Author: One Planet Rescue

ADOPT OR FOSTER-TO-ADOPT

Dear friends and supporters in or near Chicago:
There’s a lovely lady that’s at the Anti-Cruelty Shelter that we want to rescue, but we can’t until we have a foster family (or foster-to-adopt) that can take her in. Please let us know if you can help us help her.
“Hi, I’m Harlow! Named after the famous actress because I’m so beautiful. Don’t you just adore my ears? I’m a calm and gentle 5 year old terrier/pit mix. I’m house trained, and I love to play with toys. I previously lived with children, adults, and dogs. I’m friendly with them all and also well socialized with strangers. I once had a knee injury and have some residual arthritis, but you wouldn’t know it by how I run and play. I also have some seasonal allergies that make my skin itchy, but it’s well-controlled with medication. I’m looking for a family that can give me all the love – and toys – that I deserve!”

If you’re interested in adopting Harlow, please help us learn more about you/your household by filling out our online application: http://www.tinyurl.com/AdoptMeNow

Lucky is currently being fostered in Santa Clarita, California
Meet Lucky, a smart, healthy 2-year-old pointer/lab mix who is full of love and energy! Barely out of the puppy stage, sweet Lucky gets along well with dogs of all sizes and adores humans. His favorite things are playing with other energetic pups and hanging out with his family members. Lucky is attending basic obedience classes to help him reign in his excitability when he greets people at home and also to cope with his anxiety when he’s left alone. If he has to be left alone for long periods of time, a midday walk from a dog walker or half a day of doggie day care would be essential for him. Also, because of his hunting breed and young age, Lucky pulls on leash when he sees birds and squirrels he wants to chase. Training is the answer to all of these issues, but luckily he’s super smart, eager to please, and learns quickly. He just needs a chance to know that someone loves him enough to get him the training he never had. Lucky is a happy guy looking for his forever family (foster-to-adopt is also an option) and is sure to be a great, faithful companion. He loves people, and dogs of all sizes. He would make an amazing playmate for your dog. Best in a home with children over 12 years old (due to his energy level). Might you be the family Lucky is waiting to love? If you’re interested to meet Lucky, please help us learn more about you/your household by filling out our online application: http://www.tinyurl.com/AdoptMeNow

Domino is currently being fostered in Palo Alto, California
Interview with 8+ years old Domino who was rescued from a shelter down in Southern California:
If I were a food I’d be: a twinkie
Favorite place I visited: a comfy bed!
Favorite thing to do: shadow my people
Car ride or walk: Love being Chauffeured around, but a nice walk will top it off!
Beach or mountains? Either…if it’s on TV
Favorite day of the year: any day I am with you
Motto: what happens on the couch, stays on the couch
What’s your number? 408.431.6954 . Call me!

If you’re interested to meet Domino, please help us learn more about you/your household by filling out our online application: http://www.tinyurl.com/AdoptMeNow

Meet our latest rescue, 4 years old Airedale terrier mix “Ludwig”. His dad suffered from a stroke recently and is no longer in a position to take care of his 87 pounds baby. It must not have been an easy decision for him, but folks he knew who had helped take care of him in the last month were keeping him outside and bottom line didn’t have room for another dog, so he reached out through social media. We offered to help as their next option was to put him up on craigslist! I personally met Ludwig and his dad yesterday. Ludwig is such a sweet dog! His fur was matted and he needed a bath. He let me brush him for hours, then a nice bath and nails filed. He later settled in with his new foster mom and her 2 senior dogs. Stay tuned for more as Ludwig will be up for adoption soon! 

