Tanya
11-30-2005, 03:06 PM
Since a few of you have asked about Peaches’ scars, I figured I would create a thread, so in the future when people ask I can just send them here. It’s a question I get asked often and I don’t mind telling her story because I think she is pretty inspiring. I found Peaches on an Internet website, which I now know is a bad place, but at the time I didn’t know better. She came from a private owner in Southeast Ohio who bought her as a present for some people who couldn’t have a dog. I contacted them on a Friday and decided we would like to adopt her. The people were kind of weird on the phone, but I REALLY wanted her. We lived 7 hours apart, so we agreed to meet on Sunday at a place where they would drive 2 hours and we would drive 5 hours. We decided on Saturday that we wanted to pick her up on Saturday, so I tried calling these people all day and all I got was busy signals.
On Saturday, we got a call from the lady and she told us their house caught on fire, but the puppy was fine. The fire department rescued her. We could come and get her on Sunday, but we would have to drive the whole 7 hour distance. I was hesitant because they were so weird on the phone before and now this happened. I knew John wouldn’t be happy about the drive. However, we talked and he said “You really want a dog, let’s just go get her and be done with it.” So, we woke up at 4 am to start our trip. The whole way there we were hesitant, and I kept reassuring John (who really didn’t want a dog at the time), don’t worry…If she isn’t perfect, we won’t take her.
We met the people in a Kroger parking lot. When they pulled in, we got out of our car and approached them. They never got out…they handed her to me through the window! We were so shocked when we looked her over. All 4 of her paw pads were burned. The black had peeled off and they were pink. She had various marks on her body. Not as bad as they look today, but you could tell she wasn’t fine. The people were like, oh those paws will heal up in no time. I was horrified….I handed them the money and we left. The whole thing took less than 5 minutes.
It didn’t matter…John and I were completely in love with this long little sausage. Perfect? Maybe not to everyone, but she was perfect to us. John was running off the road because he couldn’t stop looking at her little sweet face. She was so scared. She was only 7-8 weeks old and she weighed a little less than 2 lbs. I had to get a towel because her paws were oozing and she threw up. We got home around 11pm that night. We gave her some food which she inhaled (so cute!) Although, she wasn’t able to walk on her paws. So, back in the car and off to the emergency vet. The only one we knew of was the vet practice we take Prickles to because they have a hedgehog expert. That was 45 minutes away!
We got there and they put Peaches in an oxygen tank for a while to clear the smoke out of her lungs. Then they bandaged up her feet. You should have heard her scream. When they finally brought her out, people couldn’t believe those noises came from that little dog! OMG, when they brought her out I wanted to just cry. She looked so pathetic. Her paws were wrapped and it looked like she had little red booties on, and she had this huge blue fabric e-collar on. I don’t have a picture, but I can see it so vividly in my mind. I knew at that moment I would do everything possible to make sure she never experiences pain like that again.
The next few weeks were rough. She had to go to the vet every other day. She got 4 baths a day for hydrotherapy treatment. She was on pain medicine and medicine to fight infection. John and I rotated taking half day vacation every day for 3 weeks just to come home and give her the treatments. The skin was just peeling off of her legs and stomach. It made me cry to see this. She is such a beautiful dog, and I didn’t understand why she had to endure this. She was so good about everything though. From the moment she got on pain medication, she was like any other puppy. Happy, playful, etc. She wore an e-collar from mid-July to mid-December and managed to get in all kinds of trouble even with it on!
3 months to the day she was burned, she ran in her first wiener dog race and she won! Not too bad for a pup who couldn’t walk when we got her. I was so proud of her! I think Peaches was truly meant to be my dog. There were so many reasons not to go get her, and we did and I am so thankful we did. Seeing a little thing like her go through what she went through makes me think there is nothing I can’t handle. She is the best thing that ever came into our life.
She is perfectly fine today. The fur won’t ever grow back where she was burned, but that’s ok. We were happy that the skin grew back without skin grafts. Nothing slows her down. We call her scars her racing stripes! We always have to watch for infection since that skin is more sensitive, but so far we have only had one problem. She used to be very afraid of smoke and if we burnt food, but I have worked with her to get past that. So, if you made to the end of this LONG post, that is the story of my little diva! :hula1:
On Saturday, we got a call from the lady and she told us their house caught on fire, but the puppy was fine. The fire department rescued her. We could come and get her on Sunday, but we would have to drive the whole 7 hour distance. I was hesitant because they were so weird on the phone before and now this happened. I knew John wouldn’t be happy about the drive. However, we talked and he said “You really want a dog, let’s just go get her and be done with it.” So, we woke up at 4 am to start our trip. The whole way there we were hesitant, and I kept reassuring John (who really didn’t want a dog at the time), don’t worry…If she isn’t perfect, we won’t take her.
We met the people in a Kroger parking lot. When they pulled in, we got out of our car and approached them. They never got out…they handed her to me through the window! We were so shocked when we looked her over. All 4 of her paw pads were burned. The black had peeled off and they were pink. She had various marks on her body. Not as bad as they look today, but you could tell she wasn’t fine. The people were like, oh those paws will heal up in no time. I was horrified….I handed them the money and we left. The whole thing took less than 5 minutes.
It didn’t matter…John and I were completely in love with this long little sausage. Perfect? Maybe not to everyone, but she was perfect to us. John was running off the road because he couldn’t stop looking at her little sweet face. She was so scared. She was only 7-8 weeks old and she weighed a little less than 2 lbs. I had to get a towel because her paws were oozing and she threw up. We got home around 11pm that night. We gave her some food which she inhaled (so cute!) Although, she wasn’t able to walk on her paws. So, back in the car and off to the emergency vet. The only one we knew of was the vet practice we take Prickles to because they have a hedgehog expert. That was 45 minutes away!
We got there and they put Peaches in an oxygen tank for a while to clear the smoke out of her lungs. Then they bandaged up her feet. You should have heard her scream. When they finally brought her out, people couldn’t believe those noises came from that little dog! OMG, when they brought her out I wanted to just cry. She looked so pathetic. Her paws were wrapped and it looked like she had little red booties on, and she had this huge blue fabric e-collar on. I don’t have a picture, but I can see it so vividly in my mind. I knew at that moment I would do everything possible to make sure she never experiences pain like that again.
The next few weeks were rough. She had to go to the vet every other day. She got 4 baths a day for hydrotherapy treatment. She was on pain medicine and medicine to fight infection. John and I rotated taking half day vacation every day for 3 weeks just to come home and give her the treatments. The skin was just peeling off of her legs and stomach. It made me cry to see this. She is such a beautiful dog, and I didn’t understand why she had to endure this. She was so good about everything though. From the moment she got on pain medication, she was like any other puppy. Happy, playful, etc. She wore an e-collar from mid-July to mid-December and managed to get in all kinds of trouble even with it on!
3 months to the day she was burned, she ran in her first wiener dog race and she won! Not too bad for a pup who couldn’t walk when we got her. I was so proud of her! I think Peaches was truly meant to be my dog. There were so many reasons not to go get her, and we did and I am so thankful we did. Seeing a little thing like her go through what she went through makes me think there is nothing I can’t handle. She is the best thing that ever came into our life.
She is perfectly fine today. The fur won’t ever grow back where she was burned, but that’s ok. We were happy that the skin grew back without skin grafts. Nothing slows her down. We call her scars her racing stripes! We always have to watch for infection since that skin is more sensitive, but so far we have only had one problem. She used to be very afraid of smoke and if we burnt food, but I have worked with her to get past that. So, if you made to the end of this LONG post, that is the story of my little diva! :hula1: