Sick Bay

This is our dear, sweet little Marcie. Marcie came to us from a shelter, with a very serious case of kennel cough. It quickly, very quickly developed into a raging case of pneumonia, and that's what we're working with now. Thanks to Dr. Daryl Mabley of Arbor Animal Hospital, in Irvine, we're treating her very aggressively and saying our prayers for her. She's such a wonderful little girl. We're constantly poking, prodding and sticking her, but she never has anything for us, but a wiggly little tail. What a trooper she is! Please say a little prayer for her. She's a very sick little girl. It's been almost a week now, since she's had anything to eat or drink. We haven't seen any improvement yet, but each morning, we're hopeful. Maybe tomorrow!!

Sad to report, that Marcie is not doing any better today. Let's hope that tomorrow brings better news. :-((

We have such great news!! Our little Marcie is finally turning the corner. She's eaten a bit of food and is drinking. Today, she sat in the sun with Sofia.
Here she is in a box with a nebulizer attached, which we do three times a day with her.

And here she is relaxing, getting some fluids.

Marcie is doing so very well. She's eating, drinking, pestering Sofia and being a normal "almost" healthy little girl. We're so thrilled and we're so grateful to Dr. Mabley and Robin, Dr. Mabley's vet tech and a great friend, for teaching us so much and saving our little girl. Because of them, we able to treat Marcie at home, just as they would have treated her in the hospital. What would we do without these kind folks.
Here is Marcie today, basking in the sun, and just enjoying life!!

For anyone interested in adopting Marcie, let me tell you that she's a remarkable girl. Through her whole ordeal, her tail never stopped wagging, and she never once had an accident in the house....which is quite a feat, with an IV attached. She's a 2 year old female Lhasa Apso mix, with a happy happy happy personality. She gets along with everyone and never complains about anything. She is constantly bringing a smile to our faces. She will be available soon, as soon as Dr. Mabley gives us the "OKAY".

Update
Tonight, a wonderful family came by to see Marcie and they fell in love with her. Although she's not ready to leave, they will adopt her when she's ready. Next week, we will talk to Dr. Mabley, have her lungs x rayed and find out when it will be safe to spay her.

7/28

MARCIE WENT HOME TODAY!!!! For those of you that know her story or have met her, you know how happy we are. We didn't think she'd make it!!
She's still on antibiotics and hasn't been spayed yet, but we'll bring her back in a month or so, and spay her and insert her microchip. We became so attached to this little monkey. When she came to us, she was SO SICK! Throughout her ordeal, her tail never stopped wagging, even when we wondered if she'd be breathing the next morning. What a trooper she is!! Once again, we thank you, Dr. Mabley!! Another little one gets to live in shameless luxury with a mountain of love, thanks to you and your wonderful staff!!
Congratulations, Richard, Sandy, Grandma and Marcie!!!

Here’s Annie. Secreted away with a broken leg in the isolation ward of a high kill shelter, she was destined to be euthanized. Fortunately, a shelter worker allowed us to visit her and subsequently rescue her.
She’s been through leg saving surgery that required surgical steel plates and titanium screws to stabilize her condition.
If you're interested in seeing pictures of her (graphic) surgery, click here.

This is Loren, a tiny, 4 pound little girl, in need of surgery. She had to undergo surgery, for both knees, (luxating patellas), to make her whole. If you'd like to see pictures of her surgery and read more about this brave little trooper, click here.

This is our dear, sweet Mattie. We received a phone call from an LA shelter saying that they had a little girl that was dropped off . She's a 5 pound, 8 year old female Maltese. Mattie has had a very tough life!! She has mammary growths that have grown quite large. She also has an eye condition . All of her side teeth are missing, so her tongue hangs, endearingly, out the side. When we saw Mattie, her eyes were sealed shut from all the goop. We actually thought, until we got her home and cleaned her up, that she had no eyes. She was covered, from head to toe, with huge ticks and fleas.

