PLEASE NOTE: NO DOG WILL BE HELD WITHOUT A DEPOSIT. IF YOU ARE SERIOUS ABOUT A
DOG, I STRONGLY SUGGEST PLACING A DEPOSIT AS THIS WILL BE THE ONLY WAY IT WILL
BE HELD.
MEET SNOWBALL!
We are asking that you please send Snowball your prayers. She is an 11 week old purebred female Maltese that has
hydrocephalus (fluid on the brain). Snowball was rescued from a puppymill where she sustained several bite wounds.
One of those bites punctured the fontanelle (soft spot on the top of a puppy's head) and went into her brain. Her eyes are
bulging due to the pressure on the brain. She also has other bites all over her tiny 1 lb body. I'm afraid right now
Snowball's prognosis is very poor. The vet thinks that she will continue to deteriorate, possibly start having seizures, and
then pass away. I am not giving up on her though!!!! She is on antibiotics and we are showering her with love so that one
way or another this pup will know she is loved and not left to die in a cage somewhere. Please pray for her! I am doing
everything humanly possible to keep her alive long enough to give her little body a chance to heal and hopefully overcome
this terrible tragedy. She only weighs 1.1 lb and we are giving her antibiotics, subcutaneous fluids and eye ointment (due
to the pressure which causes her eyes to bulge, she cannot fully close her eyes which requires ointment). Updates to
follow.
UPDATE: 12/31/09: Little Snowball is hanging in there. She is eating and drinking and is so cuddly. She continues on
her meds and we're hoping for the best.
UPDATE: 1/3/10: Still hanging in there! No improvement but no worse.
UPDATE: 1/6/10: Little Snowball has only gained 2 ounces but at least it's something. I was concerned that she was
blind but as the swelling has decreased and her eyes are bulging less, it is apparent that she can in fact see. She sleeps
a lot but she is very alert, very playful, and even has a tiny little bark once in awhile. She is VERY licky and affectionate.
My main concern for Snowball is that her skull is not hardening the way it should and I'm beginning to wonder if it ever will.
Snowball is scheduled for a recheck on January 25th and hopefully I will know more about her prognosis at that time. I
think everyone is surprised that she has survived this long so I'm anxious to hear what the vet has to say on the 25th and to
see if she thinks she will ever be adoptable. She is eating dry Eukanuba small breed puppy food and she also likes filet
mignon Cesar. :) Thank you to everyone who have emailed well wishes for this precious baby!! She is now 12 weeks
old. Be sure to check out her video taken today!
UPDATE: 1/7/10: I am placing a donation button up for Snowball to help with her constant 24/7 care and her vet visits,
medications and vaccinations. This will allow me to waive her adoption fee as I have no doubt that if she is allowed to be
adopted after the 25th, she will incur continuing medical expenses for the adopter. Thank you so much for your support
and encouragement!
UPDATE: 1/13/10: Weight is up 2 ounces! We're making progress in baby steps but at least its progress. Otherwise
her condition remains the same. No seizures as of yet (keeping fingers crossed). Very anxious for the 25th.
UPDATE: 1/20/10: Snowball is still doing well. We are very anxious for the 25th!
UPDATE: 1/22/10: Well, I have good news and bad news for little Snowball this evening. I came home tonight to find
Snowball's eyes all yucky with green stuff so she was whisked off to the bathtub to get a good wash and then a blow dry. I
had to trim some of the hair around her eyes in order to get everything clean again. She continues to have the scruffiest
coat I've ever seen too. No matter how many times she is bathed and blown dry, she still looks the same afterwards. lol
But I did manage to get a little purple bow in her hair and I think she feels pretty. :) Snowball has very thin skin and great
care must be taken when blowing her dry, both with making sure the air is not too warm and in gently brushing and fluffing.
She got her ears cleaned again with a medicated antibacterial, antifungal ear wash and they continue to look good. She
continues to have a scabbiness to her skin so I am anxious to hear what the vet has to say about it Monday. I did buy her a
special medicated shampoo but I did not use it on her this evening because I needed to really get the eyes clean and free
of goobers. I also got her some liquid puppy vitamins.
