Jake, The Second Miracle

This emaciated puppy is Jake. He was found on the side of the road by a Matt and brought to us on Sunday.

Like most young puppies who haven't been fed he is bony, has a dull, dry, and smelly coat, and still wants only to be loved and played with. How these guys maintain a sense of trust and joy I do not know?

I gave him a physical exam and save for his body condition score, and being full of worms (totally expected if you have to live off of the land, which he appeared to have a tough time doing) Jake was found to be pretty close to perfect. All he needed was a de-worming, a bath, a few blood tests, and with a little bit of time and a good dog food I expect him to be a perfect dog in every way.

Jake was our second Christmas miracle. Because to be found in the winter so underweight, beside the road, and still be such a love bug is a miracle.

Two dogs came to us needing help and a second chance and both were adopted within days. I think that Santa has brought me everything I asked for this year!

And the best part of Jake's Miracle was that he was adopted today by Matt.

Jake is cuteness from every bony angle. He just wiggles, and plays, and makes you smile. You can't be around him and not want to hug him to pieces. He is truly irresistible!

Matt is about as endearing as Jake is. He just got engaged, is getting ready to move out of his parents house and Jake is his first dog.

Remember how excited you were when you got your first dog? It's the first big step in being your own adult and such an amazing feeling to have your own friend who is yours alone.

Jake and Matt are a perfect match, and we wish them all the very best.

Oh, and if they have any wrapped presents under the tree Jake can help with those too!

Merry Christmas!

Tied to a Tree and Forgotten. Sam's Story.

Another phone call from Cindy at the rescue came in.. "I just brought home a dog that was found grown into the grass and chained to a post."

OK, what do I reply to this plea?

"We had to shave her out of the grass to get her free." She finished.

I supposed it was my turn to respond.."OK, I'll see you both tomorrow."

She came to see me the next day with her latest acquisition. She had shaved him down and named him Sam Adams.

Sam had a make shift collar on and stood beside her on a leash.

His coat was chopped and irregular. His undercoat was white with brown points. Even in his bag of bones depressed state he was the shadow of a purebred. We suspected he was an Old English Sheepdog, and hence Cindy, as the local sheepdog rescuer had been called.

She had gone out to collect him and was horrified to see his condition.

His long silken hair had been so neglected that it grew into the ground like dread locked tentacles anchoring him to terra firma.

She had done the clipping on site to break him free from his foundation.

Sam was emaciated.

There are degrees if emaciation that a veterinarian assigns. Sam's was the worst kind. His state was the most awful, shameful, heartbreaking, disturbing, cruel condition imaginable.

He had no muscle mass. This is certainly due to him not being fed. It is even more so because he has been tied to a post. He has not had any area to walk, or run, or play. If you do not get up and move your body will not feed your muscles, and very quickly they will atrophy.

As insidiously appalling as this is, it isn't the worst part of Sam's state.

Sam is broken. His spirit is fractured to the point that he doesn't react to people, or noises, or other animals. He has been so devoid of interacting with life that he no longer reacts.

He is fearful when approached and reacts without giving you any of the normal cues to warn you.

He has a very long list of medical  needs. To make it more difficult there is also a long list of unknowns to add.

Medically Sam needed a thorough examination, blood work, urinalysis, heartworm test, fecal, and a nutritional feeding plan. He also needs to be monitored very closely.

With emaciated patients we are not sure initially if it is a matter of not wanting to eat, not having good nutritionally complete food, not able to utilize the food once it is eaten, or is the food being sucked up by intestinal parasites? In many cases we send a client home with a specific food and feeding plan. Then we have the client return for serial weight checks. We also do our homework by checking blood, urine, and a fecal.

Sam stayed with the rescue for months. After two months we believed he was strong enough to survive his neuter. He was muzzled for all restraints and did well under anesthesia.

He needed a great deal of time, attention and medical assistance. He also needed to be genuinely loved. Like all living beings, love and trust is something one earns.
And much of life is about second chances, overcoming fear, and forgiveness.

