Underdog of the Week – Diana
Meet Diana!
Diana is a 4-year-old, female, pit bull mix that arrived at ADL from Animal Care Services. When she first arrived, our veterinary team noticed that she was warm. After looking closer, they noticed she had recently been nursing puppies, and her mammary glands were hot to the touch. Our medical team concluded that Diana had gangrene in her mammary glands. That night, Diana had a high fever and was too ill to eat. Her skin was starting to turn black, and her infected mammary area just continued to swell. Diana needed emergency surgery to remove all the infected tissue, and the infection filled glands. If she did not get this emergency surgery, she would have passed away in intense pain. Due to the massive amount of skin removed, the surgery area wasn’t able to be closed. Our veterinarian created a bandage that was attached to her skin, but able to be removed. This would allow the medical team to scrub her wound and change the bandage every other day. With continuous care, the skin is starting to heal. New skin had taken the place of the previously infected and dying tissue. Nursing litter after litter had taken its toll on Diana. Her condition and all the pain and suffering she had to endure could have been avoided by having her spayed. Diana stayed in our hospital for months healing from the ordeal she went through, but she is now ready to find her new family that will never let something like this happen to her again. If you come to the Animal Defense League’s main campus to meet Diana, please ask a kennel staff to bring her out of the kennel to say hello. Diana is the sweet girl once she’s away from her kennel.
This is one of the many ways that donations help us help the animals and save more lives. If you’d like to make a donation to help fund the medical care for the next Diana, then you can donate at https://adltexas.org/donation/ or text the word HelpADL to 91999.
Underdog of the Week – Sweetie
Meet Sweetie!
Sweetie came to us from the City of San Antonio’s Animal Care Service with her four puppies. Happy, easy going and loving, Sweetie has an amazing temperament despite the fact she has severe Demodectic mange. Otherwise known as demodex, demodectic mange is caused by microscopic mites that live on most dogs skin. In most cases, a healthy dog is able to handle the small amount of mites that are on their skin but in some cases, like Sweetie’s, the dog’s immune system is weakened, and they can’t fend off the effects of the mites. Stress can also affect the immune system, allowing demodex to take hold and there is no doubt that carrying and caring for her puppies had an impact on Sweetie’s condition.
Sweetie’s mange is so severe that her skin is cracking and bleeding. The mange can also lead to skin infections as well, thanks to the open wounds on her body. Without a doubt, Sweetie is itchy, sore and uncomfortable but is still loving with people and a wonderful mother to her four puppies. Our medical team is working to make Sweetie more comfortable as she heals and we can’t wait for the day that Sweetie will be healthy, whole, and ready to make a wonderful addition to any family!
Aries’ Journey to Recovery
Aries is a 5 year old, Boxer mix who came to ADL on January 30, 2019. As you can see from his before photo, he was obviously emaciated. Our veterinary team performed a variety of diagnostics to assess his overall health. Bloodwork (a complete blood count and chemistry panel) were within normal limits, and did not show any evidence of organ dysfunction. Abdominal and chest radiographs (x-rays) were performed and revealed marked distention of his small intestines, but were otherwise normal.
An abdominal exploratory surgery was subsequently performed to ensure a chronic intestinal obstruction, cancer, or other cause was not present. The entire GI tract appeared within normal limits; however, the associated lymph nodes were larger than normal. A biopsy was performed and submitted along with a GI panel to a reference lab. In the meantime, Aries was fed very small but frequent meals to ensure that refeeding syndrome did not occur. Refeeding syndrome is a process where an emaciated animal is fed too rapidly, which can cause detrimental changes within the body. The remaining diagnostics were within normal limits, and it was confirmed that Aries is a true malnutrition case. His feeding amount was slowly increased, and over 3-weeks duration Aries has gained more than 14 pounds!
Aries is a bright and spunky little guy who is full of energy. After 5 days of being placed for adoption, he quickly won the heart over of his new mom and was adopted!
Unfortunately, Aries’ is one of many pets at ADL who has needed extra care before being placed for adoption. If you’d like to help us save more lives, then please consider making a donation to help us with the next Aries.
Become a foster parent to these puppies
Today, the Animal Defense League transferred over 10 puppies from Animal Care Services. As of now, we need to find fosters for 8 of those puppies. They’re all eating on their own and could use some TLC from fosters. The time needed for fostering these little guys is only 2-3 weeks. This allows enough time for them to gain weight and become old enough to be placed into adoption. All supplies will be provided by ADL to help you foster these puppies.
Interested in fostering 4-month old dogs?
We have two VERY SHY 4-month old Mastiff Mix puppies that need love and socialization. Please let us know if you’re interested in fostering them.
Become a foster for kittens!
As most of you know, kitten season has begun. We need fosters for kittens that are eating on their own and for kittens that need to be bottle fed. As of this month, we’ve taken in 8 kittens that need bottle feeding. Two 2-week old kittens need to be bottle fed every 2-3 hours. It’s a lot of work and for just a few weeks of your fostering time you can help us out immensely. Please let us know if you’re interested in fostering kittens (bottle fed or weight gain) for this year.
We’re always looking for new foster parents (21 or older). If you’re interested in helping, please complete the Foster Care Application. For more information, email foster@adltexas.org or call the Foster Office at (210) 655-1481, ext 123.
Visit our foster page for information on other ways you can help.