Pugs 'N Pals

SOFIA - HALEY'S SISTER - Help us help her!

2012-01-21T22:27:00.000-08:00

SOFIA (Haley's Sister)

Well it seem we are running a special on Demodex mange!! If you remember a few months back we got Haley, a 7 month old Pug with severe mange, and a severely ulcerated eye, which we had to close for 2 weeks to save it. Yesterday we got a call from an owner who wanted to turn in Sofia, a 9 month old female Pug because she has severe mange and wasn’t eating. She sent us a picture and we all thought how much this little girl looked like Haley. We rushed to Ventura to get Sofia. When we got her we noticed her resembles to Haley was much more than uncanny. Haley has double dew claws on her back legs (which we will have to surgically removed), well this little girl has the same thing. This is highly unusual. After some research we realize Sofia is Haley’s sister (little mates). What are the odds!!

We were Haley’s 4th home and we are Sofia’s 5th home. So terribly sad!

As you can see by these pics, Sofia is a mess! Her mange is really severe and due to it she has a raging infection going on in her body. Her nose folds are so bad that it bleeds. Bad ear infection, high temperature, yeast infection, as well as Giardia. Just like Haley she has very small nostrils, which also will have to be enlarged and she has a real difficult time breathing. At the moment she is not eating, which really concerns us. Probably due to the infection going on and the Giardia. She is also very anemic.

As you can guess by now, she will be another very expensive dog. Right now we are dealing with Athena, Angelina, Haley and Sofia with the similar problems. A lot to deal with financially, plus we have many other dogs in-house with major health issues that are also costing us a lot of money. But we couldn’t not help Sofia. We hope that once again you will come through for us and help us with a tax deductible donation to help Sofia.

You can make nor donation via Pay Pal, or mail a check to: Pugs ‘N Pals, P.O. Box 9343, Newport Beach, CA 92658 attention: “Sofia’s Fund”.

As always we thank you so much for your on-going support, with your contribution we are able to help dogs like Sofia and stop the revolving door of them being passed around from home to home.

Tina Seri
Pugs 'N Pals

Help Us Help Haley

2011-11-10T22:36:00.000-08:00

HALEY

The same day we got Angelina we also got Haley (it was a busy day!). Haley is a 6 month old female. She was an owner turn in. They weren’t caring for her properly and didn’t want to pay for what it takes to get her better and do the work necessary to get her well. Their vet told them that her prognosis was poor.

She has horrible mange, skin infection, luxating patella’s, two hernias and she also has two dew claws in each back paw, very strange. He eye had a bad ulcer that wasn’t treated properly, so we had to be closed up and we hope we can save it. At this time we don't know if that will be possible. She was loaded with fleas, very skinny, only 9 lbs. Right now we are concentrating on her mange and eye. Then we will have to deal with the hernia's and all the rest.

Due to her skin infection which is pretty severe, very little hair on this little girl, we are giving her two types of antibiotics, as well as Ivermectin (oral - shots don't work) for the mange. Baths every other day and lots of meds for her eye. Another high maintenance dog. Can't believe we got two puppies in such bad shape in one day!!

As always we need your support. Angelina and Haley will be very expensive. Your tax deductible donation will go a long ways to help us help them. Thank you so much for your support!

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals
***************************

HALEY 11-18-11

What a difference two weeks makes. Here’s a pic of Haley when we got her, and the two taken today. The owner’s Dr. put on her chart “prognosis poor” in other words she may not make it. Well we showed him. We were able to save the eye, we took the stitches out today. She still battling the mange, but that will take a while, she already has a lot of hair growth and she gained 2 lbs.!!

Amazing what love and care with do isn’t it? She is a very active and happy girl. Still has a long ways to go, but what a start!

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals

Help us help Angelina (Athena's sister)

2011-11-10T22:18:00.000-08:00

ANGELINA

(Athena's Sister)

On Nov. 4th we picked up Angelina (she is Athena’s sister), 4 month old female. Back in August when we were contacted by the shelter to take Athena, we were told she had a sister. We said we would take her too. But then a shelter worker wanted her for herself. But on Nov. 3rd we got a call that Angelina’s mange was not getting better and they wanted to turn her in to us. We went to the 29 Palm Shelter to get her. Her mange is pretty bad, but she also has an eye ulcer and a heart murmur. We need to take her to a heart specialist to get an EKG and see what is going on and what we need to do to make her better.

We are happy that she is now our care, but we need your help. Your tax deductible donation will go a long ways for Angelina to get the medical care she needs.

As always thank you for your support!

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals
************************************
Nov. 18th

Angelina is doing well, though her progress is slow. We did take her to a cardiologist last week and had a total checkup and an EKG. The Eco didn’t show any heart abnormality, but there is a level 4 murmur which is a big concern. For now the Cardiologist wants to see her every 3 months and do an EKG and see how things progress. There is a possibility that she has Aortic Stenosis. In aortic stenosis, the aortic valve does not open fully. This restricts blood flow. This puts her at a higher risk when being put under anesthesia and other potential problems with the lack of proper blood flow. It takes about a year to truly diagnosed this properly. For now we will take care of her other issues and keep taking her to the heart specialist till she is 1 yr. old and then take it from there.

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals

2011-09-04T14:10:00.000-07:00

PLEASE HELP US HELP ATHENA

ATHENA (Godess of Strength)

On August 31st we took in a 7 week old black, ( 6 lbs), female Pug, with terrible mange. She was dumped at the 29 Palm shelter and they called us to help her or they would have to put her down. We rushed to get her of course.

Right now she has a severe infection from the mange as well as mange. Since her immune system is not developed yet, it has gotten bad quickly. She has very little hair on her. She is running a temperature and we put her on heavy antibiotics before things get worse. She also has coccidia, which we are treating as well. She is itchy and miserable right now. Doesn’t want to eat. We are caring for her around the clock and hoping against hope that it doesn’t get as bad as Carina’s was.

We are in desperate need of donation to care for her. If you are able to donate we would appreciate it. Also pass the word to other people that might be able to help us help little Athena.

You can send your check to Pugs ‘N Pals, c/o Athena’s fund, P.O. Box 9343, Newport Beach, CA 92658 or you can send a donation through pay pal via our WEB site. Please make it for “Athena’s Fund”

Thank you so much for your support!

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals

***********************************
Sept. 7th

Athena tucked in for the night

Athena is doing well and he skin is improving. She still has an infection going on and unfortunately she just started with Kennel Cough. Poor thing just what she didn't need. We are keeping a close eye on it as with her immune system being shot it could developed into pneumonia. Here is a pic of her all snuggled up for the night :-)

Please keep her in your prayers. Thank you!

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals
************************************
Sept. 18th

Hello!
Little Athena is doing okay. here Kennel Cough turned into an upper respiratory infection, but so far with antibiotics we have been able to not have it turn into pneumonia. Due to her age we are limited to the type of antibiotics she can take, but so far so good. Her open sores are looking better and we are still treating her for coccidia. She is going to be a pisspot, as crappy as she feels she has already destroyed two beds and put a hole on a wall :-) She is going to be a handful. Please continue to keep her in your prayers and please help us out with donations as she is going to be anothe expensive one.

Thank you!
Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals
*************************
Nov. 10th

A little update on Athena. She is doing great, growing and being a craszy puppy now that she feels well.
The hair on her body is all about grown in. Her head and face which was the worse part, is taking a little bit longer for the hair to grown. But she already looks like a totally different dog. Pictures coming soon.
Thank you all for your support!

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals

VALENTINO - A LOVE STORY

2011-02-19T13:07:00.000-08:00

VALENTINO

Feb. 14th

Today we got a call from Kern County Animal Shelter and said they picked up a Pug that had a severely broken leg and if no one picked him up yesterday he would be put down. Of course our first thought was “oh no!! We have no funds to care for this”, as you know we have gotten hit hard with medical cases. We struggled as we wanted to help this baby that is only 2 yrs. old. Once they sent us a picture of his sad face, we couldn’t say no and said we will somehow figure out how to pay for this.

One of our volunteers drove 6 hrs. to Bakersfield and back to OC to get him into the Emergency Clinic right away. We were able to get to the shelter just as it closed otherwise he would have been put down. Got him to the ER at 10:30 at night. Once I saw the leg I realized we couldn’t save it. From the elbow down it is dead. Hard as a rock, not blood flow through it at all and atrophied. It looks like it happened at least a month ago and this little guy has been suffering greatly. It appears he got it caught in a trap or something as it is a clean cut across the elbow area. There is a only a bit of skin attached to the back of the elbow the rest is cut straight through to the bone and the bone is exposed. The bottom part of the leg was deprived of blood and died.

He is very skinny about 12 lbs. should be around 18 lbs. or so. Filthy and loaded with fleas. But what a love, even in the pain he was in he gave us a kiss and you can see “THANKS” in his eyes. We named him Valentino :-)

Though Valentino is getting his leg amputated tomorrow, we feel that on Valentine’s Day Valentino found true love in the arms of everyone at Pugs ‘N Pals. From this moment on he will be cared for, loved and every need taken care of. Every one at the ER fell in love with him and said he is so sweet and loving.

It will be a long journey for Valentino, but he will have all of us supporting him every step of the way.

We would appreciate any donations you can send for Valentino’s care. We have been really hurting financially and the last thing we needed was another major medical case, but Valentino deserves the care he will get as it is obvious he has not received love and care up to know.

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals
******************************
Feb. 15th

Valentino is out of surgery and doing well. I was there just as he was coming out of surgery and waking up, so I went to the back to give him a kiss and take a few pics. He was out of it, he was looking at me but not seeing me, he is on some good drugs at the moment :-)

All I could do was cry, just so unfair, he shouldn’t have had to go through this. He had to have a blood transfusion before surgery due to being so anemic. Our Vets literally gagged, they said in all their years they didn’t see anything like it. That leg and the infections was horrible, pics can’t give you the reality of it. They said how he lived like this is incomprehensible. That once the leg died he probably didn’t feel anything, other than the severe infection he has, which truly the smell was nauseating. But while the leg was slowly dying the pain had to so horrific that they don’t know how he endured it. This had to be over a month old as there is a lot of muscle loss on the shoulder. For that I was crying for him. I know now he is going to be just fine, but my heart hurts for what he had to endure.

Now the journey begins towards his new life filled with love. Recuperation will take a while and assuming not set backs like infection set in, the prognosis is good. Just going to be in a lot of pain for a while, but we will control it through meds.

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals
**************************************
Feb. 16th

Valentino came home last night and is doing very well. He is truly emaciated, didn’t realized how much as I was always holding him and didn’t see him standing till last night. Of course he is in pain and trying to adjust. He is on pain meds and antibiotics. He was also loaded with whipworm, roundworm and tapeworm, probably one of the reasons why he is so skinny. So we are working on clearing that as well.

I have more work to do in his head than I do his body. He doesn’t know love or how to deal with it. When I come into his room, he goes to a corner of his pen, cowers, puts his ears back and shakes non stop and gives me a look that pierces my heart. He is clearly waiting for me to hit him or harm him in some way. His eyes pleads for me no to hurt him, and looks at me as if to say “what are you going to do to me” I can’t stand to see him so scared. He has had a much harder life than I thought. I cry thinking what he must have endured, so much more than just his leg. He guards his food even from me and growls because he thinks he has to fight for it. Yet he doesn’t have a mean bone in his body, he just thinks he has to guard it.

He will need a lot of care medically, but more so psychologically. Love heals all and he has a lot of that. I know in a matter of time, he will be happy to see me and connect me with love and not fear. Can’t wait till the first tail wag and first kiss that I get from him. Not only is he truly beautiful, he is incredible sweet. I can’t imagine why humans would do this to such precious babies.

We ask for your prayers that all goes well with out beautiful Valentino. If you can send a donation to help with his medical care we would REALLY appreciate it. We have been hit hard last year and already this year. But we feel these precious babies need us and we must do all we can for them.

Thank you for your support!

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals
*********************
March 12th

Hi everyone!

Valentino is doing remarkably well. He is amazing. He is less and less fearful, loves people, he is super affectionate with me, because he trusts me more than others. Tthe improvement is short of amazing. He gets around so well, runs around the yard at 100 MPH, you would never know he is missing a leg. Dogs are just wonderful, they don't let anything stop them. We can learn a lot from them. We are still working on his weight- he has already gained 3 lbs and getting rid of all the worms. But dear lord what a fabulous boy he is. I am so happy we saved him, he got lucky! We are still working hard at raising money for his surgery. If you can help in any way, we would really appreciate it! Thank you!

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals

CHANCE DESERVES A SECOND CHANCE

2010-10-06T21:05:00.000-07:00

CHANCE

Oct. 6th

We got this little cutie a couple of weeks ago when some one alerted us that he was dumped at East Valley shelter. Chance (we named him that as that is what he needs) is a 5-6 month old male Pug. Full of love and energy, but Chance is paralyzed. The owners just dumped him and left him there to die. He was red listed, meaning ready to be put down, when we were alerted. We got him out in the nick of time. Rushed him to our Neurologist, unfortunately he was out of the country, so another Neurologist saw Chance. He did an MRI and it showed that Chance has a birth defect on his spine that as he grew put pressure on the spinal cord and he became totally paralyzed. We were told there is nothing we could do, to either put him down or get him a cart. We decided to wait for our Neurologist, Dr. Berry, and get a second opinion. When Dr. Berry saw the MRI he just shook his head and couldn't believe that this cutie was still alive as the damage is great. Dr. Berry is like us, he doesn't give up. He told us that he doesn't know if a surgery will make Chance walk again, but if we wanted to give him a shot to walk, then we suggested we do the surgery. Very risky as the spine is deformed. Chance had surgery yesterday, Oct. 5th. He was in surgery for 4 hrs. and only due to the tremendous expertise of Dr. Berry did Chance pull through. We won't know the outcome for several month, he may or may no walk, but we did give him that second Chance. This morning I was told that Chance felt pain on his back legs, which he didn't before the surgery, so we are optimistic.

Change MRI was $2,400 and the surgery $4,800, that is not counting the after care. We would appreciate any financial support you can give to this sweet, happy baby boy. Please mark your donation to Chance's Fund.