Over the next few months with a team of caregivers assistance Sam began to put on weight, muscle mass, and find his own sense of self. He began to look like a normal healthy two year old. And we discovered that as his hair grew back and his body structure developed that he was indeed a Briard.

Sam remains shy, and tentative, but he looks around to assess his surroundings, wags his tail, and has bonded very closely with his foster family.

I expect he will live a long healthy life and be some lucky persons constant companion.

Sam's rescuers sent me this open letter and asked that I include it in his story.

To the breeder and past owner of Samuel Adams... I have your dog. You sold him to a very terrible owner. Was the money you made worth having a wonderful dog tied to a tree from the start? He had no love, no kindness no warm bed and no care. Is this want you want for the dogs you breed? I hope you sleep well at night because I have nightmares about this poor boy being tied to a tree in tall weeds and storms, cold and hot and other animals being able to get to him and he had no where to go...I do sleep better now knowiing he is finally cherished (as all dogs should be) and has learned how to play and is turning into a wonderful animal.God I hate cleaning up your uncaring BYB's messes. To the owner a farmer on the eastern shore. What were you thinking?? Did you think if you got a "sheep" dog he would automatically watch over your animals?? Did you research the breed and see what care he needed? What did you think a dog would become tied to a tree ? Alone in the dark, cold wind and rain?? He has a scar on his nose ..something attacked him, was it you? He was so afraid of everything , he was matted,stinky and starved. Would you want to live like this.? I know there is a special place in hell for people like you. This dog has a name now Samuel Adams, we call him Sammy He has learned to except the caress of a hand, he knows what a soft bed is He knows what it feels like to be loved. He is clean and healthy. He plays with toys. He still has a long way to go He will never know loneliness, cold or hunger again. I promised him an angry hand will never touch him again. God I hate cleaning up your mistakes. Now to the team of vets that helped me rehabilitate sammy. Thank goodness you are there. That you understand how scared a rescued dog can be. Thank you for your patience and caring hands. For discounting your services and sometimes even forgetting the bill. If it were not for practices like yours ,we would not be able to save the lives we do This practice is Jarrettsville Veterinary Center in jarrettsville Maryland A wonderful woman by the name of Krista Magnifico owns the practice. We balance each other and without her Black Dogs & Company Rescue would not exist. There is a special place for her at the rainbow bridge. Now there are wonderful folks out there that are willing to adopt a damaged dog. Bob!!! He is willing to pay an adoption fee to take a less than perfect dog!!! He will open his home and continue to help sammy become the dog he was meant to be! Unbelievable!!!!! Yes there are good people in this world. I as a rescue need to hang on to that! Don't let anyone tell you rescue is easy..I am a nurse by trade and doing rescue has been one of the hardest things I have ever done and the most rewarding. This has been one of those "rescues" I am so happy that he will have a home and that there are people out there that do care:) I have fallen in love with this breed Maybe one day I will have one:) Black Dogs & Company Rescue inc Black Dog, Big Dog, Old Dog any Dog. Just Adopt a Dog! Over the next few months with a team of caregivers assistance Sam began to put on weight, muscle mass, and find his own sense of self. This is Sam last week.  He is getting his last exam with me and departing for Washington state to live with his new family. We wish him the very best of luck. We are sure that with all of the misery his life began with he is sure to have nothing but a bright future ahead of him.

Sam remains shy, and tentative, but he looks around to assess his surroundings, wags his tail, and has bonded very closely with his foster family.

I expect he will live a long healthy life and be some lucky persons constant companion.

If you have any pet related questions please find me at Pawbly, on @FreePetAdvice, or @pawbly, or Google+

If you would like more information on Black Dogs & Company Rescue please visit their Facebook page.


Update, November 13, 2013, from Sammi's new family;

Since I met him at the KOA cabin, he has behaved defensively when he is lying down and someone he doesn’t trust approaches him. Knowing this, I have been careful to step around him since the beginning, whereas, my friend just stepped over him w/o thinking. Samuel made it known he did not like that. I immediately corrected him and sent him to his room.

