Santa, Lehua, Makana Aloha, Simba, & Baby
11/27/99

December 5, 1999

December 18, 1999

This was the posting on our Available Chows page: Simba & Baby: Red, 2.5 yr. old male & female. Preferably we would like to have them placed together as they have always been together. Both very sweet and loving now that they have gotten over their initial fear. They were located in SC where they were rescued, but we transported them to VA 12 May. Unfortunately, they are both heartworm positive...Baby's heart is enlarged...Simba is almost totally blind with a very small window of sight located at the top of his left eye. They are both beautiful and deserve a very loving, caring home where they can live their lives out with all the spoiling that can be afforded them.

Now to take you back to the beginning. We got a call saying that there were two Chows that needed to be rescued. The family lived in KY and the Chows no longer had a home due to a divorce. They had been taken to the parents in SC who contacted a resuce group local to them.

So, we left at 5:00 a.m. on Friday morning to make the trip down to SC to pick up the Chows. We stopped near the NC/SC border to visit a shelter in Lenoir Co. that we have gotten several Chows from over the years, as we'd never been to their facility before...we'd always met at the VA/NC border at a reststop. We saw a few kittens there, and decided to pick up 3 of them on the way back from getting the Chows. We got to the designated meeting point just beyond the border and ended up waiting for a couple of hours beyond the intended time as everyone else involved was running late.

When they arrived, we looked into the back of the truck at the two Chows who growled and snapped at us. It became obvious that we were going to have to cautiously coax the two out of the truck so we could get them into our car. I finally climbed over the tailgate and sat upon it for a while, talking to the two Chows and trying to get them to drink some water I was holding out to them. Eventually I was able to get hold of the leash of the female (Baby), and handed it off to one of the others to take out of the truck. But Simba's (the male) leash was tangled around the jack laying in the back of the truck and I couldn't get close enough to be able to remove it. So, I found something in the truck that I could use to move the chain around until I was able to get it released from its hold on the jack. Once I got it loose, I pulled it over with the stick, and then handed the leash over to someone else to get Simba out of the truck. By this time, Baby was already seatbelted to the backseat of the car.

On the drive back up north, we stopped off to pick up the kittens. That was when we found out that Simba and Baby were not necessarily cat friendly. And that was the first we were aware that Simba might be blind.

As we drove toward home, we had a chance to finally take a close look at the medical paperwork handed to us as we were trying to get Baby and Simba out of the back of the truck. That was when we discovered that the two had tested positive for Heartworm (HW). At this point, we called the people who had released the Chows to the other rescue group to be transported to us. That was when we found out that the two had been used for breeding. That they had just had a litter 9 months earlier. They said that they had gotten the test results of the HW jut that very morning. They had no other medical records on the two, but would call us back with the information needed in order to get the prior records. The rest of the drive up left us wondering if we were going to be able to work with these two Chows...Baby kept growling even at her mate Simba and was snappish. But as we got up into VA, it became obvious that Simba was at least coming around, as he started giving kisses.

We got back to our home in VA around midnight. Our next question was how we were ever going to get Baby out of the car...how were we going to unhook her seatbelt? So, we came up with a plan. While one of us distracted Baby from the front of the car, the other unhooked the seatbelt from over the back of the seat. Fortunately, we had enough experience that we'd left their leashes on them, so we had something to guide them with. We got the two into the yard, but that was as far as we were able to get them for that night...luckily the weather was good that night.

The next week or so we left their leashes on them so we could get them from point A to point B. We couldn't let them integrate with the other dogs as they were not friendly to the others, and would growl and snap, almost starting a couple of fights. After a while we finally got to a point where we could take off the leashes as they were allowing us to handle them physically.

We took the two in for exams and that was when it was confirmed that they both had HW and Baby had an enlarged heart. Because of Simba's eye problems, we needed to have him checked out by the ophthalmologist first before deciding whether or not he could be neutered before the HW treatment.

