Shirley

Baby Shirley was one of three puppies that came to us from El Paso, Texas on a Friday evening. Her sister, Pinkie, was adopted the following Monday afternoon. While Shirley, and her sister - Laverne, waited for their adopters to come for them, she became ill. On Oct 3rd, she was diagnosed with Coccidia. So we began medicine to treat that. By Friday, Oct 5th, she was showing signs of Pneumonia, so off to the vet we went. Confirmed to be suffering with Pneumonia, she was placed in ICU at the vet hospital. She spent the weekend there, where it was determined through additional tests that she also had Parvo. By the following Monday afternoon Shirley just wasn't responding to treatment and the reality was it would just be a matter of time till the unthinkable. The decision was made to bring her back to her foster home and try to keep her as comfortable as possible, rather than staying at the vet hospital. We had heard from a vet in North Carolina who had a great deal of success treating Parvo with Tamiflu, but we were cautioned that in order to get the best results treatment should be started within 24 to 48 hours of the onset of the illness. Grasping at straws and with nothing to lose at this point, we got the Tamiflu and started treating her right away. By that Monday evening, Shirley showed a little bit of improvement. But that was to be short-lived. By early Tuesday morning, October 9th, Shirley was going downhill quickly. At approximately 8:20 a.m. Shirley gave in to the disease and crossed to the Bridge. Shirley was a fighter, of that there can be no doubt... but ultimately Parvo proved to be stronger. Laverne began showing signs of Parvo by Tuesday afternoon and was immediately treated with Tamiflu, and thankfully she made a full recovery within 48 hours. Happily Laverne (now called Sunshine) was adopted by a wonderful family and is the terror of the house now.