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February 2010: Oh my gosh, we've had a few amazing donations come thru and now Ollie has a sponsor and a potential adopter! Just when I don't know how we are going to hang on--caring, loving surprises show up in the IBR PO Box. We've got a long way to go--but I am hopeful again. --Lisa
Happy New Year! Much thanks to those who helped us raise nearly $10,000 since June of 2009. While we were able to pay off many of our vetting bills, the sick and neglected dogs continued to come in. We currently have 3 dogs getting ready for heartworm treatment-- Brandon, Oliver and Mandilyn at a cost of nearly $600 each. Brandon is also being treated for Lyme disease and Ollie has Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF). and sadly Duckie's spay surgery and subsequent exploratory surgery on 1-09-10 revealed a tumor on her spleen needing more invasive surgery. Poor sweet Duckie--it has been such a journey since she arrived in foster care last February. Blood work also showed that while she is finally heartworm negative, she is still fighting Ehrlichia and RMSF manifesting in her low red blood cell counts. We have already spent hundreds on our sweet 3 legged Setter and this surgery will be very expensive. Sadly the surgeon stated she only has 10 months to live due to this invasive cancer--but we are hoping for the best.
Sasparilla finally arrived in foster care after her long journey from Oklahoma--but upon arrival to Illinois is was discovered she also may have mammary cancer. She also has Lyme disease that she is currently being treated for. These poor dogs just can't catch a break. This Pointer is so sweet too; had she been spayed she would not have developed this type of cancer. Sassy is terribly underweight so as soon as we get some weight on her and do some blood work we will be getting her ready for her mastectomy.
As of 1-10-10, our outstanding vetting bills are at $12,000. Guestimate on our new dogs vetting bills could be close to $4,000. We do plan on having quite a few garage sales and raffles in the next few months and in the Spring, but are hopeful our Firstgiving fundraiser will help us continue to help our special needs dogs.
12-16-09 Meet Mandilyn and her surviving daughters Tamborine, Harmonica and Clarinette. Mandi is our 12th heartworm positive rescue this year. Recovery will be slow and her job right now is to get her girls healthy and strong.
11-25-09 Ophelia has her partial mastectomy on 11-23 and although the surgery area is hard to look at, as of January 2010 she is getting ready for the second part of her mastectomy. Ophelia is the 4th birddog we have had this procedure done on in the last 2 years. Cost of this procedure will be over $1,000; we welcome any dontions to help off set the vetting bills.
8-19-09 WELCOME HEATHCLIFF! Heathcliff waited in boarding for nearly 2 months for us to find a foster home for him--finally he will get the much needed care he needs. While Heathcliff was diagnosed with Rocky Mountain spotted fever, further testing also revealed Lyme disease and Ehrlichia. The pain and suffering this dog must have been going through.
8-07-09 It is with a heavy heart that we announce Miss Maggie has gone to the Rainbow Bridge. She was loved on by a wonderful volunteer in St. Cloud, Minnesota for the last 5 months who was with her in the end. Thanks to those who donated funds for her care.
7-26-09 Puppies do tend to make you smile. Check out Penne and the kids --who are now 4 weeks old and thankfully healthy.
7/07/09 After a courageous battle over Parvo and Pnemonia- our little fighter- Jack Dempsey is finally home!! Thanks to Dr. Libby for saving his life!
6-30-09 from Dr. Libby- our hero!!!
To put it simply, the little miracle is FINALLY eating. I don't know why or how, but I do believe he is trying to brush off death. It has been a week since this poor pup has taken anything by mouth and he is currently chowing down on dry low residue puppy. Two days ago, we started IV doxycycline and baytril twice a day in a last stitch effort to reach the pneumonia, and it appears it is working. We are certainly not out of the woods yet, but this is truly his first indication to me that he wants to live. He will still be on fluids & injectables for a few more days and will remain contagious for parvo for at least another 10days, probably more like 14days. And I would strongly recommend he be kept quarantined from other animals and minimally handled for another 3 weeks due to my suspicion of his having sarcoptic mange. I don't know what your plans are for him, but thought you'd like to know where we are at this point.
