**UPDATE Oct 25, 2006...2am....The vet called and Nicole passed away during the night. Her diabetes and general condition was so compromised to start with that she could not fight the pneumonia. Her owner went to see her last night earlier before she passed away. Maybe she felt like she could go after getting to see him one last time. We're all very sad to lose her.
**UPDATE Oct 23rd, 2006...Nicole has suddenly come down with pneumonia and is having complications from her diabetes as a result, so she had to be hospitalized tonight at an 24 hour emergency vet. I'm very worried about her, since she is so fragile and is already in poor health. The vet did not sound encouraging and gave somewhat of a poor prognosis at first, but then called at 10pm to say her blood sugar has improved and her other bloodwork was better than she thought.
The vet said it would take a lot to pull her through pneumonia in the shape she is in and because of her age and diabetes, so please say some prayers! The estimate they gave was around $3000 to provide the 24 hour hospitalization, fluids, IV antibiotics, blood sugar monitoring, etc etc, for a few days. We really want to give her the chance she deserves to recover but we cannot afford that kind of a vet bill, so I'm hoping we can meet a higher goal and raise more funds for this sweet girl!!
I talked with the owner and he was able to get special permission to leave the hospital and come see her tonight. We were worried she may not make it through the night, but it's looking better at the moment. It will take some aggressive treatment to get her over the pneumonia they said, and hopefully we can provide that for her with your help and donations!!
Thanks - I will keep updating as I hear more on her condition.
Lisa
**UPDATE Oct 21, 2006...They are now in a foster home, thanks to a nice lady who offered to help them! She has cats, but they seem to be doing fine with that and are very happy to be around people in a home. Their owner calls almost every day to check on how they are doing. He misses them a lot. He hopes to be out by Thanksgiving to take them back.
Thanks to everyone who donated to their fund - we were able to get Nicole a senior wellness blood panel and had the vet check on her eyes and adjust her insulin. I'm sure they miss their Dad, but they are comfortable and eating and seem to be happy now.
Oct 11, 2006...An older man who has two senior Dalmatians called me desperate for help because he has to go into a month long stay in the hospital asap. He doesn't have any friends or family who can take his two older Dals, male and female. He has had these dogs since puppies, so it's a very sad situation. He is on social security disability, but has managed to provide minimally adequate care for his senior dogs, one being diabetic and partially deaf/blind. He is willing to give our rescue some money toward their care over the next month, but he really is destitute and cannot afford much.
It's a lot of stress for dogs this old and we did explore the option of euthanasia, but he feels they are not ready and he wants them back in a month so he can keep them and let them live out their lives. He obviously loves these dogs a lot and this situation really pulled at my heart.
I am hoping we might find a temp foster willing to care for them for a month and also, I'm hoping to raise some money for their ongoing care and vetting. We would like to get them both checked out thoroughly by our rescue vet, and try to help these dogs and this poor man out. Can you help with sponsoring their boarding and vet fund? Any amount will help....
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**UPDATE: Oct 12, 2006....I went and picked up Nicole and OJ (yes, that's what he named them!) yesterday afternoon and they're now over at our vets boarding so they both get checkups and to stay in the kennels there until the right foster is found. They're both very sweet, nice dogs.
It is a very sad situation - the man was living in a shack but absolutely loves his dogs and spends his social security money on buying insulin for Nicole, the female, and he cried when we left. He is trying his best to do the right thing. He wanted to give me $$ from his social security to help with the dogs, but I didn't take his money because he really looked like he was barely able to take care of himself financially. He has called me twice already since I picked them up to check on them. I really feel badly for this poor man...he loves those dogs!
I'd really like to get them into a foster home asap, because neither of them are eating now because of the trauma of all of this, and the female is diabetic and needs more monitoring and TLC than the kennel can provide. We have a couple people who have offered to help foster them, but they both have cats and we're trying to "cat test" them first so we know if they're okay. They've never been around cats. Also, the foster must be okay with giving the insulin injections (very small needle, easy to do).
I stopped in this morning to try and entice Nicole to eat some canned food, but she wouldn't. I'll be going back with some people food after work, since he did feed them a lot of that, and see if we can get her to eat. I just talked to him on the phone and he said that if all else fails she usually will eat things like Arby's roast beef or McDonald's hamburgers, so we're going to try that!
The vet thought we should do a blood panel on her to check on her organ function and diabtetes, so we did that. She has cataracts in both eyes, and cannot see well. She is partially deaf, but not completely. She's very small and very very sweet. They both are super nice dogs and you can tell they are so confused. It's really sad!
I will take some pictures later today and post on this page. We are so broke from high vet bills on other rescue dogs, so we DESPERATELY need sponsors for these dogs. I've spent $200 already on them at the vets. This was a case where I should have said no for practical reasons since we have no money, but.....man, I couldn't do it! Seniors get me and this is a truly sad story concerning a person less fortunate and in need of help.
Anyway, that's the update and hopefully they'll be in a foster home soon. The foster MUST be willing to give the injections of insulin, of course, so if that's a problem for anyone, it won't work. She needs them twice daily. They definitely have life and determination left in them, you can tell, so I think a nice home situation would turn them right around and they'd be happy again. They are used to apartment living and are housebroken.
People can call me or email me please if you can help in any way....
Thanks!!
Lisa
PhxDalStation@aol.com