| FROM RAGS TO RICHES |
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| Quilt fabric donated by Shawn |
| Time & time again, we watch as one of our foster dogs come in looking ragged and forelorn and neglected. The loyal little cocker actually morns for their neglectful or abusive previous family. How appropriate that we have a doggy rag quilt as a fundraiser. We take patches of fabric and piece it all together in a rag style, just like we do with the dogs. We patch them up by removing their mats, we give them vet care and love and good nutrition. Something that needed lots of work, is now a perfectly beautiful thing, just waiting to sit on someone's chair or bed or lap. Please meet Rags. He was tied up outside. Look at his face. Look at his eye, how could his owners ignore this? Glaucoma is a painful disease, it's like having a constant migraine. I actually had a pain when I first saw his picture. Instead of taking him to the vet, his owners dumped him in a shelter. He was no doubt in serious pain -- and not just for a few days, but months on end, just tied up outside. Our immediate goal is pain free and healthy. That's first. Then we'll work on patching up the rest of him. He needs all sorts of drops and tests and possibly removing his eye. We'll also need to neuter him. Then there is the emotional patching. We'll be running this fundraiser for the next two weeks. After Rags is better, we'll be changing his name to Richy!!! |
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| FIRST PRIZE WINNER IS DEE LANGE |
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| SECOND PRIZE WINNER IS JUDY MANSFIELD |
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| THIRD PRIZE WINNER IS DIANE MCLAUGHLIN |
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| 2/10/08 Dr. Hatfield is checking his eye. It needs to be removed. He is also lyme positive. Lots of meds first, then we'll do his surgeries. |
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| And now, for the rest of the story, by the shelter workers: Rags lived in XXXXXX behind a house on a heavy chain, totally matted, with a small plastic dog house. We've been called there multiple times, and have stopped by & left notices, and had gotten results, in the past, he was groomed multiple times. We went there two weeks ago, and spoke with the man again. I asked how long he had been outside, he said "Well I just left him out there 3 or 4 days ago, I figured I'd leave him out another 2 days or so and bring him in for a little while." I asked about the eye. A woman inside yelled out that there was a stick stuck in it and a vet told them a year ago that he had "dead eye" and to leave it alone. Totally lying obviously. Then the man told me that he never had him to the vet. So I told him he had 24 hours to get a vet appointment, and a week to get a grooming appointment. So by the end of that day, he had two appointments, one for the eye, and one for the grooming. So he was groomed last week, and then I called the vet, because two days later, he was supposed to be going in to get his eye removed, and get neutered. They dropped him off at our shelter the next day, saying he couldn't afford it. He has been at our shelter since Friday. |
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| Rags, all warm and comfy on Monday morning. Noone can tell me he was ever in a house. He has no idea he is allowed in, doesn't even know his given name and is surprised when I pet him and tell him how handsome he is. |
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| Picture of Rags in his first 'home', GAG |
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| Updated 2/25/08 Rags is doing well and ready for surgery. These pics were from tonight. As you can see, he is learning to enjoy the good things in life now. We'll update after his surgery |
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| 2/28/08 And now, introducing the NEW ME. I'm Richy I have had my painful eye removed, my belly button hernia repaired and have been neutered. I didn't let any of that get me down. I am enjoying each new day |
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| These are pictures of me, one day post-op |
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| 3/5/08 CRAP!!!! Rags has had a terrible setback. All was great, until around 2:00 this afternoon. Out of nowhere, he became blind. He was banging into walls, unsure of himself, flattening out. With a rushed visit to our vet, it was determined that Rags developed Acute onset Glaucoma in his 'good eye'. He is blind. However, since it was caught quickly, we are giving it our best shot with an aggressive method to hopefully restore his sight. Provided his optical nerves were not too damaged, there is a chance he can see again. If he can't, then our vet will give him a shot behind the eye to reduce the fluids and pressue and he'll never suffer again. He'll be permanetly blind, but he still manages to wiggle his tail and give kisses. He is slightly confused, but we know that blind dogs learn fast, by mapping out their surroundings and counting their steps. We'll have more news on Friday, when he gets another check up from our vet. Thanks to all |
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| 3/12/08 Rags is still blind. He continues to map out the house and yard and now has a cute habit. He'll hear me getting out of my computer chair, get up, start walking out of the room and turn around to make sure I'm coming along too. We are ordering him a Halo Vest. It's like a white cane for a blind dog. It will go with him to his new home. Tomorrow, Rags will receive the chemical ablation shot to relieve any fluids from his eye, stopping the glaucoma and the pressure (pain). He'll be under anesthia for short time. We'll update after we get him home. |
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| 3/24/08 Another update on Waggy Raggy The day he was taken in for his chemical ablation shot, our vet checked his pressure again. It had come down from the 50-80 range to 10-13 range. He didn't want to give him the shot. Instead, he refered us to an eye specialist. He has been checked by the specialist. While there is serious damage to the retina, it is not detached. He feels he has some vision. It may only be some light and chances are it might not be permanent. We were advised to wein him off of the methazolamide as it can cause serious side effects with long term use. We will continue with Timalol, and the rest of the Xalatan -- expensive drops (81.00 a bottle) and possibly switch him over to a few different drops in the future. We are to have his pressure checked WEEKLY as we wein him off of the methazolimide. Rags was such a good boy at the emergency / specialist office that he made a few friends. We realize this might be a very long adventure for little Rags. To make matters worse, we found a lump on his front leg. Leg lumgs are not a good thing. Our vet will do aspirate it and check for suspicous cells and if necessary, we'll have it removed. This poor guy has been thru enough already. We're going to do all that we can to make sure he never suffers again |