Summi's Story by NovaStar Rescue

In February of 2016, Summi (then known as Loca) was taken in by a couple who were posing as a rescue in Fordyce, Arkansas. They said that she was very thin, they got her "fattened up," and had her spayed in March of 2016, at which time she weighed 25 pounds. She was then adopted out the very next day to a man they supposedly knew and were neighbors with. Approximately 3 months later, this man retu

rned Summi to them in very bad condition, emaciated, weak, dehydrated, most of her hair missing. The couple then got hold of me and asked me for help as they did not have money to take her to a vet to find out what was wrong. She was very sick, not eating, having lots of diarrhea and vomiting. On June 26, 2016, Summi became a NovaStar Rescue dog. I arranged for my friend Kathy to meet this couple and pick up Summi and then bring her partway to me. Knowing that the dog was in very bad condition, Kathy had stopped and picked up syringes and a bag of fluids in case we needed it. When I met her and saw Summi, we decided right then to give her subcu fluids and we administered over 200 ml of fluids in the parking lot that afternoon, which I believe ultimately saved her life. I brought Summi home and began offering her anything and everything to eat and drink…..at first she wouldn’t eat at all. We went to my local vet the very next day and he thought maybe she had a bowel obstruction. He did a f***l which was negative, she had no temp, and skin scrape was negative. There was no way could she withstand surgery as she was so weak. She literally could not stand on her own. I took her back home and kept trying to get her to eat. The next day, I took her to another vet in a nearby town where they did another f***l, 2 skin scrapes (again no mange was found), some bloodwork, and they found her to be severely anemic. They did not think she had a bowel obstruction at all and really could find nothing wrong with her except the anemia. They started Summi on a liquid iron supplement twice a day and recommended soft food, chicken, rice, oatmeal, anything I could get her to eat, basically. After 2 weeks, Summi was no better. She was able to stand on her own but had not gained any weight. So back to the vet we went. She was then started on the iron supplement. She had gained 4 ounces in two weeks. They did a parvo test, negative. They did another f***l, negative. At this time, they told me they wanted to try her on pancreatic enzyme replacement powder as they suspected a pancreatic enzyme deficiency; basically a diagnosis of elimination since they could find absolutely nothing else wrong with her. So we went home with a bottle of enzyme powders and another bottle of the liquid iron supplement. Within 72 hours you could see the difference. Summi began to gain weight, had more energy, her diarrhea and vomiting stopped. Within 6 weeks Summi had put on 10 pounds and her hair was starting to grow back in. We decided Summi (Loca) needed a new name for her new lease on life…..A friend suggested we name her after Pat Summit….the Tennessee women's basketball coach, the most winning women's college basketball coach in history who fought a hard battle with Alzheimer's disease and passed away in July of 2016. We shortened it to Summi, and that's who she became, named after a fighter and a winner because that's exactly what Summi is! On August 17, 2016, we went to another local vet and had Summi checked for heartworms and found out she was positive. She was put on doxycycline and prednisone and her heartworm treatment was started that day. She received two injections and came home the next day for a long 30 days of crate rest and no playing, something Summi now loved to do since she had her energy and strength back. On Sept 26, 2016, we went to have her rechecked and were disappointed to find her still positive. But she weighed 43.2 pounds!!! Almost 20 pounds gained since June 27. We took Summi back home and waited another long 30 days and went back on October 29 for another recheck. This time, Summi tested negative and she would soon be on her way to a rescue in the northeast to find her forever home, something Summi had waited a lifetime to have….a good home with people who love her and will care for her and will never let her get sick again! Today, Summi is a happy, healthy gorgeous girl with a beautiful sleek, shiny, red and white coat. She loves everyone and everything. She really just loves life in general. She is an absolutely delightful little dog! She has become quite the mascot for the rescue, greeting every dog who comes in and welcoming them to play with her in her gentle way (although she is now quite strong and quite fast and usually wins the games of tug of war with a rope!). Larger dogs sometimes scare her at first until she sees that they are friendly but then she is fine with them! She loves puppies. This summer, after being let out of her crate,she always went and checked on "her" little chihuahua puppies that were in rescue, giving them kisses through their crate! To think that this little dog was so close to dying, and I have no doubt would have died if she had not gotten the medical attention she needed when she did, is just so sad. She felt so bad…was so sick and had been that way for months and no one ever did anything about it…. But Summi holds absolutely no grudge! She loves everyone! Today, Summi has to have her enzyme powders with every meal and she is on a grain free food, dry and wet, along with her favorite thing, coconut oil, mixed in once a day! She loves her treats of Bully sticks,they are her absolute favorite. She also loves stuffed toys but they do not last long! She also loves to play with rope toys, Nyla bones, or something equally tough to chew on that will last her a while. She loves to ride and does very well in the car. She is very inquisitive at the vet or in PetSmart, though a little shy sometimes of the other dogs at first. She has only seen cats at the vet's office but showed little more than just a curious interest in them. Summi loves kids and would be very happy to have some to play with her every day! Summi has a whole lifetime ahead of her now to be healthy and strong. My wish for her is that she will find her forever family soon (maybe even a foster failure), and never have to be moved around again. She truly loves everyone but would really love to have that special someone(s) who will love her forever and keep her healthy and happy from now on!!