Carlee - UPDATE *****

Despite still needing round-the-clock supportive care, Conejo Valley Animal Hospital allowed Carlee to come home late last night (more on this further down)...

Test results have not yet come back to rule out pyrometria (infected uterus) and the vets still say Carlee is an anomaly in regards to what is making her so sick... 

Twice a day (and sometimes three times a day), Carlee's mom was in ER at the hospital, holding, rocking and comforting Carlee... 

For those that know Carlee (or who have seen her at our adoption events), although Carlee may not respond like a typical canine, she has a distinct personality and you can read her body language fairly easily enough... Carlee would 'perk up' when Mom arrived and each day, Carlee became more and more like herself... 

Despite being so sick, and going through so much mentally and physically, Carlee is still not 'out of the woods' because there is not a firm diagnosis (yet) but we are hopeful now we are close to knowing why she got sick, and then be able to do what she needs done to continue to improve overall... 

Carlee was REALLY happy to get home to her own backyard and wheelie late last night... Familiar surroundings, smells and sounds help even the sickest dog to feel better... I am sure even Mom slept better last night (despite the 'every two hour' feedings required)....

What's next?... Well, the vets ran liver tests yesterday and we are waiting for those results to come back... 

Thankfully, Cindi has consistently done full panel blood tests on a consistent basis with Carlee so there was clear benchmarks for them to compare too...

These past three days have been more of a 'stabilize first' and then a 'search and find' effort --- ruling out this issue, then that one --- trying to determine why she got so sick and what is wrong...  The cost of ER care is pricey... About $1,000 a day/night on the average with the tests they have had to run to uncover why she was so close to death's door... 

As of yesterday afternoon, the balance still due on Carlee's vet bills is about $2,500.  We started a GoFundMe when she first went into ER for $3,000 and we raised about 50% of it...  Yesterday morning, TLC picked up the percentage GoFundMe charges plus we bumped it by $110 to get it over the $1,000 mark.

Here is the link ~~~>
GoFundMe for Carlee, a Special Needs Dog


Now that her vet bills are over $5,000 and she still needs a test run for Addison's (about $350), we are desperately trying to help get these vet bills covered. She was able to be released from Conejo Valley Animal Hospital late last night without paying off the balance (and also avoiding another ER night), but these vet bills need to get paid.

They are still not sure what is wrong with Carlee, and could not run the Addison test last night because her veins are now all blown with the numerous tests run. Carlee needs to have a few days recovery before that test can be done, which will incur even more vet bills.

If TLC's work in the past 8 years has touched your life in any way, please consider donating towards Carlee's vet bills.  Or if you just want to help because a wee pup needs it, we will greatly appreciate that too!  EVERY little bit helps and we thank you for donating, sharing or challenging other companies or organizations to help raise the funds needed to save this precious baby's life!

Sincerely,
Linda Nelson
Director - TLC

Update: Carlee

On July 29th, another TLC guardian angel foster mom (Roxanne) took Carlee on because we had a few pregnant mommies come in... And now Roxanne is going away for the weekend for her birthday, so I have Carlee for the weekend... 

Carlee watching a Simi sunset

Ten days makes a LOT of difference in the life of one of these little ones, especially one with the issues Carlee has (her back story is HERE)... And as foster moms, on a day-to-day basis you really don't see the progress... But as someone who has not seen Carlee in ten days, I am absolutely blown away by her progress...

First of all, the subtle signs you might not notice right away... Carlee is acting more like a normal dog now... She is exploring her world with her nose... Smell is the most important sense with a dog and she is consistently lifting that head and 'tuning in' with her nose... And she will continue to hold that head up and zero in on what she wants to smell more of... This was a major shocker to me the first time I saw it, and I had to keep looking to make sure I really did see it... She's done it many times this evening and I am just 'gob-smacked' as another TLC volunteer would say... 

The next thing I noticed?... Carlee has learned to be affectionate... Not only to lift her head and hold it, but to give you kisses... Not as accidental ones... But ones ON PURPOSE... She knows where she wants to go and reaches out to reach your chin or cheek, then proceeds to really give you solid and sweet kisses... 

Probably more apparent to those who don't interact with Carlee often, but she is now REALLY pumping those back legs in her wheelie... She is picking them up and you can see her deliberateness when she plants them back down... She now has muscle tone in those hind legs that she did not have before and she stretches out those toes and digs in... Before, her leg had one bend in it (at the hock) and now there is an actual "ankle" above her toes... Instead of half sitting down, there is definition now that she did not have before... 

