Where do I start?
After we had officially agreed on adopting Chanel (see previous post), the cocker spaniel rescue, Second Chance Cocker Rescue, we had previously been working with called us about a little girl who'd just come in and was almost ready to be listed on their site. They were being extremely picky about who she was homed with as she had had a VERY rough start to her life. At only one year of age she had already had the life of so many stray dogs that are picked and thrown into the shelters.
After hearing her story, we made the "mistake" of looking at her pictures... it was all over after that!
Our hearts broke and we knew we had to take her in. Did I mention she's a red head like me?? :)
Here's Penny's story.
Penny was found wandering the streets of Lancaster, CA, picked up by animal control and brought to the local shelter. Her fur was so matted up they couldn't even do a full exam to get to the dog underneath and her toe nails were so long they had begun to curl underneath to her foot pads, indicating she had been caged. The rescue heard about her and rushed over to fight against her immanent death row fate. Poor Penny was full term with a litter of 7 puppies and the shelter did not want to adopt her out because of it. They were insisting on aborting and spaying her. After battling with the workers, the rescue won and the shelter agreed to release Penny to them... but not before fully vaccinating her.
The next day Penny went into labor and gave birth to 7 beautiful puppies. Unfortunately, the puppies had been exposed not only to Kennel cough inside the shelter but all of the vaccinations as well. Vaccinating pregnant dogs or cats causes neurological problems with the babies and lowers all their immune systems just when they need to be as strong as possible.
Despite constant 24 hour care, the puppies grew weaker and weaker as the days went on. By the end of the week, Penny had lost all of them.
Luckily for her, she had a huge support system. She was taken home into the care of a wonderful foster mom, treated for her kennel cough, and shown what was probably her first experience of what love and affection really was.
When Penny came to our house, it was apparent she was special. She immediately came over and batted her long eyelashes at us and blinked her sweet puppy eyes. There was no alternative to saying yes to this girl. Despite all her hardships, she was ready to love.
Fast forwarding about a week after she came home to be with us, we woke up one morning to one of Penny's ears being bright red and swollen. Knowing that cocker spaniels can have severe ear infections, but not having any experience with one, I called the vet and made an appointment right away. He took one look at her ear and knew the problem. Penny has had so many past untreated ear infections that her entire ear canal is now built up scar tissue which has calcified. It's basically turned to bone inside her canal. The treatment? Surgery. She will most likely have to have what's called an Ear Canal Ablation.
This poor dog. She has gone through all this traumatic drama to now face a very big surgery to have her ear canal basically removed and cleaned out. It's going to be a long road ahead, but I'm glad we're here with her.
I'll be keeping this blog updated with Penny's progress and what we learn about her ear problem as we go along.
Penny is at home enjoying life and being fattened up with lots of treats and attention. She LOVES her sister Chanel and they do everything together! She has been an incredible teacher for Chanel in learning how to be a dog! I'm so happy they're together and able to keep each other company while we're at work during the day. To see both of them chase each other around the backyard and finally be able to act like the puppies they both missed out on, is a wonderful, wonderful thing!
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| sweet Penny with her feline sister, Phoebe |
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