Hello everyone. Our adorable Mr Cloud (AKA Claude Galvez) is recovering nicely from his ear ablation surgery!! He is now allowed out of the crate if he is relatively quiet. Isn’t he a doll?
Claude is about 12 years old but very hardy. His ear has been his only real health problem since we got him. I’d love for him to find a forever home now. So if anyone’s interested, please email me at teresa@shihtzu-rescue.com.
But, unfortunatly, because of all of the severe problems my own Ginger was having – last time I posted, she was having a stomach upset – well, that landed her back in ICU for several days this week – I just haven’t had time to get back to writing you about the status of his surgery fund.
As of right now, we have raised $900 toward his vet bill. The total came out just under $2400 instead of $2600, but we are a tad behind. Please pass this message around to all lhasa lovers you know. I know the economy is horrible right now, believe me, we’re feeling it at Deogi, but I still can’t give up on these puppers!!
To donate via PAYPAL GO HERE or GO HERE TO PLEDGE TO SEND A CHECK or HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE CREDIT CARD AUTHORIZATION FORM.
Thanks to Marty Howard, Barbara Grabell, Christine Apple, Dana Del Bianco,Dale Stone, Peter Ymson and Lorna Van De Wiele, Susan Lewis, Josh Rosenbaum, Anne Laquidara, Tricia Havis, Christine Hutchison, Vicki Wakefield, Davis Arnette, Linda Bridges, Mike Birke, Margaret Lubke, Diane Perry, Janet Bello, Wendy Barnum, Doug Cameron, Peter Ymson, Allen & Traci Breeding his fund is at $1000 right now. Still a way to go!!
Since we’re focused so heavily on Claude Galvez right now, I wanted to repost his story starting from the beginning two years ago. Here goes.
06.05.07
URGENTLY NEEDING FOUR SPECIAL FOSTER HOMES FOR FOUR SPECIAL SENIOR LHASAS!
We’ve committed to taking in the three senior throw-away lhasas in the Galveston shelter but desperately need a forever foster home or three for them!!! They do not deserve to remain in the shelter NOR in boarding any longer. PLEASE help!
If you have adopted from us and have a nurturing nature, please sign up for these puppers NOW. I really want to go get them before the weekend and let them know the love of a real home. If you’ve forgotten the story, here it is….
Please allow me to relate a sad story. Yesterday animal control picked up two horribly matted and filthy Lhasas on a remote road where they had obviously been dumped. Upon arrival at the shelter the terrified dogs cowered in the corner of the kennel. It was hard to tell what they were and the smell from their wet filthy bodies was gagging. I came to work this morning and decided my first task would be to shave down the two dogs so they could be assessed. To my horror, the underside of the matted fur was crawling with hundreds of maggots. The fur over the rear of the dogs was so hard that neither dog could defecate. As I released the mats, they began to pass huge amounts of feces, also laden with maggots. I almost decided at that point to just put these poor creatures out of the misery they were enduring, but did not want them to die in that condition, so I continued. In addition to the maggots, thousands of fleas covered their poor bodies. After they were shaved and bathed I found two older, neutered males who were as sweet as can be. One is blind, or nearly so, and the other has severely inflamed skin and lesions from the mats/maggots. They both have infected ears and are going to need major care. We have a local vet who has generously donated services to our shelter and I am going to call him tomorrow and have them evaluated. These dogs are well fed and someone loved them at some time in their life. I am now determined that unless the vet says there is no hope, they will not be euthanized. I know it is very hard to place older dogs, but if your rescue has any fosters who can help these boys recover, I think they would be adoptable.
Then a few days later….
I have an update, the day after the two males came in, a female was found dumped in the same area, in the same condition. She also had twine wrapped tightly around a leg and has an infected paw. All three went to the vet and are on antibiotics, as well as medication for the eyes and ears. The female and one male have ulcers on their corneas, but the other male’s eyes are OK. All three are sweet dogs and obviously came from the same owner. The female was thrilled to see (or smell) the other two. They are safe in my office waiting for an “angel.”
Here are the pictures sent to us by the shelter…
Many of you know how I’ve been struggling with my own little Ginger’s life for the past three months. For those of you that don’t, Ginger has been battling lymphoma, which is cancer of the lymphatic system, since October 2006. In April, she came out of remission and we’ve been struggling to get her back to a good place. She had a bad, albeit fairly common, reaction to one of the drugs in May and was in ICU for five days. AFter trying practically every chemo on the market, we finally realized she had become resistant and chemo was no longer an option for her.
Last week, we tried a new, non-standard, approach which was to use radiation. Ginger’s lymphoma is, thankfully, not in her internal organs as of yet, so she was a candidate for nodal radiation. In this protocol, each external node is hit with radiation three times in the span of a week. Thankfully, all of her nodes practically disappeared.
But, late last night, she became very, very ill - bad gastric upset – so this morning we spent the morning at the vet for fluids, tests and many drugs. As of right now, 2:30 pm, she seems to have stablized and is snoozing comfortably.
So, now on to the update on Claude….some of this has already been posted on our facebook page, www.facebook.com/lsstlar, but here goes….
GCVS called early Friday morning to tell me I could come get Claude. This was MUCH MUCH earlier than I expected. I picked him up late yesterday afternoon. Here he is with Ms. Paula, his new best friend She had to explain all of the after care for him and she also told me how lucky it was that we accelerated his surgery – the infection was spreading quickly inside of the closed-up wound.
You can see how swollen his right ear is – poor boy.
Dr. Hottinger closed up the open, gaping wound and inserted a drain tube which will come out on Monday.
