Baby Harley is suffering from a curable,
but expensive, puppy bacterial disease called
Puppy Strangles.
10 week old Bichon puppy, "Harley"
is fighting for his life at the University
of Minnesota School of Veterinary Medicine
Intinsive Care Unit. Baby Harley was rushed to the vet school's
emergency clinic, late Saturday night where
a tracheostomy tube had to be inserted as
he was not breathing. The vets there tell
us that if we can pull him though this infection,
he can have a normal life after he recovers.
The prognosis is very good. The estimate
of the cost to save this little boy's life
is between $2300.00 and $2500.00.
This is one of the sores on his ears. He
is on strong antibiotics and pain medicine.
They assure me he is in no pain. This is
what one of his vets, Dr. Heather Yuill writes...
"Hi Robin! Here are the pictures of
your little Harley. You can see his
tracheostomy tube in several
of the photos.
You can also see the hair loss
and red, irritated skin on his
face and ears
from the infection. This
afternoon he went into a little
couging fit
and managed to pop out his
tube. He had a very hard time
breathing without
it. We got it put back in
right away and he did just fine,
but he is
definitely not ready to have
it
out yet. We'll have to take it
day by day. He is an adorable and tough little
guy!"
UPDATEApril 17, 2002
This is an update from the vet school at
the University of Minnesota!
Subj: Harley
Date: 4/19/2002 4:44:17 PM Central Daylight
Time
From: torf0001@UMN.EDU
To: pup3@aol.com
Harley is improving. He had a tracheostomy
tube placed last friday due to
difficulty breathing and turning
blue. His
throat was very swollen and his
tonsils and larynx were swollen
as well.
Yesterday (4/16/02) we sedated
Harley and performed another
oral exam. The
back of his throat is still
very swollen and the cartilage
around his
trachea (windpipe) is collapsed
making his tracheal opening very
small. This
is probably why he turns blue
when excited. We are planning
on performing
another exam tomorrow to see
if there are any changes. We
are also planning
on pulling the tube at that
time to see how he does breathing
through
his mouth and nose. Otherwise,
Harley is doing great. He is
eating and drinking
well and is very happy
and active. He still has some
scabs and pustules
on his skin around his
face and ears but they are improved.
He's
a great little guy!
Update April 19, 2002
Subj: Harley
Date: 4/19/2002 4:44:17 PM Central Daylight
Time
From: torf0001@UMN.EDU
To: pup3@aol.com
Harley is doing great and ready to go home
today (Friday 4/19/02). His
hospital bill is around $2100.00. Hopefully,
he will continue to do well
at home. He will need to have follow-up visits
to monitor his skin
lesions. The first recheck will be in 2-3
weeks. Sooner if there are
problems.
Good Luck Harley!!
Update April 20, 2002
Subj: Harley
Date: 4/20/2002 7:36:31 AM Central
Daylight
Time
From: SSARVELA-HUGO@prodigy.net
Good Morning!
Well, I have a much improved
Harley at home
now. He
came home last night and I can
see a vast
difference
in him from the last time we
tried this.
His little
eyes (while still red and swollen)
are sparkling
and
he is busy "attacking"
everything
in sight to "shake
to death". He really likes
toys and
seems to eat
anything set in front of him.
Being alive
seems
important to him.
His little neck is still open
and will be
that way for
about a week. I have to be careful
to keep
it clean
and not let anything through
the open hole!
That takes
some getting used to, but is
far better than
trying to
keep him breathing.
All in all, I would say he is
on the mend.
And the
plus side is he appears to be
almost potty
trained! So
far his "happy turds"
have been
going out the door and
his piddle pad is dry. Wouldn't
it be nice
if that
continues.
It will be weeks, if not months,
before he
is ready to
go anywhere, so like I said before,
Harley
is going to
the lake with us. We will get
him well and
hair back
on his little head.
I will send you pictures later.
Have a good day.
Sharyn
Can you help us to help Baby Harley? His
vet bills are estimated to be between $2200.00-$2500.00.
If you can help, here is how
to do that online
on our secure server.
Small Paws® Rescue: How to Donate Using a
Credit Card
Or you may send your tax deductible
donation,
a check or money order to:
Small Paws® Rescue
3316 S. 72nd. W. Ave.
Tulsa, Oklahoma, 74107
One Year Later
Subj: Harley
Date: 4/14/2003 10:54:08 AM Central
Daylight
Time
From: ssarvela-hugo@prodigy.net
To: pup3@aol.com
Robin,
I'm sitting her this morning
remembering
one year ago when we both met
Puds (Harley
to Small Paws®). I can't believe
it has been
a whole year already! I can remember
very
clearly holding him in my arms
as he turned
blue and struggled to breathe,
then stopped
breathing. When asked what puppy
strangles
is, I tell people that it is
like having
polio, mumps and measles all
at once. I don't
think either one of us really
realized what
puppy strangles was then. I can
tell you
I fully understand now! When
his temperature
went so high the vets had to
flush water
under his skin to cool him down,
I remember
you telling me "it would
either cure
him or kill him"!! You also
told the
vets that "Small Paws® doesn't
lose puppies!".
You were right, THANK GOD.
People still ask me about him
and if it was
all worth it. I thought you might
like to
see Harley's one year picture.
Look at those
eyes and tell me it wasn't worth
it!! For
all the pain and suffering he
has been through,
Puds is the most trusting, loving
little
guy you could ask for. He has
some joint
problems but we aren't sure they
came from
the puppy strangels. Otherwise
he is a perfectly
healthy little puppy. And as
for the joint
problems slowing him down--well
guess again.
He blitzes through the house
"killing"
his toys (he is a master at unstuffing
anything!),
relandscapes the lawn to his
preferences
at every opportunity and has
chewed more
shoes up than I care to admit
to. To this
day I walk around in hiking boots
that have
"teeth marks" in them.
He is a
very normal little guy who doesn't
remember
being so sick.Greg and I couldn't
imagine
our house without him. He has
repaid us in
so many ways so many times over.
On this one year anniversary
both Greg and
I want to thank you and Small
Paws for not
giving up on him. He is a joy
to us and I
hope you will be able to meet
him in person
someday. THANK YOU.
SHARYN
TEAM LEADER ---MINN-IOWA-ARKANSAS
Small Paws® Rescue>