It just goes to show you that he can be an angel, like on the plane and at the dog park, but then he can be unpredictable, when something triggers some “bad memory”. On balance, he has been much better behaved than my last two rescues: Foster & Steven. In fact, given that he is already playing with Dalai at the Dog Park, he is already, way beyond Steven, who not only would NOT play with Dalai, he could not get along with the other dogs at the Dog Park and had to be left home when the other two went to the Dog Park almost every day.

 

BTW, Samuel is enrolled in "Agility for Fun" Saturday mornings along with Dalai & Scraps and after two classes has learned to run through tunnels and to do 6" high jumps.  He is also enrolled in a special class called "Connecting w/your dog" which is designed to work on problem areas.  (He still crouches down and backs away when he is offered his food bowl.)

 

And from the President Of Black Dogs Rescue;

Krista 

I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the help with this poor dog and for all the help your staff has given us..Without you we could not possibly have helped these dogs ( oh and a few cats.....I hope NKH gets up and running again taking cats at least They are great!!!)

 

XOXOXO

 

cindy

Pudgie-sicle

So it is clear that we have a hard time, and fail miserably, when it comes to turning away a pet in need. One wintery dark evening a young woman and her friend came in carrying a large blanket swaddling, umm? I wasn’t sure, but  something. (Note to all you young vet s out there..Beware the swaddling patients. It is usually a very bad sign).  We put her in a room right away and investigated the covered mass. It turned out to be a young bulldog.  Bulldogs are supposed to be very heavily muscled, especially in the chest area. They are supposed to look like a body builder. Big broad strong shoulders and a wide front leg stance, a face that can stop a truck. Instead what I saw before me was a dirty, scabby, emaciated, lifeless pale almost dead pile of bones. She looked like she had been locked away from food, light, and care for a month, maybe more than a month. I knew there was a horrible story behind this dog. I just wasn’t sure if I was going to hear the truth, or if I even wanted to hear the story.

I had never seen this dog, or these owners, before. This is the first red flag.

Here is the story I was told.  The women told me that they had just found her after being gone for a week. In that week we had been hit by two terrible winter storms. In total both storms had delivered over 3 feet of snow. They had found her in a snow pile left from a snow plow early that morning. She was almost frozen solid. She could barely move. Her physical exam findings were so bleak that I couldn’t even give the owner a guess as to how bad her prognosis was. I mean how do you say its worse than really bad? To make the already bleak picture worse, they had no money to pay for diagnostics, hospitalization, or treatment.  So very quickly she was signed over to our care.

We started to warm her up, drew her blood, placed an i.v. catheter, started to give her i.v. fluids and medications.  I left that night thinking that there was a very good chance that she wouldn’t be alive in the morning. As I queried the owner further she told me that she would often let her out and she would disappear for long periods of time. I was not sure why this owner thought that this kind of care was appropriate. I know that my not always so very well behaved dogs are never out of my sight. They left the clinic and I have never heard from or seen them again, (that pretty much sums it up. I went to a college whose motto was “deeds not words”). They never called to check on her, never came back to say thanks, etc., etc. Even though they said they loved her very much. Sad to say, but this happens alot.

Over the next two weeks she made a miraculous recovery. We ran blood every other day because every day we got the results back I said to the staff that it was soo horrible she shouldn’t have been alive yesterday. It took weeks for her bloodwork to get into the normal range. After 3 weeks of consistent i.v. fluids, antibiotics, and constant intensive care she started to develop a personality. She became a stubborn, strong, obstinent beast. It appeared that she never had any formal training in any area at all. She was not aggressive, or fearful, but she was rude and forceful. We were very concerned about finding her a home. It is especially difficult when I can’t give a foster parent any idea as to what kind of dog this is, and or if they will live any length of time. Any here interested in fostering her? I wasn’t, and I am a glutton for just about any dog.

Through a friend of a friend we found her a home. They love her very much and they understand her personality and her challenges. 

