From Helpless to Heroine - One Dog Fighting the Odds

FROM HELPLESS TO HEROINE –

One Dog Fighting The Odds

Written By: Mark Bernazzoli

Tater and Tot…two joyful, loving sisters who should have been enjoying the love of their owners and each other in the prime of their lives.   Should have…

But, they weren’t.  They were found and rescued from a short-term, high-kill shelter in Ohio after living a rather shabby life as outdoor dogs, bearing litter after litter of puppies, bereft of the kind of love canines crave and, frankly, need to thrive. 

This particular shelter, though it searches tirelessly for foster homes, lacks the funding needed to give little more than food, water and a cage to those dogs unlucky enough to find themselves there.  The folks, here, at Last Day Dog Rescue (LDDR) were not only fortunate, but privileged, to collect Tater and Tot and number of other dogs during a rescue mission to shelters all over Ohio.  These abandoned “babies” were all fortunate, too; all except for Tot.

LDDR took these little refugees to a veterinary clinic where each was examined, vaccinated and given a clean bill of health, then deposited in loving transitory homes to begin their wait for foster and adoptive families.  It is LDDR’s policy to keep siblings dogs together, whenever possible, and over the next two days as Tater flourished, Tot began to decline.

She was seen by a second vet, given fluids and medication for a high load hookworm count and a staph infection on her abdomen.  Late that night she started passing bloody diarrhea.  That’s when her "new family" recognized her biggest health issue – canine parvovirus.   They took Tot to a vet in Milford, who confirmed their fears -- her reading was low.  Factoring this in with the hookworms, the staph infection, and being underweight, her prognosis was sketchy, at best.  Yet, she struggled on.

Within twelve hours, her white cell count went from 3,000 to 600, and her weight from 12 lbs. to 7lbs. in just a few days.  Anti-nausea meds weren’t working and her liver was malfunctioning.  She was listless, in great pain and losing blood as the parvo ran its course inside of her.  

Fourteen days, two blood transfusions, numberous courses of anti-nausea drugs, and ‘round-the-clock care brought Tot back from the depths.  She now greets folks as they visit in her isolation room, her tail wagging, her head resting up under an arm when held.

Tot’s not out of the woods…not just yet, but she’s fighting, and she wants her caregivers to know it.  But at least her diagnosis, once bleak, is now bright, pending several weeks of rest, re-nutrition and continued recovery.  

Tot is due home from the vet in just a couple of days and along with her healing body and ever-brightening spirit come thousands of dollars in medical bills – bills we need to pay…somehow.

“So where’s the happy ending?” you ask.  Well, that chapter hasn’t been written yet.  You, however, can help us to write it.  Please, consider carefully what you can do to help – through prayer or by spreading the word of our continuing mission, through a charitable donation or by fostering/adopting this brave little girl when she’s fully well again.

Neglect and disease do their very best to break these innocents, every day, but there is nothing so strong as the heroic Spirit of a Dog, any day.  

To ChipIn and help little Tot, please click HERE.