Meet Sweetheart!
Sweetheart is a lovely fawn Doberman who was recently adopted from a Virginia
shelter by A. Merrie Buggs. A. Merrie has grown to love Sweetheart a great
deal in just a short time. Here's Sweetheart's story according to A. Merrie:
"Sweetheart found me at the SPCA. She was curled up at the far back corner
of the cage, frightened. She had flaky, thinning fawn-colored fur, was
covered with scrapes and scabs, and was bleeding and draining from her
nose. She was sneezing, and her eyes were running. She was very
malnourished, almost every bone was showing. She had a very severe
respiratory infection, and apparently had puppies some time ago. She had
a tumor that was draining blood, where one of her milk ducts had become
infected and was never treated. And her test came back positive for adult
heartworms.
I named her Silver Sakura Sweetheart. Silver for the luster of her coat,
Sakura (which means Cherry Blossom) because she is a beautiful and
delicate flower coming more into bloom every day, and Sweetheart because
she IS my sweetheart. And I call her Sweetheart, for short. After 3
weeks of antibiotics, her respiratory infection is healed and there is no
more nasal bleeding. All of her scrapes have healed, and her coat is
filling in to a beautiful silvery fawn. Her skin is still really flaky,
but I just bought some Derm caps (fatty acid dietary supplement) from the
vet that should help. The vet said that she is amazed at the miraculous
change in her health. Her tumor has spread into her lymph node and needs
to be removed immediately. She's strong enough for surgery now, and is
scheduled for next Tuesday. She just had chest x-rays, and fortunately
it has not spread into her lungs. They'll also be spaying her at the
same time and removing a skin tag from her leg. Her heartworm treatment
will come after she has recovered from that. Sweetheart has gained lots
of weight and is chasing water from the garden hose, rolling in the
grass, and proudly defending our home from squirrels, stray cats and
dogs passing by. She barks an enthusiastic "YES!" when we ask if she
wants to go outside. She loves visitors, especially her "Granny" who
brings her treats, and greets them with a gentle look and a turbo
powered, docked tail. She outsmarted us all by knowing what "W-A-L-K"
spells, and spins in circles at the door until we keep our word. She
moves her own bed if we put it where she can‘t see the front door. She
likes to sleep under her blanket, covers her ears with her paws if we’re
too loud, but pops right out to kiss us one by one when the alarm goes
off.
Sweetheart is so perfect. She’s housebroken, obedience trained, even uses
the bathroom on command, and is so very intelligent. She’s beautiful,
affectionate and loves to look lovingly into my eyes. I rub her silvery
velvet whisker cheeks. I kiss her rubbery, red nose, smell the sweet
scent of her face and know that there will be a happy ending to the
story of the Doberman that rescued my heart."
As you can see from the story above, Sweetheart needs to have a mammary tumor removed,
as well as being treated for adult heartworms. A. Merrie has been laid off
from her job, and her husband, who was also laid off just recently returned to
work. Sweetheart's high medical bills are becoming more than they can handle.
Please help by making a donation toward Sweetheart's surgery and
heartworm treatment. You can help by mailing in
a tax-deductible donation, or you can use the PayPal button below to donate online.
Your help will be greatly appreciated.
Updates!
October 23rd, 2003 - We are deeply saddened to offer our condolences to A. Merrie on the passing of Sweetheart. Please read A. Merrie's letter informing us of Sweetheart's passing, and be sure to check out the very special EBay auction item that was just listed in memory of Sweetheart.
October 13th, 2003 - The latest on Sweetheart!
September 22nd, 2003 - Update from A. Merrie!
September 21st, 2003 - Sweetheart has surgery!