Thank you so much for your support, we have had a very difficult year with all these babies

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals

*****************************************

Oct. 10th

Chance came home on Oct. 9th for around the clock care. He is doing well, still not walking and if he will ever walk we won't know for many months. We just don't know the outcome, but we knew we have to give him a shot at being able to walk. He is such a good little boy. He is in pain but rarely complains. I have to hold the food bowl and water bowl up to him as he can't eat on his own and he is so patient about it. Has a hard time laying down right now, but we are hoping with lots of care, love and therapy he will improve.
The surgery cost a lot more than we expected, $6,311 YIKES!!! That is not include the MRI. We ask for your support, every little bit helps.
Please keep Chance in your prayers and lets hope a miracle happens to this precious baby.
Thank you!
Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals
**************************
Oct. 24th

Little Chance is doing well. Hating his physical therapy, I tell him it hurst me just as much as I don't like to cause him pain, but must be done. Though I know it is too early to tell, I feel his back legs are getting stronger. I place his legs and stand him up, while he is eating, and the other day I felt he stayed up for a few seconds. :-) His progress will be slow, but I am praying that this little boy one day will walk.
Please keep him in your prayers and pass the words as we are in desperate need of donations!

Thank you!
Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals
*******************************
Dec. 8th

Sorry for the delay in updates we have been dealing with some very sick dogs and we lost one too :-(
Chance is doing well, still not walking but it will take a while. He started physical therapy at a special therapist. He is going twice a week for 4 hrs. and doing under water treadmills and a variety of special therapy. Unfortunately the therapy is expensive. To get a discount we have to book 5 session and all 5 of them are $500. We can't do this much longer, we signed up for 10 session as that is all we can afford. He will need a lot more than that to have an opportunity to walk. When he goes to therapy he really does well with the strength of his legs and movements. We are trying to raise money to be able to continue his therapy to give him the chance he needs.

Happy Holidays every one!! We appreciate you!

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals
**********************************
January 26th

Hi Everyone!

Sorry for the delay in posting. It is one crisis after another in our world. Chance gave us a big scare last week. During Physical Therapy he collapsed and stopped breathing. Luckily all his Dr's. are at the same facilities and he got immediate care. They got him breathing again, then the battery of test started to find out what is going on. He had blood test done, chest x-rays, etc. etc. When all came back normal, we had to do an endoscopy to see if something was wrong with his airway. The Dr's. found his palate was elongated, which was a shock as he made no noise when breathing or excited. We do palate surgery on about 99% of our Pugs and we are very much aware of the danger of elongated palate. But he had no signs that he had it, so we learned something new. He went into emergency palate surgery. After $3,300 and a day in the hospital he is back home and recuperating. Unfortunately we had to put the physical therapy on hold, until he is all well, which will throw him back a few weeks. I can tell his back legs are getting weaker without PT. The other issue is that we can no longer afford PT for him, it is $500 for 5 sessions, we already paid for 3 - 5 days sessions and between all the other dogs needing care and Chance's latest episode we are tapped out. We are trying to come up with fundraisers and getting sponsors so we can continue getting him to potentially walk. As of right now he is still not walking, but made great strides in being able to eat on his own and lays down like a normal dog, which he was not able to do before. So all in all great improvement for our precious Chance. We urge you to continue helping us with donations, try to find sponsors for us and help in any way you can.

We thank you so much for your on-going support

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals

*******************
March 12th

Chance continues to do well. Still in physical therapy, though we won't be able to keep it up much longer as we just don't have the money for it. With therapy he has gotten a lot stronger. Still not able to walk, but overall he can do so much more. Hopefully we can somehow raise some money to keep him in therapy and give him every opportunity to walk. Thank you

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals

Sunny Needs your help!

2010-09-07T19:14:00.000-07:00

PLEASE HELP SUNNY

September 7th

Hello every one!

Well we've got another critical case, never ending. This is Sunny a 9 month old female Pug. Sunny has a liver shunt and if she doesn't have surgery it will kill her. Unfortunately the owners waited too long to turn her over to us and didn't give her the right meds. So right now she is extremely neurological, she can't stand or walk. She is in a zone, like she doesn't see you, this is due to the toxins in the brain that the liver can't clear. In other words her brain is swollen with Poisson. She has so much toxins in her that the ammonia smell is in her breath and coming out of her pores. It is so sad to see her like this. We just got her today. Tomorrow she is set up for a Scintigraphy, to find out if it is an internal or external shunt. If internal nothing we can do about it, if external it is operable. They will inject a dye in her and then take x-rays as it travels. She has started with seizures 3 days ago and has them often. She is very thin as she can't absorb the nutrients.

Needless to say she will be expensive and we are max out with Carina and all the other sick ones we have in-house. So once again we are asking for your help. You've all be so kind and generous and as much as we hate to ask you again, we must to be able to save this little one. The Scintigraphy will be about $400 and the liver shunt surgery around $4,500, plus the on-going care.

Again thanks so much for your kindness and support. Sunny really needs you!

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals

*******************************

Sept. 8th

Last night was a difficult night, Sunny got very neurological, couldn't function, couldn't eat. Her jaw was clenched and I couldn't get the meds down her. Her brain just wasn't functioning due to all the toxins. I called the Vet and they told me to give her the Lactulose which slows down the toxins, rectally, which I did. I slept on the floor right next to her as I didn't expect her to make it and didn't want her to go alone. Today we had to cancel her Scintigraphy as she was too critical. They had to put her on IV meds to reduce the swelling in her brain. Problem is she needs to be off the meds for 24 hr. for her test, but without the meds she won't make it. Hard call. We are shooting for the test tomorrow and hope she is stabilized more and can eat on her own an take meds. This is just heartbreaking, if she would have been given these meds when the owner found out about a potential liver shunt she would not be as critical. She is 9 months old and only 8 lbs!!

Please keep her in your prayers. Thank you!

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals

***********************************

Sept. 11th

Hello every one!

The last 4 days have been a roller coaster! One minute we thought this is it, we are losing her, the next we think, she is turning the corner. Very difficult. Well we turned the corner. On Thursday she was able to be stable enough to have the Scintigraphy. The results did show an external liver shunt, which is operable. Though there is a small possibility of also an internal one. We need to do an ultrasound next week to check that out.

On Friday we went to the specialist. He said she is too weak and not stable enough for surgery yet. He added Phenobarbital to avoid seizures and to stabilize her brain. She needs to be on it for at least 2 weeks before surgery. So now she is on Lactulose 3 times a day, Flagyl twice a day and Pheno twice a day. She eats 4 small meals a day. Good news is she gained almost a pound!

The fog seems to be lifting from her brain so she seems more alert and functioning a bit more. Now she has severe moods, she is sweet happy one minute, aggressive the next, crying non stop the next. It is normal due to the toxins in her brain. The meds will clear some of it, not all of it, so we hope it will improve daily. For now it is day to day and see how it goes.

Her bills are much higher than expected. But she deserves a shot at life. We thank you all for your prayers and on going support!

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals

************************************

Oct. 6th

Sunny is stabilized now, still having some neurological issues, but has gained 3 lbs. and feeling well. She is having Liver Shunt surgery on Oct. 15th. Since she has more neurological problems than most the surgery is a bit more risky. Please keep her in your prayers.

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals
*********************************
Oct. 15th

Today Sunny had her Liver Shunt surgery. It was a very risky surgery. The Vet said the Shunt was very large, he was very surprised that she was even functioning. The surgery went well, bu the next 48 hrs. are very critical. If the blood pressure goes up too high then we are in trouble. We pray that this little precious baby makes it through okay. Please pray for her. Will send an update in a couple of day.
Thank you!

