Squeeson's Greetings!

I hope everyone had a wonderful winter holiday, if they happen to celebrate one, and may your new year be filled with friendship, happiness and a healthy dose of good fortune. 2014 will be very exciting for Squee, as this is the year when she will get her surgery! We'll find out in mid-January when she'll be ready, and it may be that she has an improved and reformed leg by the end of January! This means, however, that we could really use some help. People have been amazingly generous in their donations, and if folks can keep on posting about Squee and getting the word out, I am hopeful we will have raised enough for the surgery by the time she needs it! Please click here, if you'd like to donate to Squee's surgery and medical bills.

Here's another short video of Squee at play. This time she took on Pico the Chinese Crested and Louie the Italian Greyhound at once!

We're Back!

Hello from the other side of finals and December interviews! I apologize for the quiet on the blog, but things were rather hectic over here for reasons completely unrelated to Squee and totally related to my academic career, such as it is. But! Now it is winter break, and definitely time for an update on everyone's favorite three-and-a-half-legged eskie pup!

Squee is doing well and growing like a weed. She's a bit over 6 lbs now and nearly 5 months old. We are charting her weight about once a week so the specialist can determine if she's going to be close enough to her adult size, by January, to undergo the surgery. When her leg is straightened and the joint fused, that limb will stop growing, so we need to make sure the rest of her body is pretty close to done growing, as well.

Squee uses her cart when she is outside, though the cold and snow as kept us all mostly indoors, lately. In the house, she mostly flops about as usual, but keeps to pillows and dog beds, so her arm isn't developing another abscess. Hopefully, we can keep it healthy until January, and then after her surgery, she'll be able to stand on her foot for the first time, ever, and we won't need to worry about abscesses any longer.

Here is a video of Squee playing with Pico, my Chinese Crested. I love watching these two wrestle, because Squee is the fuzziest and Pico is the opposite of fuzzy, so seeing them paired up always makes me smile.

Squee Are Thankful

For those of us living in the United States, today is the holiday of Thanksgiving. It's a day where we're meant to reflect on all of the people and blessings we have in our lives for which we are thankful. Those who are able spend the day with their loved ones, and those who are unable think on the people they miss. On this day of reflection and gratitude, I wanted to share's Squee's list of some of the things for which she is thankful:

Help given when it's needed

Technology

Good health (even if it isn't perfect)

Friends who will be ridiculous with you

Sunshine

Moments of safety and peace

Laps

Those who continue to support us and cheer us on

Thank you to everyone who continues to follow us on this journey. Have a safe and wonderful holiday!

Cart Before The Squee

The cart is back and has been modified! It no longer tips over, thanks to the addition of a wheel in the front crossbeam. It's a tad awkward, though I will say the little pillar poking up from the front does make it much harder for Squee to squirm out of the cart. She's not too sure about it, yet, but I think with some time and practice, this will be a way for her to get around until her surgery.

Which brings us to... Squee's recheck. She went back to see the specialist today, and it was great news. Her leg has fully healed from the infection, and the doctor feels that we are back on track for reconstructive surgery! We're going to leave her leg unsplinted, and unless further complications arise, Squee won't be back to see him again until she's six months old (which will be in mid-January). I am to monitor her weight, weekly, between now and then, and if her growth is tapering off, we can perform the surgery in January. If she's still growing like crazy, we'll have to wait a little longer.

Thank you so much, everyone who kept Squee in their thoughts and prayers, and thank you to Karon Stewart and Lucy Franco, once again, for the cart! Please keep spreading the word and encouraging folks to donate. We may be looking at a surgery in January, and we're a bit less than a third of the way there. I'm hoping we can still get the funds raised by the time she's ready for surgery!

Quick Update

Hey, all!

I just wanted to share a brief update on Squee and how she's doing. Her leg has almost completely healed, and so far as I can tell, she does have nerve awareness in her foot (or, at least, she pulls it away when I squeeze between her toes). So, hopefully, her leg hasn't been permanently damaged by infection!

