October 2009 Newsletter

Kim & Weezie As no-kill rescuers, we are responsible for each and every animal we rescue. Often times we don't know anything about the history of the dog or cat that comes in to our care however, we take great strides to find out as much as we can about them before making them available for adoption. We rely greatly on our Veterinarians to help us assess any medical issues and we spend a lot of time getting to know each animal so that we can place them in the right home.

Sometimes, though, we take in a dog who we find has serious medical issues that deem them "unadoptable." Once in a while the right home can be found for an elderly dog or one that might have other manageable issues but there are those we realize will remain in our care forever. Such is the case of "Louise" who we rescued last year from the Leavenworth, KS city shelter. She was about 6 months old and was apparently a healthy, happy girl. A great family adopted her but shortly thereafter Louise started to have cluster grand mal seizures. As much as they tried, it was too emotionally taxing for this family to care for her (they had lost their previous dog to epilepsy) so she came back in to our care.

Louise remains with me to this day. She is averaging cluster seizures about every 4 weeks and takes a lot of medication to help keep them at bay. Some would say she is an epileptic but she was technically too young to be diagnosed with this disease. Epilepsy in a dog actually means "seizures from an unknown cause". There may be something wrong in Louise's brain that was there from birth or she may have had some kind of an injury as a puppy that could cause them. We'd love to do an MRI, which would give us more insight as to what is going on in her brain, but we simply can't afford to do so. We have spend a lot of time with our Veterinarians and have even visited with the neurologist at VSEC in Overland Park. The only thing we can do for Louise is keep her on the meds and manage the seizures the best we can.

Otherwise, Louise loves to run and and play with other dogs and she absolutely loves to swim. I keep a close eye on her and when the seizures come, I hold her tight and give her the proper meds to help the seizure end. She's part of the family now and we affectionately call her "Weezie." Her best buddy is my Border Collie whom she pesters constantly. Yes, she's a little quirky but you can't help but love her to pieces. She is a special needs Furry Kid, one we rescued with an unknown serious medical issue, and even so, she has a loving home with us forever.

We will continue to highlight our special needs Furry Kids in our upcoming newsletters. It is part of what we do as a no-kill rescue and we feel these dogs deserve the love of a family just like any other happy healthy dog. They are all worth the effort!!

~Written by Kim Accurso, President, Furry Kids Refuge