Wow what a month! Sissy and her puppies have had so much fun in their foster home with Stephanie and Franck and their adorable boys. Less than 2 weeks ago, the family said goodbye to their 7 babies. Bittersweet for sure....this wonderful family fostered Sissy and her puppies for the past several weeks. Believe it or not, this was their first foster experience and it was quite a learning experience! Poor Sissy has had some medical issues (skin infection, mastitis, etc.) and her puppies have been a handful! Stephanie and Franck have been absolutely wonderful throughout and we could not have asked for a more compassionate foster family.
Our friends at Wish Upon a Paw in Wisconsin (http://wishuponapaw.org/), have been complete angels as well! Our friends, Emily and Natalie, started WISH last May, although neither of them are strangers to rescue! WISH offered to take in 2 of the puppies right off the bat and find them homes (they ended up with 3 though..oops). Then...without hesitation, they agreed to "courtesy post" the rest of the litter (just to see what happens)! WOW...what craziness followed! Jaime, the Canine Adoption Coordinator, was inundated with applications for these babies! Some of you may remember...Jaime and Glen adopted 2 of our babies (now named Riley and Miles) who originally came from the Osceola Animal Shelter in Arkansas and we have been great friends ever since! Thankfully, Stephanie was an integral part in the adoption process. As a foster mom, no one knows these babies better than she does so her input and expertise was invaluable!
We cannot thank WISH and Stephanie and Franck enough for all their help with these cuties! ALL OF THESE BABIES ARE NOW OFFICIALLY ADOPTED!!! Stephanie and Franck have gratiously offered to foster Sissy as long as necessary (cross fingers it will be forever- lol- come on, we love foster failures!). We are slowly getting updates from the puppies' new families so we hope to post their happy tails soon!
Precious Sissy has really had a rough time in the last week. Her foster mommy, Stephanie, messaged me a couple days ago that she was very worried about Sissy. She had a fairly high temperature and was obviously not herself (i.e., shaking, not eating, etc.). We were so worried that she was going to dehydrate, so we made the decision to take her to the emergency vet. It turns out that poor Sissy has mastitis in 2 teats (blocked milk ducts, causing infection, inflammation, etc.). Read info on mastitis here: http://www.vetinfo.com/symptoms-mastitis-dogs.html
It became official...no more nursing for Sissy. No worries...the puppies were already beginning to wean anyway. Sissy was obviously uncomfortable. She was placed on medication and given take home instructions. One of the 2 teats with mastitis abscessed tonight. She has an open abscess, which is considered the better alternative.... Stephanie sent me an update this evening:
The abscess opened more tonight. The abscessed area is roughly a circle with a 2-inch diameter. At first, there was a small hole that the pus was draining from (maybe 1/4 inch diameter), but the skin within the rest of the circle was very saggy and necrotic in areas. Tonight that area has sloughed off, so now the opening is about the size of a quarter, maybe slightly bigger. The vet is going to keep an eye on Sissy during the day tomorrow and possibly Saturday (minimal day fee, it's just for precaution). This way they can monitor the surrounding tissue for sign of spreading infection (which would indicate surgical removal) and thoroughly flush the abscess (Sissy was really not happy with us doing this tonight). She's on a decent amount of pain meds, and sleeps most of the time.
PLEASE say prayers for Sissy. We are incredibly grateful for her foster family. We shutter to think what would happen to Sissy if she were still in the trailer park. FOSTERING SAVES LIVES EVERYONE!!!
Sissy's bills are now over $600 and she hasn't even been spayed/vaccinated yet. We URGE you to please consider making a small donation for her medical care. There is a Chip-In available, but if you prefer to send your donation to the vet directly, please contact Allie at 901-240-9848 or email allieot98@yahoo.com for the information. The good news is we have several great applications on Sissy's puppies so stay tuned!
