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September 19, 2009
Feeling Feisty!
June 30, 2009
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Scully went to his new home on Tuesday, February 2. It has been a difficult transition for me and my brother, his caretakers and family for
9 months. We love and miss you Scully but we are so greatful that you are able to have a full and healthy life and a family of your very own.
It is Christmas Eve and I am sitting down to give blessings for what I am thankful for. In 2009 our little rescue took on the biggest medical case
ever.
25 years ago I started rescuing dogs in the Richmond VA area and
5 years ago I started ADRATI and one of the main reasons was to work with large medical cases that took a lot of time and love before they would be ready to move on to a permanent family.
Our rescue has had a lot of these cases, but none have had the highs and lows like our effort with Scully. Many of our rescues have had huge medical cases and in a matter of a few weeks you knew the dog would survive but it would still take a lot of time before they would be ready to move to a permanent family.
With Scully it was months of medical procedures and each step took us back to the situation of "would we really be able to save the life of this very special soul?" On this Thursday, December 24, 2009 I finally realize that yes, we have saved this boy and everything we have done to accomplish this has been well worth it.
On December
21 Scully was finally given his medical release and in a week he will be off all of the medications and medical treatment that he has endured since May. When he tested positive for heartworms and we transferred him to our rescue in May we really didn't foresee what the future for this soul was going to entail. Coming to Richmond after a long trip he went downhill fast. He had a severe infection from his neuter, a very critically infected lung, and the heartworms were truly cutting off his ability to breathe because of the infection they were causing.
The decision was made to do a 40 percent heartworm treatment and after ten days Scully started to improve. On June 30 he looked and felt great. On July 1 when the second heartworm treatment was given, Scully would again have his life hang in the balance even more so now than before. Scully had an immediate severe reaction to the treatment and the second battle for life began.
It has been a very long road for this sweet 3 year old Dachshund. Not once has he ever whined, or growled, or snapped at any person giving him care. He has truly been the epitome of a rescue dog showing love and loyalty for the care given to him.
Scully still has very little hair, but in a week he will be off all meds and will go on a supplement and we hope soon he will be the sweet little red head we first fell in love with many months ago. If all goes well Scully will go to a family the end of January. We want to thank every person who said a prayer, offered us encouragement, and made a donation to help us save Scully.
UPDATE ON SCULLY 10/23/2009:
Scully had his appointment with the dermatologist on Monday, October 19 and he is doing great. His skin continues to get “pink” and healthy. He is starting to grow his hair back in. The doctor is very pleased with his progress.
He is not on any antibiotics anymore. He will continue to get a bath weekly and have the spray that helps keep his skin softened twice a week. Starting on Tuesday 10/20 his prednisone was reduced and will continue to be every two weeks.
Scully will most likely start to get the hair back more with each decrease in the medication. He goes back for a follow up visit in two months and that will most likely be his last visit. October 1 he started back on the heartworm preventative and had no reaction.
Our little Scully is just a joy and we thank everybody for their prayers and help with this sweet soul.
Update on Scully October 15, 2009
Scully’s appointment scheduled for 10/14 got rescheduled to
10/19 so we will update his progress from that appointment and
add some new pics next week.
We can tell you that he is doing quite well. He is feeling
good and is more active. He has joined us at the last two
adoption stands and even went out to Macy’s to support our
fundraising efforts. We are trying to get him out a little other
than vet appointments to let him enjoy going out and increase
his stamina. He is actually even starting to grow some hair on
his belly, yeah Scully!
SCULLY UPDATE SEPTEMBER 21, 2009
Scully went Friday, September 11 for his second follow up
visit with the Dermatologist. We had another good appointment.
He is back on oral antibiotics for a while and back on some
medicated treatment for his ears. The good news is that the
doses of the steroids have continued to be dropped with
maintaining improvement. His skin is “pinking up” very nicely.
This is really good because this means that all of the blood
vessels are getting back to normal and the blood flow is good.
A thorough exam and blood work was done and overall everything
is headed in the right direction. The medicated baths will be
dropped from twice weekly to once a week. He will continue on
the medicated spray.
He has had increased water intake and urination and has never
once had an accident. He does stay hungry all the time. His
weight is currently about 13 ½ pounds. His optimum weight is
really good at about 12 pounds. Now that the steroids are
already on the way back down, with some time, the appetite will
go back to a more normal state and he will be able to lose his
pound and a half but we just aren’t that concerned about this
for right now.
