In Memoriam

Blanche – February 2, 2016

February 2, 2016

1/7/12: Meet Blanche, a four year old female rescued from a breeding operation in South Carolina. Thank you Melissa Digusto Brown for making contact with the breeder and getting this girl to safety. Blanche’s (formerly Chubby Butt)only purpose in life was breeding but wasn’t doing a great job of that apparently. No puppies, no money coming in. Fortunately, the breeder was willing to give her a better life. After spending the weekend in Augusta, Blanche made the trip to ATL this morning and is now resting at Riverside. We don’t have much medical information to share at this time, poor little girl was so nervous. Allowing her to calm down over night, before we start the evaluation. We do know that she has skin issues and is very itchy. She also has a respiratory infection. When she’s ready, this little girl will need a quiet home with someone willing to slowly introduce her to life experiences. Welcome to the good life baby girl!!!

Update 1/8/12: Dr. Ross was only able to do a partial exam today because of Miss Thangs anxiety level. The anxiety coupled with her respiratory infection made the anxiety even worse. They put her on antibiotics to treat the lung infection (which will also treat any skin infections she may have) and will wait for a couple of days before they stress her further by drawing blood, heartworm test and skin scrape. We are going to take it slow.

Update 1/9/12: Things got a little worse for our scared sweet girl today. Melissa had noticed an unusual vaginal discharge when she got her, she was reassured by the “breeder” that she was just going into heat. Melissa commented that the…e discharge was a bit different than what she is used too. On initial and quick examination, Dr. Ross thought that she had a vaginitis. Today, Miss Blanche didn’t seem to be feeling very well and Dr. Ross sent off blood work…this demonstrated a elevated white blood cell count (indicating infection), higher than would be expected with a respiratory infection. On more thorough exam, Blanche has an infection in her uterus called pyometra. The only reason Blanche is not dead right now is because there was a small enough opening in her uterus to allow the infection to drain a bit, Open Pyometra. Closed pyometra, if not recognized quickly, is fatal. In either case, the condition is a surgical emergency. This entire picture is complicated by her respiratory infection and skin infection, making surgery more dangerous. We must proceed with surgery at this point. Please keep Blanche in your thoughts and prayers. With all the other issues going on, the surgery and her recovery is going to be difficult but we have to give her a shot at the good life, the alternative is not acceptable.

On a positive note…she is heartworm negative.

Update 1/10/12: She is recovering from spay, no big surprises and she was stable throughout the surgery. Still a bit sedated but medically doing well. Her respiratory status will be monitored closely. Now for the healing to begin!

Update 1/27/13: Blanche is doing well after spay and is feeling more comfortable in her surroundings. Unfortunately, the bacteria that was growing in her uterus was resistant to the antibiotics she was being given post op, therefore infected drainage continued. Resistant bacteria’s are a result of inappropriate treatment in the past. Since she was in a puppymill, she was probably randomly treated with antibiotics for various infections and never completely treated for any of them. We now have her on the correct antibiotic for the bacteria and she is feeling better and drainage is improving. She will be moved to her foster home this week for TLC, rehab and socialization.

Update 2/1/13: Blanche is slowly getting used to the good life in her foster home!

Update 2/9/13: Blanche went her foster offical home on Saturday. She did very well with the transition and is opening up more and more each day. She is very loving! She will go outside to go potty but runs right back into the house. In a few weeks we will have her palate evaluated and do surgery if necessary.

Update 4/3/13: Blanche continues to open up more and more each day. She is enjoying the “good life” in her foster home. Later this month we will have her palate evaluated and do surgery if necessary.

Update 4/15/13: Blanche has a lump in her neck that is an enlarged salivary gland with no indication of a cancer or tumor. Bloodwork and chest x-ray look good as well. She will have palate, nares and have her nostrils widened today.

Update 4/18/13: Blanche is still hospitalized because of some vomiting after the palat surgery causing increased swelling in her throat. Yesterday, she had a couple of episodes of difficulty breathing with excitement that resolved with oxygen and prednisone. During the night, she had another more severe episode that required a breathing tube to be placed. It was successfully removed this morning but then she had another problem early this morning. She will remain at UGA on steroids and sedatives to allow her to recover. They are prepared to place a temporary Tracheostomy tube if necessary. Please keep Blanche in your thoughts. She’s had such a rough life up to this point. We of course, will not accept anything less than success!

Blanche update: her respiratory condition deteriorated yesterday mainly because of the continued vomiting ( even on multiple medications) and fatigue from working so hard to breathe. At 5, they placed a temporary tracheostomy tube so she wouldn’t have to work so hard at breathing and allow some of the swelling and irritation from the vomiting to decrease. This morning, Blanche is breathing much… better, no vomiting and even got excited without having difficulty breathing.

Update 8/16/13: Blanche had her final surgery (teeth cleaning). All went well. She will be adopted by her foster parents later this month.

Update 9/20/13: Blanche’s foster parents signed the adoption papers and made it official! Congrats Blanche, Robin and Dave!

GUARDIAN ANGELS: R & S Rice – In memory of PorkChop

Sponsors:

P Phochuli

S Chandler

M Morgan

D Bishop

M Patrick

Carver Family

Bully Blanket

L Burns

M Snyder

C Mendoza

M Patick

B Emmons

G Ronzano