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Update
11/05: Flower went over the Rainbow Bridge yesterday,
following is a note from her foster mom.
Flower just never seemed to
gain weight, despite having 4 meals a day prepared fresh with human foods
(I don't even cook for myself!). Her gait continued to be odd, she
held one back leg out at a weird angle, the other seems uncoordinated and
she was starting to slip if she was on a smooth surface (non carpeted).
Despite her continuing problems, she was loving beyond words, she never
left my side, even insisting on going up and down stairs as I did daily
tasks. She wanted nothing more than a simple acknowledgement or a
stolen tidbit from whatever you were eating.
Thanks to Doc Swanson of Countryside
Vet Clinic in Carol Stream, we were able to find out that Flower had Aplastic
Anemia and almost negligible red blood cells left. Apparently,
red blood cells in a dog last about 110 days. They are replaced at
the rate of about 1% in a normal dog. The 'red blood cell factory'
is in the bone marrow. For some reason, Flower had less than half
what she needed (and rapidly decreasing), the new cells were negligible
and the marrow was completely shut down for manufacture. She was
slowly dying. She also had problems with her liver.
After much discussion and
not wanting Flower to suffer, we sent her painlessly, but sadly for us,
over the bridge. The thought of the brave and loving soul, abandoned
by her family to the street having to slowly feel like she was starving
for air was something we could not bear once the prognosis was
given.
I want to personally thank
all those who sent support, either words of kindness or monetary,
everything helps - your continued monetary donations help as the bills for
all her testing really were high, but I kept believing we could give this
wonderful dog back what someone took away - a life of love and
happiness. My one regret is that I didn't even take a picture of the
beautiful little girl, I kept thinking she would want to look better for
her debut, she was such a proud lady, and I waited in hopes that she
would be well enough for a grooming. I
miss you Flower and darn it, now I am crying. This morning just
isn't the same without those huge brown eyes looking lovingly into mine
with her usual "good morning mom, what's for breakfast?" -------------------------------------------------------------
When we saw Flower at Animal
Welfare League, our hearts nearly broke. She was obviously
elderly, had horrific teeth and was confused about being in a cage without
her family. A scan produced a microchip, she was adopted out years
ago from the very same shelter. Attempts to contact her owner were
unsuccessful. The staff
was doing their best to put weight on the malnourished little
Poodle. She weighs 7# currently and should weigh almost twice that
amount. She has bad eye infections, both eyes, has had numerous
teeth pulled (they were literally rotting) but surprisingly had pretty
darn good results on her blood work! Still
Flower LOVES people, adores them, wants to be carried and pet. Her
owners kept her groomed to the nines (odd priority considering her medical
needs). She is getting daily meals of chicken, high protein vet
prescription food and is recovering well. Flower
will need R&R and TLC - the magic acronyms. She will be
attending our adoption events as soon as she is able just so she can be
loved on by as many people as possible. We don't know for sure how
old she is, and we honestly don't care...a dog as wonderful as Flower
deserves as much happiness as she can get, hopefully that will include a
family to love her.
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