One morning in August I got up and checked my messages and saw a post that a lady was needing for someone to take a puppy that had been hit by a cable truck. Not knowing the whole story at the time I called the person that posted and long story short we took in a puppy that had been hit by a cable truck, had been badly abused, someone had tied rubber bands around her back left foot/leg and both her ears and had cut off the circulation to her ears and her foot. Her head was not right and she was infested with mites.
We named her Bernadette....
Bernadette was very tired and sick. A very nice lady had picked her up and tried to find who owned her and took her to a vet but had a busy job and other pets and needed someone to take her right away. She did not know of the abuse done to her until the vet discovered rubber bands were the cause of a lot of the swelling.
I had to keep bathing Bernadette to keep infection down where her wounds were from her sores. Her ears had deep wounds where the rubber bands had been digging into her skin.
Bernadette was walking much better on her back left foot where it was so swollen when she came to us.
Bernadette started showing signs that she remembered being abused. She would start pacing and crying and trying to run away. She must have been trying to run away when she was hit by the truck. Her eyes would look startled as if she just had to get away. The only thing we could do was to hold her and comfort her.
Katherine and Elizabeth were shunning Bernadette and later we found out why. She had Sarcoptic mange and we had to throw every single toy, bedding, rugs away as well as take all three to the vet weekly for dipping in a solution of stinky rotten egg smelling solution to rid the pests. I had to mop and disinfect daily.
After the second dipping I shaved off Bernadette's hair to make sure the dander that comes with the sarcoptic mange would go away.
We removed our dinning room table and they lived in the dinning room for 6 weeks until we had an all clear diagnosis. This was truly a very bad time for all of us.
Hundreds of dollars later........
We bought a new bed and they were very happy to have something other than a sheet and pad in a kennel.
At this point Bernadette was having episodes about once a week where she would pace as if something was scaring her. Some times we could not console her.
Bernadette started growing and Elizabeth and Katie started playing with her.
Bernadette has been introduced to the winter sweater.
Bernadette reached the age of 4 and 1/2 months, old enough to be spayed and here she is resting from surgery. We had a microchip inserted at the same time of her surgery. I have concerns about her fears and somehow she could try and run away when she is having one of her spells.
Katerine and Elizabeth are keeping a close watch on Bernadette since they know something has happened to her.
New Years has come and gone now and Bernadette does not like firecrackers or fireworks. She is actually terrified of them. For two nights she has hidden and ran back and forth trying to escape the popping. Her episodes of fear had mostly stopped until the firecrackers and then it all came back to her. I hope she soon forgets the bad things that happened to her and understands that we will always keep her safe and that we love her very much.
Elizabeth on the right always has this look on her face, even if she is happy. Katherine does not like photo shoots. But here it is, until next time....... May you always love your animals and give them care and do what is right for them.....
Until next time....