So, the next day we went to see the ophthalmologist who confirmed that Simba was basically blind. He apparently had scar tissue that covered both of his eyes; however, his left eye had a very small window of vision at the very top of the eye. It was possible to perform surgery in which the scar tissue and cornea would be removed and a lens implanted, but there was no certainty he would even retain the limited sight he presently had; and it would leave him susceptible to glaucoma. So, taking all into consideration, even the Dr. believed that for the time being it was wisest to just leave things alone and medicate to hopefully prevent any further complications.

The next step was to have the HW treatment performed on both Baby and Simba. So, we set up the appointment to have them treated. However, as things happen, we were not able to keep the appointment and had to reschedule for the next week. We finally were able to start integrating Baby and Simba in with the others, so things were getting easier around the house not having to do as much shuffling of the fur kids in order to give everyone an opportunity to have some time outside. That Saturday we had an adoption day, and while sitting across from Baby, one of our associates noticed that Baby's tummy was REALLY LARGE...it actually was sitting on the ground while she was seated. Thursady of that week we had sat brushing Baby, trying to get more of the mats out of her coat, as well as the excess she was shedding and I'd noticed that her teats were rather enlarged, however, they always had been since we'd gotten her, so we discarded that glimmering thought. But, seeing her belly had dropped, we KNEW...so, Monday we took both of the Chows in to the vet, knowing Baby would not be getting her HW treatment.

While waiting outside of the office, it was noticeable that Simba was walking into things and didn't appear to have any sight and his gait wasn't quite right. So, when we went in for the appointment, the vet checked his legs. It was discovered that he had luxation of the patella of his left knee, that was causing him to walk oddly with his right leg that was obviously overcompensating for the knee of the left leg. At this point, the vet asked if we were certain that we wanted to put even more money into this one rescue when funds are so limited and there were so many other rescues that we needed to care for. So, Simba did not stay for his HW treatment. When we got home, we called the ophthalmologist's office and left a message.

The following day the ophthalmologist returned the call and told us to bring Simba in that afternoon as soon as we could...she would work us in. So with Baby in tow just in case she were to go into labor while we were out, we went in for Simba's appointment and the ophthalmologist examined him once again. That was when she discovered that his eyesight was no different from the first time she'd examined him. Apparently what had happened was that his eye had been affected by the bright light, causing it to dialate and closing off the one window of vision that he had. This was the best news that we could have gotten! Then the offers of aid came in from a couple of email friends of ours who wanted to help us to save Simba's life by helping to make funds available to us so we could have his knee surgery done and maybe help ease the cost of his HW treatment. Having the funds to take care of his medical meant that we wouldn't have to have him euthanized.

So, things were beginning to look up for Simba...and Baby was to have babies soon. By the time we got home, Baby had already started "nesting" activity in the back seat of the car. We got busy and finished getting the room ready for her and her pups. At one point I felt that I'd best check on Baby who was downstairs. Upon seeing her, I decided that she must be VERY close to delivery, so I took her to the room where the final touches were being made to getting the crate set up where the pups were going to be kept.

I spread the blanket on the floor I had brought up for the delivery, and Baby laid down upon it in preparation. Then she got up and started "nesting" again. Finally, she began having contractions and passed fluids. By 9:08 p.m. the first pup had been born, a small female. The following pups were born in the order of two larger boys, one larger girl, and then one small boy...all by 11:05 p.m. Then Baby appeared to start posturing once again in preparation to deliver yet another puppy; however, after about an hour had passed, it was decided that she was done and we went to cleaned up and get ready for bed. Before I went to bed, I decided to go in and check on Baby and the pups one last time for the night. I saw that some of the pups had crawled behind Baby, so I moved them to the front of her, counting them as I went so as not to miss any. When I got to number five, I had to count again to make sure I hadn't miscounted, as there appeared to be an extra pup who was very wet. That was when I discovered that a sixth pup had been born while we were away from the room. It had been born about 2 hours after the fifth puppy, around 1 a.m.

The only thing left to do was to raise the pups until they were weaned when we would finally be able to have the HW treatment done on Baby. By then Simba would have had his treatment and possibly his other surgery as well. Then everyone would be ready for placement.

This is where you can view pictures of the puppies!

Baby and Simba are now both done with their first heartworm treatments, and are living in a wonderful foster home where they are being spoiled shamelessly!

Simba update!

Page created by: Chow Rescue
2 July 1999