Special Needs Pups
Five Eight Week Old Newfoundland Puppies….
May 6, 2013….Finally, here is the history and update on these puppies…four of them came in at one time…near death…three of these four are now in their new homes…#5, we call her Bree …came one week later from a shelter…(thank you to the shelter worker, Theresa, who stepped in to help her and found us) she is still behind from a developmental stand point….we have outstanding veterinarians who are working to try to find out what her issues are…and get them remedied! Everyone is working non stop!
Two of these pups were walking on their carpal joints…using their wrist as a foot…to the point of being calloused…BOTH of these pups are now walking on all four and doing really well…one little grey girl, Polly, got on all fours with solely good nutrition…but Tiny Tim…the brown boy…needed some splints and a life jacket and swimming to get him on all fours…Our friend loaned us a super tub to use where he could swim in place in warm water…NOW HE IS WALKING EVERYWHERE!!!! Here are some pics of pups when they arrived at 7 pounds (now at 25 PLUS pounds) …also Tiny Tim with his splints…watch our Happy Tails page to see them currently with their new families!
June 2, 2013 … Tiny Tim and Bree have an appointment on June 10th with an eye specialist…we believe that these are the two who may have vision issues…we will see what’s going on and fix what we can…regardless we have kind people who are offering a forever home regardless of issues…we will always be grateful and we will be here to help when needed.
June 16, 2013 … Tiny Tim and Bree were seen by the eye specialist…both are blind due to cataracts. More testing will be done on August 7 to be sure that removing the cataracts will enable them to see…they need to be a bit bigger due to anesthesia prior to any surgery so this gives them a couple of months to put on some more weight and get healthier…and gives us an opportunity to do some special fundraising!
August 7, 2013…testing was done…both pups are GREAT candidates for eye surgery! Scheduled for August 22, 2013!
August 22, 2013…Bree has her surgery…Tiny Tim had to be postponed for a month due to diagnosis of a tick borne disease…he is currently being treated for Rocky Mountain Spotted …. and doing well…he will be rescheduled late Sept/early October…
Bree’s weekly trips to eye specialist in Rhode Island indicate that she is healing well…and SHE CAN SEE!!!!! Just watching her reaction to what she can now SEE is so miraculous and heart warming! Her ecollar comes off next week …we are scheduled for regular rechecks for the next few months…stay tuned!
September 23, 2013 update …Bree will be heading back to Rhode Island for her six week check up…we are also getting ready to have Nodin’s aka Tiny Tim’s eye surgery scheduled….all five pups were at our Fund Raiser/Reunion…they look amazing!
So… here’s what we’ve been up to…NODIN…aka Tiny Tim had his eye surgery on 11/14…we went for a recheck on 11/15…thank goodness Rhode Island isn’t far from Coventry CT!!! We go back again next Friday for his week check up…so far…so good…lens looks good…eyes look good…and NODIN is a rambunctious little boy LOL!!!! Trying to keep him quiet is a challenge and trying to keep his water in the bucket is ANOTHER challenge!!!!
Nodin went back for his three week check up today, December 7… Dr. Church was thrilled with his progress and said he was doing amazingly well…so, with restrictions, he has gone back with Pete and Jean and his two doggie sisters…we will all meet back at Dr. Church’s office for his six week check up on January 4, 2014. We are thrilled for him!!!!
As most recall, Bree also called Tehya…was the first to have the eye surgery…she was actually the most compromised of the five pups … she came in a week later than the other four and was in far worse condition having to be fed from a syringe for her first few weeks with us…a few weeks ago Bree became gravely ill…overnight…racing to the vet and doing more rounds of bloodwork and testing revealed that she had developed juvenile diabetes…treatment started immediately however she then developed hemolytic anemia… our resources and our veterinarians are amazing.. everything that could be done to help her was done…she had been living here with us since she was the most compromised of the group…sadly, we could not save her.
We are grateful that we were able to give her sight for the last eight weeks or so of her short life…the loss of this baby really rocked me…so, so difficult…she and I had spent so much time together trying to stay ahead of her health challenges…so very sad…but we realize that this goes with what we do in rescue sometimes…the most difficult part and the saddest part…
One of the most important issues for us is that we spayed and neutered the parents of this litter…a huge plus so that this won’t happen again there…
We are grateful for everyone’s support with this puppy project that is approaching a year long…the other four pups are doing well…two have already been spayed and have healed…we will continue to update everyone on their progress…and look forward to the entire group getting together again at our next Rescue Fundraiser and Reunion in 2014!
Update…2015
We are so thrilled to say that these special pups…now adults…are doing SUPER! Many of you have had the opportunity to meet them at our functions…they continue to do well with their families…we stay in touch and we are always here to help when needed….we love when they visit and with swimming starting soon (we hope) … we will have the opportunity to see them more often!
YAY! NODIN, PENNY, POLLY, AND TOBI!!!!!