We were SUPPOSED to bring the dog home from the shelter this Friday...

[copcarguy]

Hey Nancy - thanks for asking about our "fur-baby"  :p ...  As you know from my other post, CCG's Dad had a heart attack this past Monday.  We have been literally living at the hospital.  Stephie's sister and 2 nieces (4 and 6yo) have been walking Sabrina and taking her out to play when we're not home.  They noticed worms in her poo yesterday.  Now they discovered some kind of tapeworm or something in addition to Lymes.  She is on pills for that now too.  Yet another trip to the vet, and this should be cleared up in a week.  To be 100% honest, I really wasn't paying attention to this worm story.  I just made sure Sabrina was taken care of and went to the Vet.  My mind is melting after no sleep and taking care of stuff around here.  All I know is I give Sabrina lovin' when I get home and try to let her know she is "home" now for good and loved a LOT!  I have been referring to her as "G" when talking about all her vet stories, because she has cost us over $1000 as of this point...  LOL!!  But it's all worth it, because she's just the best dog around and we love her SO MUCH!  I just hope we can get her all straightened out health-wise.  She is a member of the family and we would do anything for her!  
 
PS - has anyone heard from startx and Bell??

[Miss-Teri]

Did she pick up any fleas while camping?  Tapes are caused from ingesting fleas that contain the tapeworms.  Nasty things - ick!

Glad to hear she's doing well, and I missed the post about the heart attack!  Another add to my prayer list!  

Take care, and you guys be sure to get plenty of rest as well!

Edit:  Forgot to say I have some possible good news.  Cindy, our president, has talked to two different vets out here that said Lyme Disease is so rare and unheard of in Oklahoma that they don't even test for it until it's a last resort (found some websites that say it was even completely nonexistent here in people or animals during some recent years).  They also differed from your vet in what your vet said about that she had to have had it for 6 months to affect her that bad, saying that, like most diseases, it affects different dogs different ways, so she could have had a reaction from the live vaccine or gotten a tick bite very recently and had the reaction.  

I was extremely happy to find that they think it was a recent thing so she'll completely recover (in their opinion).  That's a difference in vet opinions in ours and the ones you checked with up there, but it still makes me feel a lot better about her feeling better fast!  

If you have any questions you want to ask them, let me know and I can either find out for you or have them write out some answers for you.  Just so you have a broad range of opinions.  

Yay, Sabrina, get better fast!  And I'll switch my prayers to the people members of the family now!

[startx]

Whew - Guys, I'm BACK!  My subscription expired, and then I finally was able to renew and then it took the busy folks at PUT a while to reactivate, and then we had password issues, etc.  At any rate, now I am back.

Oh my gosh CCG!  How scary to have a great dog, and then she suddently starts having problems.  I'm glad to hear she seems to be recovering.  You know I wonder if she didn't get her dose of advantage before she shipped to you.  They tested Bell for heartworms again, and gave her a general checkup, shots etc, and a dose of advantage (or something like it) while I was filling out paperwork.  That should have covered her for any possible parasites for a month.  I hope she gets better though.

Ok, on to Bell!  She's doing great!  We love her so much, she plays so great with the whole family.  She still occassionally thinks she is higher in the pecking order than the children, but we're working on that.  She's VERY protective of her family, especially when the "intruder", otherwise read as guest in our home, is male.  We find that a bit odd since the breeds we think she comes from aren't really protective, but we think it might be because she was so long at the shelter, and we think from the shelter staff that a man was involved in her being returned to the shelter.

She's so funny she likes to sit on the back of the couch and look down at everything.  I realize we shouldn't let her do this, since to a dog it means they are more important, but she's just so funny doing it.  The shelter told me she and her companion, a poodle, were turned in at the same time.  She was only a year old then, and I think she learned this from the poodle, but doesn't realize now what a big dog she is.

She loves to play with her toys, and she really loves for someone to throw them so she can go get them and bring them back.  We've been on our first camping trip with her.  She did really well, although I do watch her closely with people walking into camp, as she does raise her hackles and bark very aggressively at the person.  Once I acknowledge them, she will settle somewhat, but if they leave and come back we have to start over.  I'm really considering an obedience class, as I think that would help.

The toddlers love her to death, more than she wants to be loved sometimes.  Kayleigh's favorite statement is "I love Bell.  Bell love me too.", then she gives her a big hug.  Kamryn tried to throw things for her, but her little arms are so short and her coordination still developing it doesn't work out, so she just gives her all her snacks instead.

In short, we're doing great, any problems we have we are working through.  Bell is learning, and so are we.

[copcarguy]

Hello all!
 
Well today is the one year anniversary of Sabrina coming into our lives...  What a fun (and expensive) trip it has been.  Over $3500 in vet bills and she is now healthy and has grown SO much!  She is just the best little life!  I would just like to say to everyone that helped bring her into our lives THANK YOU!!  Without the people on this board and PUT it would never have happened...

[tlhdoc]

She defiantly looks great.  I couldn't believe the changes in her from last year.

 

Happy Anniversary!