Waffles
|
|
It is with a heavy heart that we let everyone know that our dear Waffles passed away on Sunday night. For our new followers who may not know Waffles, CARES rescued her on November 4, 2014. She was from a litter of 5 found under an abandoned porch just above Floyd Co. A Good Samaritan found the whole litter, one already deceased, the other four alive. Unfortunately one had already been given away by the time CARES was contacted; however, we took in the remaining three puppies. Vets estimated that the litter was born around 9/23/14.
Life was never kind to Waffles from the start. She was immediately treated for sarcoptic mange and intestinal parasites which she recovered from quickly. Before she was even three months of age, she had to undergo surgery to have a Histocytomia (benign tumor) removed from her shoulder. Once old enough, Waffles underwent spay surgery and the remaining vaccinations and treatments necessary for adoption. We thought she was healthy and ready to find her new home.
Unfortunately, at the same time, Waffles had been showing some signs of lameness in her front and rear legs so she was put through testing to determine the source. The vets determined that she had Panosteitis (an inflammation of the long bones) and had severe bouts of Hypertrophic Osteodystrophy which caused swollen, hot limbs that even had to be drained. As luck would have it, we didn't have time to absorb all these new problems before Waffles begin to have other issues. Through testing and ultrasound, we discovered Waffles to have Polycystic Kidney Disease. PKD is a slowly progressive, inherited, irreversible kidney disease that results in renal failure. This disorder is often present at birth. Multiple small cysts slowly grow in size, causing the kidney to enlarge dramatically. The cysts replace the normal kidney tissues, while kidney function continuously declines. Our vet told us that she would be lucky to live until her second birthday.
So with Waffles chance of adoption slim to none given all her medical issues, CARES decided to discontinue taking her to adoption events (she hated them anyway because of the long time in a crate and her necessity to urinate every 30 minutes). The decision was made to let her live out her life on the farm, keeping her as comfortable as possible until such time comes where her levels increase, her weight decreased and her quality of life declined. The vet assured us the signs would be obvious...but until then Waffles would live a wonderful life. And she did. Aside from the frequent urination and low body score, it was hard to tell Waffles was anything but a happy puppy! She ran and played with the other rescue dogs, guarded over the litter of pups that would come in, never bothered the horses and spent much of her day lounging on the sofa in the customer lounge when Jeanie would do office work. When visitors came, you could always find Waffles close by getting attention or sitting and doing "paw" for a tasty treat!
Through DNA testing, we were able to learn that Waffles was 1/4 Aussie, 1/4 Bulldog, 1/4 Staffie and 1/4 mixed beyond two generations (so you couldn't tell). Whatever her mix, everyone who came into contact with this sweet girl could attest that she was the most loving, gentle, wonderful dog they ever met.
By late Saturday, Dec 26th while Jeanie was at an adoption event, John noticed Waffles was not acting quite right. She was in continual motion, walking aimlessly around and even got stuck in the corner once. By morning she seemed much worse - you couldn't stop her motion and she appeared to be using walls and objects to guide her - like she was having vision issues. Picking her up was a feat, she was screaming and crying out, legs continuing to paddle like she was walking...but we were able to rush her to the vet. Upon intake, her temperature was 106 degrees. Her white blood cell count was very high. The left side of her face had no response. The vet sedated her, started her on intravenous fluids and several different medications. Motor seizures were immediately suspected and granulomatous meningeoencephalitis (terrible brain inflammation) based on clinical signs. Poor Waffles was bilaterally blind and had several lesions on her brain which were affecting her cerebral cortex as well as other parts of the brain that controls functions. She was sedated so her body could rest. We were going to give her time before trying to bring her out...in hopes that she would not come back seizing...her mouth already bloody from her biting her tongue...the plan was if she came back seizing, we would put her under again.
Long term prognosis was not good but CARES and the vet agreed to give her 24 hours to see if we could see improvements...but the vet was adamant that we needed to be prepared to put her down.
Around noontime they brought her out of sedation. Waffles was not normal but she was not seizing. She was given a bag and a half of fluids, loaded up on Baytril, Banamine and Polyflex and was going to stay there. The vet asked us to come back at 5:30. If she was doing okay, he was going to release her to come home as we had already expressed our desire that her last days not be in a hospital setting. The plan was that we would bring her back first thing Monday morning to check CBC levels and reassess motor functions at that time.
Unfortunately upon our return visit to the vet at 5:30, Waffles was significantly worse. She wasn't completely comatose but she was in a stupor - completely unresponsive to any type of stimuli. The vet said she had significant brain damage - on multiple sites on the brain - and survival rate was, at best, a week. The vet continued to try several things including different meds - all to no avail. We knew all quality of life was already gone...so we made the heart wrenching decision to humanely euthanize her while under sedation. At 7:01 Sunday night, Waffles was put to sleep...and for the first time in her short life she was finally free of the multitude of illnesses that plagued her.
Waffles body is being cremated and will be kept at the CARES Ranch.