Noelle is still waiting for someone to choose HER to be part of their family. For those of you who may not know, Noelle was found at Lakeshore Trailer Park in Arkansas (not far from Memphis). She was the victim of another apparent doggy dumping... Noelle is under a year old and is the sweetest girl you will ever meet! She is being fostered by Rose and her family in Missouri (we love you Rose for helping us out!). Noelle gets to play with lots of other doggies at her foster home and gets along with everyone (including cats!). She is a good size too at only about 37pounds! She is spayed; up-to-date on her vaccinations; heartworm negative; and on heartworm preventative! All she needs is a great home!
We also wanted to thank Noelle's first foster mom, Laura, in Memphis, for taking Noelle right from the "streets" along with her buddy, Champ. Laura is fostering Champ through his heartworm treatment, so we needed to find another foster home for her so that Champcould rest. Fostering truly is a matter of life or death in most cases, so we thank you ladies from the bottom of our hearts for your kindness.
Rose was asked what type of home would best suit Noelle and this is her response (condensed in some parts):
"I feel she is the kind of dog that would be happy as a only dog or with a friend. When she is the only dog in the house she loves to sit by me and get lots of love..then when they are all outside or in the house she loves to play. So I think either way she would be fine..She just loves to be loved on..She is definitely house trained as she as had no accidents in here no matter how long she is in.
It doesn't matter the size of the other dog she plays with. Right now I have a Chihuahua I pulled from the Pound and she loves to play with her and she knows how to be easy with her. She is a active dog cause I have a good sized back yard and she likes to play. However, she isn't much on running so if she was in a yard where she had to be walked (i.e., not fenced in) or a smaller yard she would be ok too. She doesn't mind if she is alone for a few hours either (no matter if she is in her kennel or not).
Noelle loves to be outside when it is nice out. But when she comes in she will crash for hours..lol. I love the shine to her coat,she really is a very pretty dog....Oh ya and she is ok with cats.. She will chase themn occasionally but I think she does the chasing because of a dog I have her right now that does it, otherwise she doesn't pay them any attention at all."
Check out some pictures of Noelle below. We will post new pictures as we receive them. PLEASE forward this posting to anyone who may be interested in a great new family member. They may contact Allie at 901-240-9848 or email allieot98@yahoo.com if interested!
This is Noelle with her buddy, Champ, before Champ started his heartworm treatment.
Looking for her kitty friend at Laura's house!
Such a gorgeous girl! Noelle with one of her buddies at her new foster home!
More buddies to play with at Rose's house! Can't you picture this sweet girl at YOUR home???
Oh FINALLY...some great news! Jessie's bloodwork was MUCH better today! Her white blood cell count is down to 39,000 (was 120,000...normal is around 20,000). Liver enzymes are now readable (off the chart last week) and are almost normal at 132 (normal 10-100). Platelets were a little high today, but Docis not concerned about that (would be more concerned if they were low she said) and her red blood cell count is normal!!!
Jessie has gained weight from last week too. She is now 45.9 pounds and was 42.4pounds last week. The plan is to wean her off the Prednisone in the next several weeks and to continue the liver supporting meds and famotidine (Pepcid) for now. GREAT NEWS ALL AROUND!!! She is eating great and is a very happy girl.
Jessie tried so hard to play with some puppies that came in (they are off to the left in this picture)- she couldn't keep her eyes off them! Cute little chub huh! Here Jessie is waiting for some more attention from a customer- lol. She took it upon herself to greet everyone that came in the door! Jessie looking outside while we waited for test results. At one point, she literally climbed on Paul's lap while he sat on the couch (Paul is Donna's son who works at the vet clinic). She thinks she's a lap dog! We want to thank the following people for their GENEROUS contributions to Jessie's medical bills: Theresa H.ofIN; Susan S.of WI; Stephanie F. of IL; Paula J. ofWI;and Missy S. of AR and Ruth M. of MO. Jessie's still has an outstanding vet bill of $1500.00.Please consider donating to the Lakeshore Trailer Park Doggies, so that we can continue to help these forgotten fur-souls. You may contribute via the Chip In below (Paypal) or you can email Allie at allieot98@yahoo.com for the Vet's contact information or an address if you prefer to send a check. We appreciate all of you so very much!
I have been on pins and needles waiting to hear from Doc. Jessie got the OK to come home TODAY!!! I picked her up after work (see above picture) and she is now resting comfortably on some soft blankets! We will take more pictures soon (camera is dead).
