7-20-2010

7-8-2010

I'm sorry it's been so long since our last update on sweet Miss Sis but the time just seems to have gotten away from us.

By this time, we had hoped that Sis would be on her way to her forever home. At my last writing, we were decreasing her steroid doses and all was well. We were actually able to get her off of the meds completely for just shy of a week before she had another relapse. This event was much like the last one---she just didn't want to play or go outside. I could just tell that she was painful although she never cries or whines. She's such a good and brave little girl. She would just stand in one place with her head held down trying not to move too quickly for fear that her neck would hurt.

We took her to see her neurologist at VCA Aurora. It was decided that we would start her steroid therapy over again at square one. This means that she is now back on the high dose of steroids twice a day. She has now made it halfway through her high dose range and has had some bloodwork done to make sure her little body is able to handle the meds once again. The good news is that her blood values are doing well so we are continuing on with her medications. She has been improving steadily and becoming more and more active. Our plan from a medical standpoint will be to perform one final tap of her spinal fluid to check for any further signs of meningitis when we are able to drop her dosage down to the next level. We are hopeful that this round of medications will finally have done the trick for her and she will be able to continue on just a low dose of Predinisone likely for the rest of her life. Having to take a pill once a day or so is a small price to pay for keeping this sweet little houndie feeling good !! IF this round of treatment does not kick the meningitis out of her system, we will look at another course of treatment---likely a Chemotherapy treatment.

The thing to remember about our Miss Sis and her condition is that she is NOT contagious to other animals. Her illness is not caused by a virus or bacteria or other bug. Her illness is caused by her own over-active immune system attacking her nervous system. The medications that she is taking are being used to supress her immune system so that she can get better. It's a difficult concept to understand at times but we are actually making her better by lowering her immunity to the disease. Unfortunately, this also means that we are also lowering her immunity to other diseases as well so we are still not able to bring her to the kennel for Open House fun runs or to Meet & Greets where there are likely to be numerous animals in one place. At this point, we are just hoping to find the right combination of medications to help her for the long term.

We have enjoyed this journey we've taken these past several months with Sis. We've certainly had our ups and downs. But if I have to stop and ask myself why do we do this for this girl.....all I have to do is look into her sweet little face and I know that she IS MORE than worth it !!!

Thank you for your continued support with Sis's care and will ALL of the Hounds in Need that your donations help to save !!

Lori

6-18-2010

A donation was made to the special needs hounds in honor of Kimberley and Arnold Rubin, who so graciously helped when Sandie's Paulie was sick and dying. We thank you very kindly for your help with our hounds in need!

Glory is a nice boy who needs to gain some weight! Due to having a bad case of worms for too long, he must now have monthly injections of vitamin B12 for at least one year. These are easy subcutaneous injections that we will teach his adopters how to do. Don't worry, this is inexpensive-you'll be spending more money on food to beef him up! He's a nice confident guy who would do well as an only hound. Soon, you will see him fill out and his coat will come in beautifully.

Glory is only a temporary special needs hound - we just need some help paying for the diagnostics used to get him to where he is now! His long term prognosis is good - and he's already ready for his permanent home with a worthy adopter! Won't you please consider donating to help?

4-25-10

I’ve asked “Mom” to write this last message from me to you! Even from The Rainbow Bridge, she knows my thoughts! I don’t want you to be sad for very long even though I know you will miss me. I want to you to celebrate the life that I was able to have because of the Greyhounds Only family and friends. When others gave up on me, you all came to my rescue in my darkest hours. With your help and support, I overcame my illness. You watched me for four years as “Mom” dressed me up for holidays and gave you regular updates on my successes. You saw me enjoy the life I had been so graciously given. You cheered me on and I knew you were there. Now, I would like to ask you one more thing. While I have no other earthly needs, my girl friends, Sis, Memory and Kit Kat are dealing with some serious issues. I know that you can make their lives as happy and healthy as mine. You’ve never let me down. So my legacy as the “hound in need” poster boy lives on, please consider making a donation in my name to help these special girls.

Thank you for everything! I’ll be waiting for all of you on the other side.

Love,
Val

4-25-10

For the past four years, we have chronicled the ongoing medical needs for our "poster child" of our special needs hounds: Val. For many of you, you have come to think of Val as part of your extended family, and have supported the special needs program in his honor. We thank you for your ongoing support.

