Lady 9

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Update 05/13/10:

Once a MAESSR dog, always a MAESSR dog! Lovely Lady is an almost 14 year old who recently returned to MAESSR through no fault of her own. When life was unfair to her adopting family, her welfare was one of their top concerns and they knew MAESSR would find a family to love and care for Lady much as they did.

At only 31 pounds, Lady is a petite, seasoned Springer. As with many aging dogs, Lady is very hard of hearing. That does not diminish her ability to understand requests. If she is looking at you and you clap your hands, she knows that this means you want her to come to you. She also has some vision impairment so, when outdoors, she is not trusted off lead except in safely contained spaces. A fenced yard is perfect for her. Despite these deficits, Lady absolutely loves to be outside. In the out-of-doors, her tail wags a mile a minute.

Lady is a bit delicate and, as such, does best when a few particulars with care are part her routine. She has recurring ear infections and requires daily drops. She is not a fan of the drops being administered but caves when her muzzle is gently held shut. Also, while in foster care the first time, Lady required surgery for bloat. As a result, she is fed smaller meals three times a day, rather than the common twice daily schedule. She has some skin issues and benefits from a grain free diet. Because of her skin issues, she is bathed weekly and receives a topical medication. A basic supplement for arthritis enables her to get around well.

Lady loves all people and is very much a Velcro dog. She also gets along well with other dogs. She will initially bark at them until she has been properly introduced. She is pretty laid back and can spend much of her time sleeping but, when awake, she just wants to be with her people or outside. She enjoys short walks and does well on leash. Lady also enjoys car rides. She is housetrained and has no accidents. Lady is given free run of the house when home alone and disturbs nothing.

She is a very sweet girl who will easily fall in love with any Springer-loving family that opens their home to her. Lady’s companionship could complete life for another dog as well as humans whose hearts would fill in seeing this “lady” through her senior years.

Update 09/22/09:

Lady has the luck of the Irish in her! After being abandoned and left to fend for herself on a locked porch and being rescued by a MAESSR volunteer, she was finally beginning to feel good. Her skin condition was treated, she was groomed, given eye drops to help with her dry eye and was finally being loved and given the attention she so deserves at her age. Then, her foster mom made the best decision for her by leaving her with friends when she had to leave town instead of relying on her usual dog sitter. What a stroke of luck for Lady!

After acclimating to her new environment (difficult when you cannot hear and see only shadows) and finding that her new caretakers didn’t mind her climbing up on their laps, she settled down to a mini-vacation of sorts. What a lot of new smells and things to explore and new people to fawn on her! Little did she know what was in store for her!

She was lying on the couch on her second day of vacation and seemed to be sleeping. All of a sudden she got off the couch and began to pace as if she was uncomfortable or in pain. She then began to have some dry heaves. Her foster mom rushed her outside in case she really needed to throw up and Lady began to run down the hill in the backyard. She circled the yard and began to climb back up the hill when she suddenly collapsed. Her foster mom rushed to her, thinking she fell over something in the yard but Lady was unable to stand up again. Her foster mom carried her into the house, put her on the couch and noticed that her gums were extremely pale and that she seemed to have no energy to move. Fearing that she was bleeding internally, Lady was rushed to the emergency vet and while on route began to struggle to breathe.

The vet rushed her into the back and came out within 5 minutes to say that she was suffering from bloat and needed emergency surgery! Bloat is a condition whereby the stomach rotates and, if it is not corrected immediately, the tissues begin to die from lack of blood flow. The vet was given permission to operate right away and, when the surgery was over, he said that she had only about one hour to live by the time she had arrived! Her stomach turned all the way over and broke open a major blood vessel, so she was bleeding internally. After repositioning her stomach, the vet tacked it to the abdominal wall to help prevent this from occurring again. She required a blood transfusion and was in ICU for 24 hours to monitor her condition.

Lady was able to go home in 48 hours and seemed to take the whole procedure in stride. Her appetite was never affected and she quickly was able to move around as if she had not had any surgery at all! What we can all learn from dogs! If her foster mom had had that same surgery, she would have been laid up for several weeks! As it was, she recovered from quite a fright as quickly as Lady rebounded from her bloat. Lady is doing well now and is happy that she was with someone when this occurred.

Lady is hoping that someone soon will give her the permanent home she so richly deserves! And she promises to bring along her Irish luck!

Update 08/19/09:

Little Lady Lulu, as her foster mom calls her, has had an eventful couple of weeks. First, she’s lost about 1.5 pounds and is starting to look trim. She’s a petite girl now at 36 pounds. As requested by her doctor, Lady Lulu went back for a re-check and it was found that the infections in her eyes were cleared up. However, one of her eyes was not producing the right level of tears, so she was started on an ointment that she gets 1-2 times per day. She will likely need to have this or simple re-wetting drops for the rest of her life to ensure her eyes don’t get irritated again.