In the true Dachshund spirit he has begun to root around in the
back yard and do a little digging. One big thing to share – we
live in the city and when something happens it is not uncommon
for there to be lots of prolonged siren activity. One evening
recently Scully was out for some fresh air and the sirens
started up and he actually threw that little head back and
howled. It is good to see him feeling up to doing typical doggy
things.
He still is out of the e-collar and hopefully will continue to
be. The only time there may be an issue is when we get to good
hair growth, he may get the itchies. We still have about 2
months of medical treatment left and probably not a lot of hair
growth before then, so we’ll see.
His regular vet and the specialist will be consulting this week
about when to put him on heartworm preventative. Since he had
such a huge reaction to the heartworm treatment, the decision
was made to have nothing else in his system after that heartworm
treatment on July 1. Although he doesn’t require any other
heartworm treatments, he does need to go on the preventative and
they are trying to decide what product and timeframe for this.
The next appointment for Scully is Wednesday, October 14. Please
keep this sweet soul in your prayers that he continues on the
road to recovery and will one day be in a loving home.
Our current vet bills for Scully are $3,532.00 and we have
donations in the amount of $2,665.00. Thank you for helping us
save Scully.
SCULLY UPDATE AUGUST 24, 2009
Scully went Monday, August 17 for a follow up visit with the
Dermatologist. We had a good follow up appointment. He no longer
requires the pain medication and seems to be doing well without
them. The infection in his eyes has totally healed up so no more
eye meds. He will stay on the ear treatments for two more weeks.
He is still on the antibiotics and the steroids. He will stay on
the antibiotics for two more weeks and then stop those. The
steroids will continue for quite some time longer.
We continue the supplement for long term. The medicated baths
will continue twice a week and a spray was added to try to help
with the dryness in the skin. And a real biggie, NO MORE
ELIZABETHAN COLLAR FOR NOW! We may have to go back to one once
his hair starts to come back in but for now his skin has healed
to the point that he isn’t biting and miserable and can be out
of that collar.
So the good news is that improvement was definitely seen in the
eleven days between appointments. His follow up appointment is
Friday, September 11. We do have about three more months of
medical treatment and if that all goes well, then another three
months for his hair to come back in so about six months for his
life to be back at full normal and healthy but we seem to be on
the right track.
Our current vet bills for Scully are $3,275.00 and we have
donations in the amount of $1,965.00. Thank you for helping us
save Scully. This is really a great little soul.
SCULLY UPDATE, AUGUST 14, 2009:
Scully went to a Veterinary Dermatologist on August 6. He
had an evaluation, skin scrapings, and other testing. He is
currently on an eye medication, an ear cleaner and medication,
two oral antibiotics, an oral pain medication, and a high dose
of steroids. He also is still on a supplement and has medicated
baths twice a week.
Basically, the heartworm treatment blocked off his blood vessels
which prohibited blood flow throughout his body and essentially
killed off his skin tissue.
He is eating and drinking and his internal organs and heart and
lungs all appear to be fine. The biggest concern with the
current treatment is that with high doses of steroids, he can
have a blood clot form and that could be fatal. We have no
choice but to move forward with this treatment to allow him to
try and heal.
On Monday, August 17 he will go to the Dermatologist for a
follow up appointment. We still really have no idea when he will
be well from all that he has endured or be ready for a home.
This little fella has endured more than most of us will
experience in a lifetime. He has never once been anything but
the best little soul ever. He has never whined or growled or
made any fuss. Unless he is feeling really bad, he musters up a
smile and a wag of the tail. We are actually seeing him perk up
quite a bit now more like he was on June 30 before he had the
second heartworm treatment injection. He is still having to stay
in an e-collar all of the time that someone isn’t with him.
In rescue there are two concerns about you bonding too much with
your foster dog. One big issue is to allow your foster dog to
sleep on your bed and the other is big training sessions. Both
of these are very bonding experiences with our canine friends
and makes it more difficult for the foster family and for the
foster dog to leave each other and move on.
My brother and I are the caregivers for Scully and since July 2
we have taken turns sleeping with Scully right by our side. It
was more important for us to bond and let him know how much we
love him to help him get through this terrible ordeal than it
was to worry about how difficult it will be when the time comes
to say goodbye.
