Diva needs a Christmas Angel

Do you feel like being a Christmas Angel to one tiny little sweetheart?

Let me introduce Miss Diva, the Supreme Queen of the Hollow. She's got more personality and moxie in her 6 pounds than a dog ten times her size. She tells the pugs and mutts how to step and commandeers pillows with a will.

Diva is a 7ish year old female Chihuahua who came to Pug Hollow this spring from a kill shelter. She came to us because she was "unadoptable" with a badly broken and poorly healed hind leg. We were told upon taking her in that the leg had been x-rayed, and that it was fully healed, though nonfunctional. We were told that it presented no danger or problems for the dog.

Unfortunately for Miss Diva, they lied.  **The following description may not be for the faint of heart or easily upset. If you're one of those and want to just help out, skip to the bottom.**

On Sunday, 11-28-10, we noticed Diva wasn't feeling well. As we cuddled and inspected her we found a lump on Diva's abdomen. It was in the correct position to be a mammary tumor. We had an appointment at our vet with one of our heart patient pugs and so we called on Monday morning and appended her to his trip. Because of the scar tissue and deformity of her lower abdomen due to the broken leg, we didn't notice the lowest mammary gland was also swollen.

In the 24 hours between discovery and vet visit, the lowest mammary gland suppurated, and began expelling pus.

The vet and I both palpated the area, and immediately made an appointment for x-rays the very next morning (we were the last appointment of the day and were already there after hours by this time).

When I walked into the clinic to pick up Miss Diva today the vet was waiting with the x-ray film. She put it on the light screen and I only had one thing to say. "We have to take the leg."

The leg that we were told had healed safely, if not functionally, is a shattered mess of jagged knife edges and icepick points.  The primary break in the femur is a full break through the thickness of the bone. The bone ends resemble two knapped flint blades. The bone is no longer aligned but overlaps by a full half inch, grinding and shifting with each hop she takes. The entire leg below the break is held on only by the flesh surrounding it. *Edited because the vet called me today to say that she was reviewing the x ray and found that Diva's hip on that side is also severely dislocated.* That Diva has been such a happy, loving, demanding lady is a testament to the sheer amazing spirit of this beautiful girl.

However as bad as the break sounds, it's far more dangerous than the above description alone. The ragged edge and vicious point of the lower portion of bone is sawing into the lowest mammary gland, creating the infection that is already spreading to her other mammary glands and could cause septicemia if we don't remove the problem.  The equally ragged end of the upper portion of the femur lies dangerously close to the path of the femoral artery.  A wrong shift of the bone could sever her artery and kill her.

The leg is literally a dangling death trap for this tiny little dynamo, and it absolutely has to come off. We have scheduled Diva's surgery for Tuesday, December 7th, as the earliest safe possibility. This gives us a week to throw antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs into the fray to reduce the infection as much as possible before we operate.

Because we are not yet a 501C sanctuary I avoid asking for contributions if at all possible. However we can use all the help we can get this time. Diva's surgery will cost around $500, and we are scrambling to cover that cost on such short notice. Any contribution you can make will make a huge difference.

Contributions can be made to:
Diva's Surgery (Kara Stanley "owner")
C/O
Newcastle Animal Hospital
113 South Main Street
Newcastle, OK 73065-5402
(405) 387-5684

Recipe of the Week: Diabetic Dog Treats

• 1/2 cup almond or coconut flour (whole wheat flour can be substituted if absolutely necessary)
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 pounds beef liver, cut into pieces

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a 10x15 inch jellyroll pan with parchment paper.
2. Place the liver into a food processor. Pulse until finely chopped. If you have room, add the flour and eggs, and process until smooth. Otherwise, transfer to a bowl, and stir in the flour and eggs using a wooden spoon. Spread evenly in the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the center is firm. Cool, and cut into squares. The treats will have a consistency similar to a sponge. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

From Russia, With Love

 Zdravstvujtye comrades! Allow me to introduce myself. I am Ivan Yuri Nicholai Mikhail Pugovich. My friends call me Vashka.

I came to the People's Republic of Pug Hollow in 2009. I had been caught wandering without papers, and sent to the local Gulag. I was on my last day when an Angel swooped down and freed me from my wrongful imprisonment.

