12.22.07
Year end semi-emergencies - Garrett Mesquite and Yardley Turner
Of course, this “business” continues regardless of holidays or whatever else is going on. We’ve just had two behind the scenes emergencies in the last couple days.
I know you all are going to think I’ve gone completely nuts - but…
First, little Garrett Mesquite. Rescued from a Dallas-area shelter, little Garrett had developed an infection on his neck just below his jaw. After three weeks, it wasn’t getting any better and he actually started getting snippy when the foster mom tried to check it. Luckily she sent some pictures to me and, darn, I could tell from the pictures that it was an abcess!!
The foster mom, Emily, rushed Garrett to the vet the next day and found that indeed he did have an abcess - it was a totally rotted tooth - and he recommended that the tooth come out at once. The estimate - $600-$900. GULP! Unfortunately, Garrett is now in Arizona and we’ve learned that the vets there are H I G H. Even with rescue discounts, they are three times what the vets in DFW charge. GULP again. After the unbelievably high vet bills we’ve had this past month, I didn’t know what to do at first. But, that dog could not go on with an abcess like that so we said “do the surgery.” It gets worse.
During surgery, the vet called Emiy to tell her that Garrett actually had a broken jaw - the tooth had been so abcessed that the infection went into the bone and ate through his bottom jaw at the infected point. Just like Amaretto’s.
Of course, we told him “FIX IT!!” We’ll find the funding somehow.
That vet is the nicest guy, after all of the surgery plus wiring Garrett’s jaw back together, the bill was only $591!! He took pity on us!
This is little Garrett before we got him out of the Mesquite shelter.
Secondly, adorable Yardley Turner.
Yardley was an owner turn in from San Antonio. His owner had rescued him from another bad situation, but needed to turn him over to us. When we got him, the foster mom, Sunny, took him to the vet for an evaluation. Unfortunately, the vet found BLADDER STONES! A lot of bladder stones. So many that he thought we needed to do surgery quick. Once the vet got into his bladder, he reported that the situation was much worse than he thought. There were many more bladder stones than showed on the x-ray. His bladder was terribly inflamed. Surgery is now over and Yardley should be ready to head into a foster home Monday. His total bill, including all of the preliminary x-rays in San Antonio is $886.
If you have anything left over from Christmas shopping or shopping for other holidays, and you can help this little boy, plesae use THIS LINK for paypal, or THIS LINK to send a check. Download the credit card form HERE and fax it to 281-754-4851, but be sure to email me at teresa@shihtzu-rescue.com to let me know to look for it.