FYI - this parvo case was not your 'run of the mill.' Had Dempsey's caretaker between the shelter and Keely's transport to me last week paid any attention to his hourly deteriorating state, he would have had a much better chance of a smoother recovery and may not have succumbed to the kennel couch pneumonia at all. IV doxy runs, at cost, $40 per injection. I am not asking to be reimbursed for this, nor would I accept it, but thought you should know that I did not short change him in any way.
More updates to come
Libby
06-28-09
Little Jack is still fighting at this point, but the pneumonia is really bad. He is not keeping any medications or food down. Dr. Kinsel bless her because she is working so hard to help him get through this. I will be going to the vet's office tomorrow and I will get another update then. Keep praying it has given him strength for 5 days so far.
Keep Believing,
Keely
The donations have stopped coming in :(. We really need help here folks...
"There is always one special 'love' child that touches us in ways we never imagine would.
Forever missed. Always in our hearts.
Please consider making a donation, so his life has a meaning for others to benefit from.
Hug your pet today. Let them know just how much you cherish them for what they've given you."
Pat
Thank you for visiting the Illinois Birddog Rescue fundraising page. It's been a rough year for us. One after another-- the sick, neglected and abused dogs and puppies arrived into our care. Most recently on 6/23/09-- Baby Jack Dempsey came into our rescue.. He was taken to the vet immediately after he was pulled from the shelter and upon further examination it was discovered he has Parvovirus.
This is the worst news anyone in rescue wants to hear. Little baby Dempsey has a 50/50 chance of surviving- poor sweet little guy. We are truly blessed that the vet who diagnosed the little guy is willing to take him home and care for him with a reduced cost to the rescue. We will still need many donations to help cover the cost and pray that the baby bud will recover.
Since January of this year- we have taken in 62 dogs and puppies. GiGi needed a mastectomy to the tune of $1600, and we are still in the process of trying to pay off her bill. Duckie is next in line for her mastectomy but first she needed to be treated for Lyme Disease, Ehrlichia and Rocky Mountain Spotted fever (tick borne fatal illnesses). If that isn't bad enough- Duckie also had heartworm disease. Thankfully- she went through treatment and is recovering slowly and building her strength for her next surgery. Her vet bills are over $600 already and we expect her mastectomy to be at least as high as GiGi's.
Besides our special girls- we have also needed to treat 8 other dogs for heartworm disease. Average cost of treating a HW+ dog runs on average $400. We take our time with our HW+ dogs and do pretreatment bloodwork to rule out tick borne illnesses which could cause complications in the dog's recovery. In severe cases- we also need to do X-rays and spread the treatment injections from 1-2 days to 1 and then repeat to a 2 day injection a month later. Most of our dogs still tend to struggle for a few weeks before they start to gain their strength again. While we took our time with Cameron's HW treatment- he lost nearly 8lbs in less than a week post treatment causing us to worry that he wouldn't recover. Thankfully he hung in there- but his vet bills did escalate to nearly $800.
The weekend of June 21st, little frightened 7 month old Pointer puppy Hillary came into our care. She has a condition called Cherry Eye. Her eye surgery is scheduled for June 25th and will cost nearly $200 adding to our high vetting expenses. We can't wait to see her beautifuy brown eyes once her surgery is done.
We still have a significant outstanding debt with our main Vetting Clinic and thank goodness they allow us to pay down our bill a little bit every month. As the President of this organization-- I have had to use my own credit cards for all of the out of state foster dog emergencies and that debt is nearly $5,000.
Illinois Birddog Rescue's 9 year anniversary will be coming up this October. It has not been an easy road- but our successes outweigh our sadnesses. Having helped save over 740 dogs and puppies is gratifying- but I do fear that we will not be able to continue our work if we can't get some serious support from the Pointer/Setter/Mutt loving community. I have been at the helm of this ship all these years- but when you are in dog rescue for this long- it is hard not to want to give up and throw in the towel. After 9 years-- I am still amazed at the cruelty,neglect and harm human beings can cause to defenseless animals.
I do love what this little rescue has achieved and I know we are making a difference in our little corner of the world. Please help me continue our work. Any little contribution would be most appreciated.
Wes- I will love you forever. I miss you every day- especially your Pointer zest for life. No dog ever made me laugh so hard or made me get out and enjoy life as you did in your 8 short years in my life. If only I could bottle that Pointer silliness and sell it- I would be a ZILLIONAIRE.
Lisa Spakowski
IBR Founder and President
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