The vet had said to be sure not to touch her head much since the skull is soft so I have been diligent about not touching it
to see if there has been a change but in washing her tonight I very carefully felt the top of her head as she was being
washed and I was very saddened to see that it remains soft. At this point I truly fear that her skull is not going to harden
and she will have this condition for the remainder of her life. Unfortunately this could be a very serious situation for her in
the future. I am now very concerned and anxious for her follow up appointment on Monday, the 25th. She is now 14
weeks old. She also got dewormed again tonight and got her nails done. :) What is the good news you ask? Well, I
weighed her tonight and she has gained another 3 ounces which now brings her up to 1.8 lbs! She still continues to be
seizure free and she is very loving and playful. I took new pictures of her this evening and also a new video, all of which
are below so be sure to scroll down and see them. I want to thank everyone who is praying for this little angel and who has
sent in donations for her care. Monday will be a very big day for her that's for certain.
UPDATE: 1/25/10: I know that everyone is anxiously awaiting this update on little Snowball and it is with a heavy heart
that I type this update. I am sorry to say that my earlier suspicions of her being blind are in fact accurate. I thought that
once the swelling had gone down and her eyes weren't bulging as much that she could see because it seemed as though
she was responding but testing in the vet's office today proved that she is indeed blind or at best, severely visually
impaired. Her skull is still soft and the vet says that this will not improve. She does still have some fluid on the brain and
this too will not improve. She said that at this point, its best that the skull IS soft because it is allowing for the brain to swell
whereas a hard skull would not. On a good note however, she gained another 2 ounces and is up to 1.10 lbs and she still
remains seizure free. Being seizure free is HUGE right now. Her heart is also good with no sign of murmurs.
I asked about the possibility of a liver shunt and she said it was possible but it was entirely too dangerous for her to fast for
the 12 hours required for the testing. She said if she was on a 12 hour fast that she would probably get hypoglycemic,
start to seizure, and then die. Bloodwork to test for a liver shunt is also not a possibility. The vet said testing the blood for
a liver shunt is not always accurate plus it would require 2-3 cc of blood to perform the test and she said that Snowball
probably only has about 8 cc of blood in her.
At this point, the vet recommended comfort care only. She said to try to make her as happy as possible for whatever time
she has left. She did say that if seizures begin, that this would be the cut off and would be the time to let her go. In
summary, little Snowball is not going to get better and will most likely get worse at some point and then die. I wish that I
had better news as I know everyone has been praying for her and I know I have shed a ton of tears for her myself.
Snowball is incredibly special needs, especially now that I know for sure she is blind on top of the brain injury. We are not
sure how much her brain is actually functioning but the fact that she toilets on a piddle pad instead of her bedding is very
encouraging. She certainly responds well to love and especially my daughter. I have received so many wonderful people
applying for her and I know everyone's heart is in the right place and I thank you for this. Knowing how many people love
little Snowball truly warms my heart and I can't thank you enough for everything. In light of her diagnosis and future
prognosis today, I have chosen a neonatal care nurse who has two handicapped maltese to be her new home. One of her
maltese is an epileptic and the other has a spinal cord injury so she is very well equipped to handle Snowball's special
needs and future care. I am just heartbroken that Snowball did not get a good report at the vet today but I am comforted in
knowing that she will be in very skilled hands and will be loved and happy for however many days she has left.
I will be placing Snowball on the abuse/neglect page and since her page has ended up being so big all by itself, I will keep
her page intact and will do a link from the abuse page to her page. I will keep her page updated with future reports from
her new home so that everyone can keep track of her. She's been an amazing little girl and so very brave. Today she is
full of love, life and playfulness and I pray that she will have many more to come.
Thank you again,
Angie
UPDATE: 1/30/10: Snowball has had a really rough couple of days and I did not think that she was going to survive to
get the chance to go to her new home after all. In a blink of an eye, everything changed for her. She decided to stop
eating and drinking and had to be force fed and given subcutaneous lactated ringers. Then she started circling more than
usual and began to stumble. She became very lethargic and I really thought she would pass away. But miraculously this
pup beat the odds once again and pulled herself out of it but did not completely return to her baseline. Then she became
very agitated and started biting her front legs to the point that both were bleeding, the left one bleeding quite heavily. She
had to be sedated with Valium to get her to stop biting herself. It was mortifying to watch. I talked at great length with her
new mom and despite all of this, she still wanted to give little Snowball any chance possible so she drove to Ohio from
New Jersey to pick her up. Her new mom is truly a Saint!! This is not going to be an easy road ahead of them but she
loves her just the same. I will keep you updated.
