8/31/20: Please welcome Willow! She was picked up as a stray then turned over to the rescue. We don’t have much information at this time but we do know she has a huge ulcerated mass on her chest that needs to removed. We ran bloodwork today and will decided hoe to move forward tomorrow when we have the blood work results back.
9/1/20: Willow had chest x-rays done this morning and they looked okay, but her bloodwork indicates she is not healthy enough to have the mass removed quite yet. Willow is anemic, likely from previous flea issues. Her albumin levels are also low, which is likely a result of poor nutrition. We are putting her on some good food and will be feeding her eggs, which are good for albumin levels. Raising these levels is particularly important as this will help her through healing and recovery. The mass is ulcerated but it is not actively bleeding. There is a small amount of discharge, so we are keeping it wrapped. Once the mass is removed, we will have it biopsied. Willow is now on pain medication and antibiotics. We will recheck bloodwork next week and go from there.
9/10/20: Willows albumin levels are not exactly where we want them yet so we are going to wait one more week before moving forward with surgery.
9/17/20: Willow had her surgery today to remove the mass. We are waiting on the biopsy, which we will have in a week or so. She will be doing some major resting until then! We were not able to spay her or clean her teeth while she was winder today so she will need another surgery in a few weeks once she recovers from this surgery.
9/24/20: Willows masses that we removed are benign!
12/14/20: Unfortunately we got some disappointing news about Willow today. We did an echocardiogram and discovered she has Dilated Cardiomyopathy, along with being heartworm positive (which we already knew). We came up with a plan to begin treating the dilated Cardiomyopathy with Pimobendan then do a follow up echocardiogram in three months. Depending on how she is responding to that we will move forward with the fast kill or the slow kill heartworm treatment. On top of all of that we discovered another mammary mass and she will be going into surgery tomorrow morning to have it removed. We will send it off to be tested. This sweet little girl has been through so much we just want to do everything we can to give her a happy life for as long as we can.
3/10/21: We were able to do Willow’s follow up ultrasound today and her heart is looking stable. We will keep her on the Pimobendan long term. Since she is doing so well we will be moving forward with the fast kill heartworm treatment.
3/16/21: Willow started her heartworm treatment today.
4/7/21: Willow completed her heartworm treatment today and all went well!
6/4/21 – Willow is now developing fluid on her lungs. We have started an additional medication to help her feel more comfortable and reduce the fluid buildup. She is happy and spoiled in her foster home. We will do whatever we can to keep her this way until it is time to say goodbye.
May 27th, 2022 – Willow crossed over the Rainbow Bridge today. Please keep her hospice foster mom in your thoughts. Rest In Peach Willow
approximate age: 6
approximate weight: 45
likes dogs: yes but she does prefer to be the only dog on the home so that she doesn’t have to share her humans
likes cats: yes
likes kids: we have not seen her around kids
food: Taste Of The Wild, Pacific Stream
lifelong medications: joint supplements, Pimobendan
Bully Bag Sponsors:
Carol Robertelli, The Foy Family, Cristy Morrison, Selden Thorston
Name That Bully Sponsor:
Marty and Susan Melson