Though I, unlike many of my Brothers and Sisters here in Pug Hollow, have no current major health conditions, I have the sensitive soul of a Great Russian Poet, and traumatize easily. Even now, after living in this paradise for over a year, I still hide under the bed when I hear "Edgar! Get out of that!" yelled across the living room. (Edgar has lived his whole life in paradise and has no respect for the state. He doesn't realize that there are places where a shout would be followed up by more than a gentle tap on the haunch. But I do!)

Because I am so thankful to be here now, I always make sure that my people receive the full benefit of my devoted attention every night. My dedication knows no bounds! If I cannot be nose to nose with my people, I will selflessly collapse in any position so that they may have the pleasure of rubbing my luxuriously furred chest!  It is such a sacrifice that I make!

I look forward to many more years at Pug Hollow, where I can act as goofy as I want, and still be loved!

Recipe of the Week: Honey Peanut Butter Training Treats

Recipe created by: K. Stanley

Ingredients:

4 cups whole wheat flour **
2 cups peanut butter melted (chunky or smooth)
1 cup oatmeal
2 eggs
1 cup honey
1 cup water

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees. Mix ingredients in a large bowl until well blended. Resulting mixture should be firm and slightly sticky.

Lightly grease a baking sheet with oil (I like to use spray olive oil). Roll dough into a ball and place in the middle of the sheet. Using your hands flatten the dough to an even thickness across the baking sheet. (This doesn't always work the way it's supposed to... just do the best you can.)


Bake for 20 minutes or until the edges of the dough begin to brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes.


Using a large knife or a cleaver cut the dough into squares of appropriate size. I like 1/4 inch squares.
Store in an airtight container.

If you only have one dog, you can portion out about 1/4 of the resulting cookies and freeze the rest in a vacuum freezer bag.

** (whole grain rice flour can be substituted for wheat if your dog is sensitive, but you'll need to add 5 minutes to the cooking time.)

Sunday Fun: Making Pug Food

 

 

Edgar T. Post helping make his food.

Soylent Green is.... Pug Dogs?!

The Pug that Changed The World

It's often strange the things that inspire us.
 
In May of 1999, I was a broke college student slaving my way through my undergraduate degree, and grieving for the loss of my pug mix, Pugly. Then my family bought me Edgar T. Post.

Edgar was an 8 month old pug puppy with an almost manic enthusiasm for life, a penchant for mischief and a heart big enough to love the whole world.  I think it is safe to say that Eddie has never met a stranger. He is patient with children and puppies, gentle and gentlemanly with the elderly, and equally enthusiastic about everything from lounging on the couch to going to the vet. (Going to the vet is Social Hour for the Edgar!)

Three years later, in 2001, I noticed that Ed seemed a little "off". It wasn't anything I could put a finger on, but he just wasn't "Edgarish".  I told my veterinarian as much and got the "you've got to be kidding me" look.  Edgar was not overly lethargic. His appetite was puggy normal. He was going potty fine, and there were no physical symptoms of distress. For all outward appearances Edgar was perfectly healthy.  I insisted on a full blood workup. My vet humored me.

The results came back with a startling find... The blood work was positively diagnostic of Chronic Hepatitis. Edgar, the outwardly healthy pug, was in liver failure at the ripe old age of just under 3 years old. Chronic hepatitis is uncurable and prognosis is guarded... a handful of months to a handful of years in the best circumstances.

Additional diagnostics were run, testing for autoimmune issues. Often chronic hepatic conditions in dogs can be triggered by autoimmune thyroiditis (an autoimmune condition causing hypothyroidism), or Cushing's Disease (an autoimmune condition in which the adrenal gland over produces steroid hormones). To determine this we ran a thyroid panel and an ACTH Stimulation test (Adrenocorticotropic Hormone Stimulation).

Again the test results were startling.... Edgar did have thyroiditis. He did not have Cushing's. He had the exact opposite of Cushing's, a condition called Addison's. My vet suspected secondary Addison's, which meant that his adrenal gland was not being stimulated to produce sufficient steroid hormones. 

