Entered: 03/06/2008
Status: Rainbow Bridge
Age: 8
Color: Black/White
Weight:
Gender: Altered Female
Location: Wilmington, DE
Health: UTD, HW-, chronic kidney disease, permanent hearing loss, benefiting from hypoallergenic food
Temperament: Good with people as young as ten, go
Update 09/19/08:
There are times when excellent veterinary care and excellent home care by a foster family is not enough. It has come to this for Libby. After an encouraging period of stability, her kidney condition worsened. With this burden, she started to slip mentally too. Despite access to the outdoors at all times through a doggy door, Liberty would wander with no idea of what was the right choice -something that had never been a problem for her earlier. She was no longer comfortable physically or in touch with the world around her. She is now past all that at the Rainbow Bridge.
Update 08/28/08:
Liberty II will always need someone in her life to keep a watchful eye on her health and her foster family is doing that right now. The news from them is that Libby is holding her own. Her latest urinalysis shows no change, so her kidneys remain stable where they are. For Libby, this is good news indeed.
Libby has become more affectionate lately, coming over for ear rubs and belly rubs. She now spends her evenings with her head resting on the empty shoes of her foster brother. This position appears to be very uncomfortable to her foster parents, but she clearly feels it is her duty to keep his shoes warm and protected. Maybe for Libby it’s a little way of giving back.
Update 07/27/08:
Libby continues to do well in foster care. Her kidneys remain stable based on monitoring protein leakage. She loves her walks, although they have been shorter during the hot, humid summer months. She has been quite the social butterfly lately with any visitors, even going belly-up for tummy rubs. Libby is able to hold her urine for seven to eight hours at night, but takes advantage of the doggy door for more frequent outside visits during the day. Her foster family is thrilled with how Libby is doing. At this time, the only extra work involved in taking care of Libby is feeding her a limited ingredient dog food available at a local pet supply chain, and giving her an antihistamine twice a day, which she willingly takes in a piece of cheese. She’s just waiting for her forever home!
Update 06/27/08:
Liberty is back with MAESSR through no fault of her own. She has settled right back into her old routine in her original foster home. Her adopting family had reported some issues with house-breaking and, while the foster home does have a doggy door, Libby has been going eight hours at night without accident. She has been back to the vet since returning and an ear infection is being cleared up. A recent urinalysis does show continued signs of kidney impairment for this girl, but the vet believes that routine care and a careful diet will keep Libby’s health stable.
The bottom line here is that Miss Liberty does have chronic kidney disease and so has limited time. She is not in acute kidney failure nor is she in need of hospice care but she is not going to become 100% healthy again. The plan is to manage her situation with diet and exercise. She is a senior citizen, a young senior, but nonetheless, a senior. Dialysis or transplants would not be recommended for her. At this point, she is comfortable and enjoying her days. She probably doesn’t have another five years but that doesn’t worry Libby. In typical doggie fashion, she lives in the present and is about sharing her love and companionship today. She would treasure a steady, committed family who can give her its best for as many todays as she is blessed with.
Update 04/11/08:
After several visits to the vet and several tests, much more has been learned about Miss Libby, as her foster family has taken to calling her. Libby has several environmental allergies. She had a high reaction to oak, willows, and certain grass pollens, and a low reaction to household dust and other tree and grass pollens. To help with this, she is on a hypoallergenic diet. Her blood work, which had indicated some potential kidney issues, is improving. The recommendation of the vet is to monitor Libby’s kidney function and continue to feed her hypoallergenic food.
Miss Libby is highly unlikely to recover any hearing. Her future family may want to consider ear canal ablation surgery if her ears ever start to bother her. Her foster family is putting in ear drops and the ears do not seem to be any source of discomfort.
Libby’s skin and coat were looking fabulous until three days ago. One side of her foster home’s yard is lined with oak trees. The foster family thinks Libby got a major dose of oak pollen as she now has a hot spot on her back. It is responding to treatment.
Through everything, Libby is a doll. She responds to hand signals and loves going out for walks. She is very sweet and loves to sneak up on the sofa for a snooze when the house is empty. She never tries when people are home. Unfortunately, being deaf, Libby doesn’t always hear your return so it is easy to catch her. Once Libby realizes you’re there, she quickly jumps down looking guilty. She’ll soon be looking for a new family to share walks and sofas with. Keep an eye on this sweetie.
Original:
Liberty, or Libby as she is now known, was found as a stray in Virginia. The local SPCA diligently worked on her health issues and decided Libby needed more personal care so MAESSR was contacted.
Libby has severe ear infections that seem to have left her deaf and it is unknown if she will recover any hearing, but she is learning hand-signals. Libby’s other health issues should clear up with the combined attention of Libby’s foster mom and her vet.
Libby is almost housebroken and has excellent house manners. No garbage diving or counter surfing for this girl! She is also crate-trained and reliable up to nine hours when crated. Libby does well on a leash, but hasn’t been tested off-leash. She is not wild about riding in the car and does some nervous drooling, but she does not get carsick.
When it comes to getting along with the resident neutered male Springers, Libby does fine. She will stand up for herself if she is challenged, but she seems content to live and let live. This sweetie loves to cuddle with her people- including a 9½ year old foster brother and she especially enjoys plush dog beds! Since she is deaf and therefore sleeps incredibly soundly and could therefore be startled awake, Libby probably should not be placed in a forever home with young children.
Look for more on Libby as she settles into her foster home and as her health conditions improve.