So, here's the plan. Now that she's bathed and the ticks and fleas are gone, we've started with the eyes. We cleaned them all up and a few days of antibiotic salve have made them clean and clear, although she has a bit of dry eye and a little cataract. We have begun her road to recovery with a blood test, which will determine her basic health. If all is well, our next step will be x rays, not only to determine if she has any tumors in the lungs, but we'll do the whole body to make sure all is well. If all goes well there, the next step is to take some fluid from the mammary tumors and have the lab see what we've got. Hopefully, the next step will be to remove the tumors, spay her (so the ovaries don't produce any tumor producing hormones) and send her off in good health to a new forever home!!

We're very excited about this little girl. She has a very special spot in our hearts, not only because she's just the sweetest little angel in town. We have discovered that Mattie could very possibly be SOFIA'S mother!! All of our babies are extremely special to us, but as I said, this little girl has stolen our hearts. Say a prayer for her, will you?

We've had very good news about Mattie. Her blood work and x rays came out just great. The large mammary lumps are NOT malignant. Because they're just fatty growths, they will stay put. Tomorrow, Mattie will go in to be spayed and to have a couple of little growths on her belly removed. She should be ready to be placed in her new forever home very soon. We're very excited and know that she'll give some lucky person years of joy and love.
She's such a good little girl. Trots out the doggy door when she needs to go potty...eats like a horse...."talks" to us when she needs something (like a hug or food) gets along great with everyone....adores being snuggled and would be perfectly satisfied to sit in someone's lap.....What a love!!

Thursday
Mattie had her surgery yesterday and did very well. Dr. said her uterus was HUGE from so many litters. She also had some benign lumps removed, so her belly is a mass of stitches. But, what a trooper. Although in obvious pain, she still wants to be where everyone else is. Tonight, she ate like a horse and trotted right out the doggie door to do her business. Later in the evening, she asked to get up on our laps. Obviously, a bit of pain isn't going to keep her from snuggling!! What a girl she is!!

Mattie's doing so well. Back to her normal self, telling us that she needs much more loving now!!
Here's a pic of her tummy. Although it looks pretty bad, she's not in pain anymore.

Mattie got a new home today. She will have a 5 year old male Shih Tzu brother, Dudley and a loving Mommy and Daddy. Congratulations, Miss Mattie!! We'll miss you!!

Candace was rescued from an LA shelter, where she was in isolation, due to her bad leg. No one could see her , so she didn't have much of a chance of making it out of the shelter. When we saw her, she was in quite a bit of pain and wasn't able to stand, but her little tail was wagging up a storm and she was at the front of the cage trying to give us kisses and get a belly rub. Needless to say, we weren't about to leave this little angel behind. We took her immediately to Dr. Mabley, of Arbor Animal Hospital, in Irvine. After doing x-rays and examining her, it was determined that Candi had a dislocated hip joint, that was, most likely, an old injury. Dr. Mabley has decided that the best course of action, is to do a Femoral Head Ostectomy. Basically, here's what it's all about.

The choice of many for smaller dogs, this surgery is extremely successful in dogs that weigh under fifty pounds at full growth. Under anesthetic, the head and neck of the femur are exposed, and removed, with any remaining edges filed down for smoothness. The now-empty hip socket is also filed to eliminate the worn-down edges. The end result is a "floating" joint, where the bones no longer meet, but rather float in place on a cushion of scar tissue, muscles and ligaments.

Most dogs that are less than 30 lbs. in body weight and are not overweight
have use of the leg after femoral head ostectomy (FHO) that is nearly
indistinguishable from normal use. Above this weight, there is usually some
reduction in function, most commonly seen as an inability to jump in and
out of the car, or activities like this. After a period of physical
therapy, usually lasting about 6 weeks, most dogs have nearly normal use
of the limb and this improves for several months after that. When examined,
it is possible in most cases to detect a reduction in the range of motion
of the limb but this is not usually detectable in observing every day
activities.

Dr. Mabley has performed this surgery on 2 of our other little ones and the results are truly amazing. The hip joint is "floating" in the leg. These dogs have recovered totally!! We're very excited for our little Candi. She is one of a kind. Just the sweetest little angel. Her tail is going non stop, she always has kisses for EVERYONE, and is always in need of a belly stratch. She was definitely a hit at the hospital, where they said they passed her around like CANDY. Hence, her name. Just a real little peach. DR. Mabley will perform Candi's surgery on Monday, Aug 23.

