June and Tammy Playing

Sherman

“This was my Sherman on the day that he arrived.  To the end he was always camera shy.  He was the best dog in the whole world.  He was a quiet gentle giant. Everything for him was slow motion and he rarely spoke a word.  He spent his days on his couch and his nights snuggling with me.  He loved to soak in the rays on a sunny day on the back porch and he was loved by all who met him.  He left me on March 24 after a rapid decline from leukemia.  He will forever be in my heart and I miss him terribly.   No one could have known, when he arrived a year ago on the rescue transport, how close we would become.  Rest in peace Sherman.  No one will ever hurt you again.”

We are so sorry for your loss, Barb! Thank you for giving our Sherman a wonderful home, filled with love, for the short time that he had left. You showed him what it was to be loved…and that’s all he knew when he passed away……he was loved very much by you!!

I am writing this email as tears are streaming down my face. We lost a wonderful friend tonight.

As most of you know, Ed and I have been struggling with keeping Daisey well for the last few years. She became our “permanent foster dog” because of her ongoing medical issues. She came to us with a heart-worm infestation and was undergoing the slow kill method of treatment. She was a hair away from testing negative after a year and a half. Then….we had the mammary tumors. Three operations for tumors and then two more small operations because she was not healing properly. This week, our Daisey was not doing well. She was very lethargic and even wasn’t eating all that well. She seemed like she did not know where she was at times. This evening she took a seizure. Ed and I rushed her the Emergency clinic…one last time. Despite everyone’s best efforts, our Daisey passed away. Just like that. I am truly in shock and I don’t know what else to say. Our hearts are, once more, broken. We will miss her so much.

Rest in Peace my Daisey Duke, my good girl. I hope that you are running free, at the bridge, with Mitchie. I hope that you know, that even though you were not with us for very long, we loved you like one of our own….and always will. Your “forever” Mom and Dad.

Things did not look good for Tippy. She found herself at a high kill shelter as a stray weighing only five pounds and had an obvious problem with her back left leg. Something in those eyes said please help me and she became a One Life To Live dog. When she went for her spay surgery, the vet discovered that she was in the early stages of pregnancy but even worse news followed. Miss Tippy’s femur was snapped in two! We never expected this as she did not act like she was in pain.

She could not get on transport to PA for a couple of weeks so she had surgery in KY and a pin was put in her leg. We were all hoping that this would correct her badly broken little leg. Not long after her surgery, she was on her way to PA. Then more bad news for Tippy. She was not in her foster home very long when her leg became badly swollen so it was off to see Dr. Noto. An x-ray showed that the pin had moved and was irritating the soft tissue. Her leg was not healing!

Next, it was off to see Dr. Danova at VREC for an orthopedic consult! Once again, Tippy had to have surgery and the choices were to try a plate to allow the break to heal OR amputate the leg. She was so tiny and had already been through so much that another surgery with a long recovery and no guarantee of success seemed too much for Tippy. If the leg did not heal, it would eventually need to be amputated. The difficult decision was made to amputate the leg because it would be easier on Tippy.

But this story takes yet another turn. The day her surgery was supposed to be performed, the clinic got a lot of emergencies and they were not able to complete her surgery. Overnight, Debbie got an overwhelming feeling that we had made the wrong decision and called foster mom early in the morning to say she thought we should try to save Tippy’s leg. So, off to surgery she went!

Tippy was such a trooper through all of this. She recovered so well from her surgery that she was able to come “home” a day earlier than expected. The long recovery was on! She never let on how much pain she must have had and was a sweetie through it all. She had to make monthly visits to Dr. Danova to monitor the healing and slowly but surely the leg healed. As the days went by, her personality showed more and more as she felt better.

Click on the image below to see a video of Tippy running! (.mov file)

Finally, after 3 long months of waiting and hoping, Tippy was declared “healed”! After all of this, foster mom and dad could not part with her and she was officially adopted on Mother’s Day. It is now one year since her plight began and Tippy likes nothing better than hanging out with her big sis Penny the Min Pin and big brother Cooper (another OLTL rescue). Mom and dad still worry about her leg when the play gets rough but Tippy never skips a beat and now weighs in at a whopping 8 pounds plus!

This little guy is JoeJoe. He recently went to a rescue (One Life To Live) in Scranton, Pa, and had been diagnosed with parvo. He had been in the vet clinic for 6 days and his bill went up and up. This rescue doesn’t have a large amount of funding, and can use any help toward his vet bill. The clinic estimated that it will be between $2,000.00-$3,000.00.

JoeJoe survived his case of parvo, and the rescue did everything they could to save little JoeJoe. Please consider contributing $10.00 to help – any donations help One Life to Live to continue their rescue mission.

We greatly appreciate your help and support!

http://train.chipin.com/joe-joe

Clara is a four-year old Pomeranian who weighs 9 lbs. We rescued her from a high kill shelter in rural KY this week. I took one look at these photos and just knew that this girl was in serious trouble. Clara was vetted yesterday and I had some bloodwork done on her. This poor baby is 90% blind, has severe skin issues (hair-loss and dry skin) and her bloodwork was off. Although her kidney and liver functions are normal and whatever is wrong with her does not appear to be life-threatening at the moment, her red blood cells were very low (anemia) and her white blood cell count was high.

Clara DOES HAVE a foster home to go to.  However, I have made plans with the Veterinary Referral Hospital in Clarks Summit to take our Clara and see if they can determine the cause of her bloodwork coming back so terribly off, the hair loss, dry skin and her vision issues. I am not sure if she will have to be admitted or not at this point in time. So, I am asking for donations for our Clara, if you can help, in any way, towards her vet bills. Between the cost of her regular vetting and the bill that I am sure we will run up at V.R.E.C. in diagnosing her, we will probably be in need of donations to help out with her testing and care. Hopefully, we can have Clara diagnosed, treated and ready to go to her foster home in a very short time.

Any and all help is greatly appreciated. (Please donate using the button to the right.) Updates on Clara’s diagnosis and progress to follow.

Look at him now!

Mavis was a young wirehaired terrier and beagle mix that came to us from a high kill shelter. She was limping on one of her back legs, so we took her to the vet. We x-rayed her and found an old hip injury. After a consult with an orthopedic surgeon, it was determined that Mavis needed FHO surgery. She went through the surgery with flying colors and made a phenomenal recovery!

Mavis is the sweetest, calmest, most well-behaved dog that you could meet! And…she is beautiful, too!! She is a golden shaded, tri-color with gold eyes that could melt your heart!

Mavis was officially adopted by her foster mom and dad!! She will now be running, “happily-ever-after” in Olyphant, PA!!

Owen had bi-lateral FHO surgery in early October and sailed through with flying colors. Thank you Dr. Danova and the wonderful staff at V.R.E.C. for taking such good care of our baby boy!!

Owen is now recovering in a foster home and should be up and about and feeling BETTER THAN EVER very soon. Thank you all for your positive thoughts and prayers.

Owen’s surgery was quite an expense to our rescue and donations towards his bills are very much appreciated and welcome!

Charlie, the standard Poodle, is not in as bad shape as we originally reported! Charlie has an auto-immune disease but is doing well on medication. Happy update for Charlie, who is very much loved by her foster/adoptive mommy, Sharon!!