Bev Farmer tells the stories of galgo pup PJ and Podenca Carley, both safe and receiving vet care with Podenco Friends and their amazing vet. Carley has been a Mom to PJ, as you can see from this photo. If you want to help them both, with vet fees, email Podenco Friends.
'PJ is a very young galgo pup found in dreadful state, he has gained a kilo, not that you would know as he still is terribly thin. Had got him eating and he seemed a little brighter but I got this feeling things are not just right. So I took him to the vet and just said to Ramon our vet 'I'm not sure what is the problem with PJ. So we did a bank of blood tests. What a shocker,, this pup has liver failure I have never such a high count. Plus he is very anemic
So there a few reasons why -
Poor nutrition
canine hepatitis
Leptospirosis
Liver shunt
He is now on a hepatic food which thankfully he has scoffed a bowl full down, he is on meds and at the moment his ammonia levels are normal. Bloods have been sent to the labs to check for Leptosposis and if positive I will need to get tested for they can pass it onto us. Got him booked in for an ultrasound to check the condition of his liver. If it's a liver shunt he won't need surgery straight away.
Poor wee mite no wonder, he isn't bouncing around like a puppy would normally be. If he hadnt been rescued without a doubt he would have died
Carley is also booked in for an ultrasound, again there is just something that is not right with her. She is very anaemic but all the blood tests don't give us an answer why and she tested negative for all med diseases. She has a tumour in her groin close to the mammary tract and to be honest it feels like it could be a bad one. However due to her anaemia at the moment the vet Ramon cannot operate to remove it. She is eating well and not losing weight, hopefully the ultrasound can give us some answers.
The problem with her hind leg is due to atrophy in her toes. The paw is misshapen and there is not really much we can do. It has affected the tendons in her leg and explains why she has a strange gait. We have her on some anti-inflammatory meds and Youmove which seems to be helping ..
It makes you want to weep, both Carley and PJ trying to survive on the streets she protecting this pup like one of her own - if left neither of them would survive. The Podencos are known as the "los grandes olvidados" (the great forgotten) so many must perish and no one will ever know
These two are fortunate and now getting the care they need
The blood tests came back negative for Carley, we tested for addition tick species that are not in our area just to be sure. They are often the culprit for anaemia in dogs here in Spain. Retested her today and her anemia is improving so its more to do with poor nutrition and now she is getting good food and supplements she should be back to normal in a couple of weeks. She has more energy, even a spring in her step. We plan to do her surgery in a couple of weeks to spay and remove the mammary track where the tumours are. It's a big operation and better to wait until her levels are normal..
If we have luck on our side the tumours are benign. She is such lovely dog and without her I don't think PJ would have survived, just keeping him warm with her body heat. He was so thin he couldn't hold his body temperature when he first arrived. We will never know how they found each other and why they were abandoned but she adopted this pup as her own, such a good momma.'
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