Urgent- Pups in FL

Posted: March 6th, 2011
Read it and utterly weep folks. So incredibly sad. We need help. We need money to help pay for Cleo’s doctor visit and we desperately need a transport from Fl to PA. Anyone going that way????  For now, we would gladly welcome some prayers and well wishes.
 
This Thursday we received a very disturbing e-mail from a woman who bred her American Bulldogs and they had 13 pups. She could not, however, sell the 2 that had “issues”.

This is her surrender e-mail:
Male or Female?  two  Females
Spayed or Neutered?  NO
Age?   9 weeks old

Reason for Surrender?  one is deaf and one can not walk but a few steps before falling
Health issues?  one is deaf and one can not walk but a few steps
Medications?  none presently
What  Food does the dog eat?  puppy chow
OK on leash?  never been
House trained?  no

 
Carey in Florida set up an emergency transport to Gina, one of our foster homes who works at a Vet’s office. Here is the situation as Gina writes:

For the first girl ‘Floppy’ which, personally I can’t stand that name, I think she needs a stronger name so I’m just been calling her Cleo (for Cleopatra) because she is a fighter even if she is so depressed.
 
Dr. Browning looked at the x-rays and can’t see anything that says there is a actually deformity, or something that could be causing her to not be able to walk. Cleo will always lay on the left, and when she ‘tries’ to get up she will fall on her left side. She does try to get herself up and get for perhaps a few seconds but then falls over and rolls around until she is back to her left side if she was on her stomach/back/ etc.
 
She eats and drinks on her side an I’m worried that she may aspirate something because of her doing this. I’ve taken to holding her in my lap when she eats to try and cut down on some of this. She also pees and poops on her side so she can, at times, roll herself right into her mess so I always pick her right off the ground when she does this. I have to say what I’ve seen the most with her is the fact that she tries SOO hard to get up that she wears herself out, and then just lays there looking depressed and just doesn’t understand why she can’t get up and run around like her sister. Dr. Browning will be speaking with a Neuro vet in the morning to try and get some more answers, and to see if this may be fixable. Dr. Browning did say that in the end Cleo may not be able to be ‘fixed’ that it may be a issue that she was born with, or caused by trauma an may in the end need to be humanly euthanized.
 
The other thing I feel we have to remember with Cleo is quality of life, even if we find out what is going on, and if it is fixable it’s worth a try, but if its not fixable and this is how she is I just don’t think its fair to her, she deserves so much better then this. She is such a sweet puppy, I held her in my arms for a hour last night while she slept and just felt horrible that someone would let this poor pup suffer like this, and that there is most likely nothing I can do for her.
 
Perhaps if she is able to get through this, and we can find someone willing to take her and do physical therapy along with getting her a doggie cart it would work.. but that is going to take a very special person and sadly I can’t do it..
 
The other puppy Snowball acts like a normal pup, she runs, plays bounces off everything and wants to get into everything to see what is going on. Only thing wrong with her is that she is deaf as can be, but this doesn’t stop her from having fun. I know she’ll make someone a great pet, they will just have to have time to try her.

 
As soon as I find out tomorrow what Dr. Browning found I will be calling you guys so you know what is up with Cleo.

 

Cleo:

 Snowball:

 


And Carey adds:

It should be noted that she sold all the other puppies unwormed and unvaccinated to people that are leaving them outside to fend for themselves from the coyotes, racoons, foxes, hawks, etc. AND that she wants to breed her dogs again and that these 11 puppies (if they survive their elements) will also go on to breed and produce more dogs that are never vaccinated or receive heart worm preventative and will, more than likely, never live inside a home.