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

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

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
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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)

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
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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



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

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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
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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
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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

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
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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
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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
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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

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

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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
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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
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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
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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

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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!

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

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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

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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

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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
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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
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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
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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