Jessie is the luckiest girl in the world to be alive. She was extremely sick. This girl is a fighter and she has had wonderful people praying for her and wishing her well! Here she is on the ride home:
Nope...these are not your Grandma's pills. Poor Jessie has to take 7 medications for the next 10 days or so. We are just so thrilled she is alive. Good thing Jessie LOVES liver cheese- lol!
***UPDATE 2/05/12**** At 10:51 pm, I received the GREATEST PHONE CALL! Doc called just to tell me that JESSIE ATE 1/2 CAN OF FOOD...ON HER OWN!!! OMG...this is AMAZING NEWS! She has not eaten anything on her own since she was hospitalized on January 25th!!! I know this may be premature, but I truly believe this girl is going to thrive. She has so many people concerned about her and praying for her! Doc was laughing when she told me that Jessie threw up on her husband who was nice enough to go with her to the clinic...this was BEFORE she ate. Apparently she injected the antibiotic too quickly in the IV bag and it didn't agree with Jessie (so sorrySteve). Anyway, we don't want to sound like a broken record, but please keep Jessie in your prayers. She is not out-of-the-woods yet, but this is a wonderful step in the right direction!
UPDATE 2/05/12: You may have read the title yesterday "Prayers Seem To Be Working for Jessie". Well..Doc called with the latest blood test results. Jessie is just not responding to the antibiotics. Doc is going to put her on a 4th antibiotic and is going to the Emergency Center to get the injectable version as well. She is not positive, but feels she may be getting septic. Jessie's red blood cell count is close to normal now and her platelet count has improved as well, however, Doc said that is likely due to the blood transfusion (rather than her body doing it on its own basically). The biggest concern is her white blood cell count continues to rise. It is near 60,000 and should be close to 20,000. So the news is not good. It does not help that she isn't eating still. Doc says Jessie is a very complicated case since her previous antibiotics should have taken care of any possible sepsis. Please please pray for this girl. Her spirits are better (wags her tail, more alert, etc.), but her bloodwork says otherwise.
It has been so difficult to keep up with the Blog lately (especially when Facebook is much faster and easier to access!) so please forgive us. Kevin and I have been very busy the last few weekends. We went to Kentucky the week before last to take a bunch of lucky doggies and then to Wisconsin last weekend to take even more!
Prior to leaving for Wisconsin, we received a call from a lady who lives in Lakeshore Trailer Park about a sweet girl (now named Jessie) who had been dumped. She kept looking at every car going by hoping it was her owner coming back... Anyway, I called our friend Becky, who helps feed the strays and lets us know what is going on regarding the strays near her, to see if she would mind if we kept Jessie in her pen in the backyard until we can find rescue for her. Of course, Becky was so wonderful and said yes! Kevin and I stopped by on January 19th to take a few pictures of this cutie (see below).
Jessie pictured with Princess, another Lakeshore Trailer Park doggy in need.
Sweet girls
The hubs, Kevin (aka KC) with Jessie! She is quite a chunk here!
Well...after about 6 days, Becky called to tell me that Jessiewas not feeling well. She began to vomit and have diarrhea...the dreaded signs of possible parvo. We were worried that she would get worse while we were out of town so we dropped her off at the vet before we left. On January 25th, we dropped that sweet girl off at the vet. Test results confirmed parvo...URGH! We gave the ok to begin IV fluids. Long story short..Jessie has been in the hospital ever since then.
I was able to visit her when we got back. The pictures below are from January 30th. Jessie definitely was starting to feel a lot worse, but had been on continuous IV fluids for 5 days at that point.
Sweet girl...all she wanted was a soft place to snooze on and some love. Thanks to her "owner" for dumping her (likely unvaccinated) in a trailer park with exposure to who knows what illnesses, Jessie is fighting for her life.
