Sassy's Road to Recovery (Post Surgical Photos included)

Our sweet, beautiful, wiggly, happy, adorable, snuggly - well you get the POINT...er - haha, get it? Pointer? Ok, Ok... Our lovely rescue Sassy has finished her 2nd mammary surgery to remove the tumors that were most likely a complication of her tick borne illnesses. She's doing fantastic now, but this has been quite the journey for this little lady. She came to us skin and bones, stayed with a few amazing foster families that gave her love, good food and a warm bed, met some pretty cool new doggy friends, was treated for Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, had TWO intensive mammary surgeries to remove tumors, and NOW is ready for the perfect family to scoop her up. She has been such a phenomenal patient and companion through her foster time here at IBR. Her road to recovery may not have been pretty, but we document as much as we can here at IBR to educate people on the importance and prevelance of tick related illness in dogs as well as humans. Here's a video of Sassy post surgery - warning: may be graphic to some - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOcHIrlAb8k As you can see in this video, less than 2 weeks later she's back to herself - wiggly butt and all! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiEKr3xwMp0

Below shows post-surgical photos, round two:

She had a little fluid leak into her legs post surgery - not uncommon for such an intensive procedure. And it has since been reabsorbed after some R&R. It's not pretty, but without IBR she wouldn't have received this top notch care and treatment plan.

A little inflammed from sneaking out of her E-collar, but otherwise the top of the incision looks great!

Less than 2 weeks after surgery: stitches out and healing well!

Just look at that face! She is so darn cute :) If you're interested in Sassy please contact IBR. She's a fantastic dog that gets along well with other dogs, doesn't mind cats, fully housebroken, not a barker and loves to snuggle!

A Rescued Dog's Christmas Poem

Happy Holidays & Happy New Year to all my dog loving friends out there! I found this Christmas poem & thought it was too sweet not to share on Sassy's behalf! A home for all our fosters is sure on MY Xmas wish list this year! :)
---xoxo Marissa & the crew

Tis the night before Christmas and all through the town,
every rescue is full - we are lost, but not found.
Our foster families love us, they've brough us in,
we're hopeful and thankful to find permanent kin.
They'll come to adopt us and give us the call,
"Come here, Maks and Sassy - come fetch your new ball!!"
But now we sit here and think of the days..
we were treated so fondly - we had cute, baby ways.
Once we were little, then we grew and we grew,
now we're no longer young and we're no longer new.
So out the back door we were thrown like the trash,
they reacted so quickly - why were they so rash?
We "jump on the children:, "don't come when they call", we "bark when they leave us", climb over the wall.
We should have been neutered, we should have been spayed,
now we suffer the consequence of the errors THEY made.
If only they'd trained us, if only we knew...
we'd have done what they asked us and worshiped them, too.
We were left in the backyard, or worse -let to roam,
now we're tired and lonely and out of a forever home.
They dropped us off at shelters and kissed us good-bye...
"Maybe someone else will give you a try."
So now here we are, all confused and alone...
in a rescue with others who long for a home.
The kind families come through with a meal and a pat,
with good food, vet bills and loving to bat!
They bathe us & play with us, giving each of us cheer...
we know that they wonder how long we'll be here.
We lay down to sleep and sweet dreams fill our heads..
of a home filled with love and our own cozy beds.
Then we wake to see sad eyes, brimming with tears,
our friends filled with emptiness, worry, and fear.
If you can't adopt us and there's no room at the Inn,
could you help with the bills and fill our food bin?
We count on your kindness each day of the year,
can you give more than hope to everyone here?
Please make a donation to pay for the heat...
and help get us something special to eat.
The rescue that cares for us wants us to live,
and more of us will, if more people will give.
--Author Unknown

Sassy - the Christmas elf!

Barking for a Cure!

Sassparilla - aka Sassy was brought to us from a shelter in Oklahoma. She was heartworm positive & also had co-infections of Lyme disease & Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. To make things worse, she also developed mammary tumors that needed to be surgically removed. IBR has found a connection between tick bourne illness and mammary issues in unspayed females. Yet another reason to spay & neuter your pets.... Through no fault of her own, these diseases complicated treatments for all illnesses. But Sassy has been a survivor & made it through Heartworm & Rocky Mountain Fever treatment successfully. Her surgery also went well & she is back to her normal bouncy self after a few weeks of R&R.

Wrapped & recovering from the

partial mastectomy.

It may not be pretty, but it may

have saved my life.

This was serious business. The vet

removed all the tumors on my left mammaries.

9 days post-surgery: no more drain tubes or stitches. I'm also healing well & feeling better despite what this may look like.

While her treatments have been successful, they have also been expensive & put IBR into a pile of debt. Our foster homes pave the way to happy adoption tails. Adoptions raise money for more dogs to be brought into the program & treated. But more treatments raise the vet bills again. In November alone 3 of our dogs have undergone mastectomies. These are phenomenal dogs & deserve the proper royal treatment. But now they are deserving of their own loving families. Our foster families work hard to match families with the perfect fit of furry companion. Sassy is AMAZING. So are many, many, many of our other fosters. Spread the word, tell your friends. Lets get these dogs the attention they've been missing for too long!

Look at my before & after!

I was pretty thin

when I first came to

IBR.....

Left side is me before :( Right side is me now! :)

But with
LOTS & LOTS
of love I'm
HAPPY &
Healthy!!!!!

Update on Sassy!

It's hard to think the skinny, sad looking pointer is now the happy, wiggly, tap dancing Sassy I have at my house now. Sassy is such an easy house guest. She will bring so much fun and joy to her new forever home. Could that be you?? She's 100% housebroken, crate trained and dog friendly. She goes into ZEN mode after our morning walks - here she is assuming the position on her section of the couch.



She's definitely gained much needed weight back, no more rib bones showing on this little plush lady. Speaking of plush - here she is making sure resident corgi Fiona doesn't try to steal her piggy!

She has such a stoic look to her :)

Wait...!!! Is that a tweety bird I hear???

Yep, definitely a tweety bird worth getting off the couch for! You can see how fantastic I look now that I've completed my heartworm treatments and had good food for awhile now.

Sassy is going in for surgery November 22nd to remove the mammary tumors she has. Once she's recovered from that she'll be VERY ready to settle into her new family. If you think that could be you please contact us. You won't be disappointed in this sweet and "Sassy" girl! :)