Sunny is a neutered Sammy-boy, about 6 years old. He was turned into the Sacramento City Shelter by his owner. When NORSLED pulled him from the shelter his was fur was very matted and he had sores on his skin. Sunny had to be shaved so the sores could be treated--poor little boy. At this shelter they have a sign posted that says "Dogs may be given for research" and Sunny's time was up at the shelter. NORSLED got to Sunny just in time! When the initial exam was done and blood work was drawn, it came back heartworm positive.
Sunny is not aggressive at all and is currently living in a foster home with 4 other dogs and gets along great with them. He is very easy going. On Friday 10/18 the vet will take Sunny and determine how advanced the heartworms are and determine the treatment needed. We expect Sunny to recover 100% with treatment. He is highly adoptable! NorSled will definitely do fund raising on his behalf.
Update from Sunny's Foster Mom Judy - October 21
The vet called Friday and said the x-rays looked good. She called again today and said the lab results looked very good. She reported that the technician did not see any worm larva in the blood smear meaning that "there is a low worm burden." Everything looks very promising for treatment. I arranged to take two days off work and treatment will begin Thursday morning. He'll get one injection then to kill the adult worms and another 24 hours later. He will have to be kept fairly quiet the first week and somewhat quiet the first month while the worms die and are dissolved in his blood stream. Then we go after any larva that may be present. So, to summarize: Both the x-rays and the lab results look good and we begin treatment this week. We have also had a lot of interest in him, I have four prospects thus far for adoption once he is healthy.
Judy's Sunny Update - November 11
Sunny is doing really well. He seems so healthy, I have to remind myself that he still needs to take it easy for another couple of weeks. The treatments to kill the adult worms were hard on him. It's a painful injection on two separate days. But he never complained. We had to keep him confined for several days after the injections and then very quiet for that first week. But he is coming along really well. He seems back to his old self, loving and playful. The next series of treatment to kill the larva isn't nearly so hard on the dogs. So I expect he will fully recover and go on to make a wonderful addition to someone's family.
Thanks to the following special people from Sunny and SamUrgency:
Kathryn Cook
Sue Ellen Reager
If you would be interested in helping with the expenses of other sammies like Sunny that meet the SamUrgency guidelines, please contact us at .