We have re-checked her blood many times since she was discharged.  It is perfect. She is physically and medically perfect.

P.S. Nina's Not a German Shepherd

At my clinic, Jarrettsville Vet Center, do a lot of work with rescues.

It comes from my roots in pursuing veterinary medicine and my deep belief that you should use your talents and abilities to pay it forward. I strongly believe that we are all responsible for the world in which we live in. The more you contribute the better all our lives will collectively all be. I rarely look inward, it makes you jealous, bitter, and defeats any productive purpose. It's not about what I take with me, for me, it’s about what I leave behind.  So if I can help I jump in.


Very early on in the ownership of JVC I was approached by the former owner, the beloved, Dr. Wilson, and asked if I was interested in meeting with a German Shepherd Rescue volunteer? 

I remember him muttering something to the effect of “the smell of new meat”. I was sure that he was referring to me, and the rescue was the predator in his inaudible euphemism. 

I was excited about the opportunity to join forces with a rescue group. I thought it would be a marriage of the best of both worlds. I could help pets who really needed me, feel like I was giving back, and at the end of the day I didn't have to look for a home for them. After all, I had already come to a resolve that this job isn't about the money. 

I met with a few of the Mid-Atlantic German Shepherd Rescue volunteers later that week.

Now that I recall that first meeting I remember Dr. Wilson also passing on a few other pointers to me. He said such things as; “You know German Shepherds can be aggressive, you might want to think about whether the staff can handle them?” and, “You know you are opening the hospital up to disease if they come from a shelter,” and lastly “Why wouldn't you pick a breed like labs?”. 

Well, I thought, I guess because Lab Rescue didn't come to me? And, besides, I grew up with a great sweet protective German Shepherd, and I am not afraid of German Shepherds. (Ahh, ignorance is bliss).

A few days after our meeting, (which really consisted of nothing more than a handshake, and introduction, a tour of the facilities, and some quick jots of prices), the first German Shepherd arrived at JVC. Actually the first two dogs arrived at JVC. One qualified as a German Shepherd, the other was clearly using the definition very, very loosely. 

This second dog is the point of this blog.  That second dog was a Rottweiler. Albeit, a mangey, hairless, scabby, emaciated Rottie. She was found in the same home as the GS, in Puerto Rico, and by the grace of the goodness of the saviors who found her, given a companion departing plane ticket. Her name was Nina. 

Now lets go and review our geography; JVC is in Northern MD. Maryland is far, like really far, away from Peurto Rico. About 2000 miles far. (I didn't put it in the navigator, this is a guess. But you get the point). I don’t really understand how they landed at our facility? But, there they were. Our first rescues. 

I was shocked and appalled when I saw them.

I am always amazed at how resilient and forgiving a dog is. They will lift their head and wag to greet you, even at the precipice of doom, despair, and death.  She was the poster child for the t.v. info-mercials about animal cruelty and neglect that I still can't sit through. Actually all of those mangey, hairless, crusty dogs almost always have the same problem. You, (yes, you), can diagnose them on sight. Feed them, apply flea and tick control, treat for superficial mange, (aka scabies), skin scrape for Demodex, look at the poop, and control the itch without destroying the gut. Remember, that a dog that is fragile on the outside is also fragile on the inside, (but now I am giving away part of the story).  

We started our treatment plan. It included multiple medicated baths per week, oral antibiotics, oral gastro-protectants, ear cleanings, and a high quality recovery diet. 

Everyone got really attached to Nina quickly. Being a veterinary care provider for many of us is a maternal calling that evolves and takes over the most primitive part of our brain. It is soo deeply seeded in human beings that it can convince us to make irrational decisions. The DVM inside of me placed her odds on survival at less than 50%, but the staff was rooting for her and I was afraid to publicly admit my defeatist odds.

