8/22/06: I would like to introduce Shandy Grace. We gave her the middle name of "Grace", because she truly exudes grace in every way and we've decided to call her Gracie.
Gracie came to RAGOM on August 18th as an owner surrender, referred to us through our local Humane Society. She was with her original family for 9 years. They felt that her medical issues were more than they could cope with and had really been unable to help her the last several years. Unfortunately, her time in the shelter, combined with a lack of medical attention prior to coming to the shelter, has rendered her with a severe bacterial pneumonia. She is hospitalized with a high fever and elevated white blood count as I write this introduction. She is now receiving IV fluids and her medications via IV - since she hasn't been able to eat or take oral medication for the past two days. We hope to bring her back to her foster home soon, to recover and gain strength for her future surgeries. She is in Rapid City, SD for the time being - but hopes to travel to Minnesota to meet her forever family, just as soon as she is able.
Gracie has bilateral Entropion - a condition where the eyelid turns inward. This results in the eyelashes continually rubbing on the cornea and left untreated, it causes irritation, ulceration and infection. She came to us with infection in both eyes, since she has lived with this condition for years. We have been cleaning and medicating them and they look better now. When she has recovered from her pneumonia, RAGOM will see to it that she has the surgical repair to her eyelids, so she can experience the joys of eyelids that close correctly and without pain.
Gracie also has a very large sebatious cyst on her back that, gone untreated, has become infected. We are cleaning and treating it as well, and she will have that removed when she has her "eyes done".
We also discovered that Gracie is hypothyroid - which is an underactive thyroid. She has poor coat and skin quality, but with a thyroid supplement, which is very inexpensive, combined with a high quality food, she will recover beautifully. She has yeast infections in both ears, too - but those are nearly cleared up already with good cleaning and drops. She is very accepting of all the cleaning and medicating and somehow knows that we are helping her. She is a very good girl.
In the four days Gracie has been with us - prior to being admitted to the hospital, we have experienced the best of the best in manners. Granted - Gracie doesn't feel well, but she is very well mannered, totally house trained, very comfortable with all the goings on in an active home with multiple dogs and she knows that we love her and want to help her. We don't have human children, but we live by a lake and Gracie is very drawn to the sight and voices of the children playing, the sound of the ducks and geese (what Golden isn't) and the allure of water. We look forward to sharing all of this with Gracie soon - when she is feeling better.
Please keep Gracie girl in your prayers in the coming days and weeks ahead. She has a bit of a road to travel to fully recover and have the surgeries she needs and deserves. If you would like to contribute to Gracie's medical care - it would be greatly appreciated. Please send your donations (ANY amount helps!) to:
Retrieve a Golden of Minnesota, P.O. Box 5567, Hopkins, MN, 55343-0492, or go to the Network For Good web site (copy and paste the address below into your browser):
http://partners.guidestar.org/controller/searchResults.gs?action_donateR...
Sincerely,
Gracie's foster Mom
| Breed not specified | Born: March 1998 |
| Female | Weight not specified |
Status: Adopted
8/22/06: I would like to introduce Shandy Grace. We gave her the middle name of "Grace", because she truly exudes grace in every way and we've decided to call her Gracie.
Gracie came to RAGOM on August 18th as an owner surrender, referred to us through our local Humane Society. She was with her original family for 9 years. They felt that her medical issues were more than they could cope with and had really been unable to help her the last several years. Unfortunately, her time in the shelter, combined with a lack of medical attention prior to coming to the shelter, has rendered her with a severe bacterial pneumonia. She is hospitalized with a high fever and elevated white blood count as I write this introduction. She is now receiving IV fluids and her medications via IV - since she hasn't been able to eat or take oral medication for the past two days. We hope to bring her back to her foster home soon, to recover and gain strength for her future surgeries. She is in Rapid City, SD for the time being - but hopes to travel to Minnesota to meet her forever family, just as soon as she is able.
Gracie has bilateral Entropion - a condition where the eyelid turns inward. This results in the eyelashes continually rubbing on the cornea and left untreated, it causes irritation, ulceration and infection. She came to us with infection in both eyes, since she has lived with this condition for years. We have been cleaning and medicating them and they look better now. When she has recovered from her pneumonia, RAGOM will see to it that she has the surgical repair to her eyelids, so she can experience the joys of eyelids that close correctly and without pain.
Gracie also has a very large sebatious cyst on her back that, gone untreated, has become infected. We are cleaning and treating it as well, and she will have that removed when she has her "eyes done".
We also discovered that Gracie is hypothyroid - which is an underactive thyroid. She has poor coat and skin quality, but with a thyroid supplement, which is very inexpensive, combined with a high quality food, she will recover beautifully. She has yeast infections in both ears, too - but those are nearly cleared up already with good cleaning and drops. She is very accepting of all the cleaning and medicating and somehow knows that we are helping her. She is a very good girl.
In the four days Gracie has been with us - prior to being admitted to the hospital, we have experienced the best of the best in manners. Granted - Gracie doesn't feel well, but she is very well mannered, totally house trained, very comfortable with all the goings on in an active home with multiple dogs and she knows that we love her and want to help her. We don't have human children, but we live by a lake and Gracie is very drawn to the sight and voices of the children playing, the sound of the ducks and geese (what Golden isn't) and the allure of water. We look forward to sharing all of this with Gracie soon - when she is feeling better.