This precious Teddy Bear desperately needed our help. The shelter had named him Trucker and he’s listed as 7 years old. He was picked up as a stray in Apple Valley (in Southern California) with his buddy Lui Lui, and they both ended up at one of the highest-kill shelters in California. Trucker and Lui Lui were in danger of being put to sleep and unfortunately by the time we got there Lui Lui was euthanized. Thanks to Reeva, one of our volunteers who lives in the area, she went to meet Trucker and later that day we asked to pull him. Trucker’s luck turned and Goli, who is also fospicing another one of our rescues named Rocky, stepped up to foster him! 
Volunteers Elaine, Cheryl & Michele each took on part of the transport and Trucker was transported to Aptos where he settled in at Holly’s place last night. This morning he will be driven up to Sonoma County to live with Goli and rest of her beautiful pack.

Thanks to everyone who pledged to save this sweet bear’s life! Without your support, this baby would have been euthanized.
Stay tuned for more after our teddy bear settles in!

https://www.gofundme.com/f/HermioneAmp

Hermione is one of many special needs cats One Planet Rescue managed to bring to the USA. She was born with radial hypoplasia and cerebral hypoplasia. Other than being a little wobbly and having twisty legs, these conditions never effected her and haven’t stopped her from acting like a normal playful kitten. Recently she has been having seizure-like episodes. These episodes seem to be from an issue not related to her radial and cerebral hypoplasia. They’ve caused her to chew at her paw three times in the past year. The last time it was to the point where she had chewed down to the bone. At this point the vet and her mama Shealah decided that the best thing to do would be to amputate the limb. They advised against a partial amputation because it would take longer to heal and there was the chance she would chew at it again. It’s been over a week since the surgery and she has healed beautifully and is already hopping around like before. She’s doing great now and we’re working on figuring out what these seizure-like episodes are so we can prevent them ❤ 
The surgery was expensive and we are hoping we can help Shealah with it. Please consider helping: https://www.gofundme.com/f/HermioneAmp

“Princess” preparing for the fireworks!

On October 31st, 2018 I came home to find Dastan dragging his back legs and unable to stand. He had lost all use of his back legs suddenly and appeared to have hind-end paralysis. Dastan had always been a special dog. When I adopted him from Iran in 2015, his rescuers told me that as a puppy, they had found him without use of his back legs but that he had learned to “bunny hop”, using his back legs together as one unit. They assumed that he had sustained a spinal injury, but over time had healed and adapted. Even with his bunny hop, he was the fastest dog I’ve ever seen and could easily out run my athletic german shepherd and all of the other dogs at the park. It was as if he had turned his “disability” into an advantage! So when I came home from work in October to find him partially paralyzed, I was shocked and devastated. 

I immediately called my vet who told me to rush him to the ER for imaging. From our local ER, we were told we needed to get him a MRI as soon as possible to see what was going on. The closest MRI for animals was in Los Angeles, about a 1.5 hour drive from our home in Santa Barbara. I drove Dastan there in the middle of the night, singing to him the whole way to calm him down. I was terrified of the unknown, there is nothing worse than not knowing what’s wrong and feeling helpless. Once we got to Access Animal Hospital, Dastan was immediately placed under the care of Veterinary Neurologist, Dr. Malte Schwartz (who was absolutely incredible) They performed an MRI which showed inflammation of his spinal cord. There were no structural issues, and no signs of prior spinal trauma. His laboratory work came back inconclusive as well. He was put on a high dose of prednisone, bed rest, and constant monitoring. 

What happened to Dastan is still a mystery. What is most likely is that he either had a meningitis type autoimmune response that attacked his nervous system called GME, which is impossible to diagnose without an autopsy and has an extremely low survival rate OR he sustained a spinal cord stroke. The next few months were hard. He got much much worse before he got better. He lost 15 lbs (1/3 of his body weight), his leg swelled and got infected from his immune system being so depleted from the prednisone. We honestly didn’t know if he was going to survive, much less walk again. It was beyond difficult to see him in the state he was in. My once strong, feisty dog was now weak, in pain, and constant discomfort. The medical bills were well over $10,000 and many people would have euthanized. Luckily we have pet insurance through @healthypaws which allowed us to make decisions for Dastan’s life instead of seeing euthanasia as our only option, but even so I can see how many people would view euthanasia as the most compassionate choice. But I could see in Dastan’s eyes that he wanted to live. He’s always been a fighter, and I knew he wasn’t ready to give up.

