A Pug Rescue

" MARK OF THE BEAST" (aka Puppy Miller the "Devil") BRANDED INSIDE HER LEFT EAR "

I got a call from the Cumberland County Animal Shelter in Fayetteville, NC today. Ann the Animal Control Officer said she had a little pug girl that had been picked up in a local parking lot. She continued to tell me she has her vulva sowed shut! In her opinion, she needed veterinary care right away! I called our rescue representative Robyn and told her the story and she left work immediately to go and save Bunny. LORD...... somebody had sewed up her VULVA !!!!!!!!!!! She could not pee! Drops of urine dripped out as Robyn picked Bunny up at the shelter and went straight to her veterinarian

The Vet examined her and her insides seem to have grown together! This poor girl! The vet stayed late, put her to sleep to try to get her opened up a little with something called a probe. I am waiting to hear back from her to find out if she was able to pee. If not she may need tons of reconstructive surgeries to try to get her opened back up in there.

At 6:45 pm, the vet called. The vet said she will have to stay overnight and we would just have to wait and see if this helps.

I thought I had heard and seen it all, but this truly is horrifying to ever imagine this is possible!!!!!!!!!!! It makes me sick to ever think someone could do such a horrific thing................. Robyn

Lord add this little girl in your prayers. Robyn said they think she is only around 3 years old.

I will be posting some after pictures of Bunny when she is feeling better. Chris

From Robyn: I called the vet right at nine o'clock this morning and they said he would have to call me back. I have not heard anything yet, so I am hoping no news is good news. Oh God, I hardly slept a wink thinking about that little girl alone in the cage, being in one strange place after another. How could anyone do that to an animal? She is so very, very sweet, too.

My vet still thinks she is someone's valuable pet that wandered away and did not get her sutures out when she should. I do not believe it for even a moment. If that was your valuable pet, the first thing you would do is call your local animal shelter repeatedly.

Dr. Jim Watson just called me, he says she is loving life, eating, drinking, no pain, Robyn

HOWEVER, she is not making any attempt to squat whatsoever and urine continues to constantly drip out of her. He says the stricture in her vulva must be blocking the flow, but he was honest enough to say that he feels any more work to be done on her is out of his realm, he is too scared he will make her worse.

He suggests she go to NC State Vet School or Cary to the surgeon there. He does not want to be the one to cut her open. I am going to go buy some diapers (that is what he said to do) and pick her up and bring her home. Whatever you want me to do; I will do, and just let me know, Robyn.

I am making plans to pick up Bunny from Robyn tomorrow. I am going to try and get her to a specialist, I'll keep you posted, Chris

I met Robyn this morning and picked up Bunny. I went straight to my vet Dr. Harling.

He examined her and said she has a hernia and an inverted Bladder! He has seen this in male, but ONLY once in his lifetime he has seen this in a female. The veterinarian said he has seen things like this mostly caused by so much hard pushing and delivering so many puppies!

Her tits were hanging so I thought I would see if anything would come out. Another thing we saw was BLOOD, and a Black Tar looking liquid, which looked like diarrhea coming from her tits! MAJOR INFECTION.......... She has a fever too.

Therefore, she is now in the hospital receiving IV Antibiotics and fluids. He did say there is a small chance the bladder surgery could fail but he is hopeful every thing will go fine...

He hopes that by the first of the week he will be able to perform the surgery on her to remove the hernia, fix the bladder, and spay her. The antibiotics will help with the major mastitis in her tits.

I will keep all of you posted as I find out more. The main thing Bunny needs now are prayers! She is a very sick little girl! Major thanks to our rescue angel Robyn for helping to save her life!

One of our rep asks”;Any idea how long she was sewn shut or why”???????? Our vets reply; ”No it's all a guessing game at this point"

Also please add prayers that we will be able to find the funding to do everything Bunny needs!....................... This is going to be a hard long recovery for Bunny as we take one step at a time............... Chris

Robyn worries: Believe me, I would like to find the monster in Fayetteville who did that to Bunny and sew their genitals shut. With great pleasure, I would. I can only think that they did that to try to cram one more litter into her uterus and when it did not take, they dumped her in a parking lot.

