April 2023 Rescue Report
In last month’s report Harmony had just been diagnosed with two more mammary tumors. We were waiting until early this month to have them removed because there wasn’t a great rush with relatively low grade tumors. She went in on April 5, and because she had a previous tumor removed, we wanted a good set of x-rays first. Unfortunately, there as enough question that our vet sent them to a radiologist, who said there is someone concerning in one lung. There is a good chance the cancer metasticized. She also has a bit of a cough, so the surgery was cancelled. In a month we will take Harmony back for another set of x-rays and will make a decision how to proceed. According to what we were told when she was picked up at the shelter, she is 12 years old, and we have to consider age. Meanwhile we will continue spoiling her.
We recently started Tessa and Sophie on a CBD product that worked well on Fena (Sophie’s litter sister). We couldn’t see much difference, but we’ll continue trying everything we can to make our Iowa puppy mill girls more comfortable. Once in a while we experiment by letting them outdoors off-leash, but they still aren’t comfortable coming back inside until bedtime. It’s odd, because when I let them out after dinner, Tessa (the more timid of the two) always comes back to the door to lick my hand. With the recent rainy weather we don’t dare take a chance too early in the day. Something happened to them when they were young, and after five years we don’t expect they will ever be “normal” dogs.
Our transition to a new generation of rescuers is going well. Each board member is taking alternating months as “first responder,” meaning they handle all inquiries for dogs for that month. We communicate with the other board members as things happen, so everyone has input and keeps current on events. Some months will be busy; some won’t, but we “old timers” can relate what has happened in the past and how we handled it. Speaking as an old timer, I have confidence Samoyed Rescue will be around a long time after I’m gone.