Clarisse
Clarisse was born in October 2007. The people who had her
left her and mom out in this horrible winter we had.
Her little leg became frozen to a metal pipe
and her paw was so frost bitten that part of her leg had fallen off!
When she found the love of PIF Animal Welfare Network,
she was taken to the vet where the rest of her leg was removed
and she was spayed and placed in a loving foster home!
When searching pet-finder trying to find the perfect pet for our home,
I came across this little teddy bear that was short one leg
and instantly fell in love with her!
After seeing her and reading her story I started the adoption process;
now she has joined our family and is a wonderful addition.
She lays her head down when she gets tired with her bottom half sticking
straight up in the air!
She plays fetch just like any other dog, and she loves my 3 year old son,
always keeping an eye on him!
I think I have made the best decision about giving Clarisse her forever home!
Thanks,
Annie M. Blake
Monday April 28, 2008
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Gemma
Hi Everyone,
Gemma hasn't learned to write yet, so she has asked me to sign her up and
write her brief. Gemma is a 7 week old Golden Retriever and lives in New
Zealand, currently with her other 8 siblings.
Gemma had her rear leg amputated when she was 12 days old
due to an infection and not being able to suckle from her mum during the first 24 hours.
The infection was stopped from spreading with anti-biotics,
but the leg and half her tail could not be saved.
Gemma's favourite toy is her twice-her-size teddy bear that she shakes and throws around.
She currently lives in a "garden-apartment" in the family room that is fully carpeted
for her benefit in lovely thick whelping blankets.
It's a two-room garden apartment including the sleeping / bath room and the living area
that is open-plan. A couple of times a day Gemma strolls out in the big garden
outside smelling the leaves and picking up twigs on the lawn.
In another month, Gemma is going to fly on a big airplane to Winton in Southland
where she will live with her aunt Darby.
Darby, is her mum's litter sister and is fantastic duck retriever.
Darby is going to teach Gemma how to swim and retrieve ducks too.
She will have other family members to keep track of like a GSP and humans and horses,
so Gemma is going to be a very busy young lady.
Cheerio, Gemma
Sy Guth, Lorgair Golden Retrievers
New Zealand
Monday April 28, 2008
Hi Cynthia,
After 3 hours of Kerry, dam, in labour, we went to the night emergency
clinic in Christchurch because I knew there were more pups to come -- turns
out there was only the one.
There was an excellent vet on duty, Tim, who is in NZ on a year's work permit
and who has worked for Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael, California
for years doing whelping and surgery.
I had given Kerry small doses of Oxytocin during her whelping and she had had 30ml of liquid calcium,
dextrose and a litre of goat's milk. When we got to the clinic,
Tim determined that Gemma had separated in the womb and put Kerry on a drip of
liquid calcium and dextrose to prime her for a larger dose of Oxytocin --
his desire to have the pup born naturally rather then by C-Section.
5 hours after Kerry's last pup had been born, Gemma popped out -- literally
and landed on the floor. After getting her out of the sack and cutting the cord,
she was very limp and I arched her to remove fluid from the lungs,
but we had to put her on oxygen and we worked with her for about a half hour
massaging the back of her neck to get the blood flowing to her brain.
Tim determined her heart was strong, but there was little life in her otherwise.
I bundled her up and took her, Kerry and the other 8 pups back home.
By 6 AM, Gemma was showing good strength and I felt hopeful that she would pull through.
However, I could not get her to suckle on her mum or even on a bottle.
Her throat, larynx had evidently swollen and I had to force feed her
during the first 30 hours.
As a result, she did not get any of her mum's colostrum and therefore
no "natural vaccination" from her mum.
My regular vet whose main practice is in reproduction, thinks she picked up
e-Coli going through the whelp and because she didn't get the colostrum, she
couldn't ward off the bug.
Just under 48 hours, her foot turned black and a day later her tail - it happened very fast.
Back to the emergency clinic and Tim put her on an anti-biotic and massage,
and the foot got a bit better and then about a day later within a 3 hour period,
the foot and end of her tail went really black.
My regular vet changed the anti-biotic to a stronger one to kill the e-Coli and it did
stop the progress of the bug, but the tissue in the foot having died, was not salvageable.
I stopped the massage because it was only helping to spread the virus rather then get
circulation into the foot. The end of her tail was cut straight away at about 5 days old,
but we left the foot and watched the progress to make sure the red vein in her leg
didn't continue to climb toward her body -- it didn't.
At 12 days of age, the rear leg was amputated and a bit more of the tail that didn't
get cut far enough initially. The vets take the whole leg off because otherwise
the dog ends up trying to walk on the stump and it gets worn and bloody.
She was given her first vaccination at 4 weeks of age due to her not having any colostrum.
She had her 2nd vaccination at 7 weeks and will get her final vaccination at 10 weeks.
At 7 weeks of age, Gemma is now starting to run around and be very vocal and
it is obvious that she is going to be fine.
She is about 2 weeks behind her litter mates both mentally and physically.
The vets have always remarked about how strong her heart is;
she has a very strong front leg assembly and has had from 6 hours old.
Thus, swimming should be good for her and give her a natural freedom
to do what the breed was meant to do -- retrieve birds.
Her aunt Darby is a pro at duck retrieving and her owners are avid duck hunters.
During duck season two years ago, Darby retrieved 61 ducks over a 2 day weekend.
So Gemma will be learning her duck retrieving craft from a pro.
Click Here
to see the dogs' website - then click the "Story Page" menu tab link
to see Darby's Duck Shooting Journals.
Cheers, Sy
Tuesday April 29, 2008
Hi again,
You might want to add a note to Gemma's story --
Gemma's pedigree name is Lorgair Deer-Abbey.
I can't help but smile at the play on words --
maybe she will become a Dear Abby for dogs.
The litter was named after Scottish Abbeys.
Cheers, Sy
Wednesday April 30, 2008
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