Before & After
Squish
We have wonderful news… SQUISH HAS FOUND HER FOREVER HOME!!!
About 15 weeks ago, TAF came across a ghostlike figure sitting quietly in a cage at an open access shelter. It was a female pitbull whose emotional state was more offsetting than her physical state.
Her blank stare was so haunting that one could only hope that she was thinking about happier times in order to cope with the God awful environment that surrounded her.
As the weeks went on, Tag #293 became thinner and thinner and by week 10 her life was about to come to an end. This 1.5-year-old green-eyed baby girl was about to slip through the cracks and become just another horrible statistic in an open access shelter.
When judgment day came, Project Rescue Chicago stepped in to save her life and worked with the Trio Animal Foundation to get her the medical attention that she needed. It was at this time that Tag #293 earned the name “Squish” because of her soft squishy muzzle and face.
Once in our isolation rooms at Unleashed, our shell-shocked girl slept for 6 days straight and within 10 days gained 14 pounds and by the end of 3 weeks another 11 pounds.
As fate would have it, Squish’s future dad happened to be riding his bike down the street and saw Squish being walked on the sidewalk. Soon after, he met with a co-worker and told her about a beautiful dog that he had just passed while riding. As it turned out, that co-worker was a PRC volunteer and the rest is history.
Squish now has a new family that includes a cat sibling, mom, dad and a little boy that adores her! Just look at his face in the photo!
On a surreal note, as I was looking through my 14,000(+) photos to find the original photos of Squish, I couldn’t help but notice that over half of the dog photos, that I have taken, are of dogs that never made it out of many open access shelters. Their journeys ended in black bags due to the neglect and overpopulation of the dogs in the city. The feeling of loss and the realization that many had not made it was numbing but it made me realize just how incredibly lucky Squish was to have survived… this dog is truly destined for great things.
Squish’s new dad recently wrote, “I feel like I hit the dog lottery”… we couldn’t agree more.
Carcillo
Sometimes fate steps in and things happen for a reason...
TAF thought we were doing the right thing by trying to save Carcillo's injured eye and the surrounding areas a few months ago. We tried surgical procedures, drops, you name it, but Carcillo still seemed to be uncomfortable, crabby and evidently still in pain.
After taking Carcillo's quality of life into account, TAF and Carcillo's doctors decided that his injured eye needed to be removed.
Within three days of Carcillo's eye removal, he was like a new dog. This once anti-social boy was now wanting to play with the other dogs, wasn't having accidents in his crate, and was a love to everybody that he met. I can't imagine the amount of discomfort that he must have been in for his temperament to make such a one-eighty.
The photo on the left is of Carcillo pre-surgery and the photo on the right is post-surgery. Such a difference in the sweet expression on his face.
I guess sometimes vanity is the only thing that gets in the way of us humans making the right decisions. Three legs, one eye... these animals are just as happy and healthy as their whole counterparts.
Bickell
When TAF first heard about Bickell, he had been sitting at an open access shelter in Chicago. TAF gave our friends at Project Rescue Chicago a call to see if they would work with us to transfer Bickell out of the facility and get him the medical attention that he needed.
Upon meeting Bickell, he looked like he could be used on a PSA to spread the word about the horrors of animal abuse. His neck had upwards of a hundred bite wounds on it and part of his lip was torn.
As if Bickell’s wounds weren’t bad enough, when we arrived at the vet he promptly vomited up a huge pile of what looked like blue and white bristles from a scouring pad or broom. Besides the pain of his face and neck, his poor belly must have been killing him! 
It was at that time that our vet decided that Bickell needed to go in for surgery and have further testing.
Once under, Bickell had an abdominal ultrasound performed to rule out intestinal blockage. Thankfully, the results were negative.
Next, the deep facial laceration on his face was cosmetically repaired, cleaned and stitched back up to make a complete closure. Bickell’s infected neck wounds were also scrubbed, debrided and he was put on antibiotics.
Lastly, Bickell was neutered, received his vaccinations, microchipped and was tested for parasites/heartworms. He was able to play with our Canine Rehabilitation Team captain Sophie...look at those smiles!
After weeks of recovering and vet care, we are pleased to report that PRC found Bickell a great home!
Mocha
Guess who found her forever home... Mocha!
When Mocha first came to our attention, she was tied to a fence with a note pinned to her collar that simply said, "Mocha = can't afford".
Mocha had wounds that ran down her back... some open, some already scarred.
Mocha was hospitalized on IV antibiotics and pain medication while her wounds were clipped/cleaned and she recovered from her infection.
Once we were able to earn Mocha's trust, she flourished and was finally ready for adoption. Even though the scars on her back will never go away, her emotional scarring has dissipated and, once again, love fills her heart.
