Yes, you heard it right!!  After her expensive bladderstone surgery AND her eye surgery (doesn’t she look great!), she now is the luckiest of pups and has her own forever home!!

Here is her story…

On January 3, 2009, we received a phone call from a family whose mother had a heart attack.  She was a shih tzu breeder and 34 little dogs were left in her yard to fend for themselves.  The family also realized that their mother had not able to take proper care of the dogs for some time so there was no question that the dogs needed our help to find  new homes.  Sherry and I arranged to go see the dogs and met at the house that afternoon.  The poor little dogs were in sad shape.  They were badly matted, dirty, and most had eye issues.  Many of them had eye ulcers from neglect and hair being in their eyes.  The males were in crates under the car port.  One little male had a belly band that had been left on for days.  The constant exposure to the urine had scolded his belly.  The females where running lose in the back yard.  The only protection they had from the weather was to climb under a wooden shed that was in the back yard, or hide under the open patio cover.  One of the little females had so much poop on her rear end that we had no idea how she was able to move her bowels.  Inside the house, which was unbelievably filthy, we found two momma dogs and 7 little puppies.  They were two and three weeks old.  We had no idea which mom belonged to which puppies because they shared the puppies.  One of those momma dogs was Mandisa.  
 

Sherry graciously agreed to foster the puppies, which meant she also fostered the momma dogs at first.  Isis was the other mother dog.  She was a very sweet little dog that was wonderful with the puppies.  She had an eye ulcer and dry eye, but other than that she was in pretty good health.  Mandi obviously had eye problems from the start.  You can see how horrible they looked in the picture above.  She had an eye ulcer, scarring from constant irritation, and dry eye.  Her eyes were in terrible shape, some of the worse I’d ever seen.  They were crusty, red, and bulging.  We started the two moms on basic treatments but anything more would have to wait until the puppies were weaned.  Isis and Mandi both fed and nurtured the puppies as needed, but Mandi was more interested in finding ways to escape.  There was NO keeping her confined, which of course is what we would have preferred with the puppies.  We kept them in an xpen in my office but Mandi was not interested in staying in her confined area.  Mandi was very restless and not very friendly toward us.  She got along well with other dogs and wanted to interact with them.  She just had a lot of nervous energy that tended to make me nervous, too.  She was not a very happy dog.  
 
Isis gladly took on the role as the primary parent, while Mandi explored the house.   She would come in and fed the puppies as needed, but then would be gone.  She would climb out of any device we came up with to keep them confinded.  Unfortunately, Sherry had another foster that came down with kennel cough.  Mandi carried it back to the puppies and got it herself.  Luckily, only one of the puppies got very ill from it.   The puppies were tiny and young, so it was unsettling. They were healthy, though, so they all eventually recovered from it.  Finally, when Mandi started showing less desire to nurse the puppies and we were starting them on solid foods, we arranged for Mandi to go to another foster home.  The other Katy puppy mill dogs were beginning to be adopted by this time.  Mandi and Isis  would have to wait awhile to find their forever homes until they could get through their own vetting needs.  They were now being properly cared for, though, and the changes in their personality where beginning to be noticeable.  Both were becoming more social and Mandi was even beginning to be a little more interested in human companionship.
 
Mandi’s very dry eyes got worse and worse.   They looked like they were about to pop out of her head!  Our vet recommended we take her to Gulf Coast Animal Eye Clinic to have her eyes evaluated.  That visit revealed she had dry eye and the ulcer she had was just about healed, but her eyelids would not properly close.  They always remained partially open, even when she was sleeping.  This lead to severe dry eye and constant irritation of her eyes.  The vet suggested she have surgery to make the eyelids smaller to allow her eyelids to close properly.  She also started on a new medication that had an anitbiotic in it to keep the eyes from staying constantly infected.  We needed to get her eyes in a little better condition before the surgery.
 
During the time that we were getting Mandi ready for her eye surgery, we noticed she had blood in her urine.  Off she went to her regular vet and the xrays showed she had a large bladder stone. 

She had surgery to remove the bladder stone so her eye surgery was delayed.  Finally, the day came for Mandi’s eye surgery.  We were all curious how well this procedure would work, since we have never had this done before.  The surgery was a success. 

Within a month, her eyes were beginning to clear up and even the scarring to her eyes lightened up some.  She still has a bit of an ‘wandering eye’, but her eyes look so much healthier and prettier.  During her recuperation, Mandi stayed with Sherry.   I was so surprised at the difference in Mandi’s behavior.  She was no longer the anxious little dog that first came to my house.  She was friendly and wanted to spend time with me. She loved to sit in my lap now and be petted.  She also wanted to sleep in our bed, but my little dog drew the line at that.  He said no way was he allowing another dog on our bed at night!  Mandi slept in a little bed on the side of my bed.  She wasn’t too happy with that arrangement, but she knew it was the best that was going to happen.  I knew Mandi was ready to find her forever home finally.  She was a social, friendly, happy, healthy little dog now.  The eye issues and bladder stone must have really made her life miserable before.  Once these problems were resolved, Mandi was able to become the great little dog she was meant to be. 
 
