CTARE

So let’s get down to it - Romeo, the inspiration for our Tumblr account.

Romeo is a beautiful neutered male Samoyed that entered our rescue as an owner surrender on Feb 24, 2014. He is around 8 years old and weighs 20 kg. We were told by Romeo’s surrendering family that they could not keep him due to the fact they were having baby #2, and time to spend with Romeo was next to none. Originally posted on Craigslist, Romeo was spotted by a local Samoyed lover, and referred to our rescue for a more thorough re-homing process. Originally, Romeo is from a local “high volume” Samoyed breeder, who has since located out of BC. We have helped several dogs from this breeder, and all of them have had medical or behavioral issues. At the time the surrendering family acquired Romeo, he was already on his second home, and approx 6 years old.

Upon intake, Romeo was having a lot of trouble holding his pee - he couldn’t even go 1-3 hours without having an accident, and he would look SO sad when he did. Romeo had a vet exam, and while he had a slab fracture on a tooth (which did NOT require surgery), he seemed to be in otherwise good health. So, we gave Romeo a few weeks to settle in and see if the peeing behavior was psychological. However, it continued, and so he was in to see the vet again for a urinalysis and a geriatric blood panel. His urine was very dilute, and the blood panel came back with funny liver enzymes. Romeo was due for a ultrasound this coming week… but then disaster struck!

On Wednesday April 2, 2014, Romeo was having a great day - playing, enjoying the sun, and sleeping on the couch. Then, around 2:30pm, he asked to go outside. I was shocked, as he never asked even when having accidents in the house, and I was really excited, thinking he was finally getting his bladder under control. However, when he went out, he just walked around like he was lost. He strained to poop a few times, but couldn’t. He did not want to come in when I tried to coax him back. Finally, after about 20 minutes, he came in to lie in the bathtub.

Romeo loves the bathtub - his previous home said he has been hopping in there to enjoy the nice cool feel ever since they got him.

I sat with him in the bathtub trying to think of what could be wrong. Did he eat too fast? Play too rough? Pull a muscle? Romeo was occasionally unresponsive to his name, panting, and drooling with pale gums. He would occasionally stretch a front or back paw out, and I started to fear the worst. He dry heaved a few times, and when I offered him wet “liver” food he turned it away - this is when I knew it was time to call the vet.

At 3:30pm, we were loading into the car to get to our appointment at 4pm. We arrived at our awesome Chilliwack vet - Cottonwood Vet Clinic. They rushed Romeo in for xrays and started him on IV and oral medications. An xray confirmed he had GDV (gastric dilatation-volvulus), also known as bloat or a flipped/twisted stomach. GDV is sudden, life-threatening, and often unpreventable. We loaded Romeo back into my car, complete with IV drip, and headed off to the emergency clinic in Abbotsford that could provide the life saving surgery for this boy.

At this point, I need to say a very special thank you to Dr. Shamshir. Dr. Shamshir was our main vet at High Point Animal Hospital when our rescue was located in Surrey BC. He also works at the Abbotsford Animal Emergency Clinic. I phoned Dr. Shamshir, and he immediately got staff working to be ready for Romeo’s arrival, as well as contacting the clinic partners and arranging a payment plan so Romeo could be treated ASAP. Also, a very special thank you to Dr. Rana who rushed straight to the emergency clinic BEFORE he was due in for the night, and to animal health technician Tanya who also rushed in without eating dinner!

Also, rotten tomatoes to Animal Emergency Clinic of the Fraser Valley (operating out of a Langley office), who I also called while driving with this Romeo boy in dire need. I was told they would NOT touch Romeo unless we had $1500 down payment (at 6pm on a Wednesday), and they quoted the surgery at $3600 - over $1000 more then we paid at Abbotsford Animal Emergency Clinic.

Romeo’s underwent surgery ASAP after arriving at Abbotsford Emergency Clinic. Excess gas is what had caused his stomach to twist. Dr. Rana preformed Romeo’s surgery within the hour, and 2 hours after surgery, Romeo was feeling good enough to walk himself outside for a pee! We had arrived at the clinic around 5:45pm. I left the clinic around 9pm - after Romeo’s surgery was done. Why else did I leave so late? I had posted on FB around 6pm what was going on, and begged all our supporters and Samoyed lovers to start calling in donations to the clinic. The response was overwhelming, and I stayed at the clinic until I had updated and replied to everyone that was helping us.

On April 3rd I picked up Romeo at 730am, and he was looking great! He wanted to jump in the car, and was happy to pee (though he missed his targets by about 6 inches each time). We again set up his IV in the car, and headed home to Chilliwack. We stopped at Cottonwood Vet Clinic quick so everyone could say hi. Also, we had to pick up medication for CTARES very senior 10 lb hypothyroid cranky American Eskimo rescue dog.

By the time we were set up at home, putting Romeo into his favorite spot (the bathroom) for recovery, his IV had clotted, and we didn’t have the items needed to flush it. By this time (11am) Romeo was SO happy that he just would not sit still or settle down. So we drove to Cottonwood to have his IV flushed, and I left him there til 5pm so he would be forced to relax.

Today (well technically yesterday), April 4th at 1pm, I took Romeo back to Cottonwood again for one more check up, and to remove the capped IV line. Everyone was very impressed with this boy, and he was so friendly to everyone in the clinic.

And now…April 5, 2014 at 4am… here I sit… writing our first blog posts. I also just completed the webpage on our site for Romeo, so everyone can keep track of our fundraising efforts.

You can view his page here:

http://carriedthrough.com/romeo—urgent-surgery.php

You can also view his facebook photo album here:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153882202140521.1073741871.601800520&type=1&l=ab324b96e6

We have raised about 50% of the funds needed to cover his vetting costs. Please share his story to help us get this debt paid off.

I will try to update this Tumblr every 24-48 hrs, as well as the donation count on our website.

Thank you again, to everyone that has donated so far. Romeo owes you his life. I am forever grateful we have so many generous supporters that allow us to help the dogs we do.

Well… CTARE has been saving dogs and cats for almost 5 years now. I have often thought of starting a blog through all the years, but never seemed to find the right time (or the time at all). It always felt like the first post had to be special, perfect, and all-encompassing. But this week, I had inspiration for the PERFECT reason to start our “blog”.

What was this inspiration? It was a rescue (us!) in urgent financial need; a dog (Romeo) in dire medical need, and many many wonderful, caring, and supportive people (YOU, yes YOU!) that helped us save Romeo’s life.

I ask that you all bear with me as I learn the new word of Tumblr. Also that you all accept my many spelling and grammar errors that I KNOW will pop up. I am by nature a night owl, and after a day of caring for all the rescue dogs, I am usually exhausted when I have time to sit at the computer.

Thank you to everyone that helped CTARE become what it is today. It really takes a community to help the animals, and we are so appreciative of the strong one that is a part of CTARE.