Meet Grace! - sweet little Grace has passed
You know how we make these "firm" decisions and for a while stand strong on those decisions then something comes along that blows that strength away like a Dandelion puff?
Meet Grace!
With Squirt's place in her Journey, I had decided no more fosters while she remains in this life and have managed to say "no" to taking in some needy, scared, lonely little Souls. Then a friend sent me a shelter pic and all my reasons for saying "no" melted away in a second or less.
Grace was found as a stray in a city about 40 minutes north of us. She is blind, mostly deaf, geriatric, and covered in tumors. Because she is a stray, ARK law says the owners have to be given 7 days to claim the animal then the animal becomes the property of the entity holding it - ie, shelter, rescue, individual, vet, ect. After those 7 days, they can do as they see fit with the animal and Grace was slated to be euthanized on the 8th morning due to her health and age. She had stopped eating and drinking in the shelter, was crying out when touched, shaking constantly, has horrible teeth, respiratory stress, her little body covered in tumors, and obviously long neglected. The vet for the shelter wasn't sure she would last for the 7-day hold but they had to force her to endure them regardless. :( The shelter listed her as a Shih Tzu mix, but she is a Toy Poodle in my book, the vet's, and the groomers.
Fortunately, the shelter who had Grace has a wonderful Friends of the Animals support group and they posted Grace on FB, looking for the owner then sent private messages to their contacts seeking someone to foster her until the owner showed up...they really didn't think she was going to survive the 7 days in the shelter, and she probably wouldn't have. A friend on the FOA network list sent Grace's shelter pic to me and just like with Trinket and Brick, I knew she was mine - or rather me, theirs. ;)
We went to see Doc B after picking her up Thurs. morning and he diagnosed her with breast cancer, just like sweet Tasha. We also discovered when trying to draw blood, that several of the "lumps" were horrible mats of hair. The actual tumors are limited to her abdomen. We came home with Clavamox and Temeril P for her cough. At this point, we aren't sure if she has an infection in her lungs or if the cancer has spread to her lungs (we know she has an infection by her elevated WBC); the shelter said she was wheezing and coughing when she came in and that they do not have kennel cough. Thurs. afternoon Grace went to a groomer who worked for hours cutting hair, trimming nails, cleaning eyes, and bathing her - she worked 4 hours on Grace, not one scratch on this baby, and Grace was calmer than she was when I picked her up that morning. She weighted 3.7 lbs at the vet's and I bet she lost at least an ounce of hair that evening. And no longer stunk to high heaven! :p
After a night of syringing water and other goodies, she ate a tiny bite of liver at 6am Fri. morning and her appetite steadily improved throughout the day and evening. This morning, she was ready for her breakfast! :cool: She does her business outside; not once has she soiled her bedding! She is still in isolation in my bathroom trying to make sure she hasn't brought something in from the shelter but this morning I've opened her crate door and she has run of the bathroom. She wasn't strong enough yesterday but is this morning. ;) She's still not drinking on her own but her food has plenty of water added and I continue to syringe water several times a day. She's no longer dehydrated and she pees every time she goes out.
Grace is still quite aloof and almost seems disconnected from her surroundings but I think that is in large part due to her loss of senses and the amount of stress she has been under for who knows how long. She is slowly, slowly responding to my touch in a positive way instead of being startled and moving away. At some point in her life, I think someone took care of Grace; she was good for the vet, the groomer, and this morning stood calmly and allowed me to clean her eyes and mouth. As the antibiotics work and she puts on a little weight with some good nutrition on board, I hope she has enough time to realize she is safe now - unless the owners claim her before 5pm today; after that, she is here for good.
I've posted an album for Grace this morning and unloaded a few pics, her shelter pic and a couple of "after" pics. Here is the link so you can see this sweet baby girl - http://www.k9cushings.com/forum/album.php?albumid=776
If all goes well, she will be venturing out into the bedroom and slowly meeting the gang in a few days. I hope she is comfortable with them and they with her...and that my Queen doesn't send me to the dungeon with nothing but bread and water for a fortnight! :p
