BEAUFORT, SC......I received a note from a Special Ed. Teacher begging for help for her 11-year-old Maltese named Sugar. She explained he had not been eating or drinking for the last four days and was now lethargic and in terrible pain. I explained that we only do medical abuse cases and gave her some names of Vets that I felt would help her figure out what the problem was. The conversation went on until I realized this person had no financial means to help her pup.
I explained that for me to help her dog, she would have to sign him over to make medical decisions on his part. I also explained that if Sugar had not been abused, she would get him back. The bill I would pay, and she could pay me back monthly with whatever worked for her. The owner took Sugar to CVRC in Charleston, where they were waiting for him.
When Sugar arrived, they thought he might have ingested something and had an obstruction. Test results did not show an obstruction but did show he had an inflamed intestine and gallbladder. Sugar also had a raging urinary tract infection. This poor pup felt horrible and did not want to do anything but sleep. Antibiotics, pain meds, and fluids were started to get him feeling better. After several days in the ICU, Sugar's white blood count began to come down, and he became more active.
The ICU Team diagnosed him with Gastroenteritis, Cholangitis, and a Urinary Tract Infection. Any one of these conditions would have caused Sugar to feel awful and not want to eat or drink. If his condition had gone on much longer, he would not have made it from lack of food and water. His Owner reached out before a worse fate happened.
During Sugar's CVRC visit, he was also diagnosed with a slight heart murmur which they believed was more from the fluids he had been given and a mass on his upper canine. All the paperwork was given to the Owner when we delivered him back to her good as new. She was informed the growth needed to be taken care of, and his heart would have to be checked periodically to make sure the murmur did not worsen.
Over the next month, I started getting texts from the Owner asking if we could look after Sugar for various reasons. We were fine with that to make sure Sugar was still feeling well. The texts soon became more frequent and frantic during all hours of the night. On more occasions than I care to admit, we had to pick up Sugar from her apartment since the Owner was on medication and was unable to drive.
It soon became apparent there was a medication issue because of a back injury. The owner then had to leave to take care of her Dad. Every week, it was something else. In the final text, the Owner wanted to relinquish Sugar to us permanently. I was over-joyed since I knew this was not going to end well for Sugar and grateful the Owner realized this was in Sugar's best interest so she could take care of herself.
The mass on Sugar's mouth had not been taken care of and had grown since he was at CVRC. We now had to have it surgically removed with a specialist since it was into the mandible bone and needed to be biopsied. Before Sugar's surgery, we had our Cardiologist do an Echo of Sugar to ensure he was stable enough for his procedure. All was good with the Echo, and Sugar was cleared for Surgery with Dr. Rachel Seibert.
Dr. Seibert did Sugar's procedure late Tuesday afternoon. Sugar did fine and was stable during the entire surgery. We call Sugar a cheap date since it took him a long time to recover from the drugs, but he is doing great now and can finally eat soft food.
We didn't initially plan on taking Sugar in permanently but soon realized there was a lot more going on with his Family that put Sugar at risk. We are so glad that we did because now this special older dog has a chance at living out the rest of his Life free of suffering from the ongoing medical problems he came to us with.
Please, help us with Sugar's extensive Medical Bills to help more pups like Sugar get the medical care they need when they need it most.