Two incredibly generous donors, Karon Stewart and Lucy Franco, have purchased Squee a cart made by Wheelchairs for Small Dogs LLC. It's a great interim cart to try and keep Squee off her front leg. However, the company's owner, Beverley, hasn't made too many carts for dogs with front leg issues, and the cart kept tipping forward, whenever Squee was in it. So, we've sent it back to be modified and hopefully, with a couple changes, we'll be able to give Squee some extra mobility!

Squee in her cart. If I let go, it tips over. :(

She goes back to the specialist vet next Tuesday, and he'll assess the leg. We'll discuss which option, amputation or reconstruction, is most likely to e her better option at this point, and we'll go from there.

Please continue to share Squee's story! Both surgeries are expensive, and we can really use any help we can get! And thank you, once again, to those who have donated. We couldn't do this without you!

Squee Thank You #4

Once again, it's time to thank those generous folks who have donated to help Squee with her medical bills and her future surgery!

Our most recent donors are: Amie, Brendan and Jack Cousins, Meagan Spooner, Roseann Mask-Block, Juliana Acosta, Vicky and Farrell Jaeger, Cheryl Petrochko, Casper of 'Casper N Caboodle', Sandra Nadrowski, Caroline Sedlak, Nancy, Dennis and Mischa Schmit, Thuy Le, John Dimatos, Katherine Pan, Kathryn Meyer, Catherine Raley, Gale, Tibs, Jazz, Miakoda Haugh, Bernie Manley and Virginia Vasquez.

Thank you so very much!

Leg Progress

Squee went back to my vet, yesterday, for a checkup on her leg, and so far the news is good. It seems like the antibiotics and regular cleanings have the infection under control, and the wound is beginning to dry and heal. Now, we have to let it finish healing and see if her foot still retains feeling. We also have to keep her from forming another such abscess.

Squee is a fan favorite at the vet, she gets s lot of cuddles and kisses whenever we come by!

Squee remains in good spirits. I can tell her leg is still tender, but she is her playful, bouncy self, again!

Avast, Matey!

Happy Halloween, everybody! Squee's not quite feeling up to being costumed today (if you discount her going as a lamp, now she's wearing an e-collar), but luckily I have some photos of her in a halloween costume from when she visited Kathy and Mouse!

Behold, Squee the Pirate!

Scrappy Squee!

It's been a rough week, here, but at least Squee is keep her spirits up. Even with her leg hurting and her head in a "cone of shame", she's still her playful self.

Leg Update

Today, when we went to my vet to change the bandage on Squee's leg, I got my first good look at the damage that's been done to it by the infection. Besides the sore on her upper leg, she has a large, nasty open wound wrapping around the underside of her wrist.  I have a few pictures below, though I'll warn that they're somewhat graphic and you may want to skip them if that sort of thing makes you ick out.

I also called the specialist vet we've been working with to talk to him further about Squee's chances at keeping her leg. Basically, if we can get this infection purged, and it hasn't caused any nerve damage to her foot, her chances of a successful surgery are about the same as they were before, which is to say, we have no guarantees, but there is a chance we can fix and straighten that leg.

If, on the other hand, the infection goes septic, the foot begins to die or she's lost the use of her foot through nerve death, at that point, amputation is going to be our only option. If she keeps getting recurring infections, then we'll have to consider amputation as well.

For now, we're leaving Squee's leg unbandaged, and I am cleaning it and applying antibiotic ointment several times a day. She's wearing a baby sock to protect it and an e-collar to keep her from licking her leg. It's very hard to watch her try to get around, because the exact spot where she has to rest her weight on that leg is where the big open wound is, so I know walking on that leg at all has to be painful for her. But, Squee is a trooper and she's in good spirits. She's eating and drinking well, wagging her tail and playing with her toys.

Please continue to keep Squee in your thoughts, and if you have been considering donating, now is definitely the time! If Squee doesn't undergo the operation to save her leg, she will have to undergo a double amputation which will cost $3,500 and she will also need a cart which will be another $500. The trouble is, amputation would have to happen much sooner than her other surgery, so we still really need help raising the funds to give her the best of all options.

Thank you so much, all of you who are continuing to follow Squee story, and thank you especially to those who have donated to help her.