If you wish to revisit Val's journey, please visit his Blog page which documented his progress. He has had a difficult journey filled with ups and downs - but never failed to be a resilient and loving young boy with an enthusiasm for life. He will be deeply missed by not only his "mom", Sue Gaiser, but by all of you who have loved and supported him for so long.

A very special thank you to Desiree, Alex, Slim and Mia Scholl for your generous donation to the Hounds in Need program. We've attached their heartwarming story that was sent to us and encourage everyone to read it! See the letter here.

The Scholl family moved to Detroit, and faced an unfortunate situation when they were walking their greyhounds and a loose dog attacked Mia and Alex. We are very happy that Mia and Alex recovered quickly from their attack, and we thank them heartily for their generosity!

Sis was in for her 60 day checkup after her minor set-back in December. She is doing VERY well ! We have been given the "ok" to take the next step in weaning her off of her Prednisone. If all goes well, we should be on track for her search to begin for her forever home in the next couple of months ! New beginnings for our Miss Sis this Spring.

We can tell that she feels better as her playful personality is really starting to come out in her ! She LOVES stuffie toys ! We have had to take the squeakers out of them, though as she will destroy the toys to get at the squeaker if we don't. However, I have been lucky enough to find stuffies with no squeakers at all and she plays with them nicely ! She tosses them up in the air all by herself and then goes to pounce on them. She is quite the stuffie hunter !

She really likes going for car rides, too ! I still think that her very favorite thing is meeting new people ! Her eyes dance with a little spark of mischief and her tail starts its silly up down sideways wag that is so uniquely her.....she does this little prancy dance when she gets excited too.

Sis is so full of personality that is uniquely "Sis"----I really don't have words to describe it. I just know that when the time comes for her to move on to her forever home, she will surely be missed here. For the time being, we will continue to watch over her as she gets ready to move on to her forever home.

Again, I extend a great big THANK YOU to everyone who has contributed to the Hounds in Need. Without your help, Greyhounds Only would not be able to help these special needs dogs like Sis. I am honored to have been trusted with her care for the past 7 months and am also thankful to her neurologist, Dr Mercier, at VCA Aurora Animal Hospital for keeping a watchful eye over her progress.

I am hoping that Sis's next update will be to tell you all that she has found her forever home!!

Lori Harris

3-24-10

We wanted to thank the Wood Dale School District and the Oakbrook school, specifically Ms. Goier's kindergarten class, Ms. Davis' second grade class, Mr. Halverson's second grade class, Mrs. Hirsig's second grade class, Mrs. Oprondek's second grade class and Mrs. Wagner's second grade class - who chose Greyhounds Only, Inc. as their charity of choice to donate too. The efforts of the students, their families and the school's staff raised $192.58 - all of it donated to Greyhounds Only! When we received this letter in March, 2010, we were delighted by these enterprising young students!

Thank you very much for your charity!

This is Memory, our newest special needs hound. She arrived at Emerald Kennel on December 6, 2009. When she arrived, kennel manager Sue Purdom asked what was wrong with her hind leg. The person delivering her looked at her leg and said,”Oh, I didn’t know anything was wrong with it.” Memory’s foster mom, Carole, took her to Dr Lux at Westosha Animal Hospital. After x-rays, Dr. Lux surmised that Memory’s injury had happened at least 4 years ago. It appears that she was injured and then was retired from the track and became a brood mom, without having anything done to correct her leg.

Because of the type injury, Memory had no way to straighten her foot, and so for 4 years she has had a foot that curled under, making her walk on the top of her foot. Sue Gaiser and Memory’s foster mom, Carole, took her to see Dr Turner at the VCA Clinic in Berwyn, and on Feb 2, Dr Turner operated on her leg. As you can see by the pictures of the before and after x-rays, he did a miracle that we did not think was possible.

Memory is in a splint for at least 2 months and then will have many months of therapy to strengthen her leg and lengthen muscles that have shortened because of years of not being used. Memory’s medical bills are quite large, and there are many future visits at the vet, with the possibility that another surgery might be needed to remove the wire that was used to hold her bone together. Any donations that could help with these medical expenses would be gratefully accepted. Thank you, in advance, to everyone who donates and to all of you who say a little prayer for each of our special needs hounds. Memory is back with her foster family after spending 2 weeks with her other foster mom, Dorothy. We will keep you all updated on her progress, and hopefully will post pictures of her in the future without her splint, showing off her beautiful, straight leg.

