Henry aka Walmart puppy

Henry came to Safe Hands the same night as Angeline.  To say that he was a mess would be an understatement. The shelter in Harlan had sent us his picture earlier in the week, and the moment I saw him I knew we had to get him here. He looked so sad and pathetic and...hairless. (For anyone who doesn't know me very well, I am a sucker for the mangey hairless dogs.) I thought of little else in the days leading up to his arrival and waited anxiously to hear any updates. I knew he had been given fluids at the shelter for dehydration, and I was praying that his little body that had been through so much already would be strong enough to make it to Safe Hands, where he could heal and find the forever home that he deserved. My greatest wish that week was that he make it here and I could see him happy and wagging.

  For anyone who doesn't know his story from our updates, Henry was found tied up in a Walmart shopping bag in a dumpster. Thankfully an employee who took out the trash heard a squeaky sound and located the ailing little boy and took him to the shelter.
 
  I was handed his crate the night he arrived and peeked inside to see the saddest pair of watery eyes staring back at me through the kennel door. Henry was nearly bald all over from sarcoptic mange. His stomach was enormously bloated. He had a raspy cough and wheezy lungs. He was dehydrated. He was, in short, a mess. But he was. He was still here, still alive, still wanting to be. We believe all life is precious, even 2 pound puppies with no hair. They want to live too.

  I took him home that night and got him settled in the spare bedroom. Because of his upper respiratory I had to keep him quarantined from my dogs until it cleared up. I had never had a foster pup that slept as much as he did for the first 3 days. I knew his little body needed the rest to heal itself, but it was still nerve wracking for me, who just wanted him to be a normal playful puppy.

   Caring for Henry was both easy and daunting. Easy in that he was a very good little patient when I had to give him sub Q fluids and antibiotics, which is not usually the case with the tiny pups. Daunting because I had to turn into a chef (a very big stretch) to try to entice him to eat. I tried nearly everything I could think of to get the baby boy to eat. At one point he had 10 little custard bowls with various canine and human foodstuffs in them...like a tiny puppy buffet table, in the hopes that while I was away at work he would eat....anything. After much trial and error on chef Janines part (liver was a big nose turning NO), he finally settled on boiled chicken, plain yogurt and nutrical as his foods of choice for the first 2 weeks. Not balanced, but nutritious enough on a temporary basis.

 Gradually the wheezing and coughing has cleared up and his eyes have stopped watering. His hair too is nearly all back. I'm proud to say that he is very happily eating dry puppy food and gaining and thriving. He's nearly 4 pounds now. The only real remnants of his former life are his slightly crooked front legs, a bit malformed from malnutrition, but even those have improved greatly in the weeks since he has been here. Henry is a little spitfire. He's got the heart of a big dog in his tiny little puppy body.

  I look at the pictures of him, before and after, and marvel that they are of the same dog. He's turned into quite the handsome boy, but then, I knew from the moment I saw his picture that he would be with a little time and tlc. I get angry when I think about his past, but I try not to dwell on it.. the panic he must have felt before survival mode kicked in and the horrible kind of person that would just throw him away. What matters is that he made it to Safe Hands and he's amazing.  I've been caring for him for just over a month now and I gotten my greatest wish ...to see him happy and wagging. It's pretty much all he ever is when he's awake. I have a new greatest wish now and that is for Henry to find the perfect forever home he deserves.

Pick me up, buttercup

This is Angeline doing her prancy dancy pick me up moves.  If I haven't mentioned it yet, she is sure that she is a Princess with a capital P and that she really does belong in someone's arms 95% of the time.  I'm pretty sure she's right.

Sweetest Angeline

Here is sweetest Angeline in her new sweater.  She loves this sweater.  After our vet visit yesterday Dr. Baho told me she liked the sweater.  I told her Angeline did too and she didn't like it if you tried to take it off.  She told me they already found out the hard way...they had to take it off to weigh her.  She was not a happy camper about that and I guess she let them know.

The good news is that her fecal yesterday showed no intestinal parasites and her urinalysis looked good.  She has now gained two whole pounds from when she arrived, that's almost 50% of what she weighed when she got here.  Way to go Angeline!

10-3 Angeline!!!

I would have updated you yesterday but I was very busy with an Angeline in my arms!  Angeline is back at my house and she is pretty sure she was made to be held, oftentimes wrapped up in a blanket.  I am pretty sure she is right.  Of course, it's really hard to get anything else done though.

Angeline spent the last week and a half being tended to and cared for round the clock by Wendy & Tina.  Slowly she put on weight and regained her energy.  She began to be curious about her surroundings and to interact more with the outer world.  Last Thursday she had an appointment with Dr. Baho, her new doctor, an Internal Medicine Specialist.  She has gained well over a pound and is currently 5 lbs 12 ounces - way to go Wendy & Tina!  We owe them big thanks, her feeding and medicating schedule was insane with something going into her at least every few hours. 

Angeline's ultrasound showed some improvements in her tummy but also a thickened abdominal wall.  However, Dr. Baho said that with what she's gone through that is not unexpected.  Her bloodwork was excellent except she still has elevated white blood cells, also not unexpected or really unusual though.  We are switching some of her meds around to see if we can improve her stool and stop the straining she does to go.  (yes, again, it is all about the poop).  She'll go back for a few more tests to be sure the new medicine regime is not causing trouble with kidneys or liver.  So onward and upward we trudge.

Meanwhile, she has become quite the snuggle bunny.  I think she is making up for lost time.  I imagine that she thinks, "now THIS is what I am talking about, THIS is what I held on for."  I confess to holding her while she sleeps and staring at her in amazement.  I can't believe she is really here, that she survived.  Dr. Baho said she is one lucky girl, very lucky to be alive and very lucky to have come into Safe Hands.  I think we are lucky too.  She is a beautiful little miracle inside and out.

She still hardly makes a peep.  She prefers to be held and sleep on a warm body but she'll stay in her bed if I'm busy.  She is timid around my dogs and will avoid them unless cornered.  Then she will raise a lip but she has not done anything more than that.  She watches them play and her head cocks from side to side.  I wonder if she has played with other dogs, if she knows what that is.  Is she conjuring up memories of a time that was her or does she wonder what on earth they are doing?  After watching them play on Thursday night she play bowed at my (while standing on my belly) and then gave a little play bark and (very gently) bit at my nose.  She continued to play with me!  She has done this on several occasions now.  She pokes at my with her nose, dodges in and out, likes it if I try to touch her feet or face while she dodges out of the way while she play bows away.  Then she'll lick my face and  I swear if a dog could laugh that's what she's doing.  It feels really good to see her this way.