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A new girl at Myrtle Street: update 13 months on


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On Sunday night a tiny little Toy Poodle came into care and foster at Myrtle Street.  Nothing could have prepared me for the shock and horror, but the story will follow another time.  Suffice to say that had I some money another foster carer and a vet (whose name I don’t know at this stage) would be finding themselves before the courts on charges of severe neglect and total dereliction of duty.  

 

In the meantime, meet Sooty: 12 years, completely blind, one eye removed and the other with a cataract and, what you can’t see from the photograph, skin and bone ..... little more than a skeleton on legs and one of those damaged and left untreated.    

31740707637_e6470a3e73_n.jpgfullsizeoutput_a63 by Cynthia Waters, on Flickr

 

Edited by Loving my Oldies
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Just back from the vet.  I had to collect some meds so I took Sooty to be weighed. I’m over the moon:  she has put on 100 grams and now weighs in at a whopping 2.35kgs.  Whoever invented Nutrigel needs to get a medal.  Sooty is ravenous,  but because she is so starved, I’ve had to be careful, so small meals often and supplemented with a mixture of homemade bone broth and Nutrigel via syringe.  She is amazing:  she is getting out of her bed and going for little wanders.  Because of her condition, she tires very easily, so I don’t let her do too much.   

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Well I'm glad she has found you. She gets to live her best life now, even at 12. And I wish we could be more resilient like dogs. There she is blind, elderly and with mobility issues and yet she wants to explore and take advantage of her new surroundings! Us humans would be lying in bed whining over our troubles!

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On 10/01/2019 at 8:51 PM, Little Gifts said:

......... with mobility issues and yet she wants to explore and take advantage of her new surroundings! 

When I was carrying Sooty upstairs after her “ablutions” break downstairs this morning, poor little Tamar was having a throwing up episode on the deck, so I quickly put Sooty on her bed and went to Tamar’s aid.  After I took her into the kitchen to wipe her mouth and give her cuddles, I turned around to see Sooty at the water bowl; so she is now getting out of her bed and finding the water bowl :thumbsup: :thumbsup:.   (Previously, I have always carried her to the water bowl and steadied her while she drank.)  Yesterday I came out of the bathroom and she was at the door with the others which meant she’d come through the lounge area and down the hallway under her own steam.   She is still very fragile and will be for a long time, I imagine, but her progress is very encouraging.  Having had many old rescue dogs in the past, I find it hard to believe she is only 12 - particularly for a toy poodle :(  :(  Tamar and Mezza are 15 and compared with Sooty they look like puppies :mad  :mad.  Some old time DOLers might recall my toy Poodle Rover who I adopted when he was nearly 17 and he lived with us for another 3 years.  Anyway, we will all be doing everything we can to ensure this little girl gets the best attention and hopefully becomes well again.  

Edited by Loving my Oldies
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5 hours ago, tdierikx said:

12 is still young for a toy poodle...  

That’s what I mean.  My other foster, Simba (Toy Poodle also) is 9 and he could play all day and he has had a deprived life.  Sooty has had a very neglected life:  just a skeleton, only 3 teeth, one eye removed and the other totally blind with glaucoma :cry: :cry: :cry: How does a little 12 year old get into such a state?   Just absolutely breaking my heart.  

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DAY 8 = 2.69kgs increase of 420grams.  

 

If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe it, but this evening I have witnessed two things that I did not expect to happen for several weeks, if at all.  

 

First thing was, I saw Sooty going through the doggy door out onto the deck.  I watched her through the glass sliding doors as she wandered around a bit, did a #2 and THEN SHE CAME BACK IN.  

 

A little later I had taken her downstairs to have a little wander and left her to her own devices as she enjoying pottering around more and more.  About 5 minutes later, I went to check and there she was with her front feet on the bottom step.  After a couple of false alarms, she came up the stairs .... 8 of them.  I have this on video so I could see it again tomorrow and believe it, otherwise I would have doubted it had happened. 

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I had to google refeeding syndrome :laugh:.   I have been very very conscious as to this problem and have fed small but often meals.  We had one day when her poos where very sloppy, but not increased number-wise, so I added a bit of rice to her meals and it has quickly settled down.  

 

Because she is gaining weight, I have increased the time between meals to 5 hours instead of 3 hours and I haven’t given her the Nutrigel Bone Broth mix for a few days.  She is now joining the other dogs in the kitchen when I am preparing their meals.  

 

We will be consulting the vet again as to when we can carry out all the necessary tests and profiles.  

Edited by Loving my Oldies
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On 10/01/2019 at 8:51 PM, Little Gifts said:

Well I'm glad she has found you. She gets to live her best life now, even at 12. And I wish we could be more resilient like dogs. There she is blind, elderly and with mobility issues and yet she wants to explore and take advantage of her new surroundings! Us humans would be lying in bed whining over our troubles!

LOL @Little Gifts  think of your post as I look at the amazing progress this little Sooty has made.  Sunday week ago, I was frightened she might have been too far gone, wondered at the condition of her organs, etc etc.  She is the definition of progress.  

 

I have a fairly large back yard with the bins and compost heap down against the back fence and screened by plants.  I was coming back from taking some rubbish down and, as I rounded a pathway, there was Sooty stepping down from the last step!!!  I’m totally amazed at her growing confidence, but, as you say .... she is wanting to explore and find out about her new surroundings.  If it hadn’t been like a furnace outside, I would have left her (watching of course) to see if she would make her own way back up again.   It is much to hot for experiments :( :(.  

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I still remember very fondly the shar pei Oscar we fostered here. He was malnourished, very shut down and due to heavy wrinklage unable to see and very mishapen. Ams said to me she wasn't sure he would make it and thought we'd have him for a while. He was eating every couple of hours to put weight back on and I had to put a mattress on our couple of lounge room stairs so he slid down rather than fell. He did a lot of pacing around our house and yard, mapping out everything in his mind so eventually the mattress went and he was safe. And of course it was the other dogs who helped comfort him. I don't think he'd been around many other dogs and he had certainly never played with toys. I took video footage of my girl Stussy teaching him how to play tug and photos of him lying on the floor surrounded by toys and floor mats and other things he was coveting. I was so in love with his ability to recover and he went to an amazing home with children after only  a couple of months with us so his life was far from done by ending up in rescue. Oscar is who I think of every time there is a seemingly desperate case. I hope Sooty gets the same new life.

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