This is my blog about Maiya, how she came to be, and our lives together. It's dedicated to anyone dealing with Megaesophagus, those who have dealt with it and those whom have just had this dreaded disease enter their lives.Our lives were quite content with two dogs. We had Bentley the Beagle and Annabelle a rescue GSD. While I did have a desire to purchase a well-bred GSD puppy I was in no real hurry to add another dog quite yet.
One morning I was going through the ritual of getting ready for work and checking my e-mail before I left. In my box there was a mail from the GSD rescue I had adopted Annabelle from. Annabelle's original rescue name was Zara and while I kept the rescue in touch with her progress throughout the years I never informed them that we changed her name.
The e-mail wanted to check on Annabelle (Zara) because there was a dog with the same age, name and appearance in a local, high-kill shelter close to my house. She was concerned this was Annabelle and we had dumped her in the shelter. I of course assured her this was not the same dog and all was well.
Now it should have ended there but I decided to click on the Petfinder link in the e-mail. There I saw Zara and read her profile. She was terribly skinny in the picture. Her profile read that she only needed to be fed and was great with kids and other dogs. I felt bad for her so skinny and in the pound and when my husband saw the picture he said why don't you go take a look at her in person. This was an adult GSD (2 years old), female, so I knew the likelihood of her getting along with a family of cats and another female dog were grim, but what the heck, I'll check her out anyways. At most I can give local rescues a heads up on her temperament and hopefully one can pull her.
I walk in the shelter and ask to see Zara. They lead me to the back and in this kennel I see this tiny dog sitting in the corner with her head down. She never barked like the other dogs but perked up immediately when she saw I was coming towards her. They gave me a leash and asked if I wanted to take her out for a walk.
All I can say is when I put the leash around her neck is that I never in my life seen a dog so skinny that was still alive. Every bone in her body showed. The picture I saw of her actually did her justice and made her look fatter than she actually was. She had no muscle mass and every ounce of energy had been depleted from her body. She kept up her perkiness though almost as if she was begging for someone to take her home.
I asked the shelter people what her story was. They said the previous owners dumped her and another dog off. They said the owners took her to the vet but the vet said there was nothing wrong with her. I told them dogs that are fed do not get this skinny for no reason and that something had to be wrong. They were under the impression she wasn't fed.
So we went outside and Maiya really perked up. Looking at her outside in the sun made me so sad. To see a dog in this condition and still be walking was a miracle. I knew she didn't have long to live. One more pound lost and she would be gone.
I told my husband about her that evening when I got home. He told me to get her if I wanted her. I still wanted that puppy but I just couldn't' stop thinking about her. We decided to take Annabelle up there to see how they acted together. After all, there are a lot of factors that play into the decision to bring her home.
We take Annabelle up to the shelter and let them meet. There was some resistance with Maiya (Zara) but overall it didn't' seem too aggressive and something we couldn't manage. All in all it seemed it was going to be ok. We felt sure if she could get along with Annabelle then Bentley would be fine so we didn't bother to take him up there. The cats were another story. I totally did not anticipate she would get along with them. While she was small, she was large enough to kill my cats and if she tried when we got her home she just wasn't going to be able to stay.
I noticed she had horrible diarrhea and my first thought with such a skinny dog, an exuberant appetite, and runny poop was EPI. I asked the shelter to run the test when they took her in for her checkup/spay prior to adoption. They had no clue what a TLI was but told me if I paid for it they would have it run. This whole process was a mess. A week went by and they still hadn't taken her to the vet. I was driving up there everyday to visit her and each time I left it broke my heart. She would do this little pig squeal as I walked out the door. She squealed and climbed the kennel gate wanting me to come back.
On the eighth day I was fed up with this shelter's delay and the fact the dog was in such horrid condition. She just didn't have much time for the run around. I walked into the shelter and told them I would take her to the vet myself and cover all costs. I knew with her weight the vet wouldn't spay her but I needed proof of that. The shelter let me borrow her to take her to the vet next door. We ran all tests on her and the vet told me that she would not put a dog under in that condition. I got that in writing took it back to the shelter and off we went as Maiya's "foster parents."
I'll never forget walking Maiya out of that shelter for the last time. I had visited her everyday having to put her back in that kennel. This time we were going for the truck and there was no stopping her! She jumped in like she's been with me for years. She was dying, but for the life of me she was never going back to that place. I prepared myself that I may have to put her down but at least for however long we had her she would know love. Her face was full of happiness. They say dogs can't "show" happiness but I digress. She was so full of life but so close to death. You could tell she hardly had strength but found enough to hoist herself into the car and off to her new life.
Now to await the test results and see how she does with cats.
To be continued............
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