|
Kanunu's Journey to a Better Life
Kanunu was brought into Rescue Ur Forever Friend with her 5 littermates on the evening of April 29, 2013. Much to the foster mom’s dismay, they were in terrible condition! Kanunu, being the smallest and sickest, was taken to the vet the next day.
After a vet check at Crossroads Veterinary Hospital, Kanunu was described as the worst case of malnutrition/starvation that the vet had seen (with the exception of Laila Ali, another RUFF rescue). Kanunu’s little back legs were tucked under her body and appear to have no muscle mass. The vet thinks that she must be having abdominal cramps with the way she is tucking her legs underneath her body.
Kanunu and her littermates are being treated for intestinal worms, hooks and roundworms, intestinal parasites, coccidia and giardia. They also have sarcoptic mange with a skin infection. The sarcoptic mange is infectious and special care will have to be adhered too so no other animals get this contagious mange.
Please consider donating to help towards the cost of Kanunu and her siblings care.
Update: May 1st, 2013 - morning
The foster mom reports that Kanunu is drank 400 ml of formula and 200 ml of water through the night. Stools have gone from bloody to brown liquid. She is still not eating solids. Foster mom will try cooking her some chicken and liver pudding after work. Overall she is showing improved awareness, crying for siblings or when her potty pads need changing. This baby girl is fighting to live!
Update: May 1st, 2013 - evening
As Kanunu feels better, she's been lonely. Her smallest brother Akoni (invaluable) is going to be her snuggle bunny tonight.
Update: May 2nd, 2013
Kanunu had a good night drinking 300ml of formula and 200ml of water. Not a fan of her bossy brother who picks on her, poops in her bed and keeps me up all night howling. She's still not taking food, refused recovery diet, chicken and salmon. Stools still liquid but rest of her littermates have firmed up. Looks like her intake is keeping up with output so that is good.
Update: May 3rd, 2013
Kanunu took 300mls of formula throughout the night, after initial gruel tasting, she wanted no part in it. She seems to have days and nights confused and the foster mom spent the entire night up with her. She is feeling better and restless being isolated. With outside temps being in the 70s to day, her foster mom plans on keeping her in fleece but letting her visit her siblings a bit to give her some exercise and play time.
Update: May 4th, 2013
Score! Okay, it wasn't alot, but what little it was meant everything! Kanunu let her foster mom had feed her bits of chicken tonight. It is evident that chewing requires coordination that she's never practiced very much. Here's to lots of chicken in her future!
Update 1: May 5th, 2013
The Aloha Litter seem to be quickly putting their life of neglect behind them very quickly. Tomorrow is weigh in day and the foster mom has a feeling we're going to see a few who may have doubled their weight. Tomorrow is the last day of meds for bacterial infections and parasites, so we're excited to knock out the sarcoptic mange next. Little Kanunu has gotten more itchy as she has become more alert, and scratched a couple of bloody spots, so she's ready to move forward and get rid of that miserable mange. The BIG news of the day is that Kanunu started eating pieces of hand fed chicken last night! The BIGGER news is that she's interested enough, she'll go clean the bowl herself! Still substituting high calorie formula for water that she will drink from her bowl, we'll wean that down as soon as we see steady weight gain. Thanks for all the good thoughts, donations and well wishes, this baby girl is pulling through!
Update 2: May 5th, 2013
Happy Sunday from little miss sunshine Kanunu! She ate 4 plates of chicken and broth after her big day yesterday! We are doing small frequent feedings every 2-3 hours to let her bodily gradually get used to eating, but last night the foster mom got 4 hours of continuous sleep! Doesn't sound like much but a week if 1-2 hrs, 4 hours is Rip VanWinkle style! Still free feeding on her formula supplement, tried sneaking the rice in with chicken, but she's not quite ready, wouldn't touch it. Poops firming up, peepee like a champ, keeps on moving forward! Thanks for all of the love and support. Today we are happily packing up IV fluids and feeding tubes and syringes, I think we've made it over that hump! Now to tackle the sarcoptic mange.
 |
 |
|
Update 1: May 6th, 2013
Baby Kanunu is getting stronger every day! Today she crawled out if the tub twice and spent about 45 min with her siblings, but got cold and tired quickly. Keep growing Kanunu!
