Great News, I'm Ready For You!

The last time I wrote, I had gone through a lot in a short period of time. Well, I'm hear to tell you that I am healthy and ready to go to a forever family. I currently live in a house with kids, cats, bunnies and I love them all! I could do without the cat walking on me though :o) My favorite place is my crate or the bedroom. I like to snuggle up at night time, I'll even go under the covers with you! I'm still shy, and I'm comfortable just watching all the action from my crate (even with it open). Give me a pat on the head and I will always wag my tail. I love ear rubs and enjoy chew bones.

My health issues are cleared up. My toe was infected with a hair follicle and it's healed and I'm taking walks and playing in the yard. I love taking long walks and often chases after squirrels.

My cancer is gone, from what everyone thinks. I'm not taking any medication and I'm back to a routine life. The vet does think I'm cancer free, and there's nothing to prove that wrong (but of coarse, no one knows for sure). No special food needed. I'm doing excellent!

I do have a scar where the surgery was, but that builds character. It's shows my strength and determination. I fought and I won! And my scar proves it. It's about 2-3 inches long on my thigh and still pink and probably will be permanent. But my beauty and love will make anyone forget that it's there. I have. Everyone that meets me says how beautiful and sweet I am.

If you're looking for a survivor and someone that can love you, cuddle with you and be your companion for life, then I'm yours. I've gone through the bad, now I want the good life, with you.

Listen Up, I've Got Something To Tell You

Since my big cancer scare, I'm back to my old self and my foster mom wanted me to tell you what she thinks of me now.

She is a great companion, real lover that will sit by your side for hours.
She likes me to rub her tummy and rolls over, real cute!
She does good with training, but could use more practice
She is still timid and shy.
She even stays in her crate when it is open and we are home. I think she feels secure and likes to snuggle in her blankets.
She is allowed on the couch and the kids beds.
She is very kids safe.
We have most every pet you can think of, and she does fine with them all; cats, birds, rabbits, reptiles, and another dog.
She loves the yard. She does great going outside, and likes to do laps!
She does much better with her walks. She really seems to enjoys them. She has gotten better on the leash. We use a gentle leader and it works for her.
She likes her raw hides and enjoys them for hours.
She loves ear rubs and to snuggle under the covers with us in bed.
Everyone that meets her says how beautiful and sweet she is.

Currently she is cancer free from what we know, but she might have to be
on a special diet (to be determined by the vet). I am still soaking her toe. She just takes awhile to heal.
But all in all, she is well worth giving her your heart!! 100% worth it!!

Well, what are you waiting for? I know I could be the perfect family dog and my foster mom thinks so too. So come and get me.

Too Much Starch

I think someone put just a tad too much starch in my collar!
How's a girl suppose to get her beauty sleep with this thing on.


How many times do I have to tell you, I am NOT a satellite dish!

I guess I should explain the reasoning behind the collar. It's like this, when I got to my new foster home in OCTOBER 2008, they found a lump on my thigh and toe. The vet determined that the toe was nothing more than a foreign object in it and soaking it would help.

The thigh lump was another issue and not such an easy fix. It was determined that I had cancer and surgery was the only way to go. The mast-cell tumor on the thigh was removed. The stitches kept breaking open, so healing has taken a long time. To keep from pulling at the stitches, I had to wear the big collar. I also had to stay at the vet for weeks for monitoring 'cuz I kept pulling at the stitches, but also to receive post surgical treatment. The vet, Dr. Meier, did a fantastic and used a new procedure to remove the tumor. I don't understand it all, but I can tell you it was little painful. But knowing the alternative, well it was well worth it. This is a brief explanation of what was done by Dr. Meier.

She started using this treatment when she had a boxer with a big mast-cell tumor, and she contacted the U of Iowa vets for advice (or is it Iowa State that has the vet school?). Anyway, the vet she had contacted at the vet school had been using this experimental treatment pretty successfully, so she tried it. She's been using it on mast cell tumors since - all successfully.

What she does is she leaves the wound open, if possible, and 1-2x /week, she irrigates the wound with sterile water. The way it works is this: plain deionized water has nothing dissolved in it. Cells have lots of stuff dissolved in them. When you bathe a cell in plain water, there is a tendency for the water to pass through the cell membrane, due to the differences in osmotic pressure (due to the differences in dissolved solids). This is just plain diffusion of the water. As the water keeps passing into the cell, the cell will swell up, and eventually burst. So the cancerous cells die. The only side effect is that it is a little painful. She'd like to keep the treatment going for about a month.

Prognosis is very good. In her experience with this treatment, there is rarely a re-occurrence. She says that if it does re-occur, she would go back in and once again try to get it all, and repeat the water treatment. She says that there is no need for a skin graft - it's starting to heal, and close up from the inside. If it closes up, she can continue the treatment by injections, which she has done on other dogs, and on a cat. She described a cat that had two types of tumors on it's face. Removal would have been horribly disfiguring. She treated by injecting into the tumors, and it seems to have worked, even on the one that was not a mast cell tumor (she thought it might not work on that one).

She thinks that she can recover, and become some ones beloved pet. They just have to be sure to monitor her for a recurrence.

So that's the story behind the stiff collar. I think I might of liked the idea of being a satellite dish better!

I know that this was a lot to take in and if you have any questions, Illinois Birddog Rescue can answer them all for you. So PLEASE don't let this scare you. I'm better, healthy, and can't wait to play at my forever home.

Woof,
Sara Lee

Sara Lee in the backyard

SaraLee is full of puppy play and just loves playing and running.

Sara Lee is sweet as pie!

Sara Lee is a liver and white adorable American Field Bred English Pointer. She was found as a stray on a rural road in Southern Indiana. She's about 2-4 years old and weighed in at about 35lbs, but she is gaining weight everday.

Now that Sara is in foster care- she is getting RAVE reviews from her new foster mom who has never had a Pointer in the home before. Sara is GREAT with the children, wonderful temperament and is already house trained. She is a bit birdy and likes to chase the tweeties in the yard. Tile floors are a bit challenging for her- but I am sure life indoors in foster care will have its new challenges everyday.