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals
**************************************
Oct. 24th

Ms. Sunny is doing well considering she had 3 surgeries in 1! Not only the liver shunt, they also spayed her and while they were fixing her Shunt the Vet found that she has an obstruction in her intestines. He took out some sort of large piece of plastic. She obviously came to us that way as I kept her confined in a play pen before surgery due to her seizures. Good thing they found it now before it got her really sick. So needless to say the surgery was much more expensive, we never catch a break!

To my amazement she is recuperating well. Was on pain meds for many days, but she still wants to play, she is supposed to stay still and calm as she has a huge incision with lots a staples. But guess she didn't get that memo. We are hoping the brain will start clearing soon and that she will be able to have a normal life.
Will try to post some pix soon!
Thank you!

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals
**************************
Dec. 8th

Sunny is doing FABULOUS!! It is amazing what a tremendous there was after the surgery. She is a normal puppy now making up for lost time, as she was in a fog most of her life due to the toxins in her brain. Now that everything has cleared up she is funny, happy, loving and EXTREMELY playful. Gets into a lot of trouble! :-) She is now ready for adoption.

Thank you all for your support and prayers. This little one got lucky!

Happy Holidays every one!! We appreciate you!

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals

CARINA NEEDS YOUR HELP!

2010-03-22T22:35:00.000-07:00

March 22, 2010

PLEASE HELP US HELP CARINA!

We just rescued Carina from the Carson Shelter. As you can see by this picture she is in deplorable condition. We named her Carina, which means, Little Love or Beloved one, as she is now truly loved by her Pugs 'N Pals family. Carina was list at the shelter as a 5 yr. old Pug, she ended up being only 6 months old! How can a human being allow this to happen is beyond our comprehension. These pictures don't truly show the horrible condition she is in (see slide presentation at http://www.photoshow.com/watch/HQ6Mk3Pr

She almost looks like a burn victim. She has severe demodex mange. Her body is covered with bloody sores that are cracking and blood and pus oozing out of every part of her body. The smell emanating from her is truly nauseating. He Left eye has an ulcer and the infection from the mange got in there, so there is a possibility that she may lose that eye, probably limited sight in the other eye. The left side of her face is paralyzed and has ruptured ear drums in both ears. She is anemic, septic and so far we took out about 30 ticks and she is loaded with fleas. No dog should endure this pain at any age for any reason, but to have a defenseless 6 month old only know pain and neglect in her short life is something we can't grasp and we suffer with her.

She is now in critical condition and fighting for her life. We are doing everything humanly possible to pull her through. She is on a lot of medicines, daily medicated baths and pain medicine as she can hardly move her body due to the crust, pus and skin just breaking at every move. Through it all she tries to wag her tail and gives us kisses of thanks.

She needs around the clock care, with eye meds every 2 hrs., special baths to help her skin and we work around the clock to slowly remove the crust embedded in her skin, very painful to her. We will do what it takes to help her, but we need your help. Her care will be very costly. We survive by donations only and we are limited in funds. PLEASE give a donation to the Carina Fund, we appreciate any amount. We ask that you pass this information to any one you know that can help with a donation. Your donation is tax deductible as we are a 501c3 non profit organization. You can send a check to: Pugs 'N Pals, c/o Carina's Fund, P.O. Box 9343, Newport Beach, CA 92658 or via pay pal at http://www.pugdogrescue.com/ or e-mail pugdogrescue@att.net

As always we thank you so much for your support!

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals

************************************
March 25th

First THANK YOU to all of you the care and sent donations. We so appreciate it. Many of you have passed the word around and it i has helped a great deal. We are still a long ways from collecting enough money, so please continue to help and us and make people aware of Carina's story.

Carina has taken a turn for the worse, she started with an upper respiratory infection, and we are praying it won't turn into pneumonia, her immune system is shot and there is no way she would be able to fight it. She is extremely anemic and might need a blood transfusion if levels continue to go down. Transfusions are hard on the system and she might not be able to withstand it. She also has both ear drums ruptured, extremely painful. Skin culture grew 3 nasty bacterias on the them being staph, contagious to other dogs and people and very serious. The results of the fecal test, came back positive for Giardia, another nasty intestinal bug and she has mange parasites in her intestine, probably from licking her skin. We did confirm that the left side of her face is paralyzed, right now we don't know if it is temporary due to the skin infection or if it is due to head trauma. Her skin is raw and bloodied and extremely hot to the touch. Yet through it all she tries to wag her tail and gives kisses. I am trying to get her to eat, but she is not too interested. She is on a lot of meds and it might be upsetting her tummy. She is also on pain meds as I am sure she is in a lot of pain all over.

Please keep Carina in your prayers as right now it is day to day.

We thank you for your support!

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals
********************
March 29th
Hi everyone! though the Vets tell me that clinically there is very little improvement I personally think she is doing better. The ulcer on the right eye is cleared, the left eye still has it, but it does appear that she won't lose that eye. She may not have much vision but we think we can save it. We did notice a big hernia on her belly, but we will worry about that at a later date. Her skin looks MUCH better, I would say about 40% improvement. The odor is just about gone, and we keep removing slowly all the scabs. She hates her baths as they hurt, her paws are very swollen and still have pus on it, but I think they are better. I can't hold her as she hurts too much and any movement makes the skin crack and bleed. She is much more alert, we have cut back on the pain meds. Since I can't hold her I give her kisses which she loves and I sing to her "you are my Sunshine" when she hears that she starts wagging her tail and trying to come to me and give me kisses :-)
I have started her 4 days ago with a fresh balanced cooked meal as due to the paralysis on her left side she has a hard time eating. She LOVES her cooked food and is eating much better. I feed her 4 times a day, and she has gained 8 oz in a week. Her Upper Respiratory Infection is still there and causing her a bit of discomfort, but at least it hasn't turned into bronchitis or pneumonia which was our fear.
All in all I am pleased, they are baby steps but at least they are going in the right direction. I am very optimistic. She will have a long hard journey, but she seems to want to make it. She is a real good girl and puts up with all the care very well.
Keep those prayers coming!! Thank you all for your support!

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals
***********************
May 31st
CARISA (Carina's Sister )

Hello every one! We continue to get donations and calls about our beautiful Carina. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Before giving a little bit of info. on Carina, we want to give you some new news. Yesterday we rescued Carina's sister, Carisa (see picture) from another shelter. We were alerted last week of her existence. We have been working very hard to get her out and we did. It appears that the same person dumped them both at different shelters two days a part. It is impossible to know for sure. But the coincidence are too numerous, they look a lot a like, same age, very similar issues, except luckily Carisa is not in critical condition. She just needs a lot of care. Her skin is bad, but not nearly as bad as her sister. Less ticks and fleas. Her eyes are a lot worse and she appears to be almost totally blind, she has SEVERE Pigmentation Karititis on both eyes, even that Vets were shocked as to how bad it was for her age, so most likely poor breeding and genetic, as it is uncommon to have this so bad at such a young age and they both have it. We did take her to the eye specialist to make sure we were not missing anything. That Vet too was very surprised at how bad they are. She will need Cyclosporine for life in both eyes. But due to her condition we can not administer yet, is it prevents healing and now we need to concentrate on her skin and other issues. Luckily we got her in time as to not to get like Carina. Of course this mean double the cost on these babies, so we need your help that much more now! Carisa is a bit on the wild side, not very socialized, tends to be a bit aggressive in a puppy way. She bit my cheek pretty bad yesterday, so lots of work in that dept too. These are not the only dogs in need of care, but some dogs hit people's heart more than others. We have many in-house that have on-going care. One had his second leg surgery yesterday as he came in with a severely broken leg 6 months ago where the bone was deteriorating from being broken for so long. The first surgery didn't take as well, as his bones were so brittle. With good care and good nutrition the bones got strong enough for a second surgery. The second surgery was very successful. Once this heals he will have to have back surgery. Two others had back surgery last month. Each surgery is around $4,000-$6,000. We stop at nothing to get them well, but right now we are $35,000 in debt and that was before Carina and Carisa, so your help is extremely needed.

