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Shelby's Story
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3 yr old mahogany sable female
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"This is Shelby today"
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Shelby is our "Valentine" girl. She came to us from The Animal Shelter in Zanesville. They contacted me to see if I had room for one more. I took one look at that face and agreed immediately. We owe a great big Thank you to Linda and Bob for picking her up and transporting her.
Shelby's story starts there for us. She was taken there by her owner and turned in because (and I quote) "Shelby is allergic to my boyfriend and my boyfriend is allergic to her." Now tell me, have you ever heard of such a thing? Why not just say she no longer matches the furniture????
Okay, now that you've had your snicker for the day, I'll tell you what is really happening here. I will never understand how a dog could get to this state without raising the suspicion of the owner and the vet. Tell me how does this happen????
The series of photos to the right are the shots I took upon her arrival here on 2/14/04. Yes, you are seeing it right. She has no hair. Normally, when a sheltie owner says "my dog has no coat"...they really mean the undercoat is thin due to shedding or "blowing coat" as we call it. Well, not so with Shelby. She literally had no hair. The hair that was there was very thin and brittle. Her ears were infected and very red. Her belly is totally bare. She had splotches on her legs that were either hairless or had red open sores.
To anyone else, their first reaction to her would have been "Yuck"! But, not mine. I held her and loved her as if she'd been mine all along. My heart went out to this little girl. She had come to me for a reason.
I had never seen such a severe problem before. I knew enough to know that it wasn't DM due to the areas that were affected. I had experienced a lot of different symptoms of hypothyroidism but never this one. So, I figured it had to be more involved. To keep her warm (after all, it was winter), we dug out Tad's clothes that he used last year. I know he would have been proud to help Shelby out. After all, they look so much alike and both came from the same shelter. Go figure...
We ran a full blood panel and T4 thyroid test. Sure enough, she was low thyroid. However, the vet agreed with me that this had to be more involved. Without running a full allergy test like they do with humans..we had to go on his experience. Our immediate suspicions were food and flea allergies. We put her on hypoallergenic dog food as well as the soloxine for the thyroid. The fleas were eliminated from the picture with the help of Frontline Plus.
So far, she's starting to grow hair. However, there are some areas that will never recover from the years of non-treatment. They appear to be permanent bald spots. Her coat is very coarse this time around too. We figure it may be years before we have her where she should be. That, my friend, means periodic blood work and constant monitoring to look for new issues and allergies.
Now that spring is upon us here in Central Ohio, Shelby is more active and rambunctious. She loves to run and romp in the yard with Ranger. They can play chase with Willow for hours and never stop. However, this also has brought on another issue...grass allergies.
I have a feeling that our work with this precious little girl has only just begun. Once she is healthy enough, she will need to be spayed too. I will do my best to update this web page periodically to show her progress. You can also meet Shelby in person at the Petco store on Brice Road. She is our little mascot..and let me tell you...her feet never hit the floor! She is a true snuggler!
Thanks for checking in. If you'd like to sponsor Shelby or help us with her vet bills...please contact me at CenOHSheltieResc@aol.com. Shelby sends her sneaky little kisses (we call her 'Frenchie').
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"Sporting her favorite Sweatshirt"
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