Candi (Katie) is doing just great. Dr. Mabley said it took no time at all and she should be as good as new in no time. She's already putting weight on it and we're trying to keep her quiet!! Thanks, AGAIN, Dr. Mabley!!

Hi Susi and Francois!
We wanted to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for saving little Katie! You two do such an amazing job finding these dogs and saving their lives! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Katie has already melted our hearts! Everyone she meets falls in love with her. She is doing great! She is sooooo playful... definitely a little puppy! You can't even tell she had major hip surgery! We will send pictures very soon!
Thanks again, Lindsay Jesse and Katie too!

This is Lexi and Lexi is a beautiful (or will be soon) seven pound, one year old, female Miniature Pinscher. It's hard to tell exactly what happened, but it looks as though it could be that battery acid was poured on her back. Believe it or not, she was found wandering the streets with this wound on her back, NO TAGS, NO MICROCHIP, NOTHING.(ugh!) What a wonderful little girl she is. Although she's experiencing terrible pain, in between treatments, her little stumpy tail just wags and wags. If this doesn't melt your heart, nothing will. Aren't animals just amazing!!
Lexi may have to undergo one or more surgeries to close this wound, but right now, Dr. Daryl Mabley, from Arbor Animal Hospital, in Irvine, is preparing the site for surgery. It's in a very bad location, because it's very difficult to bandage and it's so painful that she just wants to get to it. Even an e-collar is difficult because of it's location. As bad as looks now, Dr. Mabley thinks that it will look worse before it gets better, as more skin sluffs off and the site is prepared for surgery. Poor girl.
We're just so grateful that the caring shelter called us in to care for her. We know she's in good hands now and will recover.
Lexi's a lucky girl, because our dear friends, Bob and Sally Stack, of Villa Park, will be fostering her. That's kinda like going to "Doggy Heaven"!!
If you're into the praying thing, Lexi sure could use a prayer or two. If not, keep your fingers crossed and say a few good words for her We'll keep you posted and have more pics soon.

Sat:
Lexi left the hospital today, with wet bandages and on medications to control her pain. She'll return on Monday morning for her dressings to be changed and we'll hope to find out when they will schedule her surgery. She's in terrible pain, with all those nerve endings exposed. We just hope we're making the right decision.

Please be advised that these picture are graphic. If you're the least bit queasy, please close this page.

Lexi had her surgery today and it was quite extensive. As you can see in the first photo, Lexi has an extensive wound that appears as a segmented series of lacerations. In actuality, the wound has spread under the skin and encompasses a continuous area from Lexi's neck to her tail.
In order to effectively deal with the damage, Dr. Mabley had to clean all the open wounds and then strip away all the dead skin that was still apparently healthy but in fact was dead and a possible breeding ground for infection and additional problems.
The second photo shows the suture that extends from Lexi's neck to tail. It seems impossible, but a section of Lexi's back, 2" wide, was removed and the remaining skin was stretched and stitched together to create a healthy, closed wound that we hope will not require additional surgery.
There is a slight possibility that all the infected areas have not been found, but we hope that is not the case and that Lexi has started her journey to a final recovery.

Lexi is still experiencing quite a bit of pain, but not nearly as much as before her surgery. She slept most of the day, ate and drank as needed and is doing well. Tomorrow she will go in for a dressing change.

Don't know about you, but we're AMAZED! Lexi's dressing came off this morning and we're hoping to keep it off. In spite of the fact that she has a zipper from stem to stern, and that she's only 7 pounds with 38 stitches, she's doing great! And through it all, her tail continues to wag and she has kisses for all those that have hurt her!

We feel that the way things are going, that Lexi will be available very soon for adoption. It looks as though all the bad pieces were found and removed and she'll be as good as new very soon.

She still needs to have her stitches removed, but she's doing so very well. She's so full of life and love. What a pleasure to see her running, jumping and chasing her lizards!! :-)) Yep, life is very rewarding!!

Today, Lexi (aka Kylie) had her stitches removed. Her incision looks wonderful, her hair is growing back and she's a happy, silly little girl now, with a new forever family. Above, is Kylie and her new mom, Denise, standing next to Sally, Kylie's foster Mom, holding Sofia. Congratulations, Denise and Bruce, on the adoption of such a lovely brave little princess.