Thank you for visiting my Bowlarama fundraising page for TEAM RESCUE!
It’s only fitting that with Independence Day just around the corner that we share two remarkable stories with you...
Recently RESCUE had the privilege of saving two very special dogs, Shani and Merlin. They both were saved from the kill lists for very different reasons but soon they began living very similar lives. Here are their stories:
Shani was saved on 3/24/09. She was brought into Animal Control as a stray with a horrible skin condition. After serving her mandatory 72 hours, with no one claiming her she was placed on the “kill list.” One of the staff took pity on Shani and pulled her off the “kill list” to try and give her another day of hope. Unfortunately her chance soon ran out and she was placed back on the “kill list”. On 3/24/09 RESCUE had just completed our paperwork for three other dogs that we had saved when one of the staff asked us to look at Shani. I went to her kennel and was horrified by her condition. This tiny little dog, that I thought was a white terrier of some sort had almost no fur on her brightly colored body, she was skinny, oozing, bloody and stinky. She had the worst case of demodex mange that I had ever seen. We had to save her.
We rushed her to the vet to be treated and I immediately went back to my home office to search for a foster home for Shani. I sent out an email to all of our volunteers explaining Shani’s condition, that she was not contagious but she needed a foster home to recover. Her recovery would take 3-6 months and it would probably take a full year for her hair to grow back in. Shani, who’s name means “red one” soon found her way into RESCUE volunteer Tamara’s home. With a foster home secured we transferred Shani’s vet care to a specialist. The first visit was very scary. The vet said that it was the worst case of Demodex she’d ever seen and that with Shani’s secondary infections there was a high possibility of Shani dying! While we were disheartened, we just weren’t going to let that happen. Shani had an enormous spirit and we could tell she wanted to live!! We put her on several medications and a high quality, high protein diet and within the next week she was already making enormous progress. Most of the fur that she had left on her body was attached only by scabs :( and soon feel off. Our little red one now revealed a ton of spots on her baby soft skin!!
These photos were taken just about two and a half weeks after her rescue. Shani couldn’t have received a more loving, dedicated foster parent. Tamara and her family have welcomed Shani into their home and hearts with open arms. They truly have helped our little girl through the most traumatic time in her life and Shani has blossomed into a spunky young gal with a huge love of life and all people!
Week after week Shani made remarkable strikes, gaining weight, her skin recovering, losing all her scabs, infections and soon growing in baby fine fur!! Vet visit after vet visit our little red one became less red and slowly growing back in her fur. Shani and her dedicated foster mom never complained. They were both up to the challenge and kept surpassing all our hopes for Shani.
Soon came the day that we felt Shani has recovered enough that we could have her spayed. She also had two baby teeth that needed to be removed as well. But in true Shani form, she didn’t bat an eye and recovered quickly. We did need to wait a couple more weeks to make sure that the spay surgery didn’t cause a problem with her hormone levels and cause this condition to come back again.
The picture on the left is Shani today, just a little over three months after we rescued her. You can see almost all of her hair has grown in. She is no longer red but a healthy shade of pink. She has put on a lot of weight and now is at a healthy weight of nine pounds. Shani no longer has any infections and does not require any additional medical treatment.
Now you might be thinking that surely Shani’s amazing and loving foster mom Tamara would want to adopt our spunky little girl. And while Tamara and her family love Shani’ dearly they know that a fantastic home is out there for her and that there are many more dogs at Animal Control that need their foster help. And so RESCUE will continue to work hard to find the perfect home for Shani! She certainly deserves it!!
As I mentioned, Merlin has a similar story to Shani’s. While we didn’t know anything about Shani’s background other than the fact that she was not given any medical care. Merlin did have a bit of a story. Merlin had made his way to the pound on several occasions over the years. His owner came to get him in the past - as recently as 12/08. Unfortunately this last time Merlin’s owner was no longer interested in his dog of six years and did not come to get him. :( Since Merlin was a very large older dog, the prospect of Merlin being adopter were slim to none. So RESCUE stepped in to save him on 5/12/09.
Merlin moved into foster care - as you can see from above, he quickly made himself at home. We soon noticed that Merlin was not too interested in eating. We thought he might have a tooth issue. So we promptly set up a vet appointment. Unfortunately we were completely unprepared for the news we received during that vet appointment. Merlin did not have a tooth issue. Merlin had lymphoma and his initial prognosis was six weeks to six months to live!! We were just devastated! We couldn’t believe it. How unfair that in the sunset of Merlin’s life he wasn’t going to be given the gift of having a loving, caring home of his own!
Some folks asked me if we were just going to put him to sleep since was just going to die anyway. While RESCUE’s goal is to find loving, permanent homes for all the dogs and cats we save, sometimes the animals we save have terrible illnesses. Our focus then changes to giving them the best quality of life for as long as we can.
So we began treating Merlin with chemo therapy drugs. The first round of medications didn’t work well so we switched to another chemo drug and it began to have immediate results!!! Merlin began putting on weight, the tumors reduced in size and Merlin was more perky and alert.
Who know that when we named Merlin, his name would have a true meaning – the magician. I’m happy to report that Merlin’s initial prognosis of six weeks to six months has changed. The vet feels that Merlin could have another year or so. Given Merlin’s size of nearly 100 pounds and that he is already six years old, we were thrilled with this prospect and decided that we could put Merlin up for adoption again.
We are confident that a loving home is out there for Merlin, cancer and all but if no home should present itself, Merlin will receive love and care with us for all the days of his life.
Both Shani and Merlin had cheated death on numerous occasions and in different hands they might have met different fates. But not at RESCUE. We believed in them and they showed us that they had so much more life to live!!! They are two amazing examples of Independence and celebrating Freedom!
Happy Independence Day from Shani, Merlin and all of us at RESCUE!
Jennifer Berry
President
RESCUE
Please make a donation to help cover the medical expenses for Shani and Merlin!
Many thanks for your support -- and don't forget to forward this to anyone who you think might want to learn more about RESCUE!
PS- if you’d like to see Shani’s progress week by week, please visit her Facebook page for more photos, videos and detailed notes on her condition.