UPDATE: 2/1/10: Snowball continued to deteriorate but did have times where she seemed like she was getting back to
her baseline so her new mom decided to come and get her after all but she took another sudden change about 30
minutes before her new mom got here. It seemed like something just snapped and she became quite violent, trying to bite
anyone and anything. When she was unsuccessful at biting someone, she turned her attention to her front legs and
viciously mauled her legs. Within moments, she was completely bloody and her left leg was bleeding profusely. When you
tried to apply pressure to stop the bleeding, she would try to bite you and ended up biting the towel instead as I tried to
make a barrier between us and still tend to her leg. It was heartbreaking to watch and I finally had to give her a little Valium
rectally to get her to calm down and stop mauling herself. When her mom arrived, we discussed the new development and
bless her heart, she wanted to take Snowball home anyways. I sent her with another dose of Valium just in case she
needed to be sedated again as they were staying in a motel for the night before they reached their home in New Jersey.
Unfortunately little Snowball never made it to her new home. She woke up at about 1 a.m. and ate and drank normally and
appeared as though she was better but then the biting and mauling started again. On their way home, she took Snowball
directly to the neurologist who had treated her other Maltese to see if there was anything that could be done to save
Snowball. Unfortunately there was not and the decision was ultimately made to let her go. The vet felt Snowball was
suffering from brain dysfunction and was possibly a liver shunt in which the toxins had finally built up enough to affect the
brain but without a full and costly work up, they could not be certain. Unfortunately even with a full work up, the outcome
was going to be the same and Snowball could not be saved so it was decided to be in her best interest to let her go
peacefully.
I want to again thank everyone who kept Snowball close to their hearts and I especially want to thank her new mom who
had to deal with all of this immediately up on receiving her. She was so brave to take this on and I know she just wanted to
spare my daughter and I anymore heartbreak. I am very grateful for this but I just wish Snowball would have had a longer
life so that she could have enjoyed her new wonderful home.
Thanks,
Angie
DOG, I STRONGLY SUGGEST PLACING A DEPOSIT AS THIS WILL BE THE ONLY WAY IT WILL
BE HELD.
MEET SNOWBALL!
We are asking that you please send Snowball your prayers. She is an 11 week old purebred female Maltese that has
hydrocephalus (fluid on the brain). Snowball was rescued from a puppymill where she sustained several bite wounds.
One of those bites punctured the fontanelle (soft spot on the top of a puppy's head) and went into her brain. Her eyes are
bulging due to the pressure on the brain. She also has other bites all over her tiny 1 lb body. I'm afraid right now
Snowball's prognosis is very poor. The vet thinks that she will continue to deteriorate, possibly start having seizures, and
then pass away. I am not giving up on her though!!!! She is on antibiotics and we are showering her with love so that one
way or another this pup will know she is loved and not left to die in a cage somewhere. Please pray for her! I am doing
everything humanly possible to keep her alive long enough to give her little body a chance to heal and hopefully overcome
this terrible tragedy. She only weighs 1.1 lb and we are giving her antibiotics, subcutaneous fluids and eye ointment (due
to the pressure which causes her eyes to bulge, she cannot fully close her eyes which requires ointment). Updates to
follow.
UPDATE: 12/31/09: Little Snowball is hanging in there. She is eating and drinking and is so cuddly. She continues on
her meds and we're hoping for the best.
UPDATE: 1/3/10: Still hanging in there! No improvement but no worse.
UPDATE: 1/6/10: Little Snowball has only gained 2 ounces but at least it's something. I was concerned that she was
blind but as the swelling has decreased and her eyes are bulging less, it is apparent that she can in fact see. She sleeps
a lot but she is very alert, very playful, and even has a tiny little bark once in awhile. She is VERY licky and affectionate.
My main concern for Snowball is that her skull is not hardening the way it should and I'm beginning to wonder if it ever will.
Snowball is scheduled for a recheck on January 25th and hopefully I will know more about her prognosis at that time. I
think everyone is surprised that she has survived this long so I'm anxious to hear what the vet has to say on the 25th and to
see if she thinks she will ever be adoptable. She is eating dry Eukanuba small breed puppy food and she also likes filet
mignon Cesar. :) Thank you to everyone who have emailed well wishes for this precious baby!! She is now 12 weeks
old. Be sure to check out her video taken today!
