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A few weeks ago I was contacted by the head of our rescue group to go see a GSD at a local shelter. They were going to euthanize her because she had luxating patellas. They wanted me to go evaluate her and decide if we would take her. Two things happened when I saw Kendra for the first time
1. I fell INSTANTLY in love and
2. I knew it wasn't just luxating patellas
Kendra knuckled on all 4 feet, she wasn't able to right her feet properly when she walked. I spoke with the rescue coordinator and we decided that I would take her as my foster and that I would work with her at my clinic to find out what was wrong.
Initially we thought it was spine..something in her neck and back. She was picked up as a stray so we thought maybe an injury from a car accident or else we were considering a disease called Wobblers. I made an appointment with an orthopedic specialist to run a myelogram to see what was wrong.
This last Sunday night at work I was taking Kendra outside to go potty and I noticed her eyes looked funny. I looked closer and realized there was blood in the lens. Kendra was hemorrhaging into her eyes. I ran further blood work to find out that her blood wasn't clotting appropriately. I started her on an antibiotic called Doxycycline and Vitamin K for clotting. We pulled blood to send off tick titers. The next morning I drove out of town to see an internalist. I wanted a specialists point of view. He ran a snap test for heartworm/lyme/ehrlichiosis and it was negative. We talked about many things like autoimmune but decided to continue meds and recheck bloodwork in a few days
Last night was bad
I was petting Kendra during some down time at work and noticed her heart felt irregular. I grabbed my stethascope and she had a HORRIBLE murmur that wasn't present the day before. The xrays of her chest showed a massive heart. We believe that Kendra has Endocarditis. An infection of the heart. The specialist believes that since her condition is progessing so rapidly that her chances may not be good. We are ultrasounding her heart in about an hour.
Kendra is happy, non painful, playful typical shepherd puppy (forgot to say shes ONYL 1)!!!! All she wants to do is play and put everything in her mouth
. We dont think euthanasia is necessary right now since she is doing so well considering.
Kendra obviously can not be adopted out. I have been considering adopting Kendra the entire time Ive had her but wanted to find out what was wrong with her. I signed the adoption papers today. I want her to live the rest of her life here where she can be spoiled and taken care of. I hope that amount of times is years but we will make sure to live each day with lots of love. It makes me so unbelievably sad to know that Kendra is being cheated at such a young age, but I am a strong believer that things happen for a reason. Im so happy that it was me that walked into that shelter that day as much as this all hurts...now Kendra is finding out what life is like as a loved pet. And if she dies tomorrow or in 10 years she will finally get the chance to be adored and taken care of the way every shepherd should.
Please keep Kendra in your thoughts and prayers as we go for our Ultrasound..I truely hope its not endocarditis but if it is I hope we caught it early and can fix her. Here are some pictures of the time we have had together...I hope there are many many many more to come
1. I fell INSTANTLY in love and
2. I knew it wasn't just luxating patellas
Kendra knuckled on all 4 feet, she wasn't able to right her feet properly when she walked. I spoke with the rescue coordinator and we decided that I would take her as my foster and that I would work with her at my clinic to find out what was wrong.
Initially we thought it was spine..something in her neck and back. She was picked up as a stray so we thought maybe an injury from a car accident or else we were considering a disease called Wobblers. I made an appointment with an orthopedic specialist to run a myelogram to see what was wrong.
This last Sunday night at work I was taking Kendra outside to go potty and I noticed her eyes looked funny. I looked closer and realized there was blood in the lens. Kendra was hemorrhaging into her eyes. I ran further blood work to find out that her blood wasn't clotting appropriately. I started her on an antibiotic called Doxycycline and Vitamin K for clotting. We pulled blood to send off tick titers. The next morning I drove out of town to see an internalist. I wanted a specialists point of view. He ran a snap test for heartworm/lyme/ehrlichiosis and it was negative. We talked about many things like autoimmune but decided to continue meds and recheck bloodwork in a few days
Last night was bad
Kendra is happy, non painful, playful typical shepherd puppy (forgot to say shes ONYL 1)!!!! All she wants to do is play and put everything in her mouth
Kendra obviously can not be adopted out. I have been considering adopting Kendra the entire time Ive had her but wanted to find out what was wrong with her. I signed the adoption papers today. I want her to live the rest of her life here where she can be spoiled and taken care of. I hope that amount of times is years but we will make sure to live each day with lots of love. It makes me so unbelievably sad to know that Kendra is being cheated at such a young age, but I am a strong believer that things happen for a reason. Im so happy that it was me that walked into that shelter that day as much as this all hurts...now Kendra is finding out what life is like as a loved pet. And if she dies tomorrow or in 10 years she will finally get the chance to be adored and taken care of the way every shepherd should.
Please keep Kendra in your thoughts and prayers as we go for our Ultrasound..I truely hope its not endocarditis but if it is I hope we caught it early and can fix her. Here are some pictures of the time we have had together...I hope there are many many many more to come