Evening update - Graphic leg pics below

More progress.  She ate good again today (loves those treats and canned puppy food).

Les took her to the vet to get her horrific smelling bandage changed.  She has gained a pound and weighs 39 pounds.  That eased my worries because I was afraid she wasn't going to gain weight like she did at the vet's office.  Dr. Kolar is pleased with how much she is filling in and with the muscle mass she is gaining, especially in her right hind leg.

Below are pictures of her leg.  You are being warned, they are graphic but in a good way because great progress has been made.  The first two pictures are what her leg looked like when we very first put her on the exam table 08/13.  The other pics are from this afternoon at about 3:30.

Inside back leg, you can see where the roped twisted and burrowed
into her flesh.

Bright white bone and skin that was necrotic and had zero blood flow.   You can
also see how swollen her leg was.  Her foot was the size of
my fist and her entire leg was twice as big as her other one.

The dark red area is where her bone is still exposed but the tissue is filling in quite nicely.

All the blood is a great thing, it means healing is happening
Look at the first picture, there was absolutely zero blood flow
on her leg anywhere.

While these pictures are disturbing, they show how much progress is being made.  All the blood is nourishing her leg and allowing more tissue to grow.   I am totally shocked at how good her leg looks just two and a half weeks into her treatment.  I have high hopes she will make a full recovery.  One day you will not be able to even notice there was ever anything wrong with her!

We got the vet bill for her treatment.  The bill was $750.  Not bad for 15 days of care, lots of food, bandage changes, shots and all that TLC!!!  You can't beat it.  Again, a big THANK YOU to everyone at Dr. Kolar's clinic!

I will be going in Saturday for another bandage change and hope to see even more progress at that time!

Hope you all have a good evening and I hope my pics didn't spoil your dinners.  :)

Evening update - August 30th

Another good day.  She was left in her crate while I was at work and Lester ran errands.  She was probably crated a good 5 hours straight and she didn't mess in her crate the whole time!  Yay!  And she ate the majority of her dry  food while crate too!

Les let all the dogs out when he got home and then I came home and let them out.  The pics below are of here lounging in her crate while I was reading.  Notice the haughty look she gives the camera after it woke her up.

Again with the camera? 

Hmm, what are the other dogs doing over there?  Does it involve
FOOD?!

I gave her the Petinic when I got home and then it was treat time.  She isn't a fan of the plain Mother Hubbard bones but likes the Peanut Butter Mother Hubbard's.  She also likes the salmon stick like treats too.

 

So Sweetheart is 2 and a half weeks removed from the horrible place she was living in.  She is doing great and is a very sweet and happy dog.  Even though she is doing well, Les and I wanted you all to see just how emaciated she was and still is.  The two pictures below are not an optical illusion.  They are real.  Her back is NOT even as wide as a regular sized can of puppy food.  The third picture is of the can held up to Cleo, my female who is 7 and weighs about 58 pounds.  I am not posting these pics below to upset everyone, I just want everyone to know the gravity of what she went through and that recovery is going to take time.

I am in the process of getting thank you cards sent out to those who donated by mail and directly to Dr. Kolar's.  Paul has emailed our thank you's to all who have donated via pay pal.  Bear with me, I thought I was going to get a chance to write these out in Texas but my time was spent with my friend and then the weekend was consumed with our little Sweetheart.

Please keep following the blog.  I love to read your comments!  We have had over 11,000 views (10,500 of which are probably mine) since this blog was started August 14th!  Please keep telling your friends and family about this amazing little girl.

Sunday Evening

Good day today.  Lots of napping and going in and out.  She started eating her dry food quite well in the afternoon.

Just gave her a can of puppy food and her antibiotic pill.  Greenie Pill Pockets are wonderful things.  I highly recommend them.  I give her pill in those when she is eating and she gobbles it right down.

She also had quite a few treats today too.  Greedy for treats she is!

