Dog Rescuer Helps Dog with Auto-immune Disease Defy the Odds
Dogs who are rescued never forget the humans who saved them. We are highlighting heartwarming stories of dogs saved from dire situations and then cherished as invaluable family members. Roxy was at “death’s door” when she came to the home of experienced rescuer Stacy Riggs. Stacy shares the story of Roxy’s journey to health:
“I have been adopting rescue dogs for about 15 years now. I always brought the strays home from school growing up and now I adopt the rescues.
“Five have passed on in the past six years and we have four remaining. Our dogs have come from Mexico, where they were young and used for bait in dog fighting, northern Saskatchewan [Canada] where they were abused, neglected and abandoned at young ages, and other places such as Nelson and Kelowna in British Columbia, Alberta, etc.
“Currently, we have Skylar who is an 85 pound six-year-old Shepherd/Husky/Sharpei cross and looks like a black bear! Then we have Jessi, or Miss Jessi as we call her, who is six and the social butterfly and a Shepherd/Rottie cross. Then Murphi, the alpha female, a three-year-old Akbash/Lab cross at nearly 100 pounds very elegant looking. And the most recent addition is Roxy, who is a Pit bull cross at two years of age and about 42 pounds. I have a foster dog in La Paz Mexico too.
“The first picture of Roxy is when I adopted her a year ago at 17 pounds.”
“And a second picture of her [below] during her healing process and a third one of her today [bottom of page].”
“She was on death’s door, but with my daily care (she had to be fed six times a day for the first few months, antibiotics and prednisone), organic healthy food and supplements, a great veterinarian and lots of research she has become the miracle dog.
“Everyone thought she would surely die as the diagnosis was auto-immune disease (lupus-like) and most dogs whose immune system had been so severely compromised as hers had do not survive more than a year. Roxy has.
“She is not out of the woods yet. She still cannot produce tears on her own so she receives tear gel and a prescription eye cream daily. She has gone from two prednisone daily and Immuran to one prednisone every other day and the Immuran every other day. The goal is to get her off the prednisone completely. She has to have full blood work once a month as well as eye tests.
“She had three relapses but recovered. She is tough but so loveable and the perfect dog for anyone. She is happy to be alive and lives to visit the staff at the vet clinic as they saved her. For her it is a happy place.”
“I wanted to share this story as her first owners were young and surrendered her at one year of age. She was spayed at six months but not properly cared for and she had to have more surgery. She went downhill after that and suffered for nearly three months as the owners did not know what to do. They finally surrendered her and I stepped in.
“Roxy would not be alive today had it not been for myself, the time, and the diet and the research and the vet staff. She is a dolly and so funny.”
~ Submitted by Stacy Riggs, May 4, 2013
Did you rescue your dog? If you’d like to share your rescue story, share your story here on DogHeirs.com. Email your photos and stories directly to us under the Subject “Rescue dogs are family” to team (at) dogheirs (dot) com.
