Blog Post 4: Meet Lillian!
She’s here! Our very first rescue!
We brought Lillian (Lilly) home on August 25, 2023. Our volunteer friends at Broward County Animal Care Center made us aware of Lillian’s case the previous day. She was picked up as a stray, in very rough shape. At an estimated 10 years old, in such poor health, and with her reportedly extreme stress in the kennel environment, the overcrowded shelter scheduled a Quality of Life evaluation for her which, it was no secret, would result in her euthanasia.
This is exactly the type of situation where Sammie’s House is meant to step in. It was agreed that Lillian would be released to Sammie’s House as a hospice adoption, with the acknowledgement that among other health issues, her large mammary tumors were likely cancerous and she would be needing end of life care.
When I picked Lillian up I was immediately struck by her sweet, curious demeanor. However, she was arthritic, flea bitten to the point of missing large areas of fur, and her skin was so red and irritated, it was scabbing over in places. She also had a couple large fatty masses on her sides, and large mammary tumors. It was also obvious she had had several litters of puppies.
The shelter had been giving her pain medication, but that was the extent of what they could do for her. No matter what an official vet evaluation would say, I knew she’d be much more comfortable at home than spending her last days in a cold, concrete kennel.
She’s now been at Sammie’s House for almost three weeks. I immediately began giving her glucosamine for her joints, digestive drops to help her reflux, mange relief meds, allergy relief chews, a nutrition supplement powder in her food, and rubbing her with hydrocortisone cream at least twice a day.
Lilly was evaluated by our vet a few days after coming home, where we discussed her fatty lumps - a cyst and a lipoma, not to worry about; her ears have been chronically infected and she is most likely deaf, or nearly deaf; her teeth have been cracked and worn down due to her chewing on metal, like a cage or cattle chain; her heart and lungs both sound healthy and strong; her skin irritation is due to a combo of extreme flea bites and allergies, which we are treating in several ways; she is also heart-worm positive and while we’ve put her on a preventative plus flea and tick med, we are not going to put her through heart-worm treatment unless she gets worse.
And most importantly, we talked about her hard mammary tumors. He agreed they were most likely cancerous, and one has an open sore that we are hoping an antibiotic allows to heal and close up. If not, we will discuss surgery to remove the tumors, which is Plan B because of the risks for her associated with anesthesia.
The most heartening thing our vet said was that he would not consider her “clinical” - meaning, we shouldn’t treat this as an end of life case. She’s old, and recovering, and yes she probably has cancer. And we won’t put her through some of the things we would do for a younger, stronger dog (spay surgery, heart-worm treatment, etc). But, we aren’t giving up on her. Lilly might recover enough to have a really happy, long time with us.
And let me tell you, she certainly is acting that way! In such a short amount of time, her healing has been amazing. Her skin has faded from an angry red to a soft pink, and her fur is growing back in. She’s curious about the house, the property, and our cow neighbors next door. She gallops across the yard now that her arthritis is more under control. She rolls on her back and asks for tummy rubs. She throws her squeaky toys around and lunges after them. And she has a very healthy appetite!
Lilly’s recovery will be ongoing. It isn’t yet clear what exactly her medical needs will be, but she will get whatever she needs. We will go back to see our vet at the end of September, and go from there.
If you would like to contribute to Lilly’s care, you can make a tax-deductible donation here.
On a personal note, I am overjoyed that Sammie’s House has its first sanctuary animal, and that we were able to save Lilly. With your help and support, I know she will be the first of many.
