Loving and Sweet is the best way to describe Gretchen.  She has a terrible fungal infection all over her body but still manages the biggest smile we have ever seen on a dog.  Her body was so stressed out by having puppies that every ounce of nutrition she had went into nursing her pups. The pups have a rescue that is looking after them while we get this sweet Mama healthy again.

We have flushed out the infected joint and gotten rid of as much of the microfilaria that were found in her infected joint area. She also was started on a heartworm protocol to kill microfilaria in her body. The biggest issue is staying on top of the infected joint, along with the fungus she has.

Gretchen has the biggest smile we have ever seen on a dog.  When she gets nervous, she will give you a smile that is so big that you are not sure if she is snarling at you or smiling.  We have now realized she is smiling.  In fact, she smiles so big that it causes her to sneeze. CVRC warned me when she first arrived that she had a fantastic smile that could be mistaken as aggression until you learned what she was doing. 

Gretchen goes out of her way to put a smile on your face, so you do not hurt her.  Because her pups are not with her now, we forget the hardship she had to endure to keep her pups alive at her own expense.  She has been with us for a couple of weeks and is still skin and bones.  Once her milk dried up, there was nothing left on her fragile body. We have a tiny puppy we rescued, but she is still in quarantine, so these two are not allowed to play.

I was shocked by how much Gretchen's ER Bill was.   She didn't have major surgery, but her procedure, along with her critical care, while she was getting stable, is something I was not prepared for.  Please, Donate whatever you can so we can help more pups like Gretchen get the medical care they need to Survive and Thrive.