Now regarding Carina, she is improving daily, more active, eating very well, think the home cooked meal really helped in her on-going recovery. Her skin still looks really bad and it has been over a week. Just raw! The baths are very painful to her but needed. She is truly an ANGEL, so loving so grateful for everything we do. Accepting of everything that is being done to help her. She is going for a battery of test on Friday to access her condition further. I continue to be very optimistic. Even though the Vets are still cautious about her condition, I feel it in my heart that she will make it. It will be a long journey and not an easy one, but we can do it.

Again thank you all very much and as time progresses please continue to support us. After the initial shock of these babies wears off, there is still a long way to go to make them well.
Below is a quick video of Carisa being cleaned up at the Vets

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals
****************
April 4th

Carina and Carisa's Update

Dear friends - A little update on the girls. Carisa is doing well, not much to report on her as she didn't have all the problems and issues that Carina has. Carisa will take on going care for the mange and will take a while, maybe 6 months to get her back in shape. She is happy, eating well and enjoying playing with all the toys she can get to :-)

Carina had one of her Vet check ups on Friday. The Vets were very encouraged as to how well she is doing. They are still amazed that she is alive and improving. She is a little fighter, not giving up and nor will we. She is taking baby steps, but improving. Her eye ulcer is much better, one more week of treatment as we should have it clear. The ears are MUCH better, her ear drums are now intact, much less painful. Still some infection but under control. Her skin is much a improved, but a LONG ways away from getting the sores and infection under control. We changed antibiotics on her to see if that might help more. Her paws are very swollen and full of pus and cracks causing her much discomfort, though her skin looks terrible, and to most it might seem horrible, it is much improved. Her Upper Respiratory Infection is improving also. We still working on the anemia. She continues to gain weight. 3 more ounces in one week. She almost gained 1 lb. in 2 weeks that is great considering she wouldn't eat much when we first got her. We stopped the pain meds except on the days of her bath as it is very painful to her. She has a VERY long journey ahead of her, but barring any unforeseen problems like more infections or anything that will hit her due to her VERY suppressed immune system, the vets are pretty confident she will make it. That was the best news we could have gotten. We were all in tears, tears of joy of course. Our vets adore her and get tears in their eyes when she comes in, she kisses every one and endures painful treatments like a champ. She sleeps with two toys I bought her, a teddy bear and an elephant. At first she didn't pay attention to them as she was so sick, then she was afraid of them as I don't think she knew what a toy was. The last few days she has wanted to play with them. She has a hard time picking them up due to the facial paralysis which is still there, but she tries very hard to play with them, it is so CUTE!

I ask you to please continue praying for little Carina, she is not out of the woods, but we are extremely hopeful and we pray her body holds up to all that is to come. We again appreciate your support, financial and in any other way many of you have supported us. Please continue to pass the words about these little ones as their journey has just begone.

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals

********************

April 7th

Carina
Carina continue to improve. Her spirits are up a great deal. Still hates her baths :-) They hurt and I can understand that. She wants to play with her toys now, but it is difficult for her having the left side of her face paralyzed. We had a bit of a set back yesterday when she developed bad diarrhea, we are working at trying to figure out what is causing it. Could be one of the antibiotics, or the mites in her belly causing havoc. We stopped the antibiotics for a day and give her powder with the good bacteria for her belly that the antibiotics kills. It is dangerous at this point to take her off the antibiotics, but we can't have her get dehydrated either. We will put her back on the antibiotics on Friday and see what happens.

She still loves her song "you are my Sunshine" and gets all happy when she hears it. Also the other good news is that I was able to hold her and cuddle with her. Can't do it for long as her body is so hot and the skin so sensitive, but it was wonderful for her and me to have that contact. She is truly an Angel. This picture was taken yesterday, you can see the improvement of her skin, though it may look bad it looks SO much better.

Thanks every one for you support. Please keep her in your prayers and continue to get people to donate.

Tina Seri- Pugs 'N Pals

******************

April 10th

CARINA
Carina had another follow up appt. with the Vet and once again they can't believe how well she is doing. She is such a trooper. Her eye ulcers have healed!! she still on eye drops as they are very dry. Ears are improving greatly, one ear still has a bit of an infection, but not a big deal. The skin is looking LOTS better. Her anemia is improving and so is her upper respiratory infection. She lost a bit of weight this week due to the diarrhea she has been having, but it is improving a bit, hopefully she will re-gain the weight next week.
She did start being a bit incontinent, don't know why. We sent a Urine Analysis to the lab and see what it is going on, could be a urinary track infection or the hernia she has on her belly might be causing some problems. Not much we can do about the latter for now.
Her personality is starting to come out. She is trying to play with toys, hard for her to hold them with the facial paralysis, but she manages. She acts silly and when I am cleaning her area she bites my hair and pulls it :-) So CUTE! Now that I can hold her, it is not easy as she is a wiggle worm. She is cocking her head on the above picture because I am signing "You are my Sunshine" as I am taking the picture and she LOVE her song! (what you see inside the e-collar is gauze so it doesn't hurt her sores)
As I mentioned before it is a long journey, but considering how she was a little over a 2 weeks ago, this is truly a miracle.
We thank you all for continued prayers and support!

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals

*************

April 16th

Hello everyone, we have a busy week, as we are working Pet Expo in OC all weekend long and it took all week to set up, so been really short in time! A little update on Carisa (Carina's sister) she had a check up this week and doing well, the skin scrapping showed that all the mites are dead YEAH! She still has an infection on her head that we are dealing with and also with the skin infection, her eyes have improved with the meds. So all in all, though it will take time she is doing great and she gained a pound.

Carina had a check up today, she still has many live mites on her, she will take much longer to improve as her condition was truly horrible. Her eyes are much better and the ulcers healed. She does have dry eye and is getting daily meds for that. Her infection is under control, just will take a long time for the skin to improve. Her anemia is improving. She is still on antibiotics. Lost some weight due to her diarrhea which we are still trying to control. We changed her diet and added some nutrigest to help get the good bacteria into her belly. All in all her spirits are great, eating well, and once we get the diarrhea under control hopefully she will start gaining some weight. The left side of her face is still paralyzed. We will be taking her to a neurologist for him to evaluate what is going on. Her left ear still has an infection going on. She is a sweetie and loves to play with her toys and give tons of kisses.

Thank you all for caring and for your support!

