07/03/2024
LILY (FLORIDA)
Lily is a 11 year old 8.5 pound yorkie girl who is being fostered near Dunedin, FL. She has just come into rescue after her parents were not able to care for her due to her Mom's medical condition. Lily was very attached to her Mom. Her parents reached out to us to see if we could foster this sweet girl.
Lily is doing just great! Lily's foster mom is learning quickly that Lily loves the outdoors and likes to roam around and then relax in the backyard. Lily walks really well on the leash and her luxating patellas are only a bit tricky for her when she is on a slippery floor. Otherwise, she walks like a champ!
We learned that Lily has "Atypical Cushings Disease". After spending the entire day at the vet getting blood taken, the veterinarian found that she has extremely high levels of cortisol, which occurs because she has a hyperactive adrenal gland. It's called "atypical" because the blood tests did not show as Cushings, but still manifest all the same symptoms.
The very good news is that it's treatable and, if she takes medication regularly, she can live a normal life and those pesky other symptoms will go away. She is currently taking Vetoryl which squashes the production of the cortisol and we are experimenting with the dosage at this time. The other good news is that her other blood work came back fine and her liver values are good. The other good news is that the medication she is taking seems to be helping with her "Atypical Cushings" symptoms. Foster Mom reports that she is not as ravenously hungry, she is doing her business more outside of the house rather than on p*e p*e pads inside the house and is not as thirsty.
Lily still needs some housebreaking work, but her foster mom seems very, very happy when she goes outside and then Lily gets a little treat. After being on her medication for 3 weeks, she had her blood tests to check on her cortisol levels and received great news. With just one dose of Vetoryl (5mg) per day, her levels stabilized which means we don't need to increase the dosage. Her Vetoryl costs about $50 per month and has not only made Lily feel so much better, it has stabilized her previous behavior - insatiable hunger, thirst and urinating. Lily is a whole new dog!
She just went on a little road trip and adapted well to her new environment, and although a little shaky at first in the car, she relaxes pretty quickly. She has been on a diet and needed to lose a couple of pounds and succeeded! She weighs 8.5 lbs now which is an ideal weight. She is a good girl.
Lily only has 5 teeth left after her dental, but can eat and chew with no problem. The veterinarian also removed a mammary tumor, which was benign, but she wanted to be sure that it didn't become bad later on. She also took out a couple of warts so, as she said, "Lily would be nice and pretty for a potential adopter".
Lily is p*e pad housebroken. While she will always do her business when let outside, if inside and too much time has passed, she will go on the p*e pad.
Lily gets along great with other dogs and people too. While she is not a big snuggler or lap dog, she always likes to be near her person and will follow you wherever you go. She is 11 years old so Lily sleeps a lot, and she likes to sleep in the morning too, except the other dog in the house wakes her up early and wakes Lily up as well. But that's okay, because Lily gets a lot of praise and a treat when she goes right outside and does all of her business.
Lily's preference would be a home with a woman. Although she gets along with men, she attaches herself to the female of the household.
One could not ask for a sweeter little girl. She loves to be near her human and will make a wonderful companion dog to that special someone. Lily wants to know if that will be you? Will you be the human that makes me a very happy dog? If you think Lily would be a good fit for you please email her foster mom at [email protected].
