THIS IS HOPE'S STORY...
I was contacted early last week by the Bulldog Club of America Rescue Network to help with an auction they are having. I was asked to donate an item from my Etsy Shop (of course I did, happily!) for a Facebook auction coming up this week where all proceeds go to bullies in need. On Wednesday I joined the BCARN Facebook group and while checking out the page saw this...
Her name was "Sweetie" and she was in the Murray County Animal Control Shelter in GA. She was set to be put to sleep on Friday (2 days from when I saw this) if not rescued. My entire day Wednesday was spent making calls/emails/texts to the group of volunteers at the shelter, any animal rescues in MA I could think of for help/direction, and a couple of GA Bulldog Rescue groups. I finally got in touch with the volunteers and put in donations for "Sweetie's" vaccinations and Health Certificate (along with $$ for two other dogs of their choice) as I'm told that makes them more likely to be picked up by a rescue group. Then, after a long day at about 8:30 on Wednesday night, the phone rang with GA on the caller ID. Cheryl Ovenshire of English Bulldog-Rescue of GA was calling with her help!!!!! Cheryl agreed to locally help this girl and approve me as a foster. The shelter only releases dogs to an adopter or a rescue, so Cheryl agreed to facilitate the rescue end in GA and then we'd get this girl to MA for foster care.
Quick backstory - those of you who know me know I've been begging the hubby for awhile for a second dog, or to foster a dog, anything dog or animal related. This time I wasn't looking. By chance and I think for a resaon this girl sort of "fell" into my lap and I knew I had to help. My amazing husband knew how important it was to me and agreed to let me help and take this girl in as a foster.
There were 16 other dogs on the list to be put to sleep on Friday morning and I TRIED however I knew to help and was up until the 1AM deadline for their rescue online with the local GA volunteers trying to help. I made a donation to help two additional dogs get to rescue, and my friend's Mom wants to foster one ~ we are working on that separately. Happy to say all 16 dogs were rescued but this list comes out EVERY WEEK of these shelter dogs needing homes/rescues or they will be put down.
Back to "Sweetie"...the last couple of days I've spent on the phone learning MA regulations for bringing dogs in out of state and learning the laws. I spent time on the phone with two very helpful ladies at the MA Department of Agriculture, who is responsible for animal rescue regulations. I called SEVERAL facilities looking for an isolation/quarantine for our girl as she needs to come directly off transport and go into a 48 hour quarantine in MA and receive another health approval before she can be released to me. At about 3:30 Friday afternoon I made some headway and talked to the amazing Karen at Pets LLC transport. Karen is helping on the transport end AND helping me to coordinate a quarantine for this girl when she comes off transport. So as of Friday if all worked according to schedule and everything fell into place this girl would be picked up in ATL the Thursday after Thanksgiving, make her way to MA for a 2 day quarantine, and then be released to us for foster.
At 2PM yesterday/Saturday Cheryl was scheduled to pick up our girl from the shelter transport and bring her to her home/rescue. After a warning call from the transport service who she knew, the sight she saw was horrific. "Sweetie" was so weak they had to lift her from transport to Cheryl's vehicle, she couldn't lift her head, she was covered in her own poop because she was so weak she couldn't get up, bad respiratory infection, ruptered and draining left eye suggesting she might become blind in that eye, nose and eyes full of goo and boogers from her infection. Cheryl's colleage said that in 10 years of bulldog rescue she has never seen a dog come in so messed up. I was thinking of naming her Gorjie but after learning of her dire situation "Hope" came to mind ~ and come to find out Cheryl & Joyce thought the same thing and had named her HOPE. (We after found out she'd only been in the shelter for 1 week). These are hard to look at if you're an animal lover (keep in mind the picture above when she arrived at shelter)...
Cheryl and her colleague Joyce got her cleaned up in a warm bath and she was looking better...
At 6:45 last night she was on her way to Dr. Tomlinson at Bethlehem Animal Hospital. She was immediately put on antibiotics for her respiratory infection and fluids. Her blood sugar was high suggesting she may be diabetic, and her white blood count was high due to her infection. She was so lethargic she just laid there and let the Drs. do their magic...
I spoke to Dr. Tomlinson a short while ago and her update today is that she is stabilizing. She is still very weak but receiving fluids to keep her from dehydrating. As far as her respiratory infection ~ she is receiving antibiotics; her lungs are clear but she is FULL of mucous; no respiratory distress however. As far as her blood sugars ~ her glucose level is down from last night but still high; she has had some diarrhea because of the diabetes but not too severe; the Dr. is looking for her glucose levels to come down to normal today and stabilize over the next several days; she is receiving insulin and is most likley diabetic. As far as her eye(s) go ~ her left eye was ruptured and the outlook for vision in that eye is not good; she is likely blind in her left eye but for now seems comfortable with it; they are looking for the infection to clear up and down the road may or may not need to have that eye removed. The overall prognosis from Dr. Tomlinson this morning is that she is stable but not out of the woods yet - by Tuesday/Wednesday he will feel better if the respiratory infection clears up and her glucose levels stabilize. He said she is SO sweet and just lets them do whatever they need to in order to help her.
More updates to follow as I am in contact with EBRGA & Bethlehem Animal Hospital...
Hope's vet bills are escalating and while I have committed to her vaccines, health certificate to leave GA, spay (we are finding out though that she MAY already be spayed, vet will confirm when she's feeling better), transport to MA, and MA quarantine, I did not anticipate these vet bills. But I am committed to paying and doing whatever I can to save her precious life. She's made it this far so she's clearly a fighter.
If you are able to make a donation towards her vet bills I have set up donations to go to my PayPal account. I ASSURE everything will be used towards her well being. Please visit my PayPal donation page I set up for her. *Donations to SAVE HOPE* I assure all donations will go to her well being!!!
https://www.paypal.com/
As long as she is healthy and cleared for transport, she will make her way up here the Thursday after Thanksgiving...but her stable health is the priority first.
MANY THANKS IF YOU CAN HELP!
~E
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