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals

*****************

April 25th

CARINA
Hello everyone! Another update on Carina. She had another check up on Friday. She is doing very well and slowly improving. The skin scraping still show live mites! ARRGGHHHH when will they go away!! One of the ears still has an infection, but nothing major. Her eyes are improving, but we did notice that she has VERY limited vision. She has been confined due to her condition so we didn't notice it as much. At the vets we let her run around and she ran into walls a lot. Oh well the least of our worries. Her skin has a weird blue tint, as you can see by the above picture. We don't know why that is other than potential damage to her skin due to the severe infection. The other concern is that on her head and neck she has some nodules, that I thought was still scabs and noticed that they just don't go away. On closer inspection the Vet said it is severe scarring below the skin. That is where she had the worse infection and open wounds. So there is a lot of scar tissue which may limit in time how much she can turn her neck. There is a possibility that in the future we might have to do surgery to remove some of the scar tissue. It does bother her now, as when you touch her there, you can tell it hurts her. In a couple of weeks we will do a bile Acid test to see if there was any damage to the liver due to her being so septic and if she has a liver shunt. Which has been a concern of ours. All in all she is doing very well, very happy, growing some hair. You can see in this pic I put a sweatshirt on her as it was a cold day and she is pretty bald. Doesn't she look ADORABLE? :-) She is still having a bit of tummy problem an loose stools and we are working on that. She gets the best medical care and we don't skimp on anything, so please continue to support us so she can get the best of the best.
Another update in a week. Thanks every one for caring and your support!

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals

******************

May 12th

Hi every one! Sorry for the delay. I am just going to write something very quick and give more info and pictures later. We have been hit with some very major emergencies. We got a dog with his paw detached, had to have emergency surgery to re-attach it and I am caring for him around the clock too. Then a 1 yr. old little girl came in dragging her back legs, after a Mylogram, we found the problem and she went straight to back surgery, and she too will be coming to me for recuperation. Another dog was attacked by two other dogs and he is now critical, so been dealing with all of this and trying to figure out how to pay for it all, as yesterday alone we spent $11,000 on the 3 sick dogs! ARRRGGHHHHH

Now to Carisa, she was totally clear, looks great. We will work on building her immune system for the next 2-3 months then we will have her spayed and have to enlarge the nostrils as she cant breath too well.

Carina is also doing very well, unfortunately she is still not clear of mange, still positive! Taking way too long. :-( Her hair is still growing, she will just take a long time and there might be not much more I can update you guys about as it will be a VERY slow process with her as her immune system is really shot. We did do te bile Acid test on Monday and it came back negative, so that is good news, at least no Liver Shunt!

Thank you to eveyone for caring!!

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals

****************************
June 10th

CarisaHi everyone!

Sorry for the delay in updates, we are dealing with another critical dog and it is taking all of our time. Carisa as I said in my last update is all well. Now we are building her immune system so we can spay her and enlarge her nostrils as she can't breathe very well. We don't want to do the surgery too soon or she will get her mange back. This picture was taken a few weeks ago, you can see the dramatic difference from the original pictures of the day we got her. (Carina's update coming soon as I have more to write on her)

Tina Seri - Pugss 'N Pals

***************************************

June 16th

CARINA

Hi everyone!

Miss Carina is doing well, still struggling with the mange, so far we have not gotten a negative reading, very frustrating. We have tried different meds, but it is going very slow. She should have been cleared by now. Her immune system is shot so she is healing slowly. But very happy and active girl, full of life!! A couple of weeks ago she got Giardia again, so now she is on Meds for that too! The left side of her face still paralyzed and it looks like it will stay that way. Part of her tongue is atrophy so eating and drinking is a bit difficult for her, but she still eats like a Pug! :-) In a few weeks we are going to visit the Neurologist to check her out as she seems to have some nerve pain on the left side of her body. We will also visit the opthomologist as she is getting a white spot in one of her eyes. She is very sight impaired, which we knew, but we want to make sure we are not missing anything. Her hair is growing in very nicely, she does have some spots, specially on her head that is not growing. She has many scars due to the severe infection she had. It might just stay that way, she is beautiful nonetheless.

Once again we thank you for caring and for your support. Her vet bill is really high so any continued financial support would be very much appreciated. Also thank you to those of you that sent care packages, she loves getting them and appreciates the toys and sweaters she gets, typical girl!

For those of you that sent money via check, we are sorry that we can't send thank you letters, time is short and the mailing expenses high. So please pass this on to everyone you told about Carina and let them know how much we appreciate their donation. If they need a donation receipt have them send me their e-mail address and I will send it. Thanks everyone!!!

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals
**************************
August 22nd
BEAUTIFUL CARINA!

Hi guys!
So sorry for the delay in reporting, but we've had a rash of critical dogs and we lost two of them, which is devastating to us, we just can't handle losing them. So we have been working around the clock with them.
Carina is doing GREAT!! As we expected she is going to be one that most likely have issues. Her condition was too critical and God knows how much internal/immune system problems her condition has caused, we may never know, just take it a day at a time. Her skin is looking great. There are places where her hair has not grown and may not. Specially on top of her head there are a lot of scars. Nonetheless she is a BEAUTY. We finally got a negative on the mange. We will re-check in 1 month and hope for a second negative.
We took her to the opthomologist and the neurologist. The eye Dr. said she is mostly blind on the left eye, some vision on the right. We are putting meds daily in the hopes that it will help or at the very least not have the blindness progress. Due to her tongue issue when she licks the tongue lands straight in the middle of her eye which is causing problems. The neurologist says that the paralysis on her left side is most likely trauma, a hit or a drop on her head. At the moment it is not bothering her, but it might affect her nerves in the future. The reason her tongue is sideways and not working properly is due to a deformity of the inside of her mouth, we thought it might be the paralysis, but it is not. So she will eat liquified food for life so there is no danger of chocking.
Just as we thought we got things under control, she got vaginitis and a Urinary Track infection. We treated and cleared it. A month later she got it a again. So she is being treated again. We are hoping this is not going to be an on-going thing, but it might as Pugs are very prone to UTI'S. We continue that two times a week bath sas she has very sensitive skin and we are trying to keep any infection at bay.
All in all she is happy, making up for lost time as a puppy and being one all day long. Gets into a lot of trouble, but can't get mad at her, she is not only too cute, but making up for lost time, she gets away with a lot and she knows it :-)
This picture shows you how well she is doing and how beutiful she is :-). Thank you all for caring for her so much and for all your support. We would appreciate your continued financial support, as this little girl is costing a bundle and with the others that we have in critical condition we are really hurting financially.
As I said before, her journey will be long and hope we can stay ahead of her problems and try to care of them as they show up.
Thank you again! you guys are the best!
Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals
**********************
Sept. 3rd
Well Ms. Carina got her mange back. ARRGGHHH, her immune system is just shot so no big surprise. We got it just as it started again as we watch her like hawk. So she is back on antibiotics and Ivermectin and hope we can clear it soon. She also got her vaginitis back. Never ending. Which we expected, but were hoping we were wrong. She is still happy and crazy little girl that has a foot and ear lobe fettish :-)
We were asked to take in an 8 month old that has a liver shunt. This is a tricky and expensive surgery and our fund have been depleted with Carina and all the other critical dogs we've recently had. But Sunny, the little Pug will die without the surgery and no other rescue group will take her. The owners just can't afford for her care.
When we get her I will send you a picture. We hope that you guys will help once again. You have been wonderful to us and we so appreciate you. The cyntigraphy will be $385 and the surgery around $4,000.
Have a safe Labor Day weekend and once again thank you for being there for us.
Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals
*********************
Oct. 6th
Carina is still battling the last bout of Mange. Can't seem to get it under control. She is back on antibitics and Mange meds. Guess he system is so shot that she can't fight things very well. She is happy and active and being a typical puppy and getting into lots of trouble :-). We will continue doing all we can to get her healthy!
Thanks every one for your support!
Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals

***********************
Dec. 8th

Believe it or not we are still struggling to clear Carina of her second bought of Mange. He immune system is so shot that it is hard for her to heal fast. She went into heat a month ago as we couldn't spay her due to her condition. After her heat she went into a false pregnancy mode and her tits got large and swollen. Then the hernia she came in with started strangling the intestines, so even though she was not well enough to go under anesthesia we had no choice but to spay her and fix the hernia before it did major damage. She had that surgery yesterday, Dec. 7th. She did very well and is nor recuperating from it. Most likely her Mange will flair up even more after surgery. As I said at the beginning she will have a long and expensive journey. But we are here for the long ride and will do whatever it takes to fix her. Your support is appreciated.

