I just finished reading your Lilly links. I bet Lilly is very glad she came to you too! You're her angel.

Our last two dogs have been abused and dumped. Daisy lives with my parents in UT now and she was a handful the first two years. So many fears and bad habits. Maggie, who died a few years ago, was a mess when we took her in. Her whole back under the piles of fur (she was an Old English Sheepdog) was horribly infected and her ear canal needed surgery to deal with an infection that had never been treated.

Then there's the dozens of stray cats we've rescued over the years. I think we have a sign over our door that only animals can see: "Soft Touches Here!"

I bought a car that was a minor restoration project. So it's been one thing after another, but I'm getting to the point now where longer periods are going between problems.

That may happen with Lil too. I think you'll eventually run out of major problems, even if it doesn't seem that way now.

I don't know, James. There are two things going against her: the paralysis in her hindquarters combined with the missing leg, and the weak immune system as shown by her having inflammatory bowel disease and chronic pyoderma. She's a mess.
Thanks for the encouragement. I'll be very happy indeed to get her stabilised.
They told me at the pound not to expect her to live past eight.

Thanks Ith. I still write back and forth with the reporter who first told Lilly's story. She recently found a dog wandering around with a hole in his face, so that's her new one. She has two others, and she hits up her editor to let her do stories with a doggy angle. A nice, nice lady and my favorite reporter on the planet.

My Mother n laws cat had the blood in the urine problem and it was the abimal digest in the cat food.

That sounds like quite a round of tests, Auntie.
We're holding off on the blood work until Friday, when we get the results of the urine culture back.

Please give sweet Lilly a hug for me; you really are her guardian angel! It's one thing to raise a dog from a puppy and then have to care for them later on when they become ill, but to rescue a dog and give so much of yourself both physically, emotionally AND financially... That takes a very special person!

You may get her settled eventually - the poor thing probably still has nutritional deficiencies, etc. I love German shepherds, but if neglected they do develop all sorts of problems. And after all the abuse...

I just watched BEYOND THE SEA. They told Bobby Darin's mother he probably wouldn't make it beyond 15.

I'm so glad y'all like my Lilly. She's such a sweetheart.
I was so upset with the substitute vet yesterday (Sunday). She didn't greet the dog when coming in to examine her, and when Lilly pawed her to greet her, the vet pushed her, and of course, Lilly fell over. I wanted to walk out of there with medicine for my dog, so I kept quiet.

I had a Shepard that was hit by a car in the early 90s, $2K of surgery to get him up and around again...about 6 to 8 months later he started peeing blood, and couldn't keep even water down. It was a damaged kidney.

Your post really hits home. We lost our last "baby" in May, after a long illness. I still miss him and the others. I don't regret one minute of time I was with them, nor the vet bills. Some things are more important. I wish you and Lilly lots of time together. You obviously have lotsa love.

Oh, Donna, so sorry to read about this problem of Lilly's...and wondering if you know by now what the result of the lab culture is?

That story about the substitute vet...argh. You know, so many times, dogs and other domesticated animals express such kind and considerate things but humans completely miss it all and respond with such inhumanity. Stupid vet, really stupid vet.

It amazes me that Lilly is such a wonderfully well tempered, happy dog. It's truly a miracle that that most important part of her has survived and in such great shape. Sweet Lilly, may she live on forever.