Lady was being quite grumpy about her foster mom holding her to put this ointment in and now her foster mom knows why! After Lady finished her first round of antibiotics, a horrible smell was detected coming from her mouth. So, back to the vet she went. It was found that Lady had a seriously infected tooth and another was in bad shape. She had a dental cleaning and two teeth were extracted. This poor little girl had to be in incredible pain. The dental hygienist said the molar she had to remove was horribly broken and smelled awfully when she pulled it. Lady came through her surgery just great and is on another round of antibiotics. Lulu’s feeling much better already!

Other than that, Lady Lulu is still struggling with some hot spots and a slightly elevated liver enzyme. Since the liver enzyme can be affected by infection, there will be a delay until she’s done with her antibiotics for a recheck on the liver enzyme level to see if there’s any improvement. If it hasn’t improved, further diagnostics will be considered. In the meantime, she is good for getting her baths and getting spray or ointment on the spots to provide some relief from the itchiness. She has also started on some meds for urine leakage.

Despite all Lady continues to have great house manners and is happily eating well. As previously noted, she’s not really a fan of going down the four steps to go outside, so she waits for her foster mom to go down first, then she lifts her right front paw to let her foster mom know she wants a lift down. Not to be deemed a wimpy girl, she has mastered coming up the stairs and even went through the doggie door on her own twice this week! This little smart cookie doesn’t want to wait for anyone to let her back inside; she heads for the air conditioning with or without her foster mom!

Stay tuned for more as updates come on Little Lady Lulu’s progress and she prepares to find her forever home!

Original:

When her owner had to go into an assisted living facility, Lady was left at the house in New Jersey. The power of attorney for her owner signed Lady over to MAESSR and a volunteer went to the house to collect her. What she found was a sweet dog in real distress. It was apparent that Lady had been left alone in the house alone for days. This twelve year old was found under a coffee table in the middle of a room filled with trash, moving boxes, and her own waste. Lucky for her, the MAESSR volunteer didn’t hesitate and got Lady immediately to the vet.

Because of the pain she was experiencing due to bad infections in her ears, eyes, and skin, Lady was muzzled during her vet exam and for her ear cleaning. Her coat was completely matted to her skin in spots. Her nails were curled completely around in circles over an inch long. It’s amazing she could even walk and it is understandable that she grumbled as the vet and vet tech were working on her. Despite her multiple infections, Lady’s blood work looked good except one liver enzyme being slightly elevated. She will go back to the vet to have this rechecked in a week. Watch for an update in her health status.

Lady got the royal treatment on her first day in MAESSR’s care; she was groomed, got a bath, and was started on antibiotics, ear ointment and eye ointment. Admittedly, Lady does not particularly like it when her foster mom applies her ear ointment and eye ointment, but she has been a real trooper in tolerating this necessary treatment. She just wiggles a little and tries to hide her head; she does not react negatively or aggressively.

When she first came into her foster home, Lady found a dog bed, curled up in air conditioned comfort, and quickly fell sound asleep, not waking up until dinner time. Now that she’s been in her foster home for some time, Lady has really proven to live up to her name. She is well housetrained, not having a single accident. She is a tidy girl who does not chew anything inappropriately. Her sense of play is still obviously intact as she has been seen tossing a toy around that her foster mom gave her. Lady’s favorite spot in the house is on the dog bed her foster mom set up for her right in front of the couch. When things get hectic or when her foster mom leaves the house, Lady is always found in this spot upon return.

Lady met all the resident dogs in her foster home with ease. Somewhat hard of hearing and also somewhat blind, she walks among the dogs and never reacts badly. She takes their running and playing in stride and just follows her foster mom around the house. If one of the resident dogs growls at her, she bows her head and looks away. Good girl! Inside the house, Lady takes things nice and slow until she learns everything, but outside, she gets excited on leash. Even though she has significant cataracts, she can see her foster mom walking around and the vet said her pupils do respond to light so she at least sees lights and shadows. Little Lady doesn’t let this stop her. She walks around her foster home following her foster mom from room to room. She also walks all around the big fenced yard and goes back to the door when she’s ready to go inside. Due to some arthritis and mild atrophy in her hind legs, Lady does not particularly like the very steep steps that lead from the house to the backyard. With regular walking, regular food and some glucosamine supplements, her foster mom thinks this weakness will improve. Lady has been fine with additional grooming that her foster mom has done since her original spa treatment. She does not seem to mind having her feet cleaned up with scissors and clippers.

This sweet girl would probably enjoy a forever home with only adults or older children because she really likes the calm life just hanging out with her adults, getting some rubs and scratches, and taking lots of naps. She would like leisurely strolls and just needs her people to make sure she’s on level surface for walks or make sure to guide her around obstacles while on leash. She quickly bonds and will love to have a family with whom she can live out her golden years in peace and love.