08.24.07
It just doesn’t get any cuter - Juicy Lu Tzu - you saved her life!!
As her foster mom said when she sent these pictures….”It just doesn’t get any cuter!”
I’m sure you remember JUICY LU’s STORY. You all saved the life of this sweetie.
06.28.07
Exciting news about Juicy Lu Tzu - sweet little shih tzu with an adrenal tumor and Cushings!!!
I am just so excited I can’t sit still. Do you remember Juicy Lu? Of course you do - she was featured in a ton of our emails last month.
Well, I just got off the phone with my vet who told me that Juicy Lu’s post-surgery ACTH Stim test is NORMAL. That’s right, she does not have CUSHINGS Disease!! I just can’t believe the great fortune this little dog has!
What a lucky little girl. Ok, adopters, the line starts HERE. Haha. This little girl is so sweet, great in the house, and about as loving a shih tzu as I’ve seen.
Now, she will need to be monitored for the rest of her life, for excessive water intake, etc. - the symptoms of Cushings - and we will REQUIRE that whoever adopts her spends some significant time on the phone or in person with Dr. Jones at Gulf Coast to understand how to monitor and later manage Cushings Disease.
06.02.07
Juicy Lu comes home.
Well, I wouldn’t say Juicy Lu is in the best of moods, but she’s home and resting comfortably in the Osborn ICU ward (with Blitz, my personal dog that blew her ACL a few short weeks ago).
Juicy Lu’s incision goes almost the entire length of her tummy. But, it looks good and she seems to be ok. She ate a good lunch and walked around investigating things for a few minutes before I made her go to bed. She has to remain on crate rest for 10 days. Then in about four-five weeks, we’ll start the Cushings treatment.
Juicy owes her life to all of you that quickly came to her aid. Dr. Hottinger gave us a nice discount, so that we have a great start on the cost of her Cushings treatment.
06.01.07
JUICY LU recovering! Sweet shih tzu girl slowly recovering from surgery.
I stopped for a few minutes to visit Juicy Lu this morning. She isn’t feeling well but is recovering from surgery. She’s sedated some too but definitely not the firecracker I left there yesterday.
They think I should be able to pick her up tomorrow morning. More later.
05.31.07
Juicy Lu’s Tumor
Well, as it turns out, Juicy Lu’s tumor was in fact a tumorous adrenal gland. Yes, it was a very enlarged left adrenal gland. In a dog of her diminuative size, an adrenal gland should be about the size of a raisin. Her left gland was the size of a golf ball. Her right adrenal gland is also enlarged - the size of a green grape, which supports her Cushings diagnosis.
But, we will get her well from the surgery, wait a few weeks, re-perform the ACTH Stim test and see where she is after that.
Huge thanks to everyone. I’ll be picking her up probably Saturday morning if there are no complications.
Having gone through this exact type of procedure with my own dog, Chach, just five short weeks ago, I am hopeful everything will work out.
AND, ok, get ready, get set, apply to adopt her now. If need be, we will begin her initial Cushings treatment in about a month but soon after that, she’ll be looking for a forever home. Now, Cushings is a disease that is not “cureable” but it is “controllable” and since she does not have any outward symptoms, she should be able to live a long, long life with the proper medication and veterinary care.
Juicy Lu is out of surgery!!!
And waking up. She’s very groggy and on lots of pain meds but has survived the surgery. I have no news on the tumor but expect to talk to Dr. Hottinger later this afternoon and will let you know what she thinks.
WHEW!!
JUICY LU TZU CHECKS IN AT GULF COAST!! SURGERY TODAY
Little Juicy Lu checked into Gulf Coast Veterinary Specialists this morning for her surgical appointment with Dr.Hottinger. She was groomed yesterday, well actually she was shaved down. Whenever they go in for surgery, I get them shaved since they cannot be bathed,etc for several weeks. She is really cute!!
I expect to hear something from the tech late this afternoon if everything goes well. There is, as always, a risk that she doesn’t make it through surgery. She does have a heart murmur, she does have Cushings, although mild so far, and she does have some weird stuff in that mass. As soon as I hear, I’ll post it.
05.28.07
Juicy Lu Tzu desperately needs surgery!!
UPDATE 7:25 pm, Wednesday, May 30 - WE’RE THERE!! Boy, Juicy has a lot of friends!!!
