Aspen came to Phoenix Animal Rescue on April 29, 2009. She had been returned to the Putnam County Animal Shelter by the rescue group that originally pulled her from the shelter in February. It was heartbreaking seeing her back at the shelter so we quickly made arrangements with a transporter and kennel and got Aspen out of the shelter.
After coming to Phoenix Animal Rescue a week after leaving the shelter, Aspen went to the vet. She was thin, her skin was red, and she had an untreated eye injury. After treating her skin and eye, and getting some groceries in Aspen, we scheduled her spay appointment. That's when we knew that her skin and eye were the least of Aspen's worries.
Our vet, Dr. Debbie Cottrell at West End Animal Hospital, found a heartworm in Aspen's abdomen during her spay surgery. Aspen wasn't just heartworm positive, she was REALLY heartworm positive. She was kept on cage rest after her surgery and we made plans to get her heartworm treatment once we moved to our new location. Aspen was happy, playful, and just as silly as she ever was. She enjoyed short play sessions with her friends and napped the day away in the sunshine. There was no sign of her heavy heartworm burden and we were preparing for her extended cage rest during her heartworm treatment. Then, she stopped eating and coughed up blood.
Dr. Alison Hiers at West End Animal Hospital examined Aspen and found that Aspen has pulmonary inflammation due to heartworm disease with secondary pneumonia. She has a clotting disorder due to the chronic inflammation. There isn't evidence of liver failure yet but we have to watch for fluid build up in her belly. She is on two antibiotics, Lasix, a steroid, and two supplements. When I asked Dr. Hiers what stage of heartworm disease Aspen was in, she replied, "The second to the worst possible." Not good.
With generous donations, we are able to help Aspen get better. She'll have a check up with Dr. Hiers next week and we hope that we'll get good news. We hope we caught the disease progression in time to be able to halt the effects of the disease and treat her heartworms. Right now, she's not even healthy enough to take a Heartgard chewable pill - the very thing that would've prevented this in the first place.
When Aspen makes a full recovery, she'll be able to play with her buddy, Lily again. Here are photos of Aspen, the totally white dog, having a blast with Lily, the girl with the two blue splotches. Both girls can be seen at phoenixanimalrescue.petfinder.org and www.phoenixanimalrescue.org.
