7 Month old Puppy Mill Rescue "Powder"
Has a grade five Heart Murmur
Him just does not feel one bit good.:(


7 Mos. old Puppy Mill Rescue "Powder" has a grade five heart murmur. We are on the way TODAY, Tuesday, June 4, 2002, with him to Texas A&M University for surgery. We will give updates daily.

UPDATE June 5th 6:00 P.M.

We arrived today at Texas A&M Small Animal clinic in College Station, Texas. 4th year student, Donna, examines Powder. He is just not feeling good at all. Dr. Steven Miller will do the surgery tomorrow. He has done several of our previous surgeries!
Small Paws® Rescue: The Heart Murmur Reunion Babies!


This is a good picture of his eyes. Looking into them, you can see that he is really sick. They told us today at A&M that Powder is not a true albino, which is really good news! He won't have the problems often associated with albinoism. But this baby's eyes are just so very different, and he has so very little pigmentation. You can see through his eyes... and sometimes, they look pink, and sometimes they look pale gray blue. When the vets look at the retina, it is pink. But the iris, has some pigment. SO, the ruling is that he is not an albino.:) He has a very light colored nose and cute little pink pads on his feet.


Here you can see how bad he feels.:(



No he does not have "demon eyes"...but they do reflect light differently. This baby is so scared of people. He was probably never touched until he came into rescue with Small Paws. He finds a corner and hides in it. Last night he hid in the hotel bathroom. I held him, got on the floor with him, and had to ask God to forgive the thoughts I was having about whoever did this to him. A 7 mos. old Bichon puppy should be happy and should want to be held. This baby is scared of his own shadow.
Early this morning he ventured over to the bed to check me out. I reached down to pet him and he ran back to the bathroom to hide. I picked him up and took him back to bed with me, where after about ten minutes, he finally relaxed and rested on my arm. He will need to find a Mama with another dog, (so that this other dog can teach Powder to trust humans) and a lot of patience.


While we were there we met these two delightful 18 mos. old Newfies, Arrow and Cachena, who are having the coil technique done for PDA's, tomorrow, too! The lady told me about Newfie rescue getting the Newfies out of the puppy mills by buying them up at the mill auctions. I told her, I had just told our mailing list about this, not two days ago! Then, they donated $20.00 towards little Powder's surgery!


As we were leaving we met 13 year old Max in the waiting room! Max's Dad lives here in College Station, and also has Max's Mom and Dad who are 15 and 16 years old! He was so happy to learn about us! Max was just going in for a check up.:)
Ok, tomorrow is baby Powder's surgery. It will be starting about noon. As soon as I have word that it is over and he is in recovery, I will come and let you guys know! Thanks for your support! More udates as they happen!

UPDATE 6/06/02 3:20 P.M.
Powder made it through surgery with flying colors! They "coiled" him, using two coils and they got a complete occlusion. (No leaks!) He is waking up now, and I will send a complete update out to the mailing list later on this evening, complete with pictures! HE MADE IT!! BABY POWDER MADE IT!! Thank you all so much!

Update 6/06/02 10:00 P.M.
Here are the pictures of Powder's surgery today...he is reasting tonight and already feels better!

ICU personel monitor Powder's recovery.

Him was still asleep wif blankies on him for a while.


Givin him some happy juice afterwards...
More updates tomorrow!:)

UPDATE 6/07/02
I visited Powder today at the vet school hospital.


He feels better...but he is just so scared of everything. He has never been loved or held before he came to us...This baby is going to take some patience and hard work. He would never hurt a flea...and look what someone from our species has done to this baby. I have't seen one this scared since Cashmere....
Small Paws® Rescue: Cashmire's Story
We fly home in the morning. Love,Robin

UPDATE: Powder has a new home!
6/09/02
Powder and I came home yesterday and I have GREAT news!!! Powder crouched and was so afraid all during our trip....but when we returned him to our vet's office in Tulsa...and he saw Kathy, (the vet tech there who has cared for him for the past ten days before his surgery) ...he just CAME ALIVE! With his tail going a mile a minute, he began to blitz and play and he became a REAL LIVE Bichon right before my very eyes! I was so worried for him until this moment! Now, I know he will be ok with human beings. He bonded to Kathy and he will be able bond with his new family. Powder will be going to Florida to live with a couple (They have their own business and both work!) who have three other Bichons. One is a rescued Bichon adopted from us named "Frosty." When they went to the airport to pick Frosty up, they took a big sign that said "WELCOME FROSTY!"....Powder is going to be just fine. He is going to be just fine.:)

His surgery and the trip will be about $1800.00.
If you would like to make a tax deductible donation to help us with this life saving surgery, here is how you can do that securely, online.

UPDATE 6/14/02
Powder is HOME!

Subj: Powder learned the doggie door this afternoon.
Date: 6/14/2002 10:22:38 PM Central Daylight Time
From: debbie@knothole.net (Debbie)
To: Pup3@aol.com (Pup3-aol.com)

Hi Robin
He was so proud when he followed the other dogs in from outside. We told
him what a smart boy he was and he seamed to glow with pride. Every time in
or out since then he takes a side step and uses the doggie door, that's
next to the big door. We phrase him every time.
Powder does stay close to me now and again is laying next to my chair and
his new brother on the other side.
He is very happy, I think he is smiling now. He blitzed around after his
bath and was really happy and didn't even think of cowering.

Powder's plain trip was very good, he was a shy little dog but was treated
very well by the American Airlines staff. We were at their office waiting
for him to get off the plain and two people came around the corner one
carefully caring his cage not to spill his water on the door. The woman
attendant said he'd seemed scared but very quite in flight.They did a great
job flying my new baby, Powder to me. We closed the door to their office
and took him out of the cage and put his leach on and then I carried him out.

Debbie Windham

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Small Paws® Rescue Inc.
% Robin Pressnall
3316 S. 72nd.W. Ave.
Tulsa, Oklahoma,74107

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