UPDATE ON SHELBY'S VET VISIT

QUOTE OF THE DAY:

"To live live without Hope is to Cease to Live."


Hello dearest friends,

Mommy is taking over my blog again to let all of you know how it went at the Vet today for dear, sweet Shelby. I just wanted to show you a picture of me and my house quest Taz. He went home Saturday night. I miss him already. Mommy promised me she would do a post later with lots of pictures of us. Also she will do a post dedicated to Frankie Furtur about her trip to The Kemah Boardwalk and all the boats she saw. There was even a dog on one of them and Mommy said it looked just my dear friend. But right now Shelby is more important then any of that.


Before we move on to Shelby's report, Mommy and Sandra wanted to share some pictures of the pitties and the wee ones, as if anyone could ever forget all our dearest friends. I didn't get to go because Shelby is isolated and Mommy said today was not a PLAY DATE. I'm not mad but it sure would have been nice to see my man.


WARNING.....the pictures of Shelby which will be posted after her report are very hard to look at, so please stop after the Vet's report if you need too.


No introductions are necessary for our dear friends, but of course I made Mommy post my Tiger's handsome face first.

Mommy here......

Sandra & I took Shelby to Mona's Vet this afternoon. There was some good news but lots of bad news. First off she got a complete physical and I had Dr Briles give her all the shots that any other dog would be given at a yearly exam.

The good news is that the fecal exam was negative and he doesn't think she has mange based on what he saw when he did the skin scraping test but Sandra bathed her with medicated shampoo a couple of times and the mites might have been washed away so he will recheck again in two weeks. He doesn't think she was burned but the reason she looks so bad is because of bacteria and the hundred of bites & puncture wounds. He gave Sandra an antibiotic to give her twice a day for two weeks, called Baytril and a dip to give her today and another dip in a week, called Mitaban. That should help with the itching. He said he has seen dogs in worst shape than Shelby do really well with antibiotics. "My God! How could this sweet baby look any worse."

As we were getting Shelby out of my SUV, we discovered something we hadn't noticed before. Most of her teeth had either been pulled or sawed down. The doctor agrees with us.....you don't take the teeth out of a fighting dog but you do, if you plan on using the dog as bait. We can't prove it but we all feel that she was bred continuously until she wasn't useful anymore and then used as bait.

She is heart worm positive and will need to be treated for that. One of her eyes is useless and will either have to be removed or stitched shut. She will need to be spayed. There is a possibility she could be pregnant but we pray not. When she goes back, he will do bloodwork, etc.

For now he doesn't want to give her any steroid treatments until we see what happens with the antibiotics, the dips, complete bed rest and isolation from all the other dogs. He did give her a shot for pain today. On July 17, we take her back and he will redo the skin scarping to verify there is no mange & decide what happens next.

He said it is to dangerous to start her on heart worm treatment until we are sure she doesn't have mange. When the time is right we will have her spayed and the heartworm treatments started.

Sandra took Shelby home to care for her and she is in the best of hands, far better than mine.

I paid 251.00 for Shelby's visit & medications today. Dr Briles reduced her bill from 284.50 to 251.00. "God Bless him. He is a big believer in rescue and gives reduced rates to anybody helping rescue a dog, cat, etc....it doesn't matter what."

I hope that I have remembered everything but sometimes, when I get so upset, I tend to forget details. There were a lot of tears shed today but when Dr Briles said he thinks she could be saved our hearts leaped for joy.

There has already been many of you who have offered to help with her medical expenses and we can't thank you all enough. If you would like to help please e-mail me the the address on Mona's bio and I can send you our addresses. Please keep the prayers coming.

Before I close, I would like to share one thing. When I first posted about Shelby, I posted a picture, as I usually do, of an unknown flower with a lizard on it that Judy had sent me from her yard. I thought it was just a bunch of rather common berries but since Judy sent it why not use it. This morning, when I saw Shelby in the flesh for the first time I was horrified. I cried and thought to myself, the doctor won't be able to help her and she would have to be put down. When I came home for a few hours before her appointment, I found the picture at the top of this blog that Judy sent this morning. The same flower but with a beautiful bloom. Shelby will be like that, of that I am sure, given time and with the Power of the Paw on her side. If we do lose her, we will have tried.

God Bless..........Sarah & Sandra