Maureen’s Hope – Pup Gets Immediate Medical Attention-Adopted!

Another fairy tale ending!

I will write more about this poor little pup. Originally, I saw her photo and promised to take her out of a VERY high-kill shelter that euthanizes every Wednesday morning, 7:30 AM sharp – period. Volunteers scramble to pull the dogs and transport them to rescues. Abby with New Beginnings Rescue had dibs on this pup. When I arrived to pick up Stargazer, I noticed the pup and mentioned to Abby that I was hoping to get her. She quickly gave me permission to take her! I was thrilled. Our Foster, Karen, (shown left) immediately took little Hope to the vet the next day, and oh boy, was she sick. Fever, ear infection, loaded with every worm possible, lethargic, and pneumonia. What else could go wrong? After 3 days of hos-pitali-zation, thanks to a donation by Maureen to cover the expenses (Gisele the Collie Girl’s Mom) Maureen’s Hope is back home with her foster family, and Karen is nursing her back to health. Hope will be available for adoption once she can undergo full vetting. Update Posted on Facebook 04/01/10: Easter Sunday, Karen drove Hope to me in Deltona to be treated by Dr. Kim of Val-u-Vet. At this point, with little improvement since we got her on the 17th, I’m not taking anymore chances. She should be better by now. Because Hope had a distemper shot on the 16th, and I got her on the 17th, the vet says she will test positive for distemper for 3-4 weeks. All tests that can be done will not show a strong positive for anything without doing a tissue sample from the lungs… ouch. Dr. Kim makes no promises, but will do her best…. We will have to wait and see, and make her comfy, continue antibiotics, fluids, treat the congestion, possibly do an x-ray, administer breathing treatments (boy this sounds familiar) and pray. There’s nothing more we can do. When she said she will make no promises, I sank… but I really love Dr. Kim, she’s the best. Very Very Smart Lady and to the point. Thank you so much for your help Maureen. Karen, cross your fingers. This is your first foster, and it sucks. Stargazer and Maureen’s Hope were crate mates on the transport, and Stargazer is fine, but she’s several months older than Hope. Clearly whatever is wrong with her happened before she was turned into the shelter. Clearly she was turned in because she was sick. And the people who hate rescues should be shot. This pound would’ve put her down without hesitation, and her own people tossed her out the window like a half-eaten bologna sandwich. Who’s left cleaning up the mess do I dare ask? I will be completely gray by months’ end. For real-time updates on Maureen’s Hope, join us on Facebook. Update 04/02/10: You know when your kids want something, and you say no… they stick out their lower lip, bat those big cow eyes at you and whimper… please? Well… it works! Here’s an email I just received from a lovely young lady, Erica: Dear Gisele, This might sound silly, but maybe to some one with the same heart you will understand. The night I joined the border collie rescue site for Southeast US is the night I couldn’t sleep. I saw the posting for Hope, nameless at the time, and was sick with worry not knowing that there are so many wonderful organizations like yours out there. The next day I did everything I could to get up there and save her myself but my attempts were futile because I’m in college and my classes wouldn’t allow me to get there in time. I worried all day until they called me to tell me at 4pm that she was safe! I was so happy I went home and right away posted this good news on the site. After that I heard nothing about her, not knowing where she had gone or who saved her. Then last night while I was looking around the rescue sites I saw a familiar face, and her name was Hope, the perfect name for her. This being said, I live 40 minutes away from your establishment and I was hoping maybe you would give me the privilege of meeting her. She stole a little piece of my heart and just meeting her would mean a lot to me. Sorry this is such a long message and I hope reading this isn’t wasting your time, I just feel a strong connection to her and feel like it’s almost fate our paths crossed again. Please let me know if it’s possible for me to visit sometime next week. If not I understand and I hope some one is able to give her a great home! God Bless Erika Fontana I was 19 years old when I got my first Border Collie in Houston, Texas. Found her under a shed at Herman Park Medical Center, and lived happily ever after! Here’s a Photo of Karen’s son and Hope after she started to show some improve-ment. Update 04/07/10: All eyes are on little Hope. Foster Mom, Karen is on a much-needed break, so when Dr. Kim called and said I could bring Hope home, I really wanted her to stay in foster care. And guess who held their hand up in the air saying, “Pick Me!” Erica! So, Erica has little Hopie for several days so she can meet the family. Hope will not be available for adoption, (even though Erica wants her yesterday) until she can be spayed, receive all of her boosters, and micro-chipped. I believe Hope has spent a total of 7 days in a hospital-like setting. Hopefully the medication she has received does the trick. This two steps forward, three steps back makes me nervous. Update 04/15/10: Little Hopie was returned to Karen even though Erica had a hard time letting her go! But having Hope for the weekend gave her parents a chance to get to know the pup. Erica’s mother (shown left) is very dog-savvy and assured us that Hope was getting better, but still not 100%. Once with Karen again, we wondered how much more time is it going to take for this pup to be well? It happened! Yesterday, Karen was thrilled to see a dramatic improvement in the pup. I look at this photo, and think that Hope is saying, “Yeah, they love me!” In the meantime, today, Erica has returned to take little Hope to her parents’ house as a permanent foster with the intent to adopt. I hope to insert a blurb from Karen about her first foster experience, and how she felt when Erica came today to pick up Hope… trust me, it’s going to be good stuff!!!! In the meantime, I must share with you a comment that Karen made to me just an hour ago while we were on the phone. Quite emotional about Hope’s adoption, Karen exclaimed, “Gisele you saved her.” Huh? Let’s break this apart, shall we? Hope was rescued by shelter volunteers who crossposted their plea for a rescue to get her out before she was to be euthanized. Hero #1. Hope Master coordinated the transport, and paid for any boarding fees and transport fees, along with an army of awesome people. Collective Heroes #2. Abby with New Beginnings Rescue agreed to take the pup. Hero #3. Karen volunteers to foster, and really wants a pup. She drives little Hope all over the place to two different vets several times, keeps me updated, gives the pup a bath, keeps me updated, gives her the meds, and keeps me updated. Hero #4. Maureen gets a call from me (I’m frantic) and graciously funds Hope’s vet bills. Heavy Hitting Hero #5. Everyone at the Val-u-vet in Sanford and Deltona who keep an eye on hope, and puts up with phone calls from me, Maureen, and Karen, are saints! Collective Heroes #6. And then, there’s Erica. Wow. With a photo like that, do I need to keep writing? This beautiful young lady just doesn’t give up. She parades little Hope in front of her parents, and says, “CAN I KEEP IT?” And now, Erica wants to get into rescue, big time. Hero #7. Erica said to me over the phone last week (which I posted on Facebook) she believes the reason why we have a connection is because I was just like her when I was young, and she’ll be a lot like me when she gets older. Flattery will get you everything my dear! All I did, was show up at a transport, point my finger at a sick little pup, and tell Abby, “I want that one.” If Hope were to see me today, she might bark at me, because we have not really met (except one day at the vet when I cuddled her). It takes a network of awesome people to save one dog. P.S. If you read the article that I posted, No Good Deed Goes Unpunished, some do not believe that Erica should’ve been approved to adopt Hope. Those are the people that believe my style of rescue is “weird”. I’m starting to like being weird a lot! Erica? Can’t wait to work with you!