Dogs on the Blog: Updates

Romeo & Juliet

Romeo and Juliet came to the farm, after being rescued from wandering the streets of Houston. Juliet was very pregnant when she arrived here.

These were their babies just after they opened their eyes. When they were old enough, they went to Kim Fairchild and Shelter2Rescue in Dallas. We are pleased to report that two of the six sibblings have already been placed by Kim and her organization!

Here are two of the four remaining babies today! What a difference! Do you think the one baby resembles his daddy? Kim is working to find good homes for these remaining babies.



Sophie Babies

These three pups were born to Sophie, soon after she arrived. They were about 6 weeks old in this picture above. There was one boy and two girls. We are please to report that the smaller girl has already been placed for adoption through Princess Annie's Clan. Dodee still has the larger girl and Julie has Clinton, the boy.

Check out Clinton today! Is he not beautiful! He is shown here on Julie's lawn smiling for the camera! Julie is still looking for the right home for Clinton.

Sammy

This was the best photo we could get of Sammy as a baby. He was probably 8 or 9 weeks old in this picture. Sammy and his brother, Joey, are with Dodee from Princess Annie's Clan in Houston. Sammy was painfully shy and fearful of people when he went to live with Dodee.

Just look at Sammy today! You can see his new confidence! Dodee has worked wonders with little Sammy, getting him house trained and leash trained and ready for adoption. She has had more than one family interested in him, but so far no one whom Dodee feels is a good match.

One of the things I appreciate about our adoption partners is that they search to find the right family for our babies, and don't just settle for the first person to come along! We are very pleased with the progress of our New Directions Adoption Program, and our Adoption Partners!

Clarice

I wish I had a better report on Clarice. Sadly, she is not getting better.

Since my last report on Clarice, she has been given Barium X-Rays to determine if there is still part of the collar she chewed up inside her somewhere. The Barium will glow on the X-Ray and clearly show any foreign objects inside her.

She had two X-Rays last Friday, and then she went back Saturday morning for a third, to confirm that the Barium was completely out of her system, and had not identified any objects in her intestines.

The Barium X-Rays were a good idea, because they confirmed that there is nothing left of her collar inside her. We were able to avoid risky exploratory surgery.

Unfortunately, it means that she is losing weight and going downhill for some other reasons.

Our good friend Adele Mirshak came all the way to Wharton to share some holistic remedies with us for Clarice. And Dr. Stern has her on an antibiotic and prednisone, because he is now thinking that it may be some kind of immune response where her own body is attacking her.

Clarice's blood work shows that her white cells continue to climb... on today's blood work, that number was up to 56,000, way above normal ranges and more than double what it was a week ago. Dr. Stern changed antibiotics today, hoping that a different strain will take on whatever bacteria is causing her elevated white count.

Clarice is also anemic. Her weight is down to 23 lb. from 27 lb. a week ago from 35 lb. when she was not sick.

Dr. Stern used a feeding tube and got an entire can of Science Diet ID into her, which she has kept down all day. And he gave her a shot to reduce nausea and vomiting.

She is on an IV to keep her hydrated.

But Clarice is beginning to lose muscle control. She is no longer strong enough to stand up on her own.

Ricky and I believe that this is genetic because it is almost exactly what her sister died of a year ago. Clarice has had "spells" before where she lost weight and would not eat, but she has always bounced back. We are just not sure she will bounce back this time.

She is in our bed, now, and we will keep her close to us. We are hoping for a miracle so that Clarice can be with us a little longer.

Jay Hellerich, executive director
smiling dog farms
a 501(c)3 corporation
wharton, texas
979-257-3377
www.smilingdogfarms.org
http://smilingdogfarms.blogspot.com


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