Such a sad and depressing time for Jessie
What started out as parvo, turned into even more problems for Jessie. Jessie became pretty lethargic and jaundice starting this past Monday. She had still not eaten and was getting sicker...On February 3rd, Doc told us that Jessie would need a blood transfusion or she would likely not make it. Her blood work came back pretty bad (platelet count extremely low; white blood cell count extremely high; liver enzymes so high they were unreadable; etc.). Jessie was having an "immune response overload" to something...
Doc took her off the antibiotics she was on and started a new one along with a steroid just in case she was having a rare reaction to them. I picked up liver supporting meds from a vet near me; drove to another vet to pick up more dextrose (actually 2 more vet clinics...I mistakenly got the wrong type of dextrose from the first vet and had to go to another vet for the correct one); and then off to the Emergency Clinic to pick up the blood (she needed a universal blood to lessen the chance of a reaction). On Friday night, Jessie began receiving the blood transfusion.
In this picture, Jessieis mad at me because she was so thirsty, but I would let her drink the dirty mop water (lol). At least she is drinking and keeping it down!
Kevin and I were able to visit her again today and she looked much better. We took her outside since it was in the 60's today so that she could get some fresh air and a change of scenery. She really seemed to enjoy it. She had to have a new IV put in her rear leg because her IV fell out on a potty break and she no longer had a viable vein in her front legs(poor baby). Anyway, we really enjoy spending time with this sweet girl. We are so grateful to Doc and the staff as well as all the doggy angels out there who have been praying for her and offering support (emotionally and financially) We sincerely appreciate everyone so very much. Doc will re-run her bloodwork tomorrow to see how she is doing. She is hopeful that Jessie will be able to come home on Monday!
She looks like such a puppy in this one (Sue you were right about that)!
Pretty girl enjoying the fresh air!
Jessie is definitely weak, but at least she can go out on potty breaks now.
Jessie was pretty happy to see Kevin too- he was finally able to come visit her! Kevin is in love with her too!
Waiting to be poked on again :( Jessie's IV came out when she went for a potty break so they had to put one in her back leg this time. Taken before we left- no one likes E-collars. Don't worry sweetie, we will visit you again soon and can't wait to take you home!!
Jessie's bill will be extremely high (last estimate was $1600, but we have received donations for some of it thankfully). We realize that this is only 1 dog, but we truly feel that all doggies in our care are special. How could we give up on her when she has been fighting so hard??? The blood transfusion itself was only a few hundred more, so why stop now. We appreciate any help that we can get and if you cannot help financially, please share her story. You never know who may be feeling generous and who may be fortunate enough to be able to help. We could really use some more prayers too!
We apologize for the delay in posting this as well. We wanted to make sure we could get some pictures of the lovely recipient first! Camille stopped by our booth and bought a ticket for our raffle and we really appreciate her support- what a great young lady she is! We were sooooo happy when we picked her name! Camille has 2 very spoiled kitties (see their pics below) which we LOVE to hear! We are sure they enjoyed their Christmas presents! Read the descriptions of these two beauties from Camille's mom, Cheryl. Thanks so much for sending us these pictures!
"This is our Moses... MoMo for short... is about 15 years old and was my cat before I got married. He's part Hymialaian and has long gray hair and the most beautiful blue eyes - when they're open ! Which is not often! He's a very big cat - weighs almost 20 lbs! He's old and cantankerous and sleeps and eats a lot! "
"This is Baby Cat he wandered up to a house we were renting temporarily in October of 2010 when he was really a "baby cat" maybe 4 weeks old and so tiny! we were in the process of moving and we brought him with us to our permanant home in December where's he's stayed ever since! he's an outisde cat but always comes home to eat and spends the night inside! sooo sweet" What a life! That's what they all deserve!
Sorry for the delay in posting...seems Facebook is a bit easier to update. We have several doggies in need in of homes/rescue in Lakeshore Trailer Park. I have spent the last week passing out straw to those in need and trying to get a handle on which doggies are "homeless" and which need "new homes".
There is a rescue that may be interested in a few of the scruffy doggies, but we will not be able to confirm until early next week. I want to go ahead and post the need in case someone is looking for a wonderful new companion.
