Saturday, March 3, 2012

Found at the new house

It’s been a really busy week. I was going to write about the trials of buying a house from HUD but something happened at the beginning of the week that I wanted to tell you about first.

We went to the house on Monday to start work on it. Right after we got there we heard a sound like a puppy crying. Since this is in town I didn’t think much about it for a few seconds until I realized it sounded like it was right outside the window. Went to look and eventually Danny found it. A tiny terrified puppy curled under the furnace vent that goes into the house! We got it out and found a nearly starved puppy about eight or nine weeks old that someone had thrown away. Just put out to die and drove away. The poor little thing was so thin we could count her ribs and her abdomen was no thicker than her back bone. She wouldn’t have lasted the night.

I really don’t want to go into what I think about the disgusting sub humans that do this to the helpless creatures under their protection. There is no reason, no excuse, that makes it alright to be this cruel and irresponsible.

Anyway, of course, we couldn‘t leave her there. Stopped and got some puppy chow and took her home and fed her. Just a little bit so she wouldn’t get sick. Well, that didn’t work. She threw it up. Trouble is she didn’t stop throwing up. On Tuesday I called our vet and talked to them. We had already started giving her Lactated Ringers under the skin because she had stopped eating or drinking anything. The vet’s office said to just keep her on the fluids and worm her. We use fenbendazole wormer because it’s so safe and effective. Trouble was she couldn’t keep the wormer down.





On Wednesday evening she was still throwing up and had developed a fever. Up until that time her temp was normal. I called the vet’s emergency number and was told to give her an antibiotic shot and some of that pink wintergreen flavored stomach medicine and the Ringers that evening and bring her in first thing on Thursday. So we did. Thursday morning she was bright eyed and alert. Obviously, the fever was gone and she felt a little better. When the tests came back, though, we found out she has Parvo and was loaded with worms. Many, many dollars later (much more that we can afford) I brought her home with a lot of medicine and a 60% chance of saving her. Our vet did tell me that if we hadn’t started her on the Ringers and then called and given her that shot of penicillin she wouldn’t have lived until that morning. It’s now Saturday afternoon. We have religiously kept up with the fluids and meds. And this afternoon she had her first solid food since Monday. Danny cooked chicken and rice and she has had three teaspoons full an hour apart and has kept them down so far. The vet said she can relapse anytime so we’re not completely out of the woods yet but we’re very hopeful. We’ll feed her a teaspoon full every hour for the rest of the night and tomorrow she’ll get a little more at a time. If we’re lucky tomorrow will be the last day for the Ringers.

Whether or not we can actually afford to keep her (and it’s going to be very difficult ~ we have other dogs and cats, all strays) is immaterial. She was ours as soon as I picked her up and this quivering terrified little puppy snuggled up against my neck and whimpered and cried.

She is a bright little girl. Very loving and sweet. I think she’s going to be a wonderful companion and friend. Don't know what her "breed" is and it doesn't matter. She is brown with lighter brown markings and eyebrows. Her eyes are green. Her name is Sage.  She is home.

4 comments:

  1. Sweet doggie! I'm sure she will thrive with you, Becky!

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  2. Thank you, Tina. She is doing soooo much better. I think we beat the Parvo right into the ground and did a dance on it's grave. And today she has been with us one week.

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  3. She is adorable. Thank you for saving her..

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  4. You're welcome, Kellie. She is so entertaining and keeps us all busy.

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