Hey Webmasters! Get a free website with holiday themes - Get it NOW!
|
|
|
Lily Rose, My Tiny
Miracle GirlI've been doing schnauzer rescue for three years now. I've seen sad, pathetic, filthy and neglected dogs - but nothing prepared me for thie tiny bit of fur, fluff and bones that I held in my lap as my daugher Cari pulled our car away from the vet's office. "OH my God, how could anybody allow this!" was all I could think to myself over and over as I inspected her.
This, I knew, was one sick puppy. Little did I know HOW sick. She had been brought to the vet's and surrendered by the owner, who did not want to authorize extensive medical treatment. Thank God the vet, a kind lady, had disobeyed the owner's orders earlier that day and put the tiny pup on IV fluids and antibiotics, probably saving her life... for the first time of what was to be a long three weeks.
You could literally see every bone. You could put your hand under her spine. She had no fat at all. It was sickening. The tiny miniature schnauzer pup, 13 weeks old, weighed in at just under 5 pounds. She should have been close to double that, but had been vomiting for heaven knows how long. She was severely dehydrated and starving to death. But there was something about that little face, those sweet baby eyes looking at me, that told me if I tried to help her, she would fight. So fight we did. My first job was giving her a middle name - she reminded me of a tiny rosebud, being so sweet, so I called her Lily Rose.
I called my own vet immediately (he has to think "oh no..." when I call by now). He conferred with the other vet and after hearing my description of the pup's condition, agreed to look at her the next morning.
As soon as I got home, knowing I was in serious trouble with this little girl (in terms of wanting to keep her already!!!!) I called one of my rescue volunteers in another state and asked if she would be willing to foster Lily Rose when she was well enough. "You bet!" was the enthusiastic reply. So my commitment to get her well, and give her up, was made.
My vet took one look at Lily Rose and started her on IV fluids again when I brought her in, along with more antibiotics. We were assuming at this point she might have Parvo, or some other virus. I authorized him to go ahead with the blood tests, figuring we'd come up with an answer. Amazingly, her labs were all negative! Nothing showed up that would explain her condition. It was obvious she was dying, but from what!
We got her little place in the kitchen organized and I brought her home that night hoping to get some food to stay down her. I tried the food the vet gave me and it came up shortly after it went down. Same thing with water. This was not looking good.
On the third day, the vet said the only hope was to do an endoscopy - looking down her throat with a camera to see if he could see any type of obstruction. He saw absolutely nothing!
He decided to go ahead while she was under and do an exploratory surgery. He found a tiny piece of thin towel, no bigger than two inches square, which had balled up and obstructed the outlet to her little tummy! An abscess had formed around the pyloric duct as well.
The vet later told me that night when he left, he expected to come in to a dead puppy in the morning. Despite massive amounts of antibiotics he felt she was too weak to survive the trauma of the surgery in her dehydrated and starved state.
I was sitting having breakfast with my husband the next morning when I got the outstanding news that she HAD survived, and was barking!!! I was so excited to learn that I would get to take her home that night! Unfortunately, we were not quite out of the woods just yet though.
She tried to eat the hard-boiled eggs and other treats I fed her, one bite at a time, around the clock. It was obvious she was hungry, but it was also obvious there was something still wrong. At this point, we were dropping her at the vet's in the morning, hooking up her jugular catheter to the IV for the day, and picking her up to nurse her through the evening and night. She continued to run a fever and appear quite ill. I suggested to the vet that it might be an infection in her jugular cath, and he agreed. We removed it and added a second antibiotic.
Right about this time, my husband ended up in the hospital with an emergency and very major abdominal surgery. Between my daughter and son and his fiancee, Liz, we managed to take turns at the hospital and with looking after Lily Rose. Lily definitely got her share of car rides in those days going back and forth to the vet's and on errands with us! A couple of days later, she made a huge turnaround! She began hungrily accepting her food and it was a huge victory when she began to keep it down for longer and longer periods of time! I could have cried the night she actually kept her food down all night!
My other schnauzers were very jealous of her home-cooked baby food, plain chicken, hard boiled eggs and Cheerios and ended up getting a little spoiled in the process! They were curious about her but they knew she was a very sick little girl and didn't attempt to play with her. They would walk up and sniff her and walk away. All but Sheina, that is, who wanted to be mom! She would go in and lie by her wire pen and put her nose right up to the baby through the wire and just lie there apparently comforting her. One time she whined and I finally figured out she wanted to be IN the pen with her, so I just put her right in there and she was content.
Once Lily began to heal there was just no stopping her. We were thrilled when she had gained a whole pound by a week after the surgery! She steadily improved after that, and began to act like a puppy - exploring the house, meeting the other animals, and playing with us. It was the thrill of a lifetime seeing her bloom before our eyes, coming to life again.
The sad, but joyous day did finally arrive when I could no longer justify Lily needing my care - she was ready to go to her new mom. And not a foster mom - Sheryl and her husband had fallen head over heels with Lily as soon as they saw her picture, and had committed to adopting her.
Tonight I got pictures of Lily with her new brothers Buddy and Baxter, along with her mom and dad, and tears came to my eyes when I saw this happy little furfamily. I told my daughter's friend, "People ask me why I do this - get my heart broken over and over - and this picture IS why. Just look at that beautiful little pup, and those happy people, where there was sadness and tragedy and sickness before, and that makes it worth it all!"
Thank you, Lily Rose, for being such a joyous, healthy little girl!
bravenet.com