Sis had her 30 day check-up with Dr Mercier this past week. Although she is recovering from last month's set-back, she is still not as well as we had hoped at this point. She is still experiencing some pain upon examination. We had hoped the steroids would have brought down the imflammation enough for her to be pain free at this point but that is not the case. We are going to give the steroids a little more time before we start to wean her down again and then see where she is at that point. She may need to have another CSF tap at that time so that we will have a better idea of her future treatment/recovery plan.

In the meantime...

She is otherwise doing just fine. Eating/drinking/ playing/sleeping/ roo-ing and roaching with the best of them !! She has become such a sweet and bouncy girl, I truly cannot wait to start showing her off at M&G's but that will have to wait until her med doses are decreased significantly. I am hoping for a new beginning for Sis in the Spring !!! That would be so fitting for her and all that she has been through. We will surely miss having this sweet girl here with us when the time comes for her to go to her forever home.

Thank you all for your continued support ! Without you, we would not be able to help the Special Needs hounds like Sis !

Lori

12-31-09

Kit Kat's Alpha sponsor is Rita Nanda.
Kit Kat's Beta Sponsor is Beverly Sorkin.

Sis's Beta Sponsor is Allison Hoover.

A very special thank you to the Kirkland and Ellis foundation, which matched donations for 5 Alpha sponsorships purchased to the Hounds in Need program.

12-30-09

This past week, Sis had a bit of a set-back. We noticed that she was not acting like her perky self---not wanting to go outside to play and not getting up to greet us when we came into the room. Although she had eaten with her usual gusto, she was obviously not feeling well. As I was getting ready for work, I took her temperature because she felt warmer than usual and she had a temperature of 103.8 ! I decided to take her to work with me that night so that I could keep an eye on her. We did a full exam at work and discovered that she was experiencing severe neck pain--this is why she did not want to go outside and play.

In the morning, she was examined by her neurologist, Dr Mercier at VCA Aurora. It was decided that we needed more testing to be done in order to see exactly what was going on with her because we suspected that her encephalomyelitis (spinal cord swelling) was returning. This time we would be able to do a CSF tap so that we will have definite answers about her condition. We were unable to do this test when she had her first MRI in August because the inflammation was so severe that the sample collection may have triggered major complications---paralysis or even death.

So, on Christmas Eve, while most of us were at home enjoying the hustle-bustle of the holiday with our families, Sis was having an MRI of her head and neck and having the CSF tap done. Dr Mercier called me afterwards to let me know that Sis did very well under anethesia and that there were no complications from the procedure. We will wait for the results of the CSF tap and adjust her treatment according to those findings.

So......what does this mean for our girl Sis ??

At the very least, it means that she will remain in foster a bit longer than we had hoped. At my last writing, we thought that she would be able to start the search for her forever home in January because her steroid therapy would then be complete and she could be spayed and adopted. Because of this flare-up, she will be back on high doses of steroids and we will be starting her recovery over again. Depending on the doses and the weaning period from the steroids, she may remain in foster for several months while she is under medical care.

I would like to thank everyone for their support. Sis is a very special dog and is receiving the best medical care available at this time. I am looking forward to helping her on her road to recovery and will keep you all posted as to her progress.

Happy Holidays everyone!

~ Lori

12-17-09

A very special thank you to Matthew and Patricia Hafner, on behalf of GO Alumni Falcon (Flying Peregrine) - who donated a generous amount of money to our special needs hounds!

12-15-09

Our Special Needs Hounds' Alpha Sponsor is Jill and Jeremy Littlejohn.
Our Special Needs Hounds' Omega Sponsor is Garvey Karant.

Kit Kat's Omega Sponsorship of Kit Kat was purchased as a gift for Chris Schlentner.
Kit Kat's Omega Sponsor is Yukimo Takahashi.

Sis has been doing wonderfully !!! She has completed her heavy doses of antibiotics and will go through one more round of Panacur treatment for that parasite that was found during her rhinoscopy last month. There have been no recurring symptoms from that. Also, we have just started her last decrease of her steroid therapy so you know what that means..........she will then be off of her meds completely and able to be spayed in order to move on to the next stage of her life...