The goal of our rescue is to place every dog possible. We have a
canine family of our own that has some pups that because of
medical conditions and lack of socialization (they are terrified
of most humans but us) could never move on so they became our
family members. We also have had our share of rescue dogs that
we knew would live out their lives with us and we would be the
ones to hold them on their last day. Little Maggie Mae, Moses,
and Penny are three of these souls. We have Rachel and Tally now
that will probably live out the rest of their days with us. We
wish they could find a family of their own, but that may never
happen. Elvis is a dog who has so much to give and is one of the
finest boys you will ever meet, and yet for some reason he has
never had an offer for a family of his own. This one I will
never understand. He definitely has a special place in my heart
and we will continue to care for him, but it sure would be nice
to cry tears of joy one day when he moved on to a loving family.
Scully is one of the dogs that we know is highly adoptable; we
just need to get him well so he can move on to a family of his
own. We pray that this is his fate, that he will get well and
move on and although he will never forget us and we certainly
will never forget him, we want him to move on so that we can
help another soul who needs us.
We want to say “THANK YOU” to all of you who have helped us save
Scully. There are a number of folks who have kept in touch for
the last couple of months and been encouraging at a time when we
have struggled. Our vet bill for Scully is now just over the
$3,000.00 mark, and thank you to all of you who have sent
donations that now amount to $1, 965.00. We greatly appreciate
your donation and support more than you know.
We will post an update and new picture of Scully next week after
he goes back for his follow up appointment.
JULY 31 UPDATE
Scully had a lengthy visit with his regular vet today. We
give him medicated baths twice weekly now and have him on a
supplement in addition to antibiotics and pain meds. He has
maintained a healthy weight and his basic vital signs are
strong. The reaction to the heartworm treatment is so severe we
still have a long ways to go. We have been referred to a Canine
Dermatologist and will take Scully on August 6. Please say a
prayer for our little Scully.
SCULLY UPDATE JULY 20, 2009
Here is a picture of Scully on June 30, 2009 before he went in
for his second heartworm treatment. Keep in mind that we are
doing 40% doses of the heartworm treatment because his health
was so compromised, he couldn’t withstand a full treatment. And
here is a picture of Scully on July 15 after the reaction to his
second heartworm treatment.
On July 1, he had the second dose of heartworm treatment. He
came home with us that evening only to be rushed right back the
next morning. From what could be determined, he had suffered a
huge reaction to the heartworm treatment although this has never
been documented before. Three of his legs were bare and he had
red bumps all over his body and his left ear was really
infected. He stayed at the vet clinic for treatment all day and
back home with us and back to the vet for treatment July 3.
By July 6, it was obvious we were facing a very severe situation
with Scully. He continued to receive medications, but continued
to get worse. On July 9 several deep tissue biopsies were done
and sent for testing.
Our sweet little Scully has been the best little soul during
this whole process. I could never begin to explain all that he
has gone through. There have been times that he truly has not
felt like even moving and although he has not been as happy as
his normal self, he has continued to muster up a smile and a
wag. He has never one time fought against us to receive medical
treatment. And he has had to wear an Elizabethan collar this
entire time since July 2 because he is so miserable he will bite
at his skin.
On July 19 we were given the news that a lot of testing has been
done on the biopsied tissue and that lots of things have been
ruled out. It is a very severe secondary infection from the
heartworm treatment that has caused this extreme reaction. With
antibiotics and pain management, and time our sweet, sweet
Scully should make a full recovery. We are being told this will
be another 30 to 60 days.
As we move forward each day the remaining good tissue continues
to go through the same process that we have already seen over a
good part of his body. From July 15 to July 20 much more of his
body is now affected. We pray that one day soon Scully will be
happy and healthy and free from this pain that he has endured to
get well from lack of care during his first three years before
coming to rescue.
Our vet bill for Scully is currently $2,200.00 and we have
received donations towards his care for $320.00 leaving our
little rescue with a sizeable vet bill. If each person who has
visited his site on just our page for him would send $5.00
towards his care, we can pay his vet bill. We ask that you
please consider making a donation to help. And, please say a
prayer for Scully.
Scully update, June 29, 2009
Scully went in for a follow up visit with
his doctor on Thursday, June 25. His heart sounds strong and
his lungs sound clear. He is up from just nine pounds to almost
a whopping twelve pounds now. He has a typical Dachshund
appetite now that he is feeling better.
