Rescue ~ Rehab ~ Rehome

Lacy Lee

Heather
Sorry to inform you that we had to put Lacey down today. She was really bloated about three months ago. The vet did exploratory operation and Lacey had cancer all over her liver. We brought her home for a couple of months until today we had to make the decision to put her down. We enjoyed the 2 years we had to spend with her and I know she enjoyed us and all of her freedom and mouse hunting with Tag which she enjoyed greatly.   We will miss her. The Reigle Family

Douglas (Nero)

I would have sent this or called yesterday, however I didn’t want to put a damper on your lovely Mother’s Day… my sweet Douglas passed away early yesterday morning… I’m still in shock… he had been doing SUPER… up until  Saturday  late afternoon when he started to decline… rapidly… by late night he was unable to stand or even sit up… I took him to the hospital in the wee hours of  Sunday  morning… the kicker is the fact that test results showed his kidney function levels (which the vet and I assumed were the culprit) were STABLE… even lower than the previous week, so what we were doing was working!! My boy was beating the kidney disease… however his white blood cell count was in the low 800’s, and 3K is normal… so he had something very critical going on… an infection that had turned septic, sudden onset of pneumonia, whatever the case may be we’ll never know… aggressive treatment and recovery (if he survived at all, which was not promising as he declined even further in the short time we were there, so much so that he couldn’t even hold his head up, was shaking, went into shock…) would be a tremendous strain on him… his prognosis was dire given his grave condition… after his last bout of kidney issues I promised my boy that he’d never again be hospitalized, so I opted to forgo treatment and allow his suffering to cease… forever… that poor guy just couldn’t catch a break… he sailed through his lar-par surgery in February and could FINALLY breathe again, only to be stricken with this darn kidney disease, which we actually got under control finally… and then to suffer this… something was just bound and determined to take him from me…

 

I love that man so much, words cannot express… I am SO VERY thankful that he was mine… I’m forever indebted to Haven to Home for bringing such a special gentleman into my life… especially Linda Hafer, who facilitated the adoption and our initial meeting, and to Vanessa for welcoming Douglas into your home until he could join his forever and final residence… I’m just sorry I didn’t have that boy from day one, so he could have had the kind of life he so deserved… but I take tremendous comfort in knowing that he finally was able to experience the “good life” for what time he did, and I know he loved every minute of it as much as, if not more than, I did….

 

Thank you all… for all that you do, but especially for my precious Douglas-

 

Gretchen

Titan
Titan was a very young male, lab mix. He was a charming fellow who bonded very quickly to someone who shows him kindness. He was found as a stray and just found a kind human who cared for him until H2H could take him. He evaluated very well--just loves to give kisses and get belly rubs. Sadly after Titan was neutered he passed away in the middle of the night for unknown reasons.

Flash
Flash was a great dog who literally spent all his time with me, following me up and down our stairs all day, riding in the car, always near me. We gave him a great last 9 months which he lived to the fullest including chasing the first spring robins today on our morning walk. Thank you to H2H for bringing Flash into our life! ~Sharon

Dharma
1/16/12:

Hi Marjean~~ Hope all is well with you. I'm afraid I have some very sad news from here. Our sweet little Dharma became suddenly ill last Wednesday evening. She started vomiting after eating her dinner, and continued to vomit through the night. I took her to the vet on Thursday, and they tried to do bloodwork, but couldn't draw blood from her veins. They gave her a shot for the nausea, and hydrated her, and said if she wasn't eating and better on Friday to bring her back. The vomiting stopped, but she wouldn't eat, which was very unusual for her (I boiled chicken for her, and she didn't want that either). So we took her back to the vet Friday morning. They were able to get blood this time, and the results showed her liver functions were way too high. They recommended we take her to Northeast Pa. Referral Hospital for an abdominal ultra sound, which we did immediately. They did x-rays, bloodwork, ultra sound, etc., which showed her liver was very enlarged. They thought it was a liver infection, and began treating her for that. They recommended they keep her to give her antibiotics, keep her hydrated, etc., And they wanted to do another liver function test in 48 hours. Friday evening, the doctor sounded cautiously optomistic that she would be okay. But unfortunately our little girl didn't improve. They did another blood test Sunday morning, and found she was getting worse. The doctor called us Sunday morning to tell us the next step would be biopsies and possibly exploratory surgery in her abdominal area...and there was no assurance she would come through this. Her treatment was also being hampered somewhat by her heart. Our vet had told us before that he detected a heart murmur, and that was causing her to retain fluids in her treatment now. We told the doctor we would get back to her shortly...Dave and I needed to discuss where to go from here. We both agreed that we didn't want to put Dharma through any more poking, prodding and testing. She was too good a girl to have to go through any pain now. We told the doctor we would be there shortly, and wanted to be with Dharma while she was euthanized. Dharma went to sleep very peacefully, with us right there with her. Dave and I are, of course, very upset at losing our sweet girl, and I know you are also. But we're trying to hold on to the fact that she always had a wonderful life, and was always with people who loved her and took very good care of her. So I'm so sorry to be sending you this sad news. I didn't want to call you, because I knew I wouldn't be able to talk to you right now. I'll be in touch sometime soon, and maybe we can get together for lunch... Take care... Joanne