I did everything in my power to keep his spirits up and give him the best fighting chance I could. I refused to make him stay inside on his bed all day. I knew he loved walks and being outside and with our family. I bought him a wagon so that he could still go on “walks” with us. We went to the park and laid in the grass under the sun every day, even though he couldn’t play like he used to. We spent so much precious time together, and the moments became even more meaningful because I didn’t know how many of them we had left. I researched GME and natural remedies that I could implement to help his body fight. I fed him a human grad anti inflammatory diet, put him on supplements to help his body wean off the prednisone, and did passive movement exercises with him every day to help keep the little muscle he had left. I refused to give up, because he refused to give up. 

It was grueling at times. I was picking him up and bringing him outside every time he had to go potty (which was even more often because of the prednisone). I was cleaning and wrapping his infected leg wound 2x a day. He had multiple vet appointments a week, some all the way in LA. I was making all of his food from scratch for every meal. It was a lot. It was physically and emotionally draining, but I would do it all over again for that dog, for any dog. Dogs love us unconditionally and would do anything for their humans. They deserve us to fight for them. And, in Dastan’s case, the fighting worked! The day he stood on his own was a day of celebration for our whole family, and shortly later he took his first “hops” again. We knew he was going to keep fighting until he got back to his normal. 

It was still a long road of recovery ahead. We started him in canine physical therapy at @atlasrehabilitation where he began strengthening his atrophied muscles again. He went 2x/week for about 4 months, and now is maintaining about 1x/week. He does all sorts of fun exercises and even gets to walk in the hydrotherapy tank! For a dog who hated the water, he’s been very brave and now even enjoys it. One of the most amazing things to watch through this whole process is how Dastan could tell that the vets and therapists were there to help him. He usually has extreme separation anxiety and trust issues specifically with men, but he could feel the energy from all of all of the people who helped him along his road to recovery, and learned to trust them. 

I am happy to report that after 6 months, Dastan is back to himself. He has gained all of his weight and muscle back along with his feisty attitude and spunk. His coat is glowing and I feel like he’s healthier than he’s ever been. I’ve switched both of my dogs over to a home-made human grade diet. They’re loving it and looking and feeling great! Dastan not only survived, but learned to walk and even run again. I’m so happy I didn’t give up on him! 

I am sharing Dastan’s story for a few important reasons. Firstly, because I want to encourage pet owners to not give up on their animals, even when the prognosis is unknown or poor. Dastan is a living example that if your pet wants to fight, we owe it to them to fight alongside them. I understand that it can be a huge financial burden, which is another reason I’m sharing this. It would have been much more difficult for us to invest so much in Dastan’s survival and recovery if we could’t afford it. I HIGHLY recommend investing in health insurance for your pets. We have a Care Credit card that we use for medical emergencies only – you don’t have to pay any interest if you pay it off in 12 months. Most pet insurance companies reimburse you after your claim is approved, so what we do is pay for emergencies like this one with the Care card, and then submit our claim to @healthypaws and they reimburse 90% of the cost of the emergency vet bill. They have also reimbursed us for 90% of Dastan’s physical therapy. @healthypaws has been great for us, but there are other pet insurance companies that are great too. All together, it’s been about $12,000 that we’ve spent on Dastan’s vet bills, meds, and physical therapy but we’ve only paid about $1,200 out of pocket. Having this option could literally save your pet’s life. 

If Dastan never walked again, we would have done everything to make his life happy and comfortable. We are so grateful that he miraculously healed from this mysterious incident and know that it’s not always the outcome. Our pets don’t have voices, so we have speak for them. I think there are times where euthanasia is absolutely the most compassionate thing to do, but if you look into your pet’s eyes and see that they want to fight, please know that miracles DO happen. Your pet could be one of the 10% that survives their condition. It’s your responsibility as their care taker to give them the chance to fight. 

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