We even have a good start on what she will later need for her Cushings treatment. GO JUICY!1
She will check into Gulf Coast Veterinary Specialists at 8:00 am tomorrow morning. More when I hear something.
JUICY SAYS “YOU PEOPLE ROCK!!”
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UPDATED 6:25 PM TUESDAY, MAY 29 - We’ve already raised $ 1520 but she needs another $2100!!
WE NEED TO SCHEDULE JUICY’S SURGERY FOR THURSDAY, MAY 31!!!
This adorable little came to us last month as an “easy” owner turn in. Easy because she was really, really cute, has a great personality, is loving and a true lap dog AND not ancient!!
Unfortunately, we found that she has some serious problems, the biggest right now is that she has a large fluid-filled mass on her liver and desperately needs surgery to remove the mass before it bursts. We did a lot of diagnostics on her to try to determine with out surgery what the you-know-what was in the mass, but the diagnostician did not dare puncture it for fear it contained some sort of infection. So, she’s here in Houston waiting to go into surgery with Dr. Heidi Hottinger, one of the best soft tissue surgeons in the state. Juicy Lu also has Cushings disease, but is in the very early stage - with no outward signs yet. We’re in a race against time though, we have to get that mass out before her body starts showing the signs of Cushings and then once she’s healed, we will start the lysodren treatment.
Juicy Lu’s total surgery is expected to be approx $3600 and is very complicated. PLEASE PLEASE HELP HER. I would really like to get her into surgery this week!!!
Thanks and hugs to:
Martin Howard
Cat Martindale
Erin Bersin
Jean Day
Nancy J Croft
Pamela Glass
Rosemary Cody
Kristin Gerstley
Martin Howard
Lynda Leazure
Christine Connolly
Christine Hutchinson
Wendy Barnum
Barbara Detwiler
Fur Kids
Imom.org
Denise Welch
Cathy Hite
Byron Leger
Carl Berendsohn
Wylene W Dunbar
Barbara Grabell
Gay and Bruce Yancey
Kara Saenz
Max & Dana Pachar
Odean Cusak
F Davis & Mary Arnette
Diana Goldman
Cheryl Oyaski
Arthur Schoefer
Lori Ugolik
Sara McDowell Duncan
Sunny & Robert Goldberg
Jean Smith
Bonny Castilaw
Cynthia Adams
Heidi Zaby
Natty Products
Rebecca Morgan
Susan Gregory
Rosemary Cody
Gary Jasper
Melissa Lombard
Lorna H. Van De Wiele
Kaye Wyly
Fur Kids
Maureen Skarzynski
Mike Birke
And just a reminder, Lone Star Shih Tzu and Lhasa Apso Rescue is a 501c3, 100% volunteer organization. With your help, we rescued and adopte out almost 200 little dogs in 2006!! Help us make Juicy Lu whole so she can also be one of the lucky ones and find a forever home!
Teresa
Lone Star Shih Tzu and Lhasa Apso Rescue
http://www.shihtzu-rescue.com/
http://www.lonestarshihtzurescue.com/
03.23.07
Rescue Shih Tzu - Sweet Juicy Lu Tzu - owner turn in with a ton of problems
Earlier in March, I received an email request to take in a little seven year old female shih tzu tzu. They sent the most adorable picture. And, to their credit, they waited until after the spring break holiday to ask to turn her over.
We asked that she be checked out by their vet before turning her over, but they refused. In reviewing her vet records, I found she had not had any immunizations since 2005 and that she was slightly behind on heartguard. But, we took this sweet little girl shih tzu anyway when they threatened to “find another alternative.” It makes me crazy when people threaten to hurt a dog if we don’t take it.
She was dropped off at our vet yesterday, here is his summary….
- Has an Umbilical Hernia
- Severe Periodontal disease - needs several extractions and possibly both upper canine teeth extracted. (For those of you that have never experienced this, when the upper canines are removed the surgery leaves a huge hole in the upper jaw. It’s very significant surgery)
- Has a heart murmur - recommend chest x-rays
- Bloodwork - Elevated ALK PHOS and ALT (Liver Enzymes) recommend Bile Acid testing and Abd X-rays.
If you can help, you can donate HERE via paypal or go HERE to send a check.