Her bandage is starting to reek.  DocKendi told me it would and she wasn't lying.  Her leg is healing well which means good circulation, which in turn means blood is soaking her bandage.  Just imagine a tackle box with dried blood bait, that is what our living room is starting to resemble in smell.  Soo, blankets and crate pads will get washed every few days at least.  Poor Les has been hiding out in the bedroom all day to get away from Ms. Smelly.  Gain a Sweetheart, lose a husband.  :)   He will probably be taking her into the vet's to beg for a new bandage Tuesday.  We shall see if Dr. Kolar will allow it.  :)

Morning update

Sweetheart slept, in her crate, through the night beautifully.  She didn't make a sound.

This morning she was ready to dash outside.  She did her business and explored a little.  I gave her her antibiotic, puppy food and petinic.  She takes them all like a champ, especially the puppy food.  :)

She is now curled up in the middle of the air bed.  So much for her staying in the crate the majority of the first few days.  :)

Nap time

Taking a nap with Sweetheart this afternoon

Air beds are greyt!

Sweetheart is HOME!

I picked Sweetheart today.  First I ran by Dollar General and got her some dog toys :).

She came racing down the hall of Kolar's and was all over the place.  She was interested in the car but didn't think she wanted to jump in it.  So the pampering begins....  I picked her up and set her in the back seat.  Of course as we are driving home she has to crawl in the front seat.  Not an easy thing to do with three legs but she managed to get into the front seat and I managed to keep the car on the road.  She looked out the front window and then straggled her way into the backseat.  She laid down some then got up and looked around.

She was excited to get out of the car.  I took her into the back yard and let her explore then we brought the 7 greys outside to check her out.  All in all she did fairly well with them.  They sniffed her and followed her some but then let her be.  She jumped on the twin bed we have under our porch and laid down.  She does have a little spatial aggression (growls when the other dogs come near her when she is laying down) but we that will be easily correctable in the days to come.

Sweetheart in the middle of our herd outside.  Cleo is muzzled because
she can get excited and nip when she plays.  Monte is to the left of Cleo.

Walking around on our back porch.  

We brought her inside and she checked things out.  I showed her her crate and closed the door then let her out and she laid on the two air beds we have.  She ate some and then whined a little and I let her out and she peed.  Potty training was something I was worried about but hopefully she will get the hang of it and will give me good cues like she did.

Sweetheart meeting Tracy.  Tracy is one of my former fosters that
I am dog sitting this weekend.  

Sweetheart checking out Journey.  Bavarian is the dog
in the background.

A little blurry but action shots are tough to get!

She is now sleeping in her crate.  She promptly tore the sheet and towel off the crate pad I have in there.  She is a nester and likes to dig at her bedding.  She has food, water and a toy in her crate.  My thoughts are that she will sleep a lot during these first few weeks.  When she starts acting like she wants out of her crate I will let her out but I really want her to feel like her crate is her home, that way she won't be bothered by the other dogs and can sleep and heal.  If she wants to be out of her crate that is fine too, I will just let her decide. We will let her outside to do her stuff and maybe for a bit longer in the mornings and evenings.  Otherwise she will just stay in the house and eat, sleep and relax.

Relaxing in the crate.  She looks like all she is made of is legs!

View from the top of the crate

Why is this guy waking me up to take my picture?!

As for the vet bill, I don't know what it will be.  I was ready to pay it this morning but Lynn said Dr. Kolar hasn't written down anything he has done to her the past two weeks so he will have to sit down and figure up the bill once he gets back into the office this wee.  They will either mail us the bill or let me pay it when we bring her in for her dressing change Friday.  Once I know what it is going to be I will let you guys know!

Thanks everyone for following Sweetheart's story these past two weeks.  I hope to update the blog nightly with updates, stories and pictures.

Evening update - Friday August 27th

Change up for tonight.  Pictures first, information last!

Tomorrow morning I will go and pick up Sweetheart to bring her home.  I have her food and bedding all ready to go.  I will get her antibiotics and vitamins tomorrow.  I am kind of curious to see what her vet bill will be but however large of a bill it might be she is totally worth every cent!