Her FOREVER HOME !!!!! We are very happy that this special girl will be able to spend the holidays with us at her foster home after having been with us since August, it would seem like part of our family was missing at the Holiday if she left us before then. Her medical therapy should be complete in mid-January.

In the meantime......

She is enjoying the snowy weather and loves to be all bundled up in the fleece jacket that her foster sister Posh has loaned to her. She waits at the back door to have her jacket put on before going out into the cold ! She has become a really playful and sweet hound. We will certainly miss her bubbly personality and happy dances ! When she gets excited, she hops and prances around and wags her tail so much that her whole body joins in the dance !!!

We took some new pictures yesterday while the sun was nice and bright and the dogs were being curious about the Christmas decorations!

Hi,

My name is Kit Kat, and I am a special needs dog. I was a brood mom in Oklahoma for almost 5 years before I came to Greyhounds Only. I arrived here in September, and I sure am happy to be here! I didn't have the best teeth when I arrived, I had to have multiple teeth pulled over two separate visits. I was also limping, which is why my foster mom took me to see Dr. Lux at Westosha back in September. They had to amputate part of one of my toes because it had been broken and had not healed correctly, but that wasn’t the cause of my limp. The pads of my front feet are becoming hard as stone, and it is very hard for me to walk. My right foot is worse than the left, and we have had it in a soft cast for almost 6 weeks, but that has not helped. Dr. Lux has been contacting many doctors to see if they can help her figure this out (she sends them my biopsy reports and my x-rays). I can only walk long enough to go outside to go potty, and then the rest of the time I just lay on a nice big doggie bed. The other greyhounds at my foster house take turns laying beside me to keep me company.

I know that Dr. Lux will figure this out, but until then, my medical bills continue to climb. I don’t have a very big Christmas list, but one of my wishes is that maybe some of you could help Greyhounds Only by donating to help all of us Special Needs Kids.

Thank you.
Kit Kat

11-24-09

A special thank you to some very special donors:
Rita Nanda
Deborah and Julie Demanno

Sis's Alpha sponsor is Melvin and Natalie Gehrig.
Sis's Beta Sponsors are Wyatt, Petey and Buck Johnson.

Sis has been steadily improving while under the watchful eye of her neurologist, Dr Mercier, at VCA Aurora Animal Hospital. Because she has done so well with her medical therapy, she will not have to undergo another MRI at this time----unless, of course, her symptoms return.

She did, however, just have a CT scan and rhinoscopy because of some sinus issues that were getting progressively worse instead of better despite having gone through several rounds of antibiotics. One of her tests came back as positive for a parasite that will be easily eliminated with a deworming medicine which she will be taking in 2 seperate rounds of treatment. The parasite has settled in her sinuses. This is another reason that she cannot be out among large populations of dogs. Since her immune system is supressed due to the Prednisone that she is still taking, she was unable to easily fight off this parasite like most dogs would be able to. This medicine should eliminate the parasite completely. Sis also had tissue samples taken during her rhinoscopy from which we are still waiting for the results. Much of her treatment has been a balancing act between keeping an eye on her neurologic status and steady improvement and doing our best to keep any sort of infection at bay.

In the meantime, Sis is recovering well in her foster home. She is still playing with her foster brother and sisters. We can't wait until she can get out and meet people and other dogs !!! We had a visitor to our home the other day and Sis met them with so much enthusiasm it made us realize just how few people she has had the chance to meet. She LOVES to meet new people !! We are hoping that her condition will continue to improve as it has and that she will be able to attend some Meet & Greets soon !! We are just waiting for the "ok" from Dr Mercier. We will be sure and update her information as soon as we get updates from the Doctors.

In the meantime, as her foster "mom", I would like to extend a special THANK YOU to those of you that have so generously donated to Sis's ever-climbing medical bills. It is because of YOU that GO is able to help special dogs like Sis to recover and move on to their own forever home ! I am very thankful for the generosity so many have shown for a dog they have never met ! She is a very special girl who is very lucky to have so many that care about her !!

As the test results come back, her course of treatment will be adjusted. She is steadily improving but still has quite the road ahead of her. I will do my best to keep you all updated as to her progress.

~ Lori

11-18-09

Special thank you to these amazing donors:

Sheryl Favia
Greyhound Alliance
Jenise Brennecke, Jaryl Pool, Charlene Connelly, Kelly McEldowney and Retail Handyman Inc.