Below are the photos of her leg.
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Flowers for Lily

When Squee came into rescue from her Missouri puppymill, she didn't come alone. She was in the company of another little pup: a 12-week-old chihuahua with hydrocephalus named Lily. Besides the fluid on her brain, a large area of skull on the top of Lily's head had never formed, so she was at high risk of accidentally injuring herself. Lily was a tiny little thing, all big eyes (and big head) with black and white speckles. Like many hydrocephalic pups, she was very small, only 1 lb 10 oz at three months old. Squee came to stay with me, and Lily remained with Lori, my rescue contact, who decided to adopt this tiny, special needs gal and make her a permanent part of her family.

Her prognosis was poor, but Lily had enough spunk and spirit, that Lori and I both thought she was going to beat the odds. She thrived in Lori's care, getting to travel everywhere with her family (even smuggled into the movies). She had the company of other dogs and, more importantly, her people. Lily adored sleeping beside Lori and her husband, and her very favorite place to be was snuggled down inside Lori's shirt.

Lily spent a wonderful month with Lori and her family, enjoying the high life and being adored and pampered. Unfortunately, over the course of the last two days, the fluid on Lily's brain drastically increased. Yesterday, she was in significant pain, had lost the ability to balance and had lost much or all of her vision. Emergency veterinary care gave her relief from the pain, but little Lily left us at 7am this morning.

There is a tiny, Lily-shaped hole in the hearts of all of those that knew this bright, vivacious girl, and my love goes out to Lori as she begins to cope with the loss of a pup who made herself such an essential part of the family in such a short time. Please keep Lori in your thoughts, today. Thanks to Lori's compassion and care, Lily's last month was filled with love, which I think is the real measure of a life well-lived.

Sad News for Squee

Squee had her next check up and splint change, today, and we got some bad news from the vet.

A couple days ago, Squee had developed what I thought was a contact sore at the point where the top of her splint was rubbing against her leg. I cut the bit of cloth that was bugging her away, but she was licking and worrying the leg when, before, she didn't seem bothered by the splint. She also didn't seem to walk on it as much, and I thought it was just feeling tender from the sore.

Today, we learned that the sore hadn't formed from the splint rubbing, but was actually an internal sore that had opened outwards. The contact sore she had when we first took her in must have already been a little infected, because her entire front leg now has an infection, and we think it has damaged the nerves in her lower leg and foot. Unable to properly feel her foot, she's having a harder time using that leg to try and walk.

Squee is on antibiotics and pain medication to curb the infection, but now we're faced with a difficult choice. We can keep her on an extended course of antibiotics and, once the infection is dealt with, see if the nerves in her leg and foot will recover, but the prognosis isn't very good and the process will force Squee to continue to be in pain for some time as the leg hopefully heals.

Alternately, we can choose to amputate both front legs, now, remove the limb that's hurting her but give up on saving her stronger front leg. In that case, we'd get Squee a front-wheel cart so she should be able to tear around, but without the cart, she'll have much less mobility (though she does balance on her back legs well).

I'm going to take a couple days to weigh the options. As a human, I would want to try and save the damaged leg if it were me, but Squee isn't human. I can't explain to her why she's hurting and I can't ask her what she wants for herself. I do know a young dog is a resourceful dog, and I don't doubt that Squee could be happy on just two legs. I can't decide if the better thing for her is to try and fight for saving her leg or to stop, take away what hurts, and help Squee move forward into the next stage of her little life.

For now, she's on some strong pain meds and relaxing in the position she finds most comfortable.

Please keep Squee in your thoughts and continue to spread her story.

Many, Many Pictures

Squee went to visit Kathy Taft, owner of the Facebook famous Mouse in the House. Kathy took some outstanding photos of Squee. Here are a few of the best!

We couldn't resist a bit of dress up.

But Squee was a very good sport.

Even if we did try her patience a little.

"Don't you want to donate to help little me?"

Squee and Pico, rockin' the duds.

Puppy feet!!!!

"Enough with the outfits!"

A strange sound!

So soulful

Thank you, Kathy, for a wonderful visit and so many beautiful photos of Squee!