It was bad news. We could start hormone therapy to offset the low thyroid, but the treatment for Addison's was contradictory to the goal of stabilizing his liver. To treat the Addison's we would have to give prednisone. In doing so we ran the risk of making his liver worse. But not treating wasn't an option. Addison's, if untreated, can rapidly be fatal, especially under physically stressful conditions such as serious illness.

To put it simply... If we treated him, we could kill him. If we didn't he could die. Either way we were in for a long, hard expensive road, and he probably wouldn't live that long anyway. Most of the people I knew were of the opinion that it just wouldn't be worth it.

But my family has a different  mindset. To quote Galaxy Quest... "Never give up! Never surrender!" We wanted to treat and to my eternal joy, Dr. David Faulkner, of Hope Veterinary Clinic in Amarillo, Texas, was every bit as stubborn and reckless as we were. We dove headfirst into treatment, battling his liver enzymes back down onto the chart and then slowly into normal ranges, and hauling his thyroid and steroid hormones up out of the gutter.

 Dietary support is an important part of liver disease management, and there are a number of commercial foods available for this. But again Edgar couldn't take the easy road. We had known since he was a year old that he was allergic to corn, and corn was the #1 ingredient in all the commercial liver diets.  But my undergraduate degree was in Agriculture, and I'd had a number of animal nutrition and feeding courses. So I bought the Small Animal Clinical Nutrition textbook and once again threw myself headlong into the fray of creating a healthy, nutritionally complete diet for Edgar. (It's harder than you'd think!)

Three more years passed in a routine of pills, vitamins, cooking pug food, and 6 month blood tests. It was now the summer of 2006 and Edgar was 6 years old.  He began to get lethargic, and he wasn't as enthused about eating as he should have been. We went to the vet for bloodwork.

It came back that he was anemic. His hematocrit, red blood cell count and platelet count were all low. We began to supplement him with more vitamins, and tested him again a few weeks later. His blood count had dropped even further. There was no sign of infection. We added more vitamins and tried different medication changes. His blood count continued to drop and his condition deteriorated with it. Dr. Faulkner felt we might have to resort to a transfusion in a last ditch effort. Edgar was dying one blood cell at a time.

Out of desperation I emailed my brother, who is a medical doctor for humans, outlining the situation and providing copies of the blood work. He emailed me back: Edgar had APS (Autoimmune Polyglandular Syndrome) and his Addison's was now primary. His adrenal glands had been destroyed by the autoimmune condition that caused his thyroiditis. We needed to add mineral cortoids to his treatment and increase his thyroid medication.

I ran back to my vet with Edgar and the information from my brother.  We gave him an injection of DOCP, and upped his thyroid medication immediately. Within weeks Edgar's condition turned around. His blood count began to climb and his attitude improved. A monthly dose of DOCP was prescribed.

It's now 2010 and Edgar is still pugging along.  We've definitely beaten the odds.  It's not easy. It's not always smooth sailing. We have to watch for signs and make adjustments, and take great care to keep him stress free and properly medicated. I've had to learn to give shots and recognize the faintest of symptoms. And it's not cheap. Edgar's monthly DOCP alone is about $35 per .75ml dose. In good conditions he gets a full blood workup every 6 months. In bad conditions, it can be as often as every two weeks.

Edgar is worth it. I wouldn't trade a penny of the cost for a second of his life.

Because of Edgar, I know the horrible choice so many true pet lovers face... to fight for the life of a creature that is literally part of the family, or to cave to the crushing pressure of financial concerns.  It's not a matter of "would we". It's a matter of "can we afford to?"

Having Edgar in my life planted the seed of a dream. A dream of a world where no one has to face that terrible choice. And that dream is slowly flowering into the Pug Hollow Foundation. Pug Hollow isn't a traditional rescue organization. We don't take in and adopt out healthy creatures. We operate solely on the basis of permanent fostering for those who are long term, terminal or critical care. We help people who are facing the terrible choice have options.

Currently Pug Hollow is a tiny organization struggling to overcome the cost of providing for the furkin in our care long enough to file for 501c(3) status.  But someday soon, the pug who changed the world for me is going to change the world for a lot of others. Someday soon, Pug Hollow will help bring Heaven on Earth to a few more souls.

Because Edgar is worth it. And so are they.

Edgar T. Post gets into everything... even the Christmas Spirit!