November 2017
Celine: November 2, 2006 – November 2, 2017
In early June Barb left a message that there was a Sammy girl in a Coeur d’Alene shelter. By the time we called back, Barb had picked her up. The shelter said they called the number on her microchip record and got a woman who said “My husband got her in the divorce. I don’t know where he is and I don’t want the dog.” The next day Barb met Kathy in Ellensburg and Celine came to live with us. She was a small Samoyed in stature, but weighed in at 61 pounds. She was so fat she couldn’t clean herself, and the accumulated urine caused an ulcerated vulva. When the vet techs shaved her to treat it, everyone in the clinic listened to her scream for over ten minutes. X-rays of her hips showed the worst we have ever seen, and we put her in a carrying harness so we could help her stand. She had dry eye in her right eye for so long she was nearly blind on that side. She was in such rough shape we didn’t tell people we had her because we really didn’t think she would make it.
But with time, Celine improved. We gave her NSAIDs and painkillers to make her comfortable, and she had an accelerated course of Adequan. Every day we cleaned around the ulcer. Several times each day she got drops or ointment for dry eye, which she really appreciated. Celine is the only dog we’ve had who would stand next to me and wait for me to realize she wanted drops. We trained her to eat green beans, which all our dogs get, and her weight began to drop. With that and her increased mobility, she was able to clean herself and the ulcer healed. The Adequan helped her enough she began trotting in the yard, and finally started running after the other dogs. She became a happy dog, didn’t growl as much, and ended up as a happy 47-pound Sam.
Around the middle of last month she started vomiting bile, sometimes with a little food. About two weeks ago, she began leaving part of her dinner, and eventually stopped eating some meals completely. We tried an appetite stimulator and it worked for one day. Ultrasound showed her stomach was full and we thought she might have a blockage. Some of our dogs have been goats, but Celine never ate anything inappropriate, which made us think it was not something she had eaten. The next day we took her for x-rays, and then barium x-rays, but nothing showed up definitively. That left exploratory surgery, which we did on November 1st. It showed what we feared, tumors on both her liver and pancreas. The cancer had thickened the pyloric valve and her stomach wouldn’t empty completely. The vet thought she might have a few good days remaining, but it wasn’t to be. The next day she faded so fast we took her to an ER vet and let her go. It was November 2nd, her 11th birthday. Despite the outcome, Celine was a success story. She knew she was loved and appreciated during her last days, and she must have felt so much better until only a few days from the end.
Since 2001 we have had 186 dogs in rescue. Celine was the first who had cancer while living with us. For that we’re quite fortunate. Our successes are displayed at www.nwsams.com/rescues/. Here are thumbnails of all the dogs.
Late in October we were contacted by a out-of-state breeder who asked for our help. She had placed a dog in the Portland area, and because of circumstances needed to find it a new home. It’s a part of rescue we don’t mention often. It doesn’t matter if the dog came from a reputable breeder or a puppy mill; our job is to ensure it gets to a good home. We’re here for the dogs, period. Naturally we hold good breeders to a high standard, and expect them to take dogs back most of the time, but sometimes “stuff happens” and the dog’s welfare is most important. Don’t forget we have about three dozen homes waiting, and many are repeat adopters we have known for years.
Last month a new backyard breeder in Brush Prairie began advertising. He bragged that he had saved a Samoyed bitch from a puppy mill and now had puppies available. There was great concern in the community. Not long after that his web page changed to say he had a zoning problem and all his dogs were for sale. We can’t pay for dogs, so all we could do was tell people we had good homes if they could get the dogs for us. At this moment he is still advertising breeding stock for sale, so we’ll expect more dogs in rescue in coming years. It’s a cycle that never ends.