UPDATE: 1/7/10: I am placing a donation button up for Snowball to help with her constant 24/7 care and her vet visits,
medications and vaccinations. This will allow me to waive her adoption fee as I have no doubt that if she is allowed to be
adopted after the 25th, she will incur continuing medical expenses for the adopter. Thank you so much for your support
and encouragement!
UPDATE: 1/13/10: Weight is up 2 ounces! We're making progress in baby steps but at least its progress. Otherwise
her condition remains the same. No seizures as of yet (keeping fingers crossed). Very anxious for the 25th.
UPDATE: 1/20/10: Snowball is still doing well. We are very anxious for the 25th!
UPDATE: 1/22/10: Well, I have good news and bad news for little Snowball this evening. I came home tonight to find
Snowball's eyes all yucky with green stuff so she was whisked off to the bathtub to get a good wash and then a blow dry. I
had to trim some of the hair around her eyes in order to get everything clean again. She continues to have the scruffiest
coat I've ever seen too. No matter how many times she is bathed and blown dry, she still looks the same afterwards. lol
But I did manage to get a little purple bow in her hair and I think she feels pretty. :) Snowball has very thin skin and great
care must be taken when blowing her dry, both with making sure the air is not too warm and in gently brushing and fluffing.
She got her ears cleaned again with a medicated antibacterial, antifungal ear wash and they continue to look good. She
continues to have a scabbiness to her skin so I am anxious to hear what the vet has to say about it Monday. I did buy her a
special medicated shampoo but I did not use it on her this evening because I needed to really get the eyes clean and free
of goobers. I also got her some liquid puppy vitamins.
The vet had said to be sure not to touch her head much since the skull is soft so I have been diligent about not touching it
to see if there has been a change but in washing her tonight I very carefully felt the top of her head as she was being
washed and I was very saddened to see that it remains soft. At this point I truly fear that her skull is not going to harden
and she will have this condition for the remainder of her life. Unfortunately this could be a very serious situation for her in
the future. I am now very concerned and anxious for her follow up appointment on Monday, the 25th. She is now 14
weeks old. She also got dewormed again tonight and got her nails done. :) What is the good news you ask? Well, I
weighed her tonight and she has gained another 3 ounces which now brings her up to 1.8 lbs! She still continues to be
seizure free and she is very loving and playful. I took new pictures of her this evening and also a new video, all of which
are below so be sure to scroll down and see them. I want to thank everyone who is praying for this little angel and who has
sent in donations for her care. Monday will be a very big day for her that's for certain.
UPDATE: 1/25/10: I know that everyone is anxiously awaiting this update on little Snowball and it is with a heavy heart
that I type this update. I am sorry to say that my earlier suspicions of her being blind are in fact accurate. I thought that
once the swelling had gone down and her eyes weren't bulging as much that she could see because it seemed as though
she was responding but testing in the vet's office today proved that she is indeed blind or at best, severely visually
impaired. Her skull is still soft and the vet says that this will not improve. She does still have some fluid on the brain and
this too will not improve. She said that at this point, its best that the skull IS soft because it is allowing for the brain to swell
whereas a hard skull would not. On a good note however, she gained another 2 ounces and is up to 1.10 lbs and she still
remains seizure free. Being seizure free is HUGE right now. Her heart is also good with no sign of murmurs.
I asked about the possibility of a liver shunt and she said it was possible but it was entirely too dangerous for her to fast for
the 12 hours required for the testing. She said if she was on a 12 hour fast that she would probably get hypoglycemic,
start to seizure, and then die. Bloodwork to test for a liver shunt is also not a possibility. The vet said testing the blood for
a liver shunt is not always accurate plus it would require 2-3 cc of blood to perform the test and she said that Snowball
probably only has about 8 cc of blood in her.
At this point, the vet recommended comfort care only. She said to try to make her as happy as possible for whatever time
she has left. She did say that if seizures begin, that this would be the cut off and would be the time to let her go. In
summary, little Snowball is not going to get better and will most likely get worse at some point and then die. I wish that I
had better news as I know everyone has been praying for her and I know I have shed a ton of tears for her myself.