He came off his meds, antibiotics and anti-inflammatories
Sunday morning and we will see if he is still going strong
tomorrow. If so he will go in first thing Wednesday morning,
July 1 for the remaining heartworm treatment and stay at the
clinic through Thursday evening. Although there will probably
be a downturn in his health from this treatment, if all goes
well, in the next two to four weeks we will see him stronger
than ever and maybe even ready to move on to a home of his very
own.
We are still trying to raise funds for his
care. So far his vet care is a total of $1,568.00 and we have
donations in the amount of $200.00, leaving our little rescue
with a balance of $1,368.00 for his care not counting this next
round of treatments.
With the amount of vetting we have recently
paid for Scully, and Lucky a little JRT who also faced heartworm
treatment although not nearly as advanced and with the health
issues that Scully has faced, Lucky’s care cost nearly $700.00
and his adoption fee is $225.00 leaving a balance for the rescue
to pay in the amount of $475.00, and the many cases that we have
continued to handle over the past four years, our little rescue
may not be able to continue past this year.
We do fundraisers such as yard sales, we
sell ceramic dog bowls, we sell hand beaded jewelry, we vary
where our rescue dogs come from with some of the pups being
vetted so our costs are low so the adoption fees help cover the
fees of the ones less fortunate.
One thing that I know for sure, Scully and
all of the others have made a great difference in my life and I
cherish every minute I have spent helping them.
June 15, 2009: Scully had been doing
much better the first week we had him back from the hospital. He
finished his medications on June 10 and on June 14 his condition
was a definite set back. He spent June 15 in the vet clinic and
had bloodwork and x-rays. The x-rays show much improvement in
his lungs and heart but he will go back on antibiotics and
anti-inflammatory medications for two weeks. At the end of the
two weeks he will go back for a vet check and get an update on
his progress and the next step on his heartworm treatment plan.
We are asking
for donations to please help us cover the vetting cost to help
save Scully. He is such a sweet little soul and deserves a
chance at a healthy and happy life with a family who loves him.
Donations are tax deductible. We are a registered 501c3 non
profit rescue. Donations can be mailed to:
ADRATI K9 Rescue
P.O. Box 17173
Richmond, VA 23226
or through PAYPAL. Thank you.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009: Scully survived the partial
heartworm treatment and his lung is beginning to heal. He is
still on antibiotics and anti-inflammatory
medications. He is eating now and starting to feel better. He
gets to come to a foster home tonight where he will continue to
be closely monitored. He must stay very quiet and only go for
short leash walks in the yard for potty breaks. The next thirty
days are critical while the heartworm treatment kills the adult
heartworms. As these worms die they begin to break off in chunks
and go into the bloodstream. It is crucial that these chunks be
absorbed slowly into the body and not lodge which can cause
death. He will go to the vet for a follow up mid June and again
late June. If he is doing okay he will stay at the vet clinic
and undergo the remaining portion of the heartworm treatment to
kill off the infant heartworms.
Please keep your canine family members on heartworm
prevention. This disease is a killer and it is very prevalent in
our area.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009: Scully is on hold pending
emergency medical care; please say a prayer for this sweet soul.
Scully came into our group May 23 and by May 26 his health had
greatly deteriorated. He is heartworm positive and the blockage
in the heart area is so significant it has set up fluid and
infection in the right lung and this is killing our little
Scully. He is fighting for his life. The shelter where Scully
came from requires the vetting and neuter be done prior to going
to rescue or a home to help control the pet overpopulation. The
stress from the neuter process was very hard on Scully’s body
because it was greatly compromised by the heartworms. He is on
fluids and antibiotics and staying in the care of our veterinary
hospital. On Friday, May 29 he underwent a partial heartworm
treatment to see if this will allow for partial opening of the
blockage which in turn would allow for the right lung to heal.
Please keep Scully in your prayers. This is a sweet little soul
and deserves a chance at a life with a loving family.
Friday, May 22, 2009: Scully is a miniature Dachshund who
is estimated to be 3 years old and he weighs about ten pounds.
He is being rescued from a shelter where he was picked up as a
stray and no one came looking for him. He has had all of his
vetting and his neuter. Unfortunately he did test positive for
heartworms and will start treatments as soon as he heals from
his neuter.
The road for a sweet dog to get to a good family is sometimes
not so easy. Adoption fee: to be determined.
If you are interested in adopting, fill out our adoption application. Adopt page gives guidelines, top right corner has application to fill out online and it emails it to us.
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