Thank God we got her to the specialist in time, he seems very optimistic to get the uterus out, and the bladder tacked back up. I am constantly praying for her. She is BEAUTIFUL in every way, she loved me, Don, my son, my pugs, my cats, and she is lovely. About a three year old, fawn, did not even bark or whine about her condition. Wants to survive badly and make someone a very happy pug owner. Robyn

Chris replies: Yes Robyn, She is a very sweet girl. Never complained one bit on the way to the vet, nor during all the tests he did on her. While in the waiting room at the vet's office, I opened the crate door and talked to her, while rubbing her head. She seems to crave the attention. I looked up on the counter at the jar of doggie cookies. I grabbed a handful and started giving Bunny a cookie or two. I think she really loved them and could have eaten the whole jar. I would doubt she ever had anything so good in her lifetime. Except for all the loving and attention, you gave to her while you had her Robyn. Thank you and Don for donating the cost of her vet bill down there and another $150.00 towards her surgery!

Thank you also Carol and Col Magers for donating $100.00 toward her surgery as well. We have such a terrific group of pug lovers here. I am so blessed to be a part of this organization. I hope she will be able to come home next week.

He is not sure what he is going to encounter when he gets in there, so he is trying to explain to me how he wishes to take care of her. Therefore, it all depends on what has got to be done first.

At some point he said he will have to reconstruct the diaphragm strengthen the abdomen muscles. He said if things are worst then he expects he might have to do that today.

Dr. Harling said his plans this morning is to do a couple surgeries at the same, which are to remove the hernia, reconstruct the bladder, and tack it in place, then spay her at the same time.The surgery went well and hopeful she will get to come home tomorrow. Chris

Bunny is doing much better today. The antibiotics have combated the infection of the mastitis So Dr. Harling is going to start with surgeries today. This is going to be a long, expensive process, as we have to take one-step at a time here. Dr. Harling is not sure what will be worst until he gets in there!

BUNNY HAD HER SURGERY YESTERDAY AND IS FEELING BETTER, but is still a very sick little girl. She was able to come home from the hospital. Lana Applegate is our best ICU foster parent so she is now taking care of Bunny's needs. Chris

Ok, we are home, she has checked out the yard and the kitchen. She is now resting in her crate with a nice toy, new chew hoofie, and just finished some cookies! She is really hacking- I hope this is not catching! Tend to think and hope it is from the anesthesia tubing from her past two surgeries and all the infection she is fighting off. I have dosed her with the homeopathic rub on her throat. She is now relaxing with her head on her toy as a pillow and watching me.

Here is what I understand from the explanation we received today and what you were seeing when you took her to Dr. Harling. She had severe mastitis- bloody pus oozing from her breasts, which has improved from the massive antibiotics they put her on when she was admitted. She had a uterus filled with fluid that had gone into pyometra and needed to be removed ASAP.

She has a cyst on her urethra connecting a kidney to her bladder and that is what was protruding and blocking her cervix. A needle was inserted into the cyst to drain it and it was flushed with tetracycline. This will be rechecked on Monday with the possibility that this procedure will have to be done again then. The bladder had torsioned (twisted upside down) but it is now properly positioned, this was done during the spay.

She still has a hernia in her diaphragm, probably causing internal organs to push upward against her lungs and it will not allow her to breathe as well as she should. When she has recuperated from the spay and the cyst Dr. Harling will repair her diaphragm

All of this so some idiot " blank...&*)#@* blank..blank could make the big bucks! There that felt better!! Lana

8:32 pm update:

Her breathing has improved- still gags after she drinks but the cough seems to be much less and the nose is not running. She is however draining from her bottom big time. It is clear and smells like diluted urine. I had rubbed that homeopathic stuff on her neck and will do it again before bedtime.

