Zaras List

April 2, 2007

On Friday afternoon when I arrived at the shelter to pick up a dog our rescue was taking in, I was told the dog had been reclaimed by his owner. I was thrilled for the dog and ventured into the kennels to find another dog needing to be rescued. I glanced in a kennel and in with 5 other larger size dogs was a tiny Chihuahua curled up in a dirty old dog bed. I did everything I could to get her attention when I realized she wasn't ignoring me but couldn't lift her head or even move. I've seen dogs in this condition and I knew what it meant. She had very little time before an officer would come out and find her dead in the cage.

I raced to the front with her number and was elated to find out she was available. Just as quickly my hopes were dashed when I was informed she would have to stay until Monday for the vet to evaluate her and decide if she could be spayed. Surgery? There was no way this dog would make it through surgery and I had my doubts that she'd make it until Monday. Those were some of the most difficult days waiting to see if this little girl would still be alive on Monday when I arrived to take her home. But on Monday she was indeed alive, albeit just hanging on.

I found out that day she was turned into the shelter by her previous owners and as they put it she was just "too old." As I stared at this dog huddled in a ball that was barely 1.7lbs. and had very little will to live I began to think, "Who really determines the treatment an owner is allowed to inflict on an animal before it's considered cruelty? What kind of human being starves a tiny tiny dog almost to death and then takes it to the shelter? If you starved your child almost to death and then dropped it off at your nearest jail, wouldn't that cruelty? Why would it have been allowed with this dog?" I knew that my crusade for justice for our animals would begin with saving this little girl and will not end until people are not allowed to do this to our companion animals anymore.

I drove like a woman on a mission to our vet's office and started the process of a horribly long road of recovery for our "Pricey" little girl. I chose the name "Pricey" because I new she was going to be expensive not only financially for the rescue, but emotionally for all who were involved. I knew this was going to be touch and go for her and possibly the first one that I may personally lose. Because of the state of the inside of her body she had lost a lot of hair as well as her muscle and her ability to hold up her head. Her skin was in even worse condition. We initially thought someone had covered her in oil. She was dark in color and it was almost a tarry substance. She weighed in at a mere 1.7 lbs and had one of the worst cases of pneumonia I'd ever seen.

With the help of our wonderful vet and some special rehab, this little girl has had an amazing recovery. It's taken several months. It started with feeding her chicken and rice, weaning her to dog food and now she gobbles up hard dry kibble. Her hair is slowly growing back and she now weighs in at 4 lbs. Her skin peeled off and rejuvenated with a fresh healthy layer of light pink skin.

After months of vet visits, rehab and lots of love our Pricey is ready to start the screening process of finding her forever home. Pricey will still have some time before she is 100%. The cruelty that her previous owner inflected on her isn't easily erased nor will it ever be from those of us who met her at the beginning. The horror of what humans can do to our animals is indelibly written on our psyche. But this is a success story for all time because our girl made it.

Our little love bug, Pricey, is a low activity dog and as it turns out is some where between the ages of 8 to 10 years. She had a dental and they didn't even have to pull any of her teeth! Amazing. So, as any Chihuahua owner knows she could live till the age of 18 to 21 years old. Who says she "TOO OLD?" Pricey can often be seen sitting in her foster mom's purse at the local eatery or happily peering out of her purse while cruising around the mall. No one even notices her. She's perfectly quiet and content to just be loved. So, if your looking for a tiny easy going companion she's your girl.