Mandisa Katy, the last of the Katy 34, adopted!!
Yes, you heard it right!! After her expensive bladderstone surgery AND her eye surgery (doesn't she look great!), she now is the luckiest of pups and has her own forever home!!
Here is her story...
On January 3, 2009, we received a phone call from a family whose mother had a heart attack. She was a shih tzu breeder and 34 little dogs were left in her yard to fend for themselves. The family also realized that their mother had not able to take proper care of the dogs for some time so there was no question that the dogs needed our help to find new homes. Sherry and I arranged to go see the dogs and met at the house that afternoon. The poor little dogs were in sad shape. They were badly matted, dirty, and most had eye issues. Many of them had eye ulcers from neglect and hair being in their eyes. The males were in crates under the car port. One little male had a belly band that had been left on for days. The constant exposure to the urine had scolded his belly. The females where running lose in the back yard. The only protection they had from the weather was to climb under a wooden shed that was in the back yard, or hide under the open patio cover. One of the little females had so much poop on her rear end that we had no idea how she was able to move her bowels. Inside the house, which was unbelievably filthy, we found two momma dogs and 7 little puppies. They were two and three weeks old. We had no idea which mom belonged to which puppies because they shared the puppies. One of those momma dogs was Mandisa.
Sherry graciously agreed to foster the puppies, which meant she also fostered the momma dogs at first. Isis was the other mother dog. She was a very sweet little dog that was wonderful with the puppies. She had an eye ulcer and dry eye, but other than that she was in pretty good health. Mandi obviously had eye problems from the start. You can see how horrible they looked in the picture above. She had an eye ulcer, scarring from constant irritation, and dry eye. Her eyes were in terrible shape, some of the worse I'd ever seen. They were crusty, red, and bulging. We started the two moms on basic treatments but anything more would have to wait until the puppies were weaned. Isis and Mandi both fed and nurtured the puppies as needed, but Mandi was more interested in finding ways to escape. There was NO keeping her confined, which of course is what we would have preferred with the puppies. We kept them in an xpen in my office but Mandi was not interested in staying in her confined area. Mandi was very restless and not very friendly toward us. She got along well with other dogs and wanted to interact with them. She just had a lot of nervous energy that tended to make me nervous, too. She was not a very happy dog.
Isis gladly took on the role as the primary parent, while Mandi explored the house. She would come in and fed the puppies as needed, but then would be gone. She would climb out of any device we came up with to keep them confinded. Unfortunately, Sherry had another foster that came down with kennel cough. Mandi carried it back to the puppies and got it herself. Luckily, only one of the puppies got very ill from it. The puppies were tiny and young, so it was unsettling. They were healthy, though, so they all eventually recovered from it. Finally, when Mandi started showing less desire to nurse the puppies and we were starting them on solid foods, we arranged for Mandi to go to another foster home. The other Katy puppy mill dogs were beginning to be adopted by this time. Mandi and Isis would have to wait awhile to find their forever homes until they could get through their own vetting needs. They were now being properly cared for, though, and the changes in their personality where beginning to be noticeable. Both were becoming more social and Mandi was even beginning to be a little more interested in human companionship.
Mandi's very dry eyes got worse and worse. They looked like they were about to pop out of her head! Our vet recommended we take her to Gulf Coast Animal Eye Clinic to have her eyes evaluated. That visit revealed she had dry eye and the ulcer she had was just about healed, but her eyelids would not properly close. They always remained partially open, even when she was sleeping. This lead to severe dry eye and constant irritation of her eyes. The vet suggested she have surgery to make the eyelids smaller to allow her eyelids to close properly. She also started on a new medication that had an anitbiotic in it to keep the eyes from staying constantly infected. We needed to get her eyes in a little better condition before the surgery.
During the time that we were getting Mandi ready for her eye surgery, we noticed she had blood in her urine. Off she went to her regular vet and the xrays showed she had a large bladder stone.
She had surgery to remove the bladder stone so her eye surgery was delayed. Finally, the day came for Mandi's eye surgery. We were all curious how well this procedure would work, since we have never had this done before. The surgery was a success.
Within a month, her eyes were beginning to clear up and even the scarring to her eyes lightened up some. She still has a bit of an 'wandering eye', but her eyes look so much healthier and prettier. During her recuperation, Mandi stayed with Sherry. I was so surprised at the difference in Mandi's behavior. She was no longer the anxious little dog that first came to my house. She was friendly and wanted to spend time with me. She loved to sit in my lap now and be petted. She also wanted to sleep in our bed, but my little dog drew the line at that. He said no way was he allowing another dog on our bed at night! Mandi slept in a little bed on the side of my bed. She wasn't too happy with that arrangement, but she knew it was the best that was going to happen. I knew Mandi was ready to find her forever home finally. She was a social, friendly, happy, healthy little dog now. The eye issues and bladder stone must have really made her life miserable before. Once these problems were resolved, Mandi was able to become the great little dog she was meant to be.
All the other little Katy dogs were adopted during the year. Due to the puppies, Isis was one of the last to be adopted, too. She was adopted in October. Now it was Mandi's turn finally. Sherry took her to meet her potential adopter last week. They loved how friendly she was. What a change from the sad, confused, anxious little dog that first came into my home in January. I was so pleased to see her react so well to them. They were hooked and once they were approved, they adopted little Mandi. What an exciting day for Mandi! She has a family of her own and a four legged brother to play with and love her now.
An end of an era, the Katy puppy mill dogs, but what a wonderful and rewarding end. Thirty four little dogs all in wonderful, loving, forever homes.
Now....on to the next 39.