10:39 pm update:

We have just had a celebration as Bunny squatted and peed!! That called for extra loves and a cookie with squeeze cheese on it!! Lana

She has a great activity level and her appetite is like a true pug! HA! Lana

July 25, 2005 UPDATE:

Bunny went back for her check up today. She is healing nicely and the incision looks great. However, Bunny is back in the hospital, regretfully the cyst has filled up with fluid again. Bunny is at the vets today having another cyst drain and tetracycline flush! Dr. Harling said we would do this again Friday. If this does not work, she will have to have extensive surgery to remove the cyst (on her urethra) and repair at least part of the hernia. This will not happen, until after Labor Day so she has time to heal from the first surgery to try and open her up as well as the spay and bladder repair surgery.

Due to miscommunication with the vet tech, I found out that this is not a diaphragmatic hernia but a peritoneal hernia in her lower body caused by- you guessed it- too many litters and no intervention in difficult births. Her cough is probably due to two intubations in 3 days but he is looking into that too. She looked very worried when I went to leave even though I hugged her and promised to be back in the morning. Actually, leaving her and then picking her up should give her some confidence that she is not being abandoned - at least that is what I told myself. Lana

July 26, 2005 UPDATE:

Bunny is home eating her cheesy cookie. She had two procedures to drain the cyst-one yesterday and one this morning. The plan is that if there is not a vast improvement she will have a drain put in on Friday and it will stay there for quite awhile.

The scary thing? I was afraid that the cough sounded like heartworm and unfortunately, I was right! She is very heartworm positive! Why is this scary? Doing any, operations on a HW positive dog can lead to severe complications and even death on the table! Those awful things are floating around and have infested the heart weakening it and making it susceptible to failure during a procedure not to mention that dead ones could cause clots in the lungs!!!

Bunny is very fortunate to have made it safely through all that she has had done in the past week- it made us all a bit weak in the knees when we thought about the possible consequences. She needed such emergency treatments right away before anyone could ever think of doing a heartworm test.

Anyway, she will not be able to start HW treatment until we get her through this cyst problem. We have been very lucky on this one! Lana

July 27, 2005 UPDATE:

The cyst is totally full of fluid again this morning - this means that Bunny will have to have the drain put in on Friday! Darn!! Oh Well.

Otherwise she is happy and having fun. She comes to her name now and her tail wags alot! Lana

July 29, 2005 UPDATE:

Bunny is resting after having the drain inserted into the cyst. I will spare you the gory details but suffice it to say that it is not something you would parade in public!! They had described it to me and I still had to take a deep breath when I saw it!! ,,,,,,,,,,,,Keep your fingers crossed and Bunny in your prayers that this works. We go back August the 9th to have it checked. Lana

August 1, 2005 UPDATE:

Moving that string they inserted to move back and forth does not seem to bother her too much. However, I have found that once a day is not enough as it gets stuck. Therefore, I am doing it 3 times a day, and every time I move it, stuff just pours out!! I put her in the tub and pour some Hydrogen Peroxide on it and then tug! The main problem is that so far it is still pretty big, hope that will change.

Ever since we got Bunny, she always had her tail down and straight. Today she lifted her tail for the first time and tried to curl it she as wagged, what a wonderful site to see! Bunny continues to feel better with each passing day. Lana

August 6, 2005 UPDATE:

Lana had to go out of town and took Bunny with her. Bunny had been doing well with the temporary drain until late last night. I spoke to Lana about 11:15 pm last night and she said the fluids stopped draining. She would not eat her dinner, and started running a fever. She gave her a baby aspirin and that seemed to help.

This morning she got her to eat very little, and just enough to get her Clavamox in her. Lana said Bunny still looked weak this morning, and was not acting right.

Lana and I were scared to death Bunny might die! So I left home early to go pick up Bunny and take her to the ER vets at Reidsville Veterinary Hospital, because her case was so bad, no one would know what to do except them. I should have had flashing ambulance emergency lights on my car because of was in a hurry to get there and get Bunny back. I was pulled over by a state trooper and received a speeding ticket for 78/55....on my way to get her.. If this saved her life it was worth it!

