Surgery Complete- Little "Goat" doing well

I am happy to inform you that "Goat" had her heart surgery yesterday, and is recovering nicely. The procedure was completed around noon at Colorado State University Veterinary Hospital, and she is still there in recovery.
A big thank you to all the doctors and staff who have helped take care of her, especially Dr Sarah Scruggs, who is also fostering her. She will stay at Dr Scruggs house until June 2nd when I drive up and return her to Durango. Id also like to thank everyone who made donations to pay for this lifesaving surgery. LPCHS is truly lucky to have such great support from this community.

(This is Goat 24 Hours After Her Surgery)

An Update on "Goat"

Last week we put out a plea to our supporters for some help for a little pup named "Goat" (now called "Riley" by her foster mom). Goat had a heart defect, and needed to have a procedure done to fix the problem. Without this procedure, she would have lived a very short life. The procedure would be done at Alameda East Veterinary Hospital in Denver, and would cost around $2,500. This would not be something that we have in our budget to pay for, so we reached out to you for help.

The response has been overwhelming, to say the least. In the past 10 days we have received $6,400 to help this little pup, and the donations are still coming in! The donations have been large and small, in fact over 94 people have made a contribution of some amount. It has truly been amazing, and I can't thank you all enough.

Originally, the procedure had been scheduled for May 28th, but a spot opened up this past week, so I drove her up to Denver on Tuesday. I'm no doctor, but I will do my best to fill in what has transpired in layman's terms. The procedure was a non invasive one where they would go in through an artery in her leg, and attempt to put to place a coil in the valve that would gradually close it, and she would be ready to go home the following day. The procedure is able to be performed on 98% of patients. The procedure was done on Wednesday morning at 11 am. Unfortunately, Goat fell into the 2% of dogs that the procedure cannot be performed on. It turns out that the defect in her heart is too large to be addressed with the coil. She was awakened from anesthesia, and fully recovered by that afternoon.

Now we are on to plan B. This coming week she will undergo a more complex procedure to manually close the valve. The surgery will be performed by the top Veterinary Cardiologist at CSU, and assisted by doctors from Alameda East. She will then spend a few days at CSU for recovery. In the mean time she is being fostered at the home of her doctor in Denver. The total cost of all these procedures has now risen to over $4,000. Thanks to all of the generous donations we have received, we will still be able to cover these costs.

Goat's next surgery is scheduled for this Wednesday, May 22nd. I will give you an update as soon as we now how she is doing. Right now she needs your thoughts and prayers for a successful surgery, and a speedy recovery. Thank you all for you support for Goat, now Riley, and for all the animals cared for by LPCHS.

Thoughts from the road

I have been on the road now for almost two weeks. Last week, I was in Nashville for the HSUS conference, learning lots of new ideas and techniques for our shelter.. The last 2 days I have been in Denver to  bring the little puppy named Goat up for her heart procedure ( full update on Goat will be in this blog, and on our website tomorrow ). Needless to say I am ready for some time back at home, and back at LPCHS. Before I hit the road this morning, I just wanted to share a couple of thoughts with you.

First of all, last weekend two of our longtime residents at LPCHS were adopted. Gigi the hound mix, and Millie the shep mix. These dogs were both at the shelter for months. They were both older dogs, and a bit rough around the edges. Millie had the added issue of being surrendered with her sister Marley ( who is still at the shelter if your interested ), and many people wont adopt a dog if they think it is being seperated from a family member. There is nothing super remarkable about either adoption. What is remarkable, is the amount of feedback I have received about there adoptions, from multiple people. I received several emails and  a phone call or two from supporters who wanted to say how great it was that these dogs are finally in their forever homes. While I appreciate this, I feel as though I must pass on the good thoughts. The real people who deserve credit for this is the staff of the shelter, and all the volunteers who have worked with these dogs. Each and every day the staff took care of theses girls, and every day many dog walkers would get them out for some time in the sun. These folks are the unsung heroes at our shelter, working hard to find new homes for the many dogs and cats who come to our shelter.

Next, Id like to send out a congratulations to the staff of Farmington Animal Shelter. These guys are really making a big turn around for the animals of San Juan County. Last weekend, they held a Mothers Day cat adoption event. It was a smashing success. In all they adopted out 32 cats, and 7 dogs for the weekend. We have been helping these guys with transfers, and a little training, and I know how hard they are working to make changes and improve the lives of the animals in their care. Great job FAS, All your hard work is paying off.

The place is buzzing

Its spring time, and are we ever busy. There has been a steady flow of traffic here for the past couple of weeks. Today alone, we took in 7 litters of kittens from Farmington Animal shelter, as well as 3 dogs. The kittens are all to young to be adopted, so they have been sent out to foster homes. Look for us to have lots of kittens available for adoption by the end of this month.

Some very special dogs have been adopted in the past few days as well. Patton, the big Pit mix who was suffering from a terrible case of mange, has finally gotten his forever home.  I want to especially thank the medical staff here for all the hard work they put in on Patton. When he arrived, he had almost no hair left, and was really in bad shape. Great job everyone for getting him over his mange, and getting him adopted.

Also new around here is the thrift store remodel. If you haven't seen it yet, you need to get over there and check it out. IJst as a reminder to everyone, the proceeds from thrift store sales directly benefit the animals here at the shelter. Without that revenue, we would not be able to help all the animals that we do.

I should also remind all of you that this Saturday is our annual meeting. If you are a member of LPCHS, please come out this Saturday at 10am to vote on new board members, and here the reports from the directors of each department.