paper. She looked up at the big dog (My great dane Strider) and let out a little bark. The other dogs thought this meant something was wrong and jumped up barking in turn to go investigate. She sighed, looked where they went and then sat for a few moments watching the ceiling fan.

Then, without much warning she jumped up and went walking around the room. She had a real milestone in her recovery (and forgive this if it seems grose). She had her first bowel movement in at least 4 days! It was a big one! I am so happy for that. It means that her intestines and digestive system are back up in full gear. Means she is digesting some of these nutrients she is finally taking in again!

I am very excited for her recovery. She seems to much more bright and alert. Her energy level is improving and she actually sits up each time I walk in the room.

Doing well!!

Sorry, no new pictures today. Maybe tomorrow.

Chevy vol 1

So first I would like to give you a short introduction to Chevy:

Chevy is a black, with little bit of white, lab cross of about 5 months who was brought to us at the beginning of August having been presumably hit by a car. She had some nasty road rash on her hind legs and appeared shocky. We gave her some iv fluids and kept her warm (almost the most we can do in an emergency at the shelter) and sent her to a vet clinic who does most of our orthopedic work.

They took x-rays and found that she had many many broken bones in her hind quarters. Several spots in her pelvis, and a couple of major leg bones. She even had one sorta like this one, where the head of the femur is broken off in the hip socket.

They did a few of the surgeries trying to make her legs usable again, but in the meantime she caught a nasty nasty cold. She stopped eating. Between the cold and living her life in a small cage with no love and only casual contact, she gave up.

When another patient of mine died of depression for much the same reason the clinic sent her back to us hoping that we could snap her out of it. Clinic's can't provide daily nursing TLC like an owner can. That's why most clinics don't do long term boarding!!! (Yes dogs do suffer from depression, and they will go anorexic and stop eating!)

So poor Chevy came back to the Shelter looking very very skinny and very depressed and without much of an appetite.

We kept her going but just barely.

Two days ago, it was apparent to me, just looking into her eyes, that if she did not get out of the shelter she was going to give up and die.

I brought her home.

I put her on IV fluids and two types of antibiotics to fight the infection. I put her on cough suppresant and vitamin B. I force fed her baby food and gave her bacon, which she decided was well worth eating initially.

Then I gave her love and I introduced her to the BEST medicine. SAM :)

I let her sit with me in bed while I read for a while. She leaned up against me and, wheezing and coughing, snuggled up until she was almost on top of me.

Poor girl, every time she would try to lay flat she would start coughing. Like a baby with a chest infection that can't sleep, the lack of rest was eating at her.

Gradually over the past 48hrs I have seen her come alive. She still can't get quite comfortable flat. But if she is sitting up or walking around, she isn't coughing. She tries to follow Sam and I around the house, but her leg doesn't quite work perfectly. Her energy is up. Her appetite is improving. She ate a handful of kibble just to be like the big dogs, though she didn't touch her dinner of hamburger and butter. She likes it aged a bit and will probably eat it later tonight.

It amazes me to see how much she has improved just with a little love! The medicine is good, and its helping to heal her, but without the love, without knowing there was something to live for, she would have given up.

She almost had....

So now we have a long road to full recovery. She will need to completely shake this cold and gain some weight before she can go back to have her pin removed and her other hip surgery. Then she will have 4-8 weeks of further cage rest before she can go out for adoption. Perhaps once she is stable again I will find her a nice foster home.

I have been down this road before. Leo, my perhaps catahoula, perhaps smooth collie cross, was much the same as Chevy. He was taken from his mom at 4 weeks and thought that was simply too much to ask of a small one. So at 5 or 6 weeks, he too, stopped eating. He had nothing like her excuse. He was in a nice foster home, but apparently he was very unhappy. He lost most of his weight and was severely dehydrated. His skin literally hung off of his skeleton. Well, we brought him home and immediately he fell in love with Jason and they have not parted since. Leo improved and was eating on his own in less than 72hrs after coming to my house and participating in the same medical regime that Chevy is on now. These are the pics of Leo as he was just after his recovery and now 6months later.

So, watch this blog for Chevy's progress and to learn more about some of the "notables" at the shelter!