They have admitted Bunny back in to the hospital today. They said the temporary drainage does not work anymore. Things like this happens he says, sometimes they get blocked again. Nevertheless, we were trying to get her stronger before having to do surgery again so soon. This is not possible now.

Dr Z the vet on staff at Reidsville Veterinary Hospital at the time called and said she was not urinating at all, and was a very sick girl today. The fluids had built back up badly inside the cyst again. He went in and removed 300 ml of fluid. After 30 seconds, it was filling up again. So tonight, he is going to put in a better drain tube made of rubber. He is hoping this will suffice long enough to get massive antibiotics in her until Monday to undergo surgery once again.

Monday they will operate on Bunny again in hopes to remove the cyst. Keep those prayer going! Chris

August 7, 2005 UPDATE:

Bunny is still in the hospital and is feeling better today. When I called to check on her they said she was holding her own, but is still very sick. This little girl has a very strong spirit and will to live. She has starting eating again, and feels better getting the fluids drained several times a day using the rubber tubing. She will be having another surgery tomorrow in hopes to remove the cyst. Please keep her in your prayers! Chris

August 8, 2005 UPDATE:

Dr. Harling called me this afternoon. He said this cyst does not get better no matter what he has tried. He said this cyst is connecting to her kidney, bladder, and urethra. The fluids and mixed with urine as well and other fluids.

This morning he and Dr Kinnarney put her under and ran dye into her kidneys, bladder, and urethra hoping to find out where the blockage was. Dr. Harling said her kidney and bladder was working fine however, the dye “never” showed up in the cyst. So he inserted a cathedra, filled it was the dye and nevertheless he still could not see the dye, nor the blockage.

Dr. Harling said there is a blockage somewhere he has to find it in order for Bunny to be better. So tomorrow morning he will surgically go in to explore and find where this blockage is and fit it, “IF” she can be fixed he said…………..

At this point, he said she has one of two things wrong.

Ectopic Ureter or Diverticulum’s. He has done surgery before for each problem and this can be fixed. However, Bunny could end up with urinary incontinence. Chris

August 9, 2005 UPDATE

Bunny gets a veterinary team of experts determined to find out what is wrong with her today.

“Thank You”

David E. Harling, DVM, Diplomate ACVO & ABVP and Joseph H. Kinnarney, DVM, MS at the Reidsville Veterinary Hospital, in Reidsville, NC for your love and dedication to saving our pets!

I was on pins and needles last night, and I guess I was up and awake every hour watching the clock. So when Dr Harling called me at 10:16am this morning with an update, my heart was skipping beats while he told me what they did and what they found.

These fantastic veterinarians put Bunny under today to do “exploratory” surgery. They were determined to find out just where the problems were inside, which caused all of Bunny’s problems.

What they did was dissect Bunny from the vulva up the cyst, urethra, into the abdomen! She did have the Diverticulum’s on the colon. To their surprise, she had been “STITCHED UP SO BADLY” inside and on one side of her colon, causing her insides to grow together! I ask Dr Harling if a vet would have stitched her up like that and so badly inside, he replies he would not think so. ………………………………………….

Dr. Harling said he and Dr Kinnarney have repaired her inside today, the surgery took 1 and 1/2 hours. He has a cathedra in and it will remain for at least a week. Bunny will have to remain in the hospital for at least one week as well, he said. Dr. Harling remains very optimistic that Bunny will be fine!! Chris

August 10, 2005 UPDATE

Dr. Harling said Bunny is doing OK today, however she is a bit depressed. But he said this was normal for what all she has endure the past few weeks. The cathedra is working fine as well. He has her on IV fluids and pain medication. Bunny no longer has that huge cyst on her backend !!!! HURRAY Chris

August 14, 2005 UPDATE

Just to update everyone to let you know Bunny is getting better with each passing day! There is no doubt that she will recovery fully from having her organs sewed together inside. At this point, they still are not sure if she will be incontinent or not, only time will tell us all that…... Bunny remains in the hospital on pain management and the cathedra. Nevertheless, from now on she will be healthy, happy, and loved for the rest of her life.

