jackieb_

Here's Limone's story, in sections. There is still a large hospital bill in her name. If anyone would like to contribute to paying it off, please IAM me and I will forward you the appropriate Paypal information.

This is Limone's story, copy and pasted, and the words of the Batty, who saved her.

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She came in to my job to be put to sleep because her owner's said she was a genetic nightmare and they tried everything they could. Well, Limone is a purebred 8 month old English Bulldog, who was obviously bred by some stupid ass jerk that made $2500 off this LEMON of a dog. She has numerous congenital (born with) issues! So, she presented with a bleeding prolapsed rectum. Well, why?? She had worms and she was also coughing so badly that she pushed her rectum and colon out of her butt!! Gross. Yea, well why was she coughing?? Because she has had pneumonia her whole life and her owner's were trying to treat it but unsuccessfully by limited veterinary care. Meanwhile, Limone was vomiting because of the worms, thus aspirating and making her pneumonia worse. Her parents tried a lot of antibiotics but none of them worked. Maybe because they weren't giving them properly but also because this dog was born with the longest longest soft palate.

The soft palate is the roof of your mouth that stops right before your trachea. Well hers continued and it occluded her airway thus coughing up stuff wasn't very productive at all. Limone wasn't able to breathe at all-- her trachea which is her airway (windpipe) is the size of a pencil. It is smaller then a large cats! Which is sooo very wrong. Poor Limone. Her parents were too scared to put her under anesthesia to have her problems corrected and it was going to be soo expensive so they let her suffer, unable to breathe, vomiting everyday, wasting away into a very very skinny bulldog.

When I saw her.. I just knew she wanted to live. So , I refused to place her IV catheter for euthanasia and I had the owners surrender this dog to me so that I would take care of her or put her to sleep humanely if she was suffering even after my attempts. Well, we put little Limone under anesthesia to repair her rectum, which took a while but then Limone could not wake up...she need a temporary trach so a hole was made in her neck into her trachea and a metal cannula was placed so that she could literally breathe out of the hole in her neck. Limone was also so incredibly tired because she couldn't get comforrtable enough to sleep because she couldn't freakin breathe so once under she was so glad to get rest. Who would want to wake up from that?! So, then I take Limone to my other job where there are specialists...She sits in an oxygen cage for a couple days because it's so hard for her to breathe- the pneumonia is soo bad that she barely has any healthy lung to breathe. And she is soo happy to finally get some rest we let her sleep for a day before surgery. Then, we put her under and perform a bulldog nip & tuck. Unfortunately, it's very common because people continue to buy bulldogs from what appear to be reputable breeders but they still have elongated palates. During surgery, the surgeons exclaimed that this was the longest!! one they have ever seen, so it was cut short, and her tonsils were removed as well. She was sooo swollen from the coughing and trying to breathe for 8 months. But, little Limone pulled through a few hours later she was out of Oxygen and a day later her trach was pulled out of her neck.

She also has a heart murmur, bilateral cherry eyes, demodectic mange, and of course the hypoplastic trachea. So, the pneumonia is getting better but ever so slowly, and little Limone is as happy as can be. She is currently chewing on my sock while rolling around on her back as she hacks up a lung. Limone's medical bill for her 2 surgeries, and her extensive stay in ICU would have been about $6,000 for the average pet owner. Since, I'm a licensed vet tech and work at the hospital my bill is just under $2000. However, I am poor as hell. But, I'm sorry I can not have puppies be put to sleep because of the money.. It's a life and, this dog fought and amazed every single doctor, and nurse...including me. One day she'll be healthy and we will fix her eyes n spay her but that will be a couple of months. Limone thinks she's fine and is happy and that's all that matters to me now. FInally, she can breathe and sleep and eat!! She is soo in love with me, and you have to think it's cuz she knows I saved her life. So, I'm asking for help of any kind for Limone.

Update:
Limone has been touch n go for a long time, she's finally doing well off antibiotics after 8 months of them! And, she's going to get spayed, have her cherry eyes fixed, and possibly trim her soft palate some more if needed this week! She then will recover in the ICU (cross your fingers) with hope she can breath well enough after anesthesia and not get aspiration pneumonia!! I will post pics of her cutey mug once her cherry eyes are gone! She's cost me a small fortune but she's a sweetie and I'm glad I saved her life. A few Sg members have donated but I still in lots of debt and more so once she has the rest of her surgeries ... Email me if you'd like to help out Limone!!

Update:
Limone has since been spayed, is still on antibiotics, and her pneumonia is calming down. She's a snorffler extreme, a cuddler, a cutie and a wonderful special needs mircale baby with a huge bill.

yeah i don't have a blacklight... and i'm allergic to bleach. i used to wash my clothes with tide with bleach, but i break out in hives like craaaazy.

you are so very right that laser declawing is much better than the older method. however, it just sickens me that it comes down to removing a cat's claws or abandoning/euthanizing for some people. i just can't understand the logic of someone who wants to surgically alter their pet just to make them more "convenient." i think it's disgusting. i know it's now illegal in the UK to declaw cats. i think that's awesome!