Bailey is six months old and has lived a life of misery!!!! She is covered in Demodetic Mange. She has sores all over her body, her hair is starting to fall out and she is itching like crazy from a secondary skin infection.

This little girl came from a breeder that had been warned prior to breeding Bailey's mother, not to breed her. She had Demodex too. The breeder, wanting to make a buck, ignored the warning and bred her. Unfortunately, the Demodex was passed onto the entire litter.

Bailey was purchased from the breeder, and her condition was ignored. When she was finally brought in for veterinary care, and learned what the condition was and how much it would cost,she opted to either euthanize her or relinquish her to rescue. Thank goodness they contacted us and gave us the chance to take her in.

Adding to her problems is her state of near starvation. You can see every bone in her body. I do wonder if her growth has been stunted too, she's awfully tiny for her age. The pictures of Bailey, simply do NOT show realistically how bad her condition is!!! The pictures show the sores on her tummy, but they are also all over her neck, chest and under the fur on her back and outside legs. When she scratches herself, she loosens the scabs and begins to bleed. Poor baby!!!

Mimi was nine years old when we got the call that she was in the shelter and needed rescue to become involved. I was completely astounded when I first laid eyes on her. She was huddled in the corner of her kennel, a bag of bones with some skin covering it. She bared her teeth in a feeble effort to scare away those who had forgotten about her and let her slowly starve until she was too weak to put up much of a fight.

Initially, I gave the humans the benefit of the doubt, and we took her into the vet for bloodwork and a checkup to see if a health issue could be causing the terrible state she was in. Nothing physically could be found. So we took her home and started her on the road of good nutrition and tlc.

In a months time Mimi was healthy enough to undergo her spay surgery. Her days of being used as a breeding machine were officially OVER. Mimi continued to put on weight and to start to trust again. The vacant look in her eyes was replaced with devotion and love. By the end of three months Mimi looked like a million bucks!! The sad news is that Mimi's former owners have another boxer. Who knows when they'll get tired of feeding that dog!!!

UPDATE: Mimi has made tremendous progress while in rescue. She's put on ten pounds and her true wiggle butt self has emerged from the shell. While undergoing her spay, Melanoma was found on her stomach, spine and leg. Because of her age and the seriousness of this disease, Mimi will not be available for adoption. She will remain with boxer rescue for the rest of her life. She is a darling baby girl and we love her dearly. Please pray for her to stay pain free. She has put on over TEN POUNDS!!

UPDATE!!!! Sadly we led Mimi to the bridge the summer of 2003. The cancer had spread, she had tumors behind her eyes, she didn't recognize us a lot of the time and became aggressive. We knew our poor baby no longer had quality of life. MIMI WE WILL NEVER FORGET YOU!!!!!