Squidgy's fight for her life.

[Awesomemomm]

I adopted Squidgy, my American Pit Bull Terrier, a few months ago. The woman who gave her to me seemed so trusting and nice. She had MANY dogs, but told me Squidgy was all vaccinated and good to go. Woohoo! I thought, she was perfect, we got attached. She like no other dog I ever met, I always heard pit bulls were so mean and vicious. Yeah, shes a big baby =)

Then she started getting sick. Not eating, puking, and she was soo dehydrated her fur was falling out in clumps. It happened so quick, She was fine the day before.  So I brought her into the vet early, they said it was Parvovirus. Now this is my first dog, I had NO idea how serious this was. So my options were take her home with medicine and make her drink or keep her there for triple the cost. There was nothing I could do, I didn't have the money upfront, so I had to take her home and try myself.

I fed her gatorade through a syringe but she fought me. She was rapidly getting worse. Then on a whim, my friend from Cafemom came to visit me. She also has an American pit and knows a lot more about dogs then I do. She drove 10 hrs to meet me, we planned it before Squidgy was sick. I swear she was sent by God. Anyway she paid to have Squidgy get on the IV and get the care she really needed. I had to carry her in she was so weak. The vet said she wouldn't of lasted the night without the IV, and only had a 25-50% chance even with it.

We went to see her everyday, the first two days she wouldnt even touch any food. She looked so thin and sad. I truely didnt think she was going to pull through it. But the 3rd day we went in she nibbled just a little bit of food for us and drank some water! Big step.

The fourth day I went in she was sooo much better, it was amazing. She ate a bunch for me and the vet was very happy. So she got to go outside for a bit and I knew she would pull through. This morning, the 5th day, I called when they opened, as always, and they said to come pick her up! The vet said she hadn't te as well and seemed she'd do better with me being at home then sitting in there =).

The nurse jokingly said she was glad I wouldn't be harassing them anymore LOL. I called 3-4 times a day and visited every day. They said they had never had a person come and visit their animals while they were in there! Can you believe that??!! They all didn't know how to take me haha, but they love me now.

Squidgy ate a bunch, got a bath, and is happily sleeping on my lap as I type this. All of this because of a $30 shot. I would've got them the first day I got her.

Now I wrote all this to send a message. Rescuing a dog is not taking them from a bad situation into another bad situation. Dogs are EXPENSIVE and the shots and upkeep with them are MANDATORY. These animals have serious feelings, they can feel hurt, depressed, and just give up hope. Not all stories have happy endings. I know now I have to set up a vet savings account, just in case. We're even going to try to get Squidgy on our insurance.

Please just get them vaccinated, take them to the vet routinely, and if you can't, DON'T GET A DOG. If your giving out a dog, even if they wont take them without their shots..please don't lie... It's an awful thing to have to go through.  

Spread it around!!

[harteri]

Jul. 24, 2009 at 1:14 PM

Im glad squidgy's doing better April!

[USAFamily]

Jul. 24, 2009 at 2:08 PM

I am so glad your baby is home! And healthy!! Good for you for rescuing her!

[jbirchard]

Jul. 24, 2009 at 2:54 PM

i have a survivor of parvo too. my marley almost died from parvo when she was just 12 weeks, i to was lied to about vaccinations. 6 years later and shes doing great. im sorry for your troubles and im so happy your squidgy doing better.

[flower_momma]

Jul. 24, 2009 at 3:15 PM

What a sweetie! She looks almost exactly like my boxer/spaniel mix, Cricket. They could be siblings (there's a picture of Cricket on my homepage so that you can see the uncanny resemblance). When I adopted Cricket, she had mange and horrible food allergies and I nursed her back to perfect health. People really don't realize that dogs are so much work and need to be protected against diseases just like we do. Its so sad to see your animals hurting I am so glad to hear that Squidgy is doing better.

[MrsMouse]

Jul. 24, 2009 at 4:14 PM

I'm glad Squidy is doing alot better..

[sgr123]

Jul. 24, 2009 at 4:59 PM

My sister just lost her puppy to parvo.  I'm so glad Squidgy pulled through.

[aurorabunny]

Jul. 24, 2009 at 7:28 PM

Bless you.  Squidgy is beautiful and thanks for using her bump in the road to share a very important lesson with others.  There is no love like rescued pittie love. :)

[mandy_moo]

Jul. 24, 2009 at 7:52 PM

thanks for sharing... that must have been so hard to see your baby go through that. I love my doggy babies like children.

[mnt_2_b_mommy]

Jul. 24, 2009 at 8:23 PM

I got my DH a beautiful 10 week old A.P.B.T for christmas in 2006. 2 days later we found out she had parvo. We did not have the money to treat her, but my DH was so upset about it we decided we would find a way and have her treated. She went into the vet hospital and 4 days later came out good as new. They had given her a 50% chance of survivial. My husband's aunt and uncle had just put down a cat of theirs due to health problems so they knew how sad we were, they gave us a few hundred dollars to put towards her care. We were so grateful to them! Shiloh is now almost 3 years old and such a sweetheart!! Good for you for adopting a pit bull! They are such wonderful dogs!

[luvmy002girls]

Jul. 24, 2009 at 8:38 PM

It's stories like yours that remind that my husband and I are doing the right thing. Our daughters talk about a dog everyday, we def. want one. However we are just not there financially. Thanks for reminding me were doing the right thing in waiting till we are better off financially to care for one.