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
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
