October is parvo month in Sacramento

But we won't let that get us down, because we fight parvo harder than anyone.  

With our phenomenal medical and foster teamss, we are able to treat puppies from the community who would have very little chance of surviving, otherwise.

By taking in sick puppies from the homeless encampments, we are not only saving their lives, but also preventing further contamination of the shared space, and further risk to other pups in the area.

For our housed clients, who have the time and ability to provide round the clock nursing care in their own homes, we supply the fluids, medications,  instructions and support to help them get their puppies through.

Meet Coco, aka Chip.  He has turned the corner since we met him on Tuesday.  Happy dances may have been performed over solid poop this morning.

Thank you for your contributions.  They enable us to say "Yes, we can help," every time we get the call.

 

Roo--June Puppy of the Month

Roo is one of those extra special dogs who seem to be touched by the graces with an extra dose of sweetness.

She has hydrocephalus, a congenital anomaly that is seen on occasion in chihuahuas.  It means that she accumulates fluid around her brain, which compresses her brain tissue, and gives her a big domed head.  She is tiny, less than a pound at eight weeks of age, compared to her four pound brother and sisters.  She is a little uncoordinated, and slower to learn things than they are too.  But she has a lightness of spirit that is reserved for those who are not long for this world.  

 

Roo came to us along with three young adult chihuahuas and three more puppies, all from the same mom and pop.  We are working with some of our best local small dog partners to send the young adults up to Vancouver where they line up for little tan chiweenie type dogs.  (We can hardly imagine a deficit of the nearly ubiquitous local mascot, the tan chihuahua here in Sacramento.) The pups went to a group in Napa who find lovely homes for them, but we kept Roo in order to provide her with medical and supportive care for the rest of her short life.

While people seek out the "Apple Head" chihuahuas fore the charming appearance of an oversized head on the tiny body, this trait is in fact like so many traits sought by breeders, a sign of a serious disease.  Roo has a large palpably soft spot on her skull, where it did not knit together, and is instead being pushed apart by the pressure in brain.  It allows us to image her brain with an ultrasound, and confirm the diagnosis of hydrocephalus.  It is shocking to see that with her brain tissue compressed to just a few millimeters, she can still function as well as she does.  

However, we know from experience that as the fluid continues to accumulate, it will compress her brain to the point where it will no longer be able to function.  We know that anytime in the next months, she is likely to deteriorate quite quickly, at which point we will let her go gently and humanely.  Until then, she will lead as normal a life as possible in the home of a loving, and experienced foster family.

Roo spends a good deal of her time being carried in her little "chihuahua sling," similar to a "Baby Bjorn" but with room for her to curl up into a ball and sleep when she does not want to interact.  She has bursts of playfulness and energy, just like any puppy, and plays a feisty little game of tug of war with a ribbon.  She has a few stuffed animals that look like giants next to her.  It has been a challenge to find clothes small enough for her, so a few custom sundresses are in the works.

Thanks to the members of the Puppy of the Month Club for helping us care for this little sprite!

May Puppy of the Month--Jasmine

Technically, Jasmine is perhaps not a puppy, at 13 months of age.  But she is like a dog reborn after coming into our care, so I think she qualifies.

We first met Jasmine two months ago, at one of our Neighborhood Dog Days free clinics in South Sacramento.  She was one of six dogs brought to us by an obviously overwhelmed novice breeder.  She represents a newly popular informal breed, the American Bully.  Think part pit bull, part English Bulldog, part baby hippo.  

Jasmine had demodex mites, the non-contagious mange that afflicts many of the light colored pit bull types.  She also had a crusted wound on her face, from rubbbing against the fence, according to the neighbor.  The six puppies (not her own, but her half siblings) all had signs of mange as well.

We vaccianged the lot, gave them all medication for mange, and gave her antibiotics as well.

When we saw her the next week for a recheck, she was greatly improved.

Last week, we heard from her person again.  She was not dong well at all.  We met him at the local public library, where we do weekly clinics for more serious cases that cannot wait for our monthly clinics.

We were stunned by what we saw.

Her face and head were swollen almost beyond recognition, her eyes were bloodshot and crusted, and she had a wound on her foot.  She had a high fever, and obviously felt rotten.  Her owner understood that she was beyond his capacity for care, and asked that we take her.

Lilly Rose--April Puppy of the Month

Meet Lilly Rose.  Lilly was like all the other puppies in her litter until she was weaned from her mama.  She became unable to hold any food down, and lost weight while her siblings were growing like weeds.  Her family reached out to us for help.  
Our vet discovered that she has an uncommon birth defect effecting esophagus, so that she cannot take in solid food.  
She needs to have special radiographs and scoping done to determine if the problem can be corrected by surgery.  
She has been on a bottle for the last week, and is regaining her strength in anticipation of her big vet appointment.  

Although she is super small, she has a big spirit.  

Her current favorite pastimes are chasing her big pit bull foster brother around the kitchen, and chewing any exposed toes in sight.  

She has an appointment on Tuesday, April 25 to see our favorite internist/surgeon team.  They will do advanced imaging to determine if surgery will be a possibility.  We have high hopes for her.

Update on Monday, May 1, 2017 at 10:47PM by JRab

Update:

Lilly Rose had surgery today to have the congenital defect that was keeping her esophagus from functioning removed.  It was a nail biter for us, for sure, as they surgeon had to go between her ribs right and cut our a ligament that went from her heart around her esophagus.  This is quite a delicate procedure on a tiny 5 lb puppy.  She had Sacramento's best surgical team looking after her, and we are so happy to report that she came through surgery with no complications or surprises.  

She will be resting in the ICU overnight, then coming home to continue her convalescence tomorrow.

Thank you all so much for your support and well wishes!

March Puppy of the Month-Miss Mimosa

 Mimosa came to us after a tough beginning.  We don't like to dwell on the details, but her original owner did not have the wherewithal to keep her safe or provide for her needs.  She was brought to us as an 8 week old, with a bad infection, underweight, and not having known much human kindness.

Our veterinary team worked hard to get her health back on track, and her foster family worked hard to make up for the lack of love in her first months.

If that face doesn't reduce you to a puddle on the floor, you must be made of stone.

Her foster sister Lady Champagne took the job of teaching her how to be a house dog very seriously.  Here we observe a tutoring session on "Making Pathetic Puppy Eyes to Get Everything You Want."

You can see that she was a quick study.

Learning to appreciate the luxuries of a real home did not take long either.

Resident cat Kami, queen of RBF, took on the task of teaching her respect for her superiors, (superior species, that is, in other words, cats.)