11-15-09

10-30-09

Although Sis' neurological status has improved since she first came here in August, she still has a long road ahead before she can be medically released. She is likely going to have another MRI to check the swelling/inflammation of her spinal cord. This will be scheduled in the next few weeks. Part of her treatment involves the use of steroids (Prednisone) which are given at a high dose which, unfortunately causes immunosuppression. Because of this, she is not able to socialize with dogs outside of our own household---cannot go to dog parks, M&G's (or the reunion) or anywhere that there may be larger populations of unknown dogs as she can easily pick up viral and bacterial infections she will be unable to fight off well. In the meantime, she is enjoying the company of Posh and Logan---oddly enough, even the beagle kinda likes her and Mona really doesn't like any other dogs as a rule.

We are looking forward to a time when she will be able to meet her "public" and be a social dog. Although she is not the shyest of dogs, she is still unsure of new situations as she has not been able to be exposed to many like most foster dogs would be. She has learned how to play with toys and is quite the "stuffie killer"---if it has a squeaker and stuffing, she WILL pull it apart to fnd the squeaker. She also loves nylabones, Kongs and deer antlers.

She is a very sweet girl and will be a wonderful addition to a very lucky home. In the meantime, she is doing well in her foster home with her foster "family" but is dreaming of the day she will have her own forever home.

10-30-09

10-18-09

9-1-09

Some days, there are so many angels looking after these beautiful hounds, we don't know which to thank first.

Thank you to Dr. Jenifer Barker at Dairyland and Andrea Benedict, Sis' trainer, not to mention Andrea's assistants. Without their quick actions, Sis would not have survived.

Thank you to the incredible team at Chicago Veterinary Emergency Services who stabilised her and initially treated this beautiful girl.

Thank you to Family Pet in Chicago and Dr. Kathi Berman who kept her for the first week of care until her eventual relapse. Thank you to Sue Gaiser for providing transportation for this girl from the City to VCA Aurora - we know hours in a car transporting a sick hound can be scary, heartpounding work.

Thank you to VCA Aurora and the expertise of Dr. Barnes and Dr. Mercier, who, with the help of Dr. Couto and the amazing Ohio State University Greyhound Program, were able to provide a diagnosis and treatment plan.

A very special thank you to Lori Harris - vet tech and foster mom extraordinaire, who didn't hesitate to volunteer to take Sis and her recovery on.

And let's not forget a very special thank you to all of you! Please consider making a donation so that we may continue providing care for a special needs hound when it arrives on our doorstep and needs our help!

6-14-09

In an effort to streamline the Special Needs hounds, we'll be focusing on a more integrative, blog-type format that includes all special needs hounds. No more clicking to see each hound, they'll all be included on this single page! We're hoping it makes it easier to follow the progress of all the special needs hounds in our program.

We've brought the most recent of Val's posts to his blog to this main. To see his blog posts prior to June, 2009, please visit his archived blog available here.

6-9-09

Over the last year the "Hound in Need" page has been VERY busy. I'm so happy to say that 2009 has been much easier on my buddies. Tammy, Kit and Polar have all been adopted and are truly enjoying retirement with their special families. I want to thank you for supporting them during their time of need! You're just GREYT!

While currently there are no urgent medical needs threatening my friends, there is a bigger problem looming. It's called the economy. So far this year, Greyhounds Only has accepted back in to the program 16 dogs, due largely to loss of jobs for their two leggeds. It's so sad! But, as always you GO people come to the rescue. Most of the hounds returned need updated medical exams, dentals and vaccinations. So, while this is not our normal "hound in need" request, your continuing support is still needed to off set the additional and unexpected costs of re-homing these innocent friends of mine. Please, help in any way you can!

6-8-09

Hi everyone! It's me again. Thanks for checking in on me! I've been having the best time with the beautiful weather, playing in the yard and sunning on the patio. Life is GRAND!

Guess what????? My second anniversary is right around the corner. I'm counting down the days to June 20th, when I will have been seizure free for two whole years. Last year, you rocked my world by donating over $8,300.00 in honor of my first year's success. I know it sounds selfish to try and top that, but I'm going to ask anyway if you could consider contributing, in my name for the "hound in need" program. You already know that families are in trouble and every gift you make helps Greyhounds Only continue to support hounds that are sick, injured or disrupted.

I know we can shine in '09!

Love,
Val