Foxy Lady
Kentuckiana Pug Rescue
www.kentuckianapugs.com
63 pugs currently in rescue
Foxy Lady is 3 years old. She was surrendered by a family who has a new baby and they could not afford to take care of her. When we got Foxy the first thing you notice is that she has no muscle at all. She was so weak she could not lift her head. She can not stand or sit. She can not control bowel or bladder. My 16 year old son hand fed her part of a can of soft dog food as soon as we got her home. It took over 45 minutes. I fed her about 3 hours later having to push the food into her mouth. She barley had her teeth open. I could only fit the tip of my index finger into her mouth. This is how I noticed that her jaw was locked together. It was not that she did not want to eat - she couldn't. The second thing you notice is her tail never stops wagging if there is a person in the room with her. She craves human attention.
We took her to the vet immediately. The doctor confirmed that she has eosinophilis myositis. This is a disease that can affect any dog, usually around the age of 3. And it locks their jaws. He said this is the worst case he has ever seen. Her muscles have completely atrophied. He said do not get too hopeful that this little girl would live. She has 3 major hurdles to make. She made the first one. Which was sedation to try to pry her mouth open a bit. Our next challenge is to get her mouth working better. She is on steroids and muscle relaxers that she will need to be on for the rest of her life. He said her mouth will never open all the way wide. We have some good news on that. She is able to open her mouth just enough to get a small piece of kibble and chew it very slowly. It wears her out. We feed her multiple times a day, sometimes soft food by hand, other times kibble that she is able to pick up off her blankets. The last hurdle is going to be the hardest. The doctor said that because her muscles are so atrophied that they might have built up scar tissue. This means she will never have muscle grow back at all. If this is true then the only humane option is to euthanize her. She desperately wants to plat with my other foster dogs. If she is unable to move her whole life - or get away from her own feces and urine - she will be miserable. The doctor said no dog deserves to be stuck in a functionless body. She would have to be carried everywhere and could only lay limp like a rag doll. It is going to take at least a month to learn if she gets enough movement back in her jaws to be able to eat on her own completely. It could take a couple of more months to learn if she will every be able to sit up or walk. She has a long hard road in front of her. The only reason that she was not euthanized immediately was because of her fighting spirit. She is trying every thing she can to eat and sit up. she has even pulled her feet up under her in the position to stand. But she is still too weak to finish the motion. She is very loving and her tail shows how happy and grateful she is for the second chance.
Had the jaw locking diagnosis been identified before she lost all her muscle - her chances of survival would have been better than excellent. Now only time will tell if this little girl can heal enough to survive the summer..