I do apologize for a late update, but I have been working dog shows every day since Thursday, here at the Greensboro Coliseum. The Carolina Kennel Club here in Greensboro, NC had special medical clinics being held at the Greensboro Coliseum., They ask if Pug Rescue of NC would like to have our representatives help these vets. In return, these would donate to help us with Bunny’s vet bills. A special “Thanks” to the Carolina Kennel Club, these veterinarians, and our reps who helped with this special fundraiser event: Kay Lackey, Roseann Lintz, Kathryn Smith, Kim May, and I also helped. We were able to raise $ 310.00 !!!

Listed below are the wonderful caring veterinarians who donated to help us with Bunny vet bills

Heart Clinic held by: Dr. Kathleen Brown, D.V.M, PhD Diplomate (Cardiology)

www.gsk.com email: kkb7797@gsk.com Research Triangle Park, NC

Hearing Clinic held by: Dr. Susanne Hughes, D.V.M. Durham, NC

Eye Clinic held by: Dr David Harling, D.V.M. Reidsville, NC

I am sorry I have not been home nor had access to my computer to keep you updated. However, I saw Bunny's vets every day there, and recieved a daily update about Bunny. Bunny's doctors were the vets in attendance at these shows in case something happened to a dog while it was at these shows.

This was wonderful opportunity, and gave me lots of relaxed time with each Dr Harling and Dr. Kinnarney those 4 days. I had lunch with Dr Kinnarney and while talking about Bunny and the surgery, the happy look on his face was priceless, while explaining to me how pleased he was to be able to find and fix the problems Bunny had. It was truly amazing to both of Bunny's doctors what they found when they got inside! In addition, nothing short of a miracle that Bunny even survived to get this far.

The animal shelter found her and got her to us just in time. Thank you Cumberland County Animal Shelter! The good Lord blessed and provided us with the best veterinary team available in the country in my opinion, and all of you who have donated the much-needed funds and prayers Bunny needs to make it through this. I will keep the updates coming on Bunny until she has fully recovered. Chris

August 19, 2005 UPDATE:

Bunny continues to recover nicely. They took the cathedra out today. She is happy and alert! For the next couple days they will watch her closely to make sure she is squatting to urinate. We are hoping she will be able to come home on Monday. If everything goes well they hope to start her heartworm treatment in a couple months when she is stronger. Chris

MORE UPDATES ON PAGES 1 2 3 link from the bottom of this page.

Thank you for the much needed prayers and funds for helping us save her life! I would like to share this with all of you who helped to save me. This was sent to me from one of my Heroes, Aldytha

"If Not For You"

I would've died that day if not for you.
I would've given up on life if not for your kind eyes.
I would've used my teeth in fear if not for your gentle hands.
I would have left this life believing that all humans don't care
Believing there is no such thing as fur that isn't matted,
skin that isn't flea bitten,
good food and enough of it,
beds to sleep on, and someone to love me,
to show me I deserve love just because I exist.
Your kind eyes, your loving smile, your gentle hands,
Your big heart saved me...

You saved me from the terror of the streets and the pound,
Soothing away the memories of my old life.
You have taught me what it means to be loved.
I have seen you do the same for other dogs like me.
I have heard you ask yourself in times of despair "Why do I do it?"
When there is no more money, no more room, no more homes
You open your heart a little bigger,
stretch the money a little tighter
Make just a little more room...to save one more like me.

I tell you with the gratitude and love that shines in my eyes
In the best way I know how
Reminding you why you go on trying.

I am the reason ...
The dogs before me are the reason...
As are the ones who come after.
Our lives would've been wasted,
our love never given
We would have died if not for you.

A Fayetteville Case of Animal Cruelty Illustrates the Harsh Realities of Puppy Mills