Snowball is incredibly special needs, especially now that I know for sure she is blind on top of the brain injury. We are not
sure how much her brain is actually functioning but the fact that she toilets on a piddle pad instead of her bedding is very
encouraging. She certainly responds well to love and especially my daughter. I have received so many wonderful people
applying for her and I know everyone's heart is in the right place and I thank you for this. Knowing how many people love
little Snowball truly warms my heart and I can't thank you enough for everything. In light of her diagnosis and future
prognosis today, I have chosen a neonatal care nurse who has two handicapped maltese to be her new home. One of her
maltese is an epileptic and the other has a spinal cord injury so she is very well equipped to handle Snowball's special
needs and future care. I am just heartbroken that Snowball did not get a good report at the vet today but I am comforted in
knowing that she will be in very skilled hands and will be loved and happy for however many days she has left.
I will be placing Snowball on the abuse/neglect page and since her page has ended up being so big all by itself, I will keep
her page intact and will do a link from the abuse page to her page. I will keep her page updated with future reports from
her new home so that everyone can keep track of her. She's been an amazing little girl and so very brave. Today she is
full of love, life and playfulness and I pray that she will have many more to come.
Thank you again,
Angie
UPDATE: 1/30/10: Snowball has had a really rough couple of days and I did not think that she was going to survive to
get the chance to go to her new home after all. In a blink of an eye, everything changed for her. She decided to stop
eating and drinking and had to be force fed and given subcutaneous lactated ringers. Then she started circling more than
usual and began to stumble. She became very lethargic and I really thought she would pass away. But miraculously this
pup beat the odds once again and pulled herself out of it but did not completely return to her baseline. Then she became
very agitated and started biting her front legs to the point that both were bleeding, the left one bleeding quite heavily. She
had to be sedated with Valium to get her to stop biting herself. It was mortifying to watch. I talked at great length with her
new mom and despite all of this, she still wanted to give little Snowball any chance possible so she drove to Ohio from
New Jersey to pick her up. Her new mom is truly a Saint!! This is not going to be an easy road ahead of them but she
loves her just the same. I will keep you updated.
UPDATE: 2/1/10: Snowball continued to deteriorate but did have times where she seemed like she was getting back to
her baseline so her new mom decided to come and get her after all but she took another sudden change about 30
minutes before her new mom got here. It seemed like something just snapped and she became quite violent, trying to bite
anyone and anything. When she was unsuccessful at biting someone, she turned her attention to her front legs and
viciously mauled her legs. Within moments, she was completely bloody and her left leg was bleeding profusely. When you
tried to apply pressure to stop the bleeding, she would try to bite you and ended up biting the towel instead as I tried to
make a barrier between us and still tend to her leg. It was heartbreaking to watch and I finally had to give her a little Valium
rectally to get her to calm down and stop mauling herself. When her mom arrived, we discussed the new development and
bless her heart, she wanted to take Snowball home anyways. I sent her with another dose of Valium just in case she
needed to be sedated again as they were staying in a motel for the night before they reached their home in New Jersey.
Unfortunately little Snowball never made it to her new home. She woke up at about 1 a.m. and ate and drank normally and
appeared as though she was better but then the biting and mauling started again. On their way home, she took Snowball
directly to the neurologist who had treated her other Maltese to see if there was anything that could be done to save
Snowball. Unfortunately there was not and the decision was ultimately made to let her go. The vet felt Snowball was
suffering from brain dysfunction and was possibly a liver shunt in which the toxins had finally built up enough to affect the
brain but without a full and costly work up, they could not be certain. Unfortunately even with a full work up, the outcome
was going to be the same and Snowball could not be saved so it was decided to be in her best interest to let her go
peacefully.
I want to again thank everyone who kept Snowball close to their hearts and I especially want to thank her new mom who
had to deal with all of this immediately up on receiving her. She was so brave to take this on and I know she just wanted to
spare my daughter and I anymore heartbreak. I am very grateful for this but I just wish Snowball would have had a longer
life so that she could have enjoyed her new wonderful home.
Thanks,
Angie
Adopt one of our rescue dogs and get
free dog food for a month from
Pedigree!! CLICK HERE for more info!
free dog food for a month from
Pedigree!! CLICK HERE for more info!
| SNOWBALL (Before) |
| Bathtime! |
| New Pictures and Video 1/22/10 |
