Bella ER Update

Thanks so much to our of new & our steady supporters who have contributed to Bella’s ER fund campaign.

The Dr’s initially told us there was a strong indication that Bella had the Leptospirosis virus...strong as in 99% sure.  All of her symptoms (vomiting, lethargy, joint pain, bloody stool, total loss of appetite + super high fever...especially the running brook in her back yard!) pointed in 1 direction:  LEPTO.

The ER vet in CT who saw her the 1st two visits was so nervous about her condition, he almost wouldn't us take the time to get her to CVC in NYC the next morning.

Once at CVC, Dr. Solomon felt so strongly that she had Lepto, he wanted her foster mom to seek ER medical testing for her & her husband that very day!  Shockingly, after her 5 days in the isolation unit, IV meds & fluids...her results finally came back negative last week!  

That is the good news.  The bad news is that we still have the vets bills to pay and Bella has to undergo more testing b/c that means the problem lay elsewhere. 

She is currently finishing out her double round of oral antibiotics (for another week and a half), in addition to the injectible antibiotics she received at the hospital. Then she will be getting a panel of blood work done again to see what may be wrong with her liver.  Her original bloodwork showed that her liver count was through the roof.  So she is not out of the woods until all functions are back to normal.

Bella is home with her foster family and back to her old self.  All of the meds & treatment were necessary to her surviving this ordeal. 

Although it is a blessing that Bella does not have Lepto, we are back to the drawing board with regard to finding the cause of her liver counts spiking. There are two new theories as to what caused it: the first is that she ate/ingested something toxic in the yard or on a walk and it is now being flushed out of her system. The second is that there is something more serious going on with her liver and she will need more care.

We truly won't know until she is off the antibiotics and her blood is re-tested. Bella’s foster pug sibling  is not sick so there is a bit of fear that something is internally wrong with her.

We will keep posted as we continue to learn more about Bella’s condition.

Please consider a donation to Curly Tail continue to help this sweet girl!

Bella Emergency

Bella’s foster mom noted some odd behavior last week. All of the sudden, sweet Bella needed a little encouragement to eat her food which she typically devours. At this point she was still going to the bathroom and walking upstairs, hopping on the couch but her energy level was down considerably. There was no running or playing and she looked exhausted.

 At first her foster mom thought it may be the temperature as we are in the middle of a full blown heat wave here in New York / New Jersey area, but even after cranking up the air conditioning there was no change.

The next day, the only thing Bella would eat was a little bit of wet food in the morning and that was hand fed, no treats and no dinner.  She was drinking some water but walking around really gingerly, with her tail tucked and her eyes were a little glassy.

Things only escalated from there into an emergency situation - Bella stopped eating normally and her drinking waned as well. In addition; she had bloody stool, a wobbly gait, she was whining when picked up and a temperature of 105!!

Bella was taken to the ER and received fluids, bloodwork, and an Xray.

Unfortunately, Bella continued to decline and needed a 2^nd ER visit.

Her bloodwork and symptoms indicated the Leptospirosis virus. She needed more bloodwork, fluids, injectible medications and urine to confirm Lepto versus something else.

Bella currently needs to stay at the CVC for 3-5 days for fluids / meds and Isolation treatment.

This poor little girl has had a rough go of things so far. We are doing our best to help her pull through.

So far Bella’s first two ER visits were $600, and $1,400 for 5 days of hospitalization.

If you would like to contribute to Bella’s ER medical fund, please click on the Chip In link below.

Bugsy Update
What a trooper Bugsy has been! Her prognosis is excellent and she has recovered well beyond our initial expectations.  We are happy to report that Bugsy will get to live out the rest of her golden years in the way she most likely started out her life before becoming a burden on the family she lived with: with excellent medical care, a warm loving family, and all the attention a face like that begs for.

If you are interested in adopting this special girl and giving her the loving forever home she truly deserves, you can visit Bugsy's bio page to learn more!

Thank you for your generous donations in support of our first Curly Pug of Summer, Bugsy!

If you are unable to view the above Chip In Widget, please click here to make your donation:

http://curlytailpugrescue.chipin.com/curly-pugs-of-spring-summer-2011

In early March Curly Tail was contacted by NYC's Animal Care and Control about a senior female Pug named Bugsy.  Bugsy was someone's pet, as her records from ACC indicate that she was trained to use wee wee pads.  It's hard to imagine that Bugsy was in the care of a human considering just how ill she was upon entering Curly Care.

When Bugsy arrived at her foster mom's home, she noticed that Bugsy had a very large tumor in her groin.  But this didn't seem to phase Bugsy all that much and she moved past her initial "settling in" jitters quickly and took to her foster family and pug siblings immediately.  This little lady didn't do any complaining about the large mass interfering with her ability to walk or any of the other issues we would soon discover.

Bugsy's foster mom took her in to be evaluated by the doctors at Center for Veterinary Care and their observations were staggering:  Bugsy has such serious dental disease that she would require major dental surgery of at least 4-5 hours, in which she would have nearly all of her teeth removed.  Impossible to believe. This was complicated further as Bugsy needed to be spayed but was riddled with tumors in the spay area. For a senior possibly with cancer, Bugsy seemed to have everything going against her.  Bugsy needed to undergo a mastectomy even before her dental.  as the mammary gland was the site of her many tumors.  On top of this all, Bugsy could not see or hear. 

Obviously we were concerned with Bugsy's well being and talked in depth with the Dr's at CVC as to whether or not a Pug of Bugsy's age could handle such extensive surgeries - both physically and psychologically. We were surprised and hopeful when CVC adamantly supported moving forward w Bugsy's arduous course of medical action, telling us that her tail wagged furiously whenever she was with a staff member and that Bugsy had a few more good years to offer.  Bugsy’s preliminary blood work came back clear and we were relieved to hear that Bugsy had a fighting chance. After so many years of being of service to her family we thought that getting her into good health was the least we could do.

Bugsy’s medical bills have totaled over $4,000.  After CVC's generous discount, we had a much more manageable bill of $2300. Despite treating other serious medical cases in foster care, we wanted to say "yes" to Bugsy and give her chance. 

We can't continue to do so without the donations of our loyal supporters. 

Donations go immediately toward Pugs like Bugsy and continue to allow us to say "yes" when no one else will.

If you are unable to view the above Chip In Widget, please click here to make your donation:

http://curlytailpugrescue.chipin.com/curly-pugs-of-spring-summer-2011