CARES would like to thank the staff of Culbreth Carr Watson Animal Clinic for everything they did for Waffles throughout her 15 month life span...and for going above and beyond by opening their clinic on a Sunday and treating this precious girl.
Waffles, you may be gone, but the memory of your being such a grand puppy will live on in the hearts of everyone who met you...run free beautiful girl...
Life was never kind to Waffles from the start. She was immediately treated for sarcoptic mange and intestinal parasites which she recovered from quickly. Before she was even three months of age, she had to undergo surgery to have a Histocytomia (benign tumor) removed from her shoulder. Once old enough, Waffles underwent spay surgery and the remaining vaccinations and treatments necessary for adoption. We thought she was healthy and ready to find her new home.
Unfortunately, at the same time, Waffles had been showing some signs of lameness in her front and rear legs so she was put through testing to determine the source. The vets determined that she had Panosteitis (an inflammation of the long bones) and had severe bouts of Hypertrophic Osteodystrophy which caused swollen, hot limbs that even had to be drained. As luck would have it, we didn't have time to absorb all these new problems before Waffles begin to have other issues. Through testing and ultrasound, we discovered Waffles to have Polycystic Kidney Disease. PKD is a slowly progressive, inherited, irreversible kidney disease that results in renal failure. This disorder is often present at birth. Multiple small cysts slowly grow in size, causing the kidney to enlarge dramatically. The cysts replace the normal kidney tissues, while kidney function continuously declines. Our vet told us that she would be lucky to live until her second birthday.
So with Waffles chance of adoption slim to none given all her medical issues, CARES decided to discontinue taking her to adoption events (she hated them anyway because of the long time in a crate and her necessity to urinate every 30 minutes). The decision was made to let her live out her life on the farm, keeping her as comfortable as possible until such time comes where her levels increase, her weight decreased and her quality of life declined. The vet assured us the signs would be obvious...but until then Waffles would live a wonderful life. And she did. Aside from the frequent urination and low body score, it was hard to tell Waffles was anything but a happy puppy! She ran and played with the other rescue dogs, guarded over the litter of pups that would come in, never bothered the horses and spent much of her day lounging on the sofa in the customer lounge when Jeanie would do office work. When visitors came, you could always find Waffles close by getting attention or sitting and doing "paw" for a tasty treat!
Through DNA testing, we were able to learn that Waffles was 1/4 Aussie, 1/4 Bulldog, 1/4 Staffie and 1/4 mixed beyond two generations (so you couldn't tell). Whatever her mix, everyone who came into contact with this sweet girl could attest that she was the most loving, gentle, wonderful dog they ever met.
By late Saturday, Dec 26th while Jeanie was at an adoption event, John noticed Waffles was not acting quite right. She was in continual motion, walking aimlessly around and even got stuck in the corner once. By morning she seemed much worse - you couldn't stop her motion and she appeared to be using walls and objects to guide her - like she was having vision issues. Picking her up was a feat, she was screaming and crying out, legs continuing to paddle like she was walking...but we were able to rush her to the vet. Upon intake, her temperature was 106 degrees. Her white blood cell count was very high. The left side of her face had no response. The vet sedated her, started her on intravenous fluids and several different medications. Motor seizures were immediately suspected and granulomatous meningeoencephalitis (terrible brain inflammation) based on clinical signs. Poor Waffles was bilaterally blind and had several lesions on her brain which were affecting her cerebral cortex as well as other parts of the brain that controls functions. She was sedated so her body could rest. We were going to give her time before trying to bring her out...in hopes that she would not come back seizing...her mouth already bloody from her biting her tongue...the plan was if she came back seizing, we would put her under again.
Long term prognosis was not good but CARES and the vet agreed to give her 24 hours to see if we could see improvements...but the vet was adamant that we needed to be prepared to put her down.
Around noontime they brought her out of sedation. Waffles was not normal but she was not seizing. She was given a bag and a half of fluids, loaded up on Baytril, Banamine and Polyflex and was going to stay there. The vet asked us to come back at 5:30. If she was doing okay, he was going to release her to come home as we had already expressed our desire that her last days not be in a hospital setting. The plan was that we would bring her back first thing Monday morning to check CBC levels and reassess motor functions at that time.
Unfortunately upon our return visit to the vet at 5:30, Waffles was significantly worse. She wasn't completely comatose but she was in a stupor - completely unresponsive to any type of stimuli. The vet said she had significant brain damage - on multiple sites on the brain - and survival rate was, at best, a week. The vet continued to try several things including different meds - all to no avail. We knew all quality of life was already gone...so we made the heart wrenching decision to humanely euthanize her while under sedation. At 7:01 Sunday night, Waffles was put to sleep...and for the first time in her short life she was finally free of the multitude of illnesses that plagued her.
Waffles body is being cremated and will be kept at the CARES Ranch.
CARES would like to thank the staff of Culbreth Carr Watson Animal Clinic for everything they did for Waffles throughout her 15 month life span...and for going above and beyond by opening their clinic on a Sunday and treating this precious girl.
Waffles, you may be gone, but the memory of your being such a grand puppy will live on in the hearts of everyone who met you...run free beautiful girl...