Update 2: May 6th, 2013
Kanunu and siblings got weighed in today between kennel cleanings, monsoons, tarp replacements and feedings. Kanunu proudly tipped the scales at 3lb4oz, the weights of everypup from smallest to largest was 3lb10oz, 4lb8oz, 5lb2oz, 5lb3oz, 5lb4oz. Everypup has gained over 1lb-3lbs since last Tuesday! Lots of thanks and gratitude for the donors to their care from monetary donations for vetting and meds, to warming units, goats's milk, potty pads, cedar chips and poopy scooping help. It's been crucial to keep their kennel poopless as possible as the meds kicked in to prevent reinfestation of parasites. So far we have heavy eaters and proud to boast pretty puppy poops!! No more blood, worms or stank. Tomorrow Dr Streeter will use these weights for the important and much needed step of medical care, treating the sarcoptic mange. Our bigger sister scraped for diagnosis last week has now lost almost all fur except face and front legs. As the pups have grown stronger so has the mange, and they are miserable. Please send good thoughts that they all tolerate treatment with no reaction to meds. Kanunu leaves you with one last thought for the day: "Does this dress make meh bootay wook big?"
Update: May 14th, 2013
Kanunu and her siblings went to vet yesterday. Kanunu, who weight 2lbs, is now 4 lbs, 11 oz! The puppy poop is stil sick, but the mange apears to e under control. Their appearance isn't endearing while losing broken fur and dead skin, but the skin infection has cleared and the scratching has stopped.
Update: May 22nd, 2013
Tonight was weigh in night. RUFF took in these pups on the 4/29. The largest was 3.5 lbs and little Kanunu was 2 lbs. Today they were weighed and here are the results.
Nani and Ka Pua (red shepherd girls): ~10 lbs
Akoni (little silver/black vocal male): ~7.5 lbs
Nui (red male, gorgeous eyes): 10 lbs
Leilani (silver/black female): ~8 lbs
Kanunu (bouncy, bouncy bounceback kid): ~7.5 lbs
We are so proud of these babies and are so grateful for the community and support that rallied behind them.
Thank you!
Video Link of these puppies
Update: May 24th, 2013
Please read the foster mom's recollection of the last month's events.
"I remember sitting with Cindy Moore at Crossroads Veterinary Hospital with Kanunu and Leilani on 4/30 like it was yesterday. As Dr. Streeter examined Kanunu's fragile, collasped body, she told us it was the worse case of malnutrition/starvation neglect she had ever seen (besides Laila Ali). I fought back tears as she described having no muscle mass in her legs, legs tucked likely from abdominal pain, temperature of 92, but her heart was still strong. I knew she was close to shutting down and felt smothered by the same feelings of never seeing her alive again when they took her back for blood work and warmed fluids. We left the vet with a diagnosis of multiple internal and external parasite infections, malnutrition and a plan. Between now and then, there were many sleepless nights, meds, fluids and ongoing strateggies of "if she she makes it" from one point to the next, what to do next. Today, we are confirmed clear of all internal and external parasites. All the puppies are eating, growing and thriving and are ready for adoption!. This is not a miracle, it is the result of excellent veterinary care, a rescue group who spared no costs, and a Community who gave themselves through well wishes, prayers, donations, supplies, warming units, goats milk, shavings, organized fundraising, right down to handmade collars for each of the pups. Also add in a crew of friends who showed up with chicken and working clothes to sanitize, scrub, scoop poop and bathe. It truly took a village!
This is a Rescue Ur Forever Friend Community and Crossroads Veterinary Hospital miracle. Since they have gone from 2.2 and 3.8 lbs on 4/30 to 7.5 and 10 lbs today,
they are ready for forever homes! The Aloha litter and little Kanunu have made it and WE DID IT ♥TOGETHER♥!"
|
|
