Friday, April 29, 2011

The Windshield and the Bug

I have this little bag of woe.  I've been carrying it around for a couple of weeks and adding to it now and then and it's been getting bigger and bigger .  I think it is time to empty it out before it turns into a full fledged Pity Party and takes on a life of its own!

Sadly,  all y'all are about to witness the great "woe dump".    It started with Hazel Rose, the cutest little Frenchie from a Missouri puppy mill.  She was a pricey little thing for a rescue to buy, but I was determined to save her.  Good thing, because, as you may have read a few posts back, she had a rotten tail that was growing down inside of  her and pushing into her rectum. She had surgery to fix the tail, but the spay surgery was a bit more complicated and there were several subsequent emergency surgeries.  Little Hazel Rose had had so many C-Sections that her stomach wall couldn't hold together anymore and was splitting open right and left ( literally).  But, her medical issues all were fixed and her new home was already chosen and they were waiting for their new little princess to arrive. 

Unfortunately,  two really important things were over looked.  A DHPP booster, and ( maybe) a heartworm test.  I say maybe because the vet's office told me it was done, but it was not documented, and I believed them.  Oh, it gets worse, so much worse.  

When the new family drove from afar to pick up the new dog that they had been waiting so long for, I noticed that little Hazel Rose had a "poopy butt".  I thought it was unusual, since she had never had this happen before, but I IGNORED it because I was so happy that she was going home.  Then, after the family left, my DH told me that there was diarrhea upstairs in the hall.  OH NO - I had to call the family while they were on the road and tell them that HR was sick with the runs. It gets worse, so much worse.

The next day I heard from the new family and they had had HR to the emergency vet.  OH NO.  That means a big bill.  The emergency vet thought it was a reaction to her rabies vaccine and the change in situation and the change in food.  Ok I thought,  had changed her food myself a couple days before so, that could really be it.  It gets worse, so much worse. 

The next day, Easter Sunday, I had a Parvo outbreak at my house.   See, when HR was for sure scheduled to go to her new home, I went to a puppy mill auction and rescued four Toy Fox Terriers.  On Easter Sunday, one of them broke with Parvo and was taken to a local vet to be hospitalized, in an intensive care isolation unit.  It is a very pricey place and I have now cost the rescue something like a kajillion bucks.   I should mention here that one of the other dogs in the same group, a tiny two pound fella named Rebel, had  broken his leg, at my house, in my care, when he jumped down from my love seat.  He'd been to the orthopedic specialist vet where it was discovered that the leg had been broken twice before and not been properly vetted if at all  The leg could not be fixed and had to be amputated.  The specialist bill was added to the growing pile of bills my puppy mill auction dogs had incurred thus far and the stack was probably nearing the ceiling of Ellen's office. 

So, now to recap, we have Hazel Rose who has already had the tail surgery, the spay surgery and three emergency surgeries, but is finally in her new home, where she is sick and piling up bills there. One Toy Fox Terrier with an amputated leg and a regular vet bill and a specialist bill, and one Toy Fox Terrier  in iso-intensive care with big bills piling up.  And it is still getting worse.

I had to call the family that adopted Hazel Rose to tell them that she has been exposed to Parvo.  Remember that we have no documentation of a DHPP booster, and for those of you that don't know, one of those "P's" in DHPP stands for PARVO.  The new vet also has no documentation that a heartworm test was done, and of course no results.  When the vet clinic calls our vet to get the Heartwork test information she is told that a heartworm test was not done.   So, now we have a vet in another city who probably thinks I am, at best, a scam artist and, at worse, a puppy miller masquerading as rescue.  As embarrased, mortified and humiliated as I am that  I have made such an embarassing chain of stupid mistakes, it is also reflecting back ( maybe ) on the rescue organization that I volunteer for.  Notice: I can't bring myself to name that organization here, it is at least one kind thing I can do for them. 

And finally, the two Toy Fox Terriers at home, two sweet little girls who are in my bathroom...broke with parvo the next day.  Fortunately , they spent a couple of days at our vet and got to come home yesterday.  That's them, over on the left, and I am so happy they feel better.  They are wicked shy, though.  I am sure that they will come out of their shells soon.  The chocolate one in the back is Bunny.  She has the greatest eyes that are sometimes gold and some times green.  Beanie is the one in front and she is the shyest of the two.  She has a great personality though, and the cutest "airplane ears"!

We have recieved a few phone calls from the folks who adopted Hazel Rose.  So far she is still continueing to feel better and has not broken with Parvo.  Her new owners are unhappy enough with how the adoption went that Ellen refunded their adoption fee in an effort to show them that we are at least trying to do the right thing no matter how badly the volunteers screw up.

Rebel, the little guy who had his leg amputated is with a new foster home who will, no doubt take better care of him than I did.  Danny, the last little Toy Fox Terrier with Parvo is still fighting for his life. Keep your fingrs crossed for him. 

And while I have you thinking good thoughts for Danny, please say a prayer for the rest of the Missouri Puppy Mill dogs who were screwed over by the legislature and our country governor.  If you have a good thought or a prayer left you might pray for the good folks of Missouri who have just been told by the good folks they elected that their vote does not now, nor has it ever, counted.

And lastly if there is a good thought left out there and you can bring your self to do it, I would like some as well because in the middle of all of my bumbling with the dogs, I got some very sad family news.