I talked to Dr. Kolar this morning and he did the dressing change today.  The leg is starting to heal a little more slowly and the bone is still showing just a little bit.  I am not surprised it started to slow down in the healing.  I was actually surprised how much it has already healed.  My husband will be taking her to Dr. Kolar's next Friday for another bandage change.  Like I have been stressing every since I started this blog, her healing is going to be slow and sometimes it will be slower than others.  We will keep a close eye on her and if she needs bandage changes more often then that is what we will do.

Thanks everyone for the kind words of support and encouragement.  I am still a little nervous about bringing her home but it will all work out and if I need help Dr. Kolar and our volunteers are just a phone call away.

I am home from Texas now so the blog updates will be more in depth and there will be more pictures.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  I will keep you posted tomorrow as to how it is going!

Couple of new pictures

I went to Petsmart tonight and bought her a new crate pad, two bags of puppy food, two flats of canned puppy food, treats and bowls for the crate.

I talked to Dr. Kolar on the phone and he said she is doing great and is gaining energy each day.  He will do a bandage change tomorrow and she will get a bath.  Hopefully she will stay clean by the time I get her Saturday. :)

I will try and add more pictures when I get home tomorrow evening!

Fox 25 News

Please tune in to Fox 25 News tonight.  Paul did an interview with them this afternoon and Fox went to Chickasha to interview the animal control officers.

I believe Fox 25 News airs at 9.  I am sure they will post her story to their website.  http://www.okcfox.com/
I just checked their website but the story isn't on there yet and I don't expect it to be for a few more hours since they just did the interview with Paul around five or so.

I will post more about her later on tonight with more pictures.  I promise I haven't forgotten about all you loyal Sweetheart fans.  My friend's treatment is just time consuming and it wears me out (I can't imagine how she is feeling being the one going through it!)

Evening update

Sweetheart continues to do well.  Eating fine and becoming more active.  She had more visitors today and they took some nice pictures.  I cannot post these right now since I am in Texas but will try to when I have a little time tomorrow.  I apologize for not getting this update sooner but I have been busy with my friend all day today and we just got back.

We are still on pace to get Sweetheart Saturday and barring disaster I don't see a delay in her coming home.  I hope to buy her dog food and crate bowls prior to heading back to Oklahoma Friday afternoon.

Please keep my friend in your thoughts.  Her treatments are rough and she continues to be so strong and brave.  I am grateful to have her as my friend.

Evening update - 8/24

This is going to be a quick one.  I will write more tomorrow.

Go to:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTUmpW1TVx0 

Sweetheart is doing well as you can see from the video.  Lynn said she was feisty again today as the video above attests too.  She is eating great and moving around quite well.  Two of our volunteers went down today and visited her .  They took her outside and she did her business like a good girl (thank goodness because that is one thing I have been worried about POTTY TRAINING).

I have a few pictures I will post tomorrow.  Still on track to get her Saturday.  I will be getting her dry puppy food and canned puppy food and crate bowls while I am in Texas.

Thank you for continuing to follow her progress.  I can't for you all to see her progress over the next few months.  I know I am excited.  I am a little nervous too, I hope I do all the right things with her.  Bringing a new foster home is always a little nerve wracking, especially one that has special issues like her.  But, it is exciting and will be well worth it.

My whereabouts Wednesday through Friday

I will not be visiting Sweetheart the rest of this week.  I am going to be down in Texas with my friend who is fighting cancer.  She has been fighting cancer for a year and it has metasticized to several areas.  I am going to be down there Wednesday through Friday going to treatments with her and hanging out.  I will be back Friday afternoon and will get Sweetheart Saturday morning.

Several of our volunteers will be visiting Sweetheart tomorrow, Wed and Friday.  They will give me updates and send me pics, so the blog will be updated each evening.  Dr. Kolar will call me if anything happens with her that I need to know about.

Please feel free to keep commenting and asking questions.  I love hearing from everyone.