She has not learned to back up in her wheelie, but she went up and down my long hallway this evening... And if she got the end, she'd struggle to turn herself... Only if she could not did she cry for help... Otherwise, she is a real motor-scooter and this is directly to all the hard work Roxanne has done the past 10 days!  BRAVO!

Amazing stuff, ya know?... 

2 + 2 does not equal 4

Before the math teachers out there begin to fret, there are just far too many times that two plus two does not equal four... Sorry...  But because as a society we equate 'value' to numbers, rescue folks and those with humanitarian predispositions are well aware this is not a good way to look at life... 


Far too many times we get contacted about a small dog that someone does not want any longer, or see dogs and puppies that we know other rescues will pass by... Allow me to tell you Carlee's story, and you'll get an insider's appreciation that 2 + 2 ╪ 4... 

Carlee is a 1 pound, 6 ounce Chihuahua puppy who is 7 weeks old now... When we were contacted about her not quite 2 weeks ago, she could not hold her head up, but flailed around uncontrollably unless held and/or confined... 

The first night, we had to hold her head and feed her with a small baby spoon so she would not dunk her head into the wet food and drown herself... Looking at this puppy as a rescue person, you know going in that this is going to be a 'hard case' and rehabilitation is doing to take time and money... But a lot of time, love, energy and TLC more than anything else... 

What do you do however?... Do you walk away from a tiny munchkin like this?

It is just not what we do... Two weeks ago we put over $350 in a dog on vet bills, plus all the rest of the things we do (which are not cheap) and still adopted the dog at $200... Saving animals' lives is not cheap and money in seldom equals money out... 

Carlee has something the vet believes is cerebelluar hypoplasia - basically part of the brain which controls the motor skills did not develop properly... Didn't mean much more than that... Carlee hears great, loves to give kisses and is a healthy puppy with puppy energy... She's intelligent and learns quickly... 

And as a foster mom, you learn how to adapt yourself to what you are fostering (not the other way around)... 

You consistently have to think out of the box and multi-task, or you are just not a good foster mom at all... Especially with the hard cases... Sorry... 

It seems that a cute puppy like Carlee would have immediately been swept up and adopted, but because she requires work as she progresses, she becomes 'unadoptable'... Sad, huh?

Doesn't make her any less cuter or any less in need of care and love... So I applaud those in the rescue community who consistently step up and foster some of the 'less than perfect' pets that are left behind and not adopted... It takes special pets to find special fosters to make exceptional furever homes for these kinds of case.... 

We started looking for ways to get Carlee up and working those muscles, refining the motions she needed to control and/or develop those motor skills every puppy needs... 

Our first prototype was not very pretty, but it sure was creative if nothing else!  Wasn't too long before Carlee was strengthening those neck muscles and could hold her head up well enough to feed herself...

It wasn't long before I figured out that with practice, Carlee could teach herself to hold her head in place long enough to feed herself... It was a matter of ME learning the correct bowl to put her food into!...

And along the way, Carlee learned to give us the proper advance notice in body language that she needed to widdle or poo... As long as you could read her body language, there was just NO WAY she wanted to have an accident anywhere she slept, sat in, etc... 

Not only does a puppy need their back legs to move forward, it also strengthens their neck muscles so they continue to go in the direction they want to go in... 

Next step was to add wheels to that prototype... In Carlee's case, she went from a cute 'bobbler' to a roaring motor scooter --- in about 10 days --- from the time we got her at TLC and she was scooting around like a crazy munchkin!

It was harder to find tinker toys than it was to teach Carlee to scoot around in this prototype we came up with... SERIOUSLY... 

Along the way, we started homeopathic processes as well to increase the growth of nerve endings... You keep her healthy, keep her working those muscles and motivated to get where she wants to go, provide stimulation and play time... You basically do the next best right thing... 

And also along the way, you realize that no matter how much money, time, energy and love you put into saving the next puppy or dog, it will always exceed any adoption donation... 2 + 2 just does not equal 4 in rescue... We will always put in more, and it is only through the community's support with donations and volunteering that TLC continues to take on the small dogs and puppies that get left behind.... 

Carlee has now moved onto another foster mom in TLC who is exploring hydrotherapy as another option... And another creative soul, I am just as sure she will come up with new tools to speed up Carlee's rehabilitation... 

Two weeks later, look how proudly Carlee stands with her head held high... This is what rescue is all about!