As of right now, we have raised $900 toward his vet bill. The total came out just under $2400 instead of $2600, but we are a tad behind. Please pass this message around to all lhasa lovers you know. I know the economy is horrible right now, believe me, we’re feeling it at Deogi, but I still can’t give up on these puppers!!
To donate via PAYPAL GO HERE or GO HERE TO PLEDGE TO SEND A CHECK or HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE CREDIT CARD AUTHORIZATION FORM.
As soon as we get Claude’s funds raised, we HAVE to start on Mae’s.
Thanks to Marty Howard, Barbara Grabell, Christine Apple, Dana Del Bianco,Dale Stone, Peter Ymson and Lorna Van De Wiele, Susan Lewis, Josh Rosenbaum, Anne Laquidara, Tricia Havis, Christine Hutchison, Vicki Wakefield, Davis Arnette, Linda Bridges, Mike Birke, Margaret Lubke, Diane Perry, Janet Bello, Wendy Barnum, Doug Cameron his fund is at $900 right now. Still a way to go!!
Claude is recovering from his surgery and they want me to pick him up this afternoon. EEK! This is way sooner than I expected. We have raised over $500 for him, but we still need $2100 in his fund asap.
On top of that, Mae had some labs done yesterday and now her surgery is close to urgent. The amikacin she is getting daily is on the verge of harming her kidneys. We need to STOP this antibiotic and surgerically remove the plant matter from her deteriorating sinus cavity. This surgery is also around $2600.
I don’t know what to do right now. With the economy as it is, we are having trouble handling the normal vetting costs much less these extraordinary things!
If you didn’t get Claude’s original story, here is a LINK.
Thanks to Marty Howard, Barbara Grabell, Christine Apple, Dana Del Bianco,Dale Stone, Peter Ymson and Lorna Van De Wiele, Susan Lewis, Josh Rosenbaum, Anne Laquidara, Tricia Havis, Christine Hutchison, Vicki Wakefield, Davis Arnette, Linda Bridges his fund is at $520 right now. Still a way to go!!
To donate via PAYPAL GO HERE or GO HERE TO PLEDGE TO SEND A CHECK or HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE CREDIT CARD AUTHORIZATION FORM.
As soon as we get Claude’s funds raised, we HAVE to start on Mae.
Our adorable little Claude Galvez checked in this morning for his ear ablation, and none too soon. I can tell the ear is getting infected again so this is very timely.
Dr. Hottinger will be doing the surgery today! Yay for Claude.
Here is what will be done, thanks Barbara G for suggesting these graphics.
This is what the ear canal looks like in a dog. The problem with Claude is that he had chronic ear infections way before we got him and the part marked "canal" was basically closed up because of scar tissue. In fact, his ear flap is shorter than the other and thicker suggesting that he had several hematomas too.
You can see how a horrible abcess can develop if the canal, through which "stuff" drains, is clogged up.
This shows how the surgery is done. Basically the part labeled "canal" or shaded with cross hatches on the above graphic, is completely removed and the opening to the ear canal in the ear flap is sutured shut – no more infection, EVER.
He deserves to live the rest of his life pain free. Please help us let him do that!!
If you didn’t get the original story, here is a LINK.
Thanks to Marty Howard, Barbara Grabell, Christine Apple, Dana Del Bianco,Dale Stone, Peter Ymson and Lorna Van De Wiele, Susan Lewis, Josh Rosenbaum, Anne Laquidara, Tricia Havis, Christine Hutchison, his fund is at $340 right now. Still a way to go!!
To donate via PAYPAL GO HERE or GO HERE TO PLEDGE TO SEND A CHECK or HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE CREDIT CARD AUTHORIZATION FORM.
Sometimes I just can’t believe you all. We already have $245 toward Claude’s $2600 surgery. And I’m positive he can have it because I know how much you all love these dogs.
Claude is a wonderful little old man Asks for nothing except a nice place to sleep and loves his food. He sometimes, when he feels good, will go play with some of the other dogs. Lately, with all of the infection, he hasn’t done much playing.
He deserves to live the rest of his life pain free. Please help us let him do that!!
If you didn’t get the original story, here is a LINK.
Thanks to Marty Howard, Barbara Grabell, Christine Apple, Dana Del Bianco,Dale Stone, Peter Ymson and Lorna Van De Wiele, his fund is at $245 right now.
To donate via PAYPAL GO HERE or GO HERE TO PLEDGE TO SEND A CHECK or HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE CREDIT CARD AUTHORIZATION FORM.
Poor little Claude Galvez; he is one of our adorable forever fosters. He has always struggled with one bad ear – constantly infected, even when cleaned every day. I wanted to get his ear ablated many months ago, but with all of the other URGENT situations and the economy, I held off. Bad mistake.
Several weeks ago, Claude developed a massive abcess underneath his ear – I mean it was horrendous – like the size of a grapefruit. That’s huge hanging off the ear of a 20 pound lhasa boy. I rushed him to Stafford Oaks and Dr. Brady, one of the wonderful vets, immediately opened it up and flushed out the massive infection.
This is what it looked like after it was treated. Yes, that red stuff is an open wound!!!
Claude then stayed in the hospital for about a week.
Since then, we’ve been working on getting that huge wound closed up, but now that the hole is almost closed and his ear is still draining we MUST get that ear out.
I spoke with Dr. Heidi Hottinger, of Gulf Coast Veterinary Specialists and she will do it
ASAP – as in TOMORROW, THURSDAY. The cost is $2600.
Please, please help us help little adorable Claude.
To donate via PAYPAL GO HERE or GO HERE TO PLEDGE TO SEND A CHECK or HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE CREDIT CARD AUTHORIZATION FORM.
Thanks to all!!
