Charlotte's long road

I tell everyone that I will never again get a dog from a breeder, now that I've seen the kind of dogs that come into rescue. My three personal dogs have all been from breeders, and the only difference I see between them and the dogs I foster is that the foster dogs are more loving, more appreciative, because they have glimpsed the dark side of life and don't want to go back.

My new foster Charlotte is a case in point. She is a beautiful, obviously purebred chocolate Lab, two or three years old, who was found as a stray in a rural area. Some purebreds are closer to the breed standard than others, and Charlotte is quite close. She's only 60 pounds, nicely proportioned, with a sweet, loving disposition. The kind of dog you might pay around $1,000 for from a breeder when she was eight weeks old and irresistibly adorable.

Yet, just a few years from her puppyhood, Charlotte turns up in rescue heartworm positive, loaded with fleas and ticks and hookworms, unspayed and probably pregnant. Her heartworm is pretty bad. Usually you don't see symptoms like a cough until heartworm is advanced, and Charlotte coughs when she is stressed. Today was her spay date, and the doctor was really worried about it, given her heartworm and her cough. He was afraid she might have respiratory problems during surgery. But we had to take the chance.

It is nearly impossible to find the heartworm drug she needs right now because of an extreme shortage, but I did find some nearby. She has an appointment for Nov. 26 to get injected with this drug. However, she can't be pregnant and undergo treatment, and she can't be a nursing mother and undergo treatment. The vet and I talked, and we decided the spay had to go on. Turns out she was around three weeks pregnant (the human equivalent of three months), so not very far along. She made it through surgery. But she has had a rough night. She was extremely nauseated and extremely thirsty, so she gulped a bunch of water, then violently heaved it all out, twice. The anesthesia makes some dogs sick to their stomachs and she had it bad.

She is sleeping now, so hopefully the worst is over.

I am determined to make this dog well and give her to a doting family that will spoil her for the rest of her life.