Happy Holidays every one!! We appreciate you!

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals
*******************
January 26th

Hi every one!

Carina is doing very well, but still struggling with health issues. It seems never ending .We fix one thing and another thing comes up. The infection she came in with really did a job on her body. As you know we had cleared her of the Mange. A month later it came back, not bad, but there. It has been 5 months since the last bought and she is still not cleared. We have tried different medications, but it is just her immune system being shot. She also got several Urinary track infections in the last few months and several Virginity's issues. At one point she became incontinent. We now got that under control. As I say when we first got her, she will have a long journey ahead of her, and unfortunately it has been true.
On a good note, she is active and happy and a loving little baby, that doesn't let anything get her down. She has a tremendous zest for life. As any young dog she gets into a lot of trouble :-) She rips about 2 toys a day, so I have to constantly stock on toys as she MUST have them or gets very upset.
Needless to say she has cost us a bundle and one of the reasons we are tapped out financially. So again any help you can give in a way of donations to continue helping Carina it would be much appreciated.

Thanks so much!
Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals
***********************
March 12th

Carina is doing very well, we ust FINALLY cleared the second bought of mange. We hope nothing else pops up. She goes for a month with everything find, then something comes up. Her immune system is so shot that things just hit her. Her sister Carisa, who is much healthier, just came down with her second bout of mange too. Never ending with these girls. Cost us a forturne. But what cuties!

Tina Seri - Pugs 'N Pals

PLEASE HELP US HELP MAGNUM

2008-08-10T11:05:00.000-07:00

MAGNUM

Dear Friends of Pugs 'N Pals,

We are asking you for your support in helping us help Magnum. This precious 3 month old male Pug, was rescued by us from the shelter hours before being put down due to Demodex mange. A very treatable condition. Yes his mange is very severe, and it is hard to imagine he got this bad in his short 3 months on earth. This picture was taken the day we got him, only a few days ago. As you can see he is absolutely adorable and sweet as can be. He is so grateful to be in our loving care and getting medical attention. Unfortunately Magnum has more problems to endure, a few days after we got him he got very sick. We rushed him to the Emergency Clinic where we got the devastating news that Magnum has Parvo. Parvo is very very serious in any dog, but for some one like Magnum that is dealing with a compromise immune system and this severe mange, it can be a death sentence. We don't want to give up on him, if there is hope to pull him through we want to do all that we can, he deserves at least that. Unfortunately in rescue money is always an issue. His care will be very expensive. He needs to be in the hospital 24/7 for at least 1 week, by then we should know if he might be able to survive this. He will need several plasma tranfusion, as well as IV fluids around the clock and lots of other medication. WE NEED YOUR HELP!! Please make a donation to Magnum's Fund and help us help him. He is a fighter and even in his horrible condition and the pain he is in, he always has a kiss for us. Give what you can, every little bit helps. PLEASE we don't want to give up on Magnum!

You can send your donation to: Pugs 'N Pals, Magnum's Fund, P.O. Box 9343, Newport Beach, CA 92658. Or through Pay Pal through our WEB SITE http://www.pugdogrescue.com/

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your support and Magnum sends many kisses to you. We will keep you updated on his condition via this blog.

HELP MAGNUM PLEASE!!

Pugs 'N Pals

************************************************************************

MAGNUM - UPDATE 8/12/2008

MAGNUM 8/12/2008

Magnum is hanging in there. The doctors are amazed how much this little guy is fighting to live. He spiked a fever today, but with meds they were able to get it down. He is still vomiting and having diahrrea. We continue to be told that prognosis is grim, but we are a stubborn group and have had a good track record a pulling through dogs that we were told would never make it. As long as Magnum is willing to fight we will fight right along with him. He gets picked up from the Emergency Clinic every morning and transported to our Vets. Then back again to the ER at nights. He needs care 24/7 and as you know this is very expensive and some of his meds are really expensive. WE NEED YOUR HELP!! Please send a donation to little Magnum. Every little bit helps. His care will be well over $5,000!!

We are hoping against hope that if he lasted this long that we can pull him through. We know that it is an uphill battle, the fact that his Mange is so bad is what is making his prognosis grim. If he was just fighting Parvo he would have a good prognosis, but his immune system is compromised due to the Mange. He has everything going against him, but he has our wonderful team on his side and with your support we can give him a shot at life. He hasn't had a good one so far, but he is in the loving care of many wonderful people who love him and will fight for him.

Thank you all for your support and prayers.

Tina Seri

Pugs 'N Pals

*******************************************************************

Magnum Update - 8/17/2008

Sorry for the delay in updates. It has been a roller coaster week with Magnum. We've had some very low lows. On Wed. he started going downhill, got very depressed, which is one of the sign of Parvo and one that they normally don't turn back from. This little boy is amazing and has all the Vets rooting for him. On Thursday he looked at tad better, but his prognosis was slim. By Friday things were not improving. We opted for a few more plasma transfusion, even though they are very expensive. This helped a great deal as his protein and albumen levels went up a bit. He stopped vomiting and very little diarrhea. Every morning he gets picked up from the Emergency Clinic and transported to our Vets (this keeps cost down) and every night transported back to the ER. He has been at the hospital (both) for 10 days. This is VERY expensive. But we want to give this little boy a real shot at making it. As of today, Sunday, things are improving. He was able to eat a little and keep it down. His has been upgraded to guarded condition. This little boy wants to live! Please help us with his Vet bills, we need to pay them soon and right now it is in the $5K range, we were only able to raise $2,500. PLEASE HELP MAGNUM. I urge, beg you, plea with you to donate towards his care. We didn't want to give up on him due to lack of finances. We took a chance and we hope you will help us with our efforts. Every little bit helps. Pass the word around to other animal lovers! If he makes it it will truly be a miracle and one we are praying will happen.

We thank you all for your prayers and support! Magnum sends a lot of kisses.

Thank you!