One of the reasons I believe that the rescue groups are an important part of our JVC family is that we get to spend long periods of time with these rescued pets. It reminds us on a daily basis that every animal is an individual.  It keeps us from putting up a justifiable, all too common defensive mechanism that becomes a shielding emotional shell and just seeing them as a “thing”. I don’t ever want any staff member to see our patients as just a 'dog', 'cat', etc. Should you ever  become the patient confined to a hospital bed at the mercy of being cared for by someone else, you will want to feel like an individual. A unique complex person who matters. 

About 1 week into Ninas treatment and stay with us, she became very depressed. Her belly was very tender and she was reluctant to eat. If you could coax her into eating she vomited it all back a short time later. 

"Crap," I thought, "here it is, the consequence of having hit her hard with all of the medications she needed to fight all the disease she was carrying." 

I took an x-ray and my fears were confirmed. She had fluid in her abdomen! 

I looked around at my staff. They were now crying and cuddling with her on the floor. I told them that I had to open her up to see why she had fluid in a place it didn't belong. I knew that she probably had perforated something organ somewhere. 

They asked me what I was hoping they wouldn't. “Will she live?” 

I was honest and told them that "I didn't know?" 

I knew she had been just barely holding on since she had arrived. I knew that if I didn't open her up she would be dead by morning. Within a few minutes she was under general anesthesia belly up on the surgery table and I was gloved, gowned and taking deep breaths. Under that gloved, gowned green shroud I whispered that "I wanted to be doing this in another  zip code." I didn't want all of those teary eyes watching me,,, as if I wasn't worried enough? So much for building bonds with the animals, now I have to feel responsible for breaking hearts too?  

I made a ventral mid-line incision into her abdomen. In the laymen’s terms we call it a stem to stern incision. Or, medically, from xyphoid to pelvis. It is essentially the longest abdominal incision that one can make so that you can really get your hands in there and inspect everything completely. The leak can be a pinpoint and there is a lot of stuff in the belly to root through. Ever try to find a hole in a tire? How about a hole, in a hole, in the dark, while your patient is rhythmically heaving up and down as they breathe?

When I opened up her belly the first thing that I saw was free floating ingesta, (or her stomach food and juices). We suctioned out the fluid and started our tedious inspection of her internal contents. 

Sure enough the stomach had a large perforation in it by the pylorus (bottom of the stomach). A few layers of suture and the hole was closed. I moved on to check the rest of her abdomen. Everything else looked remarkably good. She was doing well through the anesthesia and the inquiring heads stopped poking in with worried tear stained faces. She was almost out of the woods and the clinic was returning to its normal busy day hum. 

Like every veterinary hospital the staff has its own internal public announcement system. The surgical technicians are very good at keeping the news wires flashing, which I much prefer that they provide than me. I need to concentrate when I am in surgery. It is the only time I am not talking and multi-tasking.

Nina made it through surgery and she recovered quickly. We had to taper her medications back significantly. Which let her remaining scabies residents have a little fiesta again. We whacked them hard a month later when her body had healed enough to go back on her mite killing meds. She stayed with us at the clinic for about 6 months. It took her scarred over taxed body that long to recover. Needless to say over that time she became an integral consistent part of our team. Many of our clients got to witness her recovery first hand. She was a fixture behind the receptionists area. When it came time to place her in foster care one of our receptionists applied to adopt her. She had nursed her, cared for her, walked her and hugged her through 6 months of treatment, recovery and care, and she was attached. We all were.

Nina lived for 5 more years and thrived. She was loved every day. She reminded all of us that life is full of miracles.

I want to thank MAGSR for bringing Nina home from Puerto Rico even though she was obviously not a German Shepherd. They brought her to us, paid for 6 months of care and then let her go home with the person who loves her most in the world. Amazing things happen everyday,  and sometimes they happen right under our roof.


Nina in the early days of recovery:

At the clinic keeping a dog recovering from surgery company.

Nina at her new home;

Nina and her mom.

Nina smiling a big Thanks!

If you would Like more information on the Mid-Atlantic German Shepherd Rescue 

If you would like to learn more about Jarrettsville Vet 

If you have any pet related questions you can find a whole bunch of helpful people to answer them at Pawbly, or follow me on Twitter @FreePetAdvice.