All the other little Katy dogs were adopted during the year.  Due to the puppies, Isis was one of the last to be adopted, too.  She was adopted in October.  Now it was Mandi’s turn finally.  Sherry took her to meet her potential adopter last week.  They loved how friendly she was.  What a change from the sad, confused, anxious little dog that first came into my home in January.  I was so pleased to see her react so well to them.  They were hooked and once they were approved, they adopted little Mandi.  What an exciting day for Mandi!  She has a family of her own and a four legged brother to play with and love her now. 
 
An end of an era, the Katy puppy mill dogs, but what a wonderful and rewarding end.  Thirty four little dogs all in wonderful, loving, forever homes.

Now….on to the next 39.

Another story with a happy ending.  Little Percy found his forever home this month.  We knew it was coming.  One of my Deogi employees fell in love with him and it was mutual. 

Percy is a survivor of heartworms – thanks to you!

This cutie patootie has an interesting story.  Extremely well cared for by his owner for many years (I have a stack of vet records about 1/2 inch thick), he came into our program because his folks lost their jobs and home.  They were devastated.  He had severe allergies and dry eye and because of financial straits, the owners had been unable to medicate them properly for several months. 

When we got Nash, we put him on the typical shih tzu "allergy buster" diet and started him on cyclosporine for the eyes.  He responded extremely well.  He became a happy-go-lucky, playful little dog.

A few weeks ago, I got some amazing photos while he was playing with a bright purple toy and posted them on petfinder.  He got many, many inquiries, but a prior adopter won out.  They came and got him this weekend.  I will very much miss Nash, but have the utmost confidence that his new home will love him and take excellent care of him.

This adorable little black chihuahua mix was literally dumped inside the gate at Deogi just a few short months ago.  He, and his brother were only about three months old at the time. 

At first, I thought someone was getting ready to board them, but when no people were anywhere near the puppies, we knew exactly what had happened.

One of our clients at Deogi had been looking for a playmate for their little dachshund mix puppy and noticed that Bean was playing extremely well with her.  Well, that’s all it took.

Little Bean went home with his new sister this weekend.

You know, we can only do these things because of you. 

Please visit our Facebook page and join the conversation.

If you want to make a difference in the life of a little dog, go HERE to donate to our general veterinary fund.  These funds are used for smaller, yet still expensive, surgeries, hospitalization.

Adorable little blue-eyed Hazel Ranger found her forever home this weekend.  She really took to her new mom and her little fur brother! 

Ok, obviously this puppy is NOT a shih tzu or lhasa.  He’s what we call a pseudo-tzu.  He and his brother, Frijoles AKA Bean, were literally dumped on the doorstep of Deogi in June.  I swear I thought someone was checking in for boarding and just put them inside the gate, but nope, no people there – just the little dogs!

So, they became honorary Lone Star dogs!

This truly is a rags to riches story because little Taco was adopted by Kim and Michael Moore and their kids, Mason and Rylee.  And Taco has a sweet three year old fur-brother too!!  Oh yeah, that Michael Moore is OUR own Dr. Michael Moore – the best vet in Houston.

LeSimba Katy gets a home!  Yes another of the Katy 34 found a wonderful home with Susan and Dennis and his new brother Jack!  LeSimba is the little brown boy on the right.  

Thanks for all you do to allow us to save cute little puppers like this!! 

Tulip Plantar is on her journey to El Paso to be the newest baby of Christine K.

Dreams are coming true!  Remember the Katy 34 – the 34 breeder dogs that we took in January – yes eight months ago?

Slowly but surely, they are getting adopted.  Sagira and Razi, both young puppies, were adopted to the same home tonight.  They will spend the rest of their lives together. 

Thanks to all of you who donated to their vet care so we could get them ready for adoption!!

CLICK HERE for all of the prior posts about these little orphans.

If you would like to donate to our general Veterinary fund to help with cases like the Katy 34 and others, please GO HERE TO DONATE WITH PAYPAL.

Go HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE CREDIT CARD AUTHORIZATION FORM for any of the dogs.  Fax it to me at 713-583-7816.   Or if you want to send a check, just go to the PLEDGEFORM  and we’ll count it immediately.

Three years ago, July 2006, I received an email about a little shih tzu that had walked up to a lady while she was vacationing in Galveston.   The little dog was a complete mess – significant hair loss, thick blackened skin from allergies and chewing and very dry, crusty eyes.  We took in this little fluff and named her Zsa Zsa Ranger.  Since she looked so horrible, I thought she definitely needed an elegant name. 

We found that she had heartworms and severe flea allergies.  Thanks to our supporters who funded her heartworm treatment, Zsa Zsa was cleared of the heartworms and after months of good food and our allergy buster supplements, she turned into a beautiful little girl.

Her owners sent a couple of pictures this weekend of their "Scarlett." 

Hi Teresa, A few years ago my wife and I adopted one of your dogs.  To say the least she has been a true joy in our lives.  Thank you so much for rescuing this little dog for the streets.  I have attached some before and after pictures of her.  Please feel free to use them and share them with others.  Paul

Say hello to the new and improved Zsa Zsa AKA Scarlett.