Lucy came into us last week in an emergency. We received a call from a rescue in Chino Valley that they were supposed to pick up more of the dogs from the hoarder in Seligman. When they got there, the lady had left and ran off into the forest with the dogs. The husband came about 10 minutes later and said that Lucy could go as she had been sick for a while. This place has no running water and is a real “XXXX” hole. They trade puppies for dog food when they run out!

Animal control has been called multiple times, and I also personally called them only to be told it was not illegal to inbreed. I told the animal control officer of Yavapai County Sheriffs office that the dogs basic needs were not met, and it fell on deaf callous ears. Anyway, Lucy was relinquished because she was dying. Cris and I drove out to Chino Valley that night to pick her up and she whined the whole way home.

As soon as we got her into the clinic, we took her temperature, and it was 104.4 and she had pus leaking out her vulva. She had a pus-filled uterus from not being spayed. We ran blood work, and she also had pancreatitis and pneumonia from being in the cold. We started her on IV fluids and antibiotics and rushed her into surgery to remove the pus-filled uterus as this is life threatening. It was risky with pneumonia and anesthesia, but it had to be done. 

Cris controlled the anesthesia, and I removed the uterus which was very infected. I noted that she had a very small amount of ovarian tissue on the horn with the most infection and a large ovary on the other side. Her right front foot had toenails that went up instead of down, most likely a genetic defect as these dogs are inbred. This is the same place Baxter, Penny and Peaches came from and the DNA we ran on Baxter and Penny said they were 65% related to each other which is evidence of severe inbreeding. 

Lucy made it through the surgery, and I stayed up with her to give pain medication, GI protectors and antibiotics IV. It was a struggle to make her comfortable with the surgery and pancreatitis, but it was accomplished. The next issue was battling sepsis as she had obviously been sick for some time, and her body temperature now was dropping. I did everything I could think of, and she was still cold at 97.7 degrees. This was the second night I stayed up with her, 48 hours since surgery, and I was exhausted. External warming devices were not working. It was about 3AM and I woke Cris up and told her I thought Lucy was going to die and could we just put her in bed and hold her. She said of course. I fell asleep holding Lucy and woke up a few hours later, only to see her smiling at me. Her temp was up to 99.0 degrees now, and I thought she just might have a chance.