Tina Seri

Pugs 'N Pals

*******************************************************************

MAGNUM 8/24/2008

MAGNUM UPDATE - 8/24/2008

Magnum has improved greatly. His condition has been upgraded to guarded. On Tuesday 8/19 he was taken off IV fluids and was started on oral medication. He was able to keep everything down, and was released to in-home hospice around the clock care. He should have stayed at the Vets a bit longer, but money is an issue, so we opted to care for him at home. It is a lot of work, but do-able. He was very happy to come home and be out of a cage. He still very weak and on bland food to try to get his system to adopt to food. He had not eaten for 13 days and has been in ICU for that long. When he came home (with me) he was so happy to see an actual bed with blankets!! :-) He doesn't seem to know what toys are, he is afraid of them. He is such a trooper, as sick as he has been and as he must still feel, all he wants is to be held and to give kisses none stop. We are told the next 30 days are very important, as sometimes Parvo affects the heart and even though he might look good, there is a chance that his heart could give out. We are all on pins and needles as we love this little boy so much. We got this far and can't imagine that this would happen to such a precious baby. We ask for your prayers. He still has to be isolated, as he could be contagious, needs to be handled with gloves and shoes and clothing must be changed every time we enter/exit his room. Shoes must be disinfected with bleach and so does the flooring. I am going through TONS of wee wee pads! :-) But he is worth it. As soon as he gets stronger we will tackle the mange, but he is too weak at the moment. We are hoping to introduce him to regular food in the near future. He is so grateful to be alive, you can see it in his eyes that he is so happy and thankful. We thank each and every one of you that have sent in a donation and have prayed for him. We still have long ways to go to raise money for his Ve bills. As of 8/21 his Vet bills were $7,300 and we are still not done. We ask you to please donate if you can and pass his story to others that might be able to help us pay his bill. We didn't want to give up on him and we are glad we didn't. It appears that outcome will be good.

Thank you all so much for your support. Magnum sends kisses and his love to all of you!

Tina Seri
Pugs 'N Pals

***********************************************

MAGNUM - Update 9/21/2008

MAGNUM 9/12/08

Dear Friends,

I am so very sorry for the delay in updates. There is so much going on. Some sick dogs that need caring and we are working on our fundraiser PUGTOBERFEST around the clock, so there seems not to be enough hours in the day.

We'd like to thank you all for your support and for caring for our precious little boy. Magnum is doing WONDERFUL!!! There is still a long journey ahead, but as of 2 weeks ago he is Parvo free!! YIIPPPEEEE!!! We are now dealing with his severe mange, which will take a while. The other problem we've encounter is that about a week ago, overnight, he got this golf ball size lump on his back. The Vets have no idea what it is. We are praying that is not Cancer, as when the immune system gets shot by the Parvo, anything can happen. We have to take a wait and see approach right now and hope to God the lump will go away on its own. He is being closely monitored.

I have to tell you that he is one of the most precious and loving puppies I have ever seen. Normally puppies want to just play and eat and get into trouble, NOT Magnum, all he wants is to be held and kissed. He loves to be kissed and to kiss. He will even stop eating, which is not like a Pug, if he thinks some one will hold him. He is so precious and you can see how grateful he is for all that we have done for him. I know he knows that there are a lot of people rooting for him and sending their love!

The picture above was taken 2 weeks ago, now you tell me, isn't that the most beautiful face? :-)

As you probably know his Vet bills are astronomical and we are not done. Still lots to l do for this precious baby. We urge you to donate what you can and to pass his story to others. Even though he is well and we hope he will have a long life ahead of him, we still have the Vet bills to pay and the continue treatment.

We hope to see you all at PUGTOBERFEST on Oct. 4Th and who knows Magnum "might" make an appearance if he can :-)

We appreciate all you for caring!

Tina Seri
Pugs 'N Pals

*****************************************
Dear Friends of Pugs 'N Pal

We are happy to report that Magnum is doing FABULOUS. Had a long journey, over a year worth of care, over $12K in medical bills for him. But he pulled through with flying colors and is now adopted and loved by his new parents. Who realize what a miracle baby he is and how special he is. They continue to spoil him rotten as we did. He deserves everything good out of life from now on.

We want to thank all of you for your prayers and support and for truly caring. Though Magnum is not longer in our care, we are still taking donation for him as our bill is not paid yet!

Once again, thank you!

Tina Seri

Pugs 'N Pals

Chachis Story - We care and you do matter!

2008-03-20T20:12:00.000-07:00

Chachis WE CARE and you do MATTER!!

I thought long and hard about posting about our ordeal with Chachis. Part of me thought this was too much for the general public to handle, but then again, this is reality and I feel very strongly that no matter how bad it is every one needs to be aware of what is happening to our innocent animals. Nothing will ever improve if we hide our head in the sand. There are terrible people out there doing terrible things to these precious helpless animals and we must all be aware and do something about it. When we started this blog it was to give you a glimpse into the life of rescue, as you can see there is good and there is bad, all of it part of life. This is a story about the bad.

We got a call at 9 p.m. at night on 3/18/08 from an animal control officer at an LA shelter, asking us to take Chachis, a 13 yr. old female Pug. They said she was in terrible shape. The owner had turned her into the shelter that night. We worked for hours trying to work out the logistics of getting Chachis into our care. We are used to seeing bad, but nothing prepared us for Chachis, her condition was critical and beyond deplorable. We are hoping and urging the shelter to file chargers to the person that did this to her.

One of our volunteers drove down early on the morning of 3/19 to pick up Chachis. He was truly startled and shaken when he saw her. We transported her to our Vet who was ready to give her immediate medical care. Even our Vets were extremely upset by her condition. I went to the Vets to meet her, evaluate her and talk to the Vets. Though I was warned, I too was shocked to the core. Chachis was loaded with maggots coming out of every crevice and crawling all over her. She was skin and bones and had a huge mass in her mouth that didn’t allow it to close it. Anemic, her temperature was so low that she was immediately put in an incubator. One eye was ruptured; organs were starting to shut down, skin lesions from being on cement for a long time. A terrible sight, something you don’t expect a true human being to allow to do to an animal.

After many tears and the heartbreaking decision to let her go was made. We knew no matter how much we did for her it wouldn’t be enough, she was too far gone and we didn’t want her to suffer one more minute. Chachis went peacefully with much love around her and lots of tears, surrounded by people that truly CARED for her. Our volunteers are all badly shaken by this, we see a lot, but this hit our souls so deep it will take a while to let it go. We won’t get over it, we shouldn’t as we must always remember Chachis and continue to care for others like her. For the short time we had her, we loved and honored her, we wished we had more time to get to know her, and show her how much we cared -- that she did MATTER to some one. Please if possible give a donation in honor of Chachis so we may continue to care for the many animals that are neglected and abuse. Let Chachis know her suffering will help others. Let her know she mattered!

“Our dear Chachis, we only knew you for a very short time, but you touched our hearts and we hope you felt the love we gave you and the tears that were and are been shed for you. This should not have happened to you, there are people out there that are monsters and you were own by them. We are so sorry that you were treated so badly. We did our best to save you. We know you are now in a much better place and pain free. We are sorry precious baby for what you had to endure, our hearts break for you. We love you, until we meet again, be happy and feel our love”

Tina Seri
Pugs ‘N Pals

Welcome to Pugs 'N Pals Blog

2008-02-24T19:16:00.001-08:00

Dear Friends of Pugs 'N Pals,

We are happy to announce our new way of communicating with you. We will try to give you a small glimpse of a day in the life of a rescuer. We appreciate all of our friends and supporters and we hope this will help us keep you more informed on what is going on in our rescue world and on all of our beautiful babies we have in-house and the new ones that keep coming.

We hope you enjoy it and we look forward to hearing from you as well.

Welcome to Pugs 'N Pals Blog

Tina Seri
Pugs 'N Pals