Happily Ever Afters

Sometimes we all need to hear about the Happily Ever Afters.  When things are tough, it always helps to remember why we work so hard to save homeless animals.  The reward of seeing them with their new family, or in their new home, makes the work and the heartache of rescue worth it.  

This is Amber the Pointer mix with her girls.  She's a happy dog, and her family says everyone who meets her just loves her.  

And this is Scout (now named Henry) the Beagle/Shih Tzu/Brussels mix with one of his girls.  He's a very snuggly 43 pounds!

And then there's Casey.  He is loving his life with his best friend Noel the cat.  Casey started out being rescued after being hit by a car and having both of his front legs crushed.  He had steel plates put in his legs, and had a long recovery.  He also had to recover from a tick-borne disease and heartworms.  It was expensive to save him, and a lot of work to nurse him back to health (thanks Leslie!), but he's so happy in his new life and it makes all of the work worth it.

These stories give me hope.  And right now, I need hope.  I have to believe that Shelby will pull through and get her own Happily Ever After too.  Last week Shelby tested positive for heartworms, so she'll need several months of heartworm treatment before she'll be ready for adoption.  That made me sad for her, because heartworm treatment is painful for dogs.  But then to make matters much worse, she started having seizures on Wednesday.  I knew she had a history of seizures before she was turned into a shelter, but she had not had any problems until Wednesday.  I woke up when she had a seizure while lying next to me, and immediately called the vet.  Shelby then went outside and crawled under the deck.  I couldn't get to her so left her there until it was time for her vet appointment.  I still couldn't get to her and she just stood there looking confused but wouldn't come to me so I finally had to break out the wood lattice under the deck to get to her.  We went to the vet and they started her on seizure medicine.  Then a few hours later she had another seizure.  And after the vet closed, she had three more seizures, each one worse than the last.  She had convulsions, emptied her bladder and bowels, did paddling of her limbs, and ended up stumbling around in circles, running into things and doing "head pressing" where she would press her head against a wall for long periods of time.  At midnight we went to the emergency clinic where they gave her more drugs.  She stayed there and I went home alone.  She had more seizures at the emergency clinic, and between seizures is still not herself.  She's temporarily blind and still confused and hurting.  We aren't sure if the seizures are caused by a brain tumor or something else, but at this point we just have to wait and see.  She may come out of it with no ill effects, or she may end up with permanent brain damage, or she may not make it.  I'm worried about my girl.  I so much want her to have her Happily Ever After.