UPDATE!

Rishu had her first round of heartworm treatments on March 26, 2009 and is doing FABULOUS! She is still on Predisone to keep her heart strong and healthy while she's battling the dying worms.

Luckily it hasn't been hard to keep her quiet. She's not much of a runner or player and normally stays close to us.

She really is a lucky, lucky petite girl, and I love her more and more each day. I can't wait until we can find her a forever home.

BTW - She absolutely hates the camera. I try to get some good pictures of her and NOPE! :)

One-Week To Go

I made Rishu's appointment today for her first heartworm treatment. It will be next Friday at 2:30pm. One week from today. I must admit that I am nervous for her. I know most dogs make it through treatment these days, but I've also heard from a few that lost some during treatment when they were so severe. She's been on the doxycycline and predinsone for about a month now so she's ready to get started. Please everyone keep her in your thoughts next week.

Also, I've made some jewelry I'm going to post on etsy for $1.00 or so a piece. They're not the most fabulous pieces of jewelry, but all the funds from those sales will go to Rishu. Once I get it up and running I'll be sure to post an update on it.

Cozy and Warm

Well I wanted to post a quick update on Rishu. All day Monday and Tuesday Rishu was having some seriously disgusting vomit. ** Warning - Gets a little graphic skip ahead if you don't want to know. It looked like super liquidy diarrhea, but was definitely vomit. I did call the vet and apparently the meds she is on can make her have an upset stomach. She told me to keep an eye on her and make sure she was eating, drinking, etc. Today she has been good and doesn't seem to be having any stomach issues.
I also wanted to post this absolutely adorable picture of Miss Rishu on her cozy, cozy bed. I just love her more and more each day.

Thank you to the lovely Shannon at Lucky Fiona, Karen, and Sandra for their generous donations this week and last.

Saturday Vet Visits

Saturdays are turning into the day where we wake up and decide someone needs to go to the vet immediately!

Well Rishu went back to the vet this morning because she has developed a severe cough. I wanted to make sure she hadn't caught kennel cough because we want her to be as healthy as possible when she starts her heartworm treatment.

Bless her heart. I was hoping she had gained some weight, but she hasn't. Oh well. At least I know she's eating. The vet examined her and determined that it wasn't kennel cough, which is good.

She also said that she thinks the cough is the result of some of the weaker worms dying off from the antibiotic, but that the treatment for that is Predisone (steroid) which she is already on. They did give her a cough suppressant for the evenings, but otherwise said it is probably good news for her.

So some good news (we hope) is that we're killing those weaker worms and it seems to be working!!!!

Keep her in your thoughts as she will start treatment is three more weeks.

Rishu's Snow Day

Rishu is really starting to warm up in our home. She's been here, what, four days now? And she is the SWEETEST girl ever.

Anyways - Georgia got blanketed with snow on Sunday. We got around 8 inches total and it was insane. Rishu LOVED it. She was soooooo happy.

This picture was taken after it started melting, but was still a good bit of snow.

An update on her status: Her ears are slowly starting to feel better. They are still very, very painful, but the ear flush and medicine seems to be helping. I really hope it was just a severe yeast infection and not ear mites or something else.

She's been taking her medications now for a few days. So we'll keep going for another three weeks. Even though most of her teeth are chipped, she's been eating fine. She'll much on the dry food, but we're also giving her some soft food too.

Overall I am very happy we saved her. You couldn't ask for a better dog. OH! And it appears she is housebroken.

First Vet Appointment

Rishu went to her first official vet appointment this morning. While we knew she is a high positive, we wanted to see how badly damaged her heart is from the infection so we took some x-rays.

The x-rays showed that her heart is 2x the normal size of what it should be. It also showed that the arteries leading into the heart were enlarged from the worms as well. The vet prescribed a steroid and antibiotic for one month before we start treatment. Since Rishu is high risk, we needed to weaken the heartworms before treatment.

The vet also noticed that all of her teeth are chipped. We had known they were bad, but I got a better look at them today. She will need a full dental in about six months after HW treatment to clean up her mouth. She has several teeth where they are chipped off at the root of the tooth making it very painful for her. She also has a SEVERE ear infection. We've put her on some ear flush and meds to see if that helps. If not, we'll do an ear culture to see if something else is going on like mites, etc.

She did eat a can of dog food today and even some dry food. She seems soooo thankful and happy to just have a nice soft bed and some human affection. As I type this she is sleeping right next to me, glued to my leg.

I also want to thank Karen H. for her kind donation this week.

Thank You

I want to thank all the people who have donated to help Rishu. This really means a lot to us and to Miss Rishu.

THANKS

Mom! - I love you!

Erika B. - You're a great friend!

Lisa H. - You ROCK!!!

Sarah S. - AWESOME!!!

Tina S. - Thanks a million!!!!

Christine D. - WOW!!! Tail wags!!

I really do appreciate it!!!!! More than words could ever tell you.