SimMel27
07-31-2015, 02:08 AM
Hi! I am Melinda and along with my husband, Sim, we are owned by three doggies: Coco (10 years old), Maggie (5 years) and Katie (6 years). Two of three are rescues. Katie is one of those rescues, and she was recently diagnosed with Cushings. Her story is a long one. I will try to be brief. :D
Katie arrived on our porch in Mississippi, looking for some shade, on August 2011. We already had our puppy, Maggie and our older dog, Coco. So we were not looking to add another family member. I opened my garage, parked, opened my car door and in popped Katie. All smelly, flea-ridden, muddy, and sick, but wagging her little tail stump like crazy. I was so worried about her, that I couldn't just turn her out, so I gave her some water, she drank almost a gallon in minutes. Left in the bowl afterward, was a pile of sand and mud. I carried her directly into our spa tub...and worked on her for almost 24 hours. She had so many matts, that her ear hair had attached itself to her chest hairs, she could barely move her head. She had a raging double ear infection, she had fleas covering every inch of her body, her gums were white from anemia, she was covered in mud, and had a huge bloated belly. I took her the next morning to our vet to check on her health. I had been feeding her small amounts over the previous day, but was afraid to overfeed her. She slept hard, and never was bothered by my cleaning her up enough to have her in my house. The vet didn't find a chip, and ran some general health checks on her. She was still anemic, but doing better, no more fleas helped. She was heartworm and hookworm positive. The ear infection included a yeast infection along with a bacterial one. Shockingly, she was trained, fixed and must have been missed. We posted her on Facebook, Lost Pets, called the shelters, and all the rescues (which couldn't take her, because of the influx of dogs, and all the issues she had). We physically took her to the 10-15 vet offices in our immediate area, no one recognized her. After a week of trying to locate her owners, we decided that we had to help her...and that was a huge commitment given that her heartworm was bad, and could have killed her. Her heart was double the size it should have been. It took a year to get her a clean bill of heath, but we cheered after going through it. She had seizures and convulsions, once from a lightning storm, once from figuring out how to open the step trash can, and eating an entire left over rotisserie chicken. The salt set her off balance. WE love her so much, she has bonded to my husband especially. She is loving, funny, and very challenging. She and Maggie became the best of friends after a few rough moments. Coco, who is blind, aggravates her once in a while, she has learned to be tolerant.
Jump two years ahead, we moved to Las Vegas to be near family. Everything was great the first year, at the beginning of the second year, both Coco and Katie started developing issues. Coco had cancer and had to go through surgery, then she lost her eye, due to cataracts and build up of pressure. Katie started losing energy and strength and then her hair. Drinking excessively, peeing excessively. It was a rough time. In February she was diagnosed with Cushings and has been on Vetoryl 60 mg. This morning she woke up with a bloody nose, which had me searching the internet, which is how I found your group. She has been doing a little better, her hair is coming in, and her energy is up. She is trying to play with Maggie a little. She is still very thirsty and unable to jump onto the bed. We are getting her some stairs. She has the pot belly and she is weaker than she used to be.
I am looking forward to learning more about this disease and what to expect, and how to make her life better.
Katie arrived on our porch in Mississippi, looking for some shade, on August 2011. We already had our puppy, Maggie and our older dog, Coco. So we were not looking to add another family member. I opened my garage, parked, opened my car door and in popped Katie. All smelly, flea-ridden, muddy, and sick, but wagging her little tail stump like crazy. I was so worried about her, that I couldn't just turn her out, so I gave her some water, she drank almost a gallon in minutes. Left in the bowl afterward, was a pile of sand and mud. I carried her directly into our spa tub...and worked on her for almost 24 hours. She had so many matts, that her ear hair had attached itself to her chest hairs, she could barely move her head. She had a raging double ear infection, she had fleas covering every inch of her body, her gums were white from anemia, she was covered in mud, and had a huge bloated belly. I took her the next morning to our vet to check on her health. I had been feeding her small amounts over the previous day, but was afraid to overfeed her. She slept hard, and never was bothered by my cleaning her up enough to have her in my house. The vet didn't find a chip, and ran some general health checks on her. She was still anemic, but doing better, no more fleas helped. She was heartworm and hookworm positive. The ear infection included a yeast infection along with a bacterial one. Shockingly, she was trained, fixed and must have been missed. We posted her on Facebook, Lost Pets, called the shelters, and all the rescues (which couldn't take her, because of the influx of dogs, and all the issues she had). We physically took her to the 10-15 vet offices in our immediate area, no one recognized her. After a week of trying to locate her owners, we decided that we had to help her...and that was a huge commitment given that her heartworm was bad, and could have killed her. Her heart was double the size it should have been. It took a year to get her a clean bill of heath, but we cheered after going through it. She had seizures and convulsions, once from a lightning storm, once from figuring out how to open the step trash can, and eating an entire left over rotisserie chicken. The salt set her off balance. WE love her so much, she has bonded to my husband especially. She is loving, funny, and very challenging. She and Maggie became the best of friends after a few rough moments. Coco, who is blind, aggravates her once in a while, she has learned to be tolerant.
Jump two years ahead, we moved to Las Vegas to be near family. Everything was great the first year, at the beginning of the second year, both Coco and Katie started developing issues. Coco had cancer and had to go through surgery, then she lost her eye, due to cataracts and build up of pressure. Katie started losing energy and strength and then her hair. Drinking excessively, peeing excessively. It was a rough time. In February she was diagnosed with Cushings and has been on Vetoryl 60 mg. This morning she woke up with a bloody nose, which had me searching the internet, which is how I found your group. She has been doing a little better, her hair is coming in, and her energy is up. She is trying to play with Maggie a little. She is still very thirsty and unable to jump onto the bed. We are getting her some stairs. She has the pot belly and she is weaker than she used to be.
I am looking forward to learning more about this disease and what to expect, and how to make her life better.