Duchess

Update 1/3/18

Our sweet little princess who endure a life of neglect to find herself at the shelter with so many things wrong with her is now a healthy, happy, playful girl.

We were able to cover her expenses at the clinic (who advised us to put her down due to a list of problems) THANKS to all of you who donated for her medical care duchess is now ready to move on with a clean bill of health from all the problems she had when living at the shelter.

We did give her the heartworm injections a few months ago and thankfully it worked and her body is now heartworm free !!!! We have the go ahead to get her spayed and hopefully her forever family will come take this sweetheart home.

We could have never helped this precious life without your support so many thanks to all of you and we wish you a happy new year.

​​Our sweet girl Duchess received her 2 hw injections this week with no reaction. Now comes the hard part of keeping her completely calm as the meds start killing off the worms. This is the critical time as they die and break off they can travel to various parts of her system causing blockage in blood flow, resulting in clotting, respiratory infection, seizures, ​or a heart attack. Duchess does seem to like her “den” but she will need to be on leash when going outside or moving around in the house to not let her heart pump fast. She will be tested again in 4 months and all of our prayers are with her that the next report we send out she is worm free and can be placed up for adoption.

we would like to thank you again for helping us pay her 3 week stay at the hospital in Texas and continue her treatment plan.

GSROR needs your help to help Duchess. If you have a few dollars just lying around wondering what to do with them. Please look at the photos of Duchess, read her story and know your dollars will be put to good use. You can become her sponsor and help us pay her medical bills. What a tremendous feeling it is to be part of saving a dog’s life, it will make you smile and feel all warm and fuzzy.

Duchess is a 4 year old street dog who was picked up by animal control in Texas and taken to a kill shelter. We were contacted by volunteers to help save her life as she was too sweet to die so young. When I talked to the shelter on the phone I was told she was thin but in good health, spayed, people friendly and good with other dogs so we said yes we had room for her.

They moved Duchess out of the shelter over to the vet clinic to get all of her shots and await transport the following week. The vet at the clinic called me and said “did you know how sick this girl is?” “I was told she was healthy, what is wrong with her”. The vet informed me that she had severe kennel cough, (borderline pneumonia), conjunctivitis, hookworm, ear infections, a skin yeast infection, heartworm disease and she was not spayed. This gsd weighing only 40 pounds was a very sick little girl. The vet said she was going to cost well over $1000 just to get her stable and the quarantine for 3 weeks was pricy. He knows most rescues do not have this kind of money for just one dog when they have so many others to care for and he thought the best plan was to euthanize her before they went any further.

I didn’t have to think about it and I said NO, we will not kill her and we discussed the plan of action to get her feeling better so she could be transported to us. Duchess was put in isolation and given daily meds for all of her issues. Happy to say that by the time her quarantine was up, 3 weeks later, she was feeling so much better. She was able to eat without having to share her food with the hookworms, her ears were no longer painful, her skin was no longer burning and she was not coughing and gasping for air to breath. The only thing left was the heartworm disease to deal with, and we all know this is one nasty parasite to work with.

Since arriving to Colorado Duchess has seen one vet for x-rays, then a cardiologist to start the treatment plan for her heartworm disease. So far her vet bills are close to $2000 and the Texas vet was right, rescues do not have this kind of money for one dog. Duchess is on the “slow kill” method and hopefully will be heartworm free by Christmas and can be placed up for adoption. The treatment plan will include injections which will cost another $300 plus more visits to the cardiologist, and we all know how expensive a specialist can be. Yes she is going to CSU but sadly they do not offer a rescue discount on expenses.

We are reaching out to our followers in request for donations to help rebuild our funds so we can continue to provide excellent care for the 15 dogs we currently have with us.

If you would like to get that Warm & Fuzzy feeling helping Duchess, please click on the PayPal donate button on the left side of the screen. If you do not have a paypal account you can mail a check to GSROR, p.o. box 1481, Westminster, Co 80036.

Thank you for taking the time to read her story.