Stacie

It was just by luck that we noticed Stacie; she’d just been left at the shelter by owners who’d found her on CraigsList but “couldn’t housebreak her”. Judith glanced at her because she’s a buff parti-colored cocker and immediately knew she was VERY sick. We picked her up the next day and ran to our vet who recommended an immediate abdominal ultrasound. The radiologist made an urgent trip, found a gallbladder mucocele which had not yet quite ruptured, and urged emergency surgery. We took her to the specialty center where the surgeon saw her at 6 pm and removed her gallbladder as well as part of her liver, omentum and diaphragm – that was the scariest. Amazingly, she came through it beautifully and was home in 3 days with a 12? long incision! Stacie snuggled up to her ODH mom who was smitten completely. She has turned into an adorable butt-wiggling girl who adores her tennis balls and has tons of energy. The product evidently of horrible breeding – probably to make the parti-color – Stacie has two cherry eyes with repairs that have failed, sub-albinotic retinas and “dry eye”, wrinkles on her forehead and nose, and a malformed pelvis with one bowed hind leg that makes for interesting movement. But she’s SO cute, and so loving, and so cheery despite the permanent “frown” wrinkles. We keep very careful control of her diet, check everything frequently, do eye medications religiously, and love her a lot. That was a very lucky day for both Stacie and her ODH family. Old Dogs Teach – The image of her tail wagging butt chasing the ball just two days ago will linger for some time. Stacie was going strong and enjoying the second life she earned after a blocked gall bladder duct nearly killed her 16 months ago. Then her immune system turned on her and started destroying her red blood cells, medical science could not stop it. This ball of wrinkles and cocker cuddles was gone before our eyes much too soon. Stacie teaches that the gene pool is not always fair. Stacie passed away March 24, 2015.