Evening update - Good news again

Visited Sweetheart this evening.  She was quite peppy this evening.  I couldn't let her off leash when we first go there due to customers with their dogs, etc.  She was cool with that as long as someone was petting her and giving her attention.  You could tell she felt better today as she didn't lay on the pillow underneath the front counter one time.  Once the clinic customers left I was able to let her off leash to explore.

She went into Dr. Kolar's office and christened it.  Thank goodness all their floors are carpetless.  As I am sitting in the lobby I hear a clatter that sounds suspiciously like an empty plastic bottle hitting the floor.  I go investigate and she had found the trash can in the back room and had liberated an empty diet Dr. Pepper bottle.  The clang of it on the floor must have been music to her ears.  I told her no and scolded her and she immediately put her head back in the trash, needle nose headed straight for the bottle.  GRRRR, can anyone say "terrible twos"!  And it isn't like you can even tap her on the rear end for fear of breaking her.  :)

Praying for an overflowing trash can!

Not the best pic but a two year old on the move doesn't
cooperate with my camera!

The did a bandage changed earlier today (notice the bright yellow bandage below) and the wound has healed so well there is only a small piece of bone showing.  The tissue almost completely covers the wound and the new tissue is bright pink with excellent blood flow!  YAY!!!!!  This is extremely good news.  The only down side to new tissue and blood flow is that the blood soaks into the bandage making for a stinky leg after a few days.  But that's ok, as long as her leg is healing this quickly I can handle a little funk.

Race car yellow new bandage

She was also weighed today and weighs 37 pounds!  I am sure there is a point something on the end of 37 but I didn't ask.  Just hearing she weighs 37 is phenomenal.  When she was weighed on Friday the 13th she weighed a mere 31.4 pounds.  So this means our little girl has gained 6 pounds in ten days, even while furiously healing her leg!  That is greyt news and deserves another YAY!!!!!!!!!!!

One of the prettiest pictures yet, don't you agree?

Some of you all have been asking about how much the vet bill will be.  I honestly have no idea and have not asked.  Fasthound and Sweetheart have been very blessed by the generous donations we have received via paypal and to Dr. Kolar directly.  We have also received donations through the mail.  All of these will help go towards her vet bill and anything left over will be used for food and bedding.  I will let everyone know how much her initial vet bill is once I pick her up on Saturday.  Please don't worry about this initial vet bill.  We have a great vet who works with us and gives us the best rate possible.  Thankfully, Fasthound is in a good position financially and is even more so thanks to all of your generous donations.

Dr. Kolar having to hold her so I can get a picture

Yet again with the wrestling down for a picture!

Once Sweetheart comes home the bills for her care do not stop.  She will come home Saturday and she will be on Petinic liquid vitamins for the forseeable future, amoxycillin twice a day for at least ten days.  She will be getting canned puppy food twice a day and dry puppy food multiple times a day.  We also plan to feed her cooked beef liver at a 1/4 pound a day for a week or so then we will up this to 1/2 pound a day as advised by Dr. Kolar.  The beef liver is the best thing to build up her red blood cell counts.  We will be feeding the beef liver as a treat as we don't want her to get the idea that beef liver should be her primary diet.  :)

She will be going to Dr. Kolar's once a week for bandage changes.  Once she is healthy and up to full weight we will have her spayed.  This will be far down the road and pretty much the last thing we have done to her vet wise.  Dr. Kolar doesn't want to think about spaying her until she is strong and healthy.  As all our fosters and personal dogs are neutered that isn't going to be a problem.

All this being said, any donations you make now or in the future are VERY appreciated.  We expect Sweetheart to take a minimum of six months to fully recover, maybe longer.  Her extreme state of emaciation means that her weight gain needs to be slow and steady.  She will have to rebuild all the muscle mass she lost and this will be done with good nutrition and consistent exercise.  We are going to give her all the time and resources she needs to make a full recovery so keep tuning into the blog in the days and weeks to come.

 

Hope you enjoyed tonight's update and pictures.  If you have any questions, post me a comment or send an email!