This brave little girl went through hell and back to find a family that will love her unconditionally and never turn their back on her. Her will to survive won her the ultimate prize... a second chance at a new beginning.
Kaner
A supporter of TAF contacted us to see if we could work with her and Project Rescue Chicago to get an abandoned, 10 month old, heartworm positive jack russell terrier out of a kill shelter where he was slated to be euthanized. We agreed to cover his medical costs and the dog, who is now known as Kaner, was saved from the shelter!
Kaner went right to the vet for bloodwork and xrays to assess his overall health and the severity of the heartworm disease. Unforunately, he fell sick with a terrible pneumonia only two days later and was hospitalized for a week. After 3 weeks of antibiotics, Kaner was healthy enough to receive his first heartworm treatment injection. He did well with his crate rest, despite wanting to run and play like any 10 month old pup!
Kaner just received his final injections and is doing very well. TAF is very happy to have been able to help save this boy and ensure he received all the medical attention he needed to lead a happy, normal, pain-free life!
Wink
At a recent TAF sponsored volunteer day at a local shelter, TAF came across this pretty little shepherd mix who was missing an eye. She had been brought in by the local police and no one had come looking for her.
One of our TAF volunteers was smitten with her immediately, having a dog at home who looked a lot like Wink, as we named her. TAF worked with Project Rescue Chicago to get Wink to the vet for her vetting. A few weeks later, Wink met the family and their dog again, and they were best buddies! After "fostering" her for a bit, they couldn't bear to part with her and made Wink an official member of their family!
Frolik
TAF worked with Project Rescue Chicago to transfer this scared dog out of an open access shelter. After just a short walk down a dim hallway, this dog’s spirit went from that of despair to that of happiness. Frolik knew that he was given a second chance once he walked out the front doors and felt the sun on his face… this boy knew he was saved.
Puggy
Upon meeting Puggy, he was a physical and medical mess. His skin sunk in between his ribs, some of his teeth were worn down to the gums, his fur was stained yellow from urine, he was lethargic, had severe green discharge from his nose and it was thought that he could possibly have both female and male reproductive organs since his nipples were the size of grapes.
After Project Rescue Chicago agreed to take Puggy into their program, TAF was able to bring him to the vet for immediate treatment and testing… we held our breath and prayed for the best. Puggy spent two full days at the vet in order to undergo the necessary testing and treatment to ensure his health, and had the following medical procedures:
- Fine needle aspiration of a potential mast cell tumor on his front left paw; luckily this turned out to be a slightly infected hot spot.
- Chest and abdominal X-rays to rule out any internal cancerous tumors, given the mammary growths present on his underside. All the x-rays were clear.
- To assess the function of all his organs a senior blood panel was sent out.
When his blood results all came back normal, Puggy went in for surgery to address all his issues. First, the mass that was visible on ultrasound was a very large testicular tumor that was removed and sent out for biopsy. Second, his prostate was very swollen and had an unusual texture to it. Third, his bladder was very thickened and large, which may simply be due to the prostate swelling and testicular tumor. Fourth, all of his mammary growths were removed and deemed non-cancerous. Fifth, his dental issues were not actually of concern as the probes didn't penetrate far and the vet didn't feel that any teeth needed to be removed. Even though worn down, the teeth below the gums are healthy and he showed no signs of pain, infection or discomfort when thoroughly examined.
Amazingly enough, Puggy's prostate cytology came back negative for anything concerning and his bladder issues had been resolved. The last thing that we needed to get back was the pathology for the testicular tumor.
As suspected, Puggy was cryptorchid (had an undescended testicle) which pathology showed had developed into a Sertoli cell tumor. Sertoli cell tumors can cause skin problems, can cause feminization of male dogs and also secrete estradiol and progesterone. Treatment for these tumors involves removing the undescended testicle and checking for metastatic sites, which would indicate a malignancy. Fortunately for Puggy, his X-rays and ultrasounds showed no signs that the cancer had spread, and the tumor tested benign.
The real unexpected shocker came at the end of Puggy's testing. Even though the original rescue claimed that Puggy was heartworm negative, that was not the case. TAF received the news that Puggy was heartworm positive in the nth hour. (TAF does not have much faith in heartworm snap tests and always sends our blood work out to the labs.) So close to getting a clean bill of health and then this. The good news is that we caught it early on and we have already started a "slow kill" treatment before we move onto the more aggressive treatment. The doctors assure us that Puggy is strong enough to endure the treatments and that he will make a full recovery.
As you can see from my photos, the resilience of Puggy's spirit ultimately prevailed and he received his happily ever after. May Puggy’s story remind us all not to give up… our miracle may be right around the corner.
A big thank you to Project Rescue Chicago for seeing the beauty in Puggy and taking care of our senior as he healed from his surgery. Much love to Puggy and his forever home… may the rest of your days be filled with happiness.
