SASSY AND THE NEW RESCUE VAN

This is my car-- for carrying grandkids and Pekingese. It has made many trips to rescue a Peke from a shelter or home. It's a Honda Odyssey mini van. We asked for a car for Jeanne-- we wondered if anyone had an "extra." We knew the chances were slim, but it never hurts to pray!

She had a sign to put on it when it arrived. I have one of those, too.

And it arrived!!! Look at this car/van! Susan Lee wanted to donate this van to us (a van!! with plenty of space for Pekes!!) so that Jeanne could continue the Richmond part of our rescue. We were stunned and pleased and happy and thankful-- thank you Susan! We are so grateful for our Peke friends who want to help us. Now Jeanne and I have almost matching vans!!

Jeanne had a license plate to transfer to the van and she was all set. She was able to get Sassy as her first Peke rescue in the van. And here's Sassy's story:

We were asked to take Sassy (Madelion) in from a Washington DC shelter. I did a blog on her last week. She had a tilt in her neck/head and was walking in circles, they said. They didn't know what was wrong.

So, she came to Jeanne's house-- thanks to the new rescue van!

Here she is with Carter, Jeanne's Peke (one of the Bristol 18 puppies). Sassy had a lot of tests by Dr. Rich Teague of Farmer's Vet. Here's what he said: "Sassy was sedated today and radiographs of the cervical spine were taken. They showed a narrowing of the disk space at C2-3, and a complete ablation of the disk space at C4-5. The narrowing is caused when the intervertebral disk herniates upward into the spinal canal, pushing on the spinal cord. It is this pressure that causes the neck pain, twitching, and even loss of function seen with slipped or herniated disks. In Sassy's case, I cannot tell you if one or both areas are causing her pain, although the C4-5 lesion looks older to me, as there appears to be some fusion between the vertebral bodies.The outcome of these lesions is difficult to predict, but odds are in her favor that conservative treatment will be all that is necessary. We will continue her confinement and pain management for at least two weeks. She should probably never wear a collar, but instead a harness that will keep pressure off her neck.Other problems that will need to be addressed in the future: Stenotic nares and soft palate repair.Needs a dental prophylaxis.Vaccines?R PS we did do the heartworm test, which was negative for heartworms, Erhlichia, and Lyme disease."

She was put on medications for pain, and rest in the playpen. She is already doing SO much better. She is walking straight, her head is not at an angle anymore. She acts like she feels so much better.

She will have rest for at least two weeks (she's out of the playpen for the pictures) and then we'll see about her dental and stenotic nares surgery. She is one sweet Peke and we are so glad we could help her. If you are interested in her, she's not ready yet, but you can always put in an application. Just email us at potomacpekes@gmail.com.