This is Princess. She is under a year old according to her "owner" (maybe 8-10 months old). Princess' owner no longer wants her. She lives on their porch and wanders up and down the street. We brought a dog house to her and straw last month as she did not have proper shelter. Anyway, she deserves a home where she will be loved. Princess is very sweet. She can be a little shy at first, but warms quickly. She probably weighs around 30 pounds (best guess). Princess gets along with all types of dogs (they all roam the neighborhood and she does fine).
Princess again
This is Suki. She and her brother, Coojo, were abandoned at the trailer park when they were little puppies. They are being taken care of by a few people, but they want them to find good homes. Suki stays inside most of the time with a couple other doggies. She is very sweet and fairly docile. She likely weighs around 40-45 pounds. They are guessing she is around a year old. She and her brother are very good around kids (lots of kids there of all ages). She is much cuter in person!
She is a unique looking gal!
This is Suki'sbrother, Coojo! How adorable is he?! He too is great with kids and seems to do fine with all the other dogs that roam the neighborhood. He does NOT like cats however. Coojo is very gentle with kids as well. He does have a barely noticeable limp in the rear (I believe right leg) from an injury when he was a puppy but it doesn't seem to bother him (he runs, etc.). He enjoys being outside most of the time. Coojo with one of the guys who helps feed him
A neighbor child hugging on Coojo- even younger kids don't bother him at all- very gentle.
Seriously...ADORABLE!
This is Pearl (named by our friend, Donna, in MI). Pearl came up to me while I was in the middle of another rescue. According to the neighbors, she is just a stray. Well...Pearl is not only GORGEOUS, but she is very friendly too! She needs a temporary foster home or something so that she can get off the streets.
This is a bit fuzzy (taken from my cell phone quickly)- this was the day she came running up to me!
Pictured below is a doggy named Drew. Drew is probably a couple years old according to the people taking care of him. He was the victim of another abandonment. His previous owners moved out and just left him (that was a couple months ago).Drew prefers a quieter home overall. There are lots of little kids around where he stays and he seems a bit uncomfortable. He likes women better than men according to Friscowho takes care of him. Drew gets along with other dogs and cats fine.
Drew with Frisco Last but not least...Mo Mo. If you look closely, Mo Mo is lying on the mattress. This is where he "lives" right now. Thankfully, the guy in the trailer allows him to come inside when it is too cold at night. Mo Mo was also left by a woman. She had asked a neighbor to "watch him" for a few days while she moved, but she never came back. The neighbors believe he was an inside doggy mostly. Mo Mo is a very sweet and laid back guy. He is good around kids and doesn't have a mean bone in his body. Look at his precious eyes! He was not very amused with me- lol. I disturbed his nap in the sun. At one point, he just laid on his side and went back to sleep! He is very sweet for sure!
This was taken on my cell from my car the other day If you are willing to help any of these cuties, please contact Allie at 901-240-9848. We could always use monetary donations for vetting, transportation costs, etc. as well as donations of dog food (dry and canned), stainless steel bowls, blankets, straw, dog houses, and anything else you can think of for doggies. We set up an ongoing Chip In to help with these costs if you would like to contribute!
We are two passionate animal lovers who are trying to make a difference in the lives of the forgotten pups in the mid-south.
We try to network with legitimate rescues to help us place desperate pups in loving, indoor homes and are always looking for more "doggy partners". My husband, Kevin, and I (Allie) have helped rescue pups for nearly 5 years now and hope someday to make an even bigger difference.
If you would like to volunteer, please contact Allison at 901-240-9848 or email allieot98@yahoo.com
Foster homes are always desperately needed. Time commitments range from a few weeks to "until" they find forever homes (and everywhere in between). Without foster homes, we cannot continue to save lives. Just let us know if you prefer puppies or adults! Medical foster homes are also needed for furbabies that need a little extra help.
Please note that we will ask that you fill out a foster application and may require a home visit to ensure the safety of our pups. We hope everyone understands.
If you cannot foster, please consider making a monetary donation to help with never ending medical costs. Other items on our WISH LIST include blankets, dog food, flea/tick preventative, heartworm preventative, stainless steel dog bowls, and new dog toys. If you can provide transportation to vet clinics, please let us know as well.