Please keep Gracie girl in your prayers in the coming days and weeks ahead. She has a bit of a road to travel to fully recover and have the surgeries she needs and deserves. If you would like to contribute to Gracie's medical care - it would be greatly appreciated. Please send your donations (ANY amount helps!) to:
Retrieve a Golden of Minnesota, P.O. Box 5567, Hopkins, MN, 55343-0492, or go to the Network For Good web site (copy and paste the address below into your browser):
http://partners.guidestar.org/controller/searchResults.gs?action_donateR...
Sincerely,
Gracie's foster Mom
Hi All. Shandy Grace here. All is going well post-sugery. I'm just laying around soaking up all the attention I can get. It's working out pretty well for me. Here's a post-op picture. Foster mom says that everyone that gets their eyes done wear "shades" at first.
Gotta get back to foster dad and the ND game. Every time I leave the T.V., the Irish do something dumb...
I'll write soon. Love, Shandy XO
Hello Everyone!!! Shandy Grace Moulin Munchy here! You're probably wondering why I have more names than I did the last time you heard from me. Well, when it comes to Shandy Grace, there's always something new to learn. For instance, when my SD foster mom realized that I'm happier without my t-shirt on, she added Moulin to my name. And, then, when my MN foster mom realized how much I cherish my groceries, she told my SD foster mom and they added Munchy to my name. After tomorrow, there could be more.......
I'm really sorry that I didn't write sooner, but I've been very busy. I know, I know, that's no excuse, but foster mom told me to try it anyway.... Last Saturday, I came to MN with my SD foster mom and we attended the RAGOM picnic. Everyone said so and even I have to admit, I was a total hottie in my chic red t-shirt. I met my new foster mom at the picnic and she took me home with her. WOW, what a zoo my new foster home is - kind of reminds me of Noah's Ark! I really miss my SD foster mom, so I write to her often and send my hugs and kisses. I'm getting all ready for my big surgeries tomorrow. Foster mom says my gig is really the way to go. I'm getting my eyes done, a cyst removed, my teeth cleaned, my ears flushed out, my nails done, and my skin scraped to see if I truly do have allergies or if something else is making me itchy - all in one visit! How cool is that ?!?!?! One stop medical care! Foster mom said she can hardly believe that I could look any more beautiful than I do right now, so she's really anxious to pick me up tomorrow night to see the results. America's next top Golden, here I come! Please keep your paws crossed that I come through my surgeries just fine - mom wanted to be in surgery with me, but Dr. Dan said he'd rather she not be there. Just because she gave a little unsolicited advice when she watched him stitch up Gracie's leg - geez, aren't we supposed to forgive and forget??? Seriously, I'm sure that because my eye surgery is a delicate one, it would probably be distracting to have a nervous nelly standing by.
I promise to write tomorrow night to let everyone know how I'm doing. Actually, I'll have foster mom write cause I'm not sure how well my eyes will work right after surgery - besides I plan to be laying around on the soft bed getting pampered and waited on. Makes sense, right?
Until tomorrow night......SGMM
One week ago today, Gracie girl came back to her foster home after spending two days in the hospital with a high fever, fighting bacterial pneumonia. Today, you would never believe that she is/was the same dog. She is nearly at 100%, with just a few days of antibiotics to finish for good measure. Her eye infection, infected cyst and the yeast infection in her ears are gone. We just clean everything and apply ointment (for her eyes), spray (for her cyst) and drops (for her ears) and she is good to go. She lets me do absolutely anything to her. I'm hoping our dogs will learn a little something by watching her. We put a t-shirt on her so she doesn't lick at her cyst, and she totally respect it and doesn't bother it in the least.
We've learned so much about this gentle, loving girl in the past week and I'd like to share a little bit of it with you.
Shandy Grace loves people and is very happy to be around our dogs. She seems very acclimated to the "pack" and is always with our dogs, whether hanging out in the yard, visiting the neighbors or watching TV with us in the family room. She eats, sleeps and plays with everyone, like she's done it her whole lifetime. I believe that she is also very comfortable around cats, as she shared lots of face time with the clinic cats at the vet hospital--and they seemed to like her too.
She is by far the easiest foster dog we've ever had come to our home. She is totally housetrained, respects open doors and waits to be invited in or out. She will stay with us when outside of our fenced yard and doesn't wander. I think she knows sit and lay down, but she'll only do it if you are petting or touching her--she is that starved for affection. She likes tennis balls and sticks but hasn't yet played with a soft toy or bone. She loves dog beds and has made several around our home her favorites. She doesn't get on any of our furniture, not even our bed, where several of our resident dogs sleep. She sleeps all night on her dog bed, which is on the floor next to me. She is in very good physical shape for a 9-year-old, and when her thyroid is under control (she is a little hypo (low) thyroid), she will be even more beautiful.
Shandy Grace will be moving to Minnesota in mid September to a new foster home. We plan to attend the annual RAGOM Picnic on September 16 at Snail Lake Park in Ramsey County. So if you'd like to meet this sweet girl, you'd better plan to come and be sure to ask for Shandy Grace. She will be having her Entropion eye surgery as well as having her cyst removed there in Minnesota, after the picnic. I've been telling her that a forever family is waiting to meet her--she just has to be patient and they will find her. If you are an approved applicant and want to express interest in meeting Shandy Grace, please notify us at placement
ragom [dot] org.
Until we meet at the picnic,
Shandy Grace's SD foster Mom and sweet Shandy Gracie girl
Gracie loves her people.
Gracie sleeping.
Gracie lounging.