Miss Foxy

Feisty Foxy

The morning of April 1, 2010 dawned with beauty up in the high desert mountains of Arizona. My husband and I celebrated our 11^th wedding anniversary by going out for breakfast before we headed down to Phoenix to pick up our granddaughter so that she could spend Easter week-end with us. When we arrived at her school we had about an hour to waste, so we went to a couple of thrift stores, got something to drink and was headed back to her school when something caught our eye.

There was a little dog running along the sidewalk of some townhouses and it ran briskly across the street, cars having to stop for the little thing to get to safety. From the distance the dog looked like a long haired Chihuahua. We continued to drive slowly watching the dog as it continued its journey, with no one following it. The street we found her on dead ended into a desert landscaped mountain, where coyotes, hawks, and other predators could have very easily have gotten this little one.

My husband said, “OK, here is what we will do. We will drive around the block again, and if the dog is still there we will try to get it to come to us and then we can see if it has a collar on”. So, we drove around, and saw the dog had gone into the back parking lot for a fast food restaurant. We drove in and parked. I got out and totally expected the little thing to run away from me, as most dogs will do when a stranger approaches.

Just a few minutes after we rescued Foxy

To my surprise, as I knelt down and called out, “Here doggie, doggie,” the poor little thing ran as fast as could be to me. I picked it up, noting that it was a female. She had no collar on and I could feel her little backbones as they protruded from her skin. She was obviously malnourished and very thirsty, so the first thing we did was give her some water.

We picked up our granddaughter, drove back to the road we found her on to see if anyone was visibly looking for a dog. Not a soul was outside anywhere. So we decided to take her home with us, hoping maybe she had a locator chip.

We called our vet as we drove up the mountain to Prescott Valley, and she said to bring her by. We wanted her to just check her out before we took her home where our two other dogs and cat were waiting for us. On our way I noticed that the little dog didn’t have any teeth, which meant that she was an older dog.

We walked into the vet’s office and the receptionist said, “Oh, she is a little Pom.” That was when we really took a good look at her and sure enough, her little hairless tail curled up and her face really did look like an emaciated Pomeranian. Our vet gave her a quick look over, noting a heart murmur and her weight at 4 pounds 6 ounces. She was just a wee bit of a dog!  We made an appointment for the next week for a thorough check up and we went home.

Hey, I need some attention over here

Our granddaughter helped us pick out a name for her, which was Foxy because she looked like a little red fox. We babied her all week-end long, and she spent most of her time sleeping on the couch, on a big stuffed dog we had bought for the grandkids to lay on when watching t.v. Occasionally she would climb up on the back of the couch and would watch me if I were in the kitchen.

One night as I was watching t.v, and Foxy was sleeping beside me, she started coughing and wheezing. It was a very strange sound and I had no idea what was causing it. I was just about to pick her up when she got very rigid and looked like she was having a seizure of some sorts. Then she just fell down limp, was incontinent and looked as though she were dead. Our daughter was home at the time, and we both looked at each other like…Oh my goodness, did we just save her for her to die in a peaceful place? I picked up her lifeless body, and all of a sudden she took a deep breath and opened her eyes. Over the next few days she had a couple more episodes, and we thought she was experiencing seizures, but when she went for her total workup with the vet, it turned out that she was fainting, due to her heart murmur and her congestive heart failure. She was put on Lasix and Enalapril.

The vet agreed with us that part of Foxy's story may have been that she had been part of a puppy mill, since she was not spayed and had all her teeth removed, which is a common thing for Poms to have done as they age. Foxy also was not house broken, pointing us to the conclusion she must have been kept in a kennel all day where she didn’t need to be potty trained. She felt that what probably happened was Foxy began to have the fainting spells, and the owners no longer saw her as a viable source of income, so they put her out on the street, thinking that she would be part of the circle of life and be found by a predator.

So, life with this little mite of a diapered dog began for us. Our other dogs accepted her into the pack, although our female dog Ebony was none to happy that there was another female in the house. I had to assert that I was the alpha female, not Ebony and things evened out in the months to come.

Over the summer months Foxy gained a little bit of weight, yet just wasn’t too interested in food. She would go through bouts of diarrhea, and we had to put her on special canned food just to get her to eat. As Fall greeted us with cooler weather, Foxy went into heat. It lasted for just a few days, and she had another case of diarrhea, which was a lot for her. Once the diarrhea cleared up we noticed that she was having some discharge so we took her back to the vet only to find out she has pyometra, and it was open since it is draining, which is a good thing. The vet we saw that day was not Foxy's normal vet, and in asking her what we should do, she make a strong suggestion for euthanasia for Foxy. Our hearts were just hurting so bad, but we made the appointment for early on Saturday morning, when my husband, daughter and I could all be present to bid our sweet Foxy farewell, with her normal vet being there to administer the drugs compassionately.

Foxy and her doggiebed

 Well, after one day of being with Foxy by ourselves, we decided that we would go on Saturday and ask if we could please try a round of antibiotics first, which is what we did. Our vet came through the door, and Foxy was very excited to see her, she was wagging her tail and she had that special little sparkle in her eyes. She loved Dr. McGill!Dr. McGill told us that she expected to see this lifeless little dog from the report of Foxy’s visit two days before. But here she was being frisky and happy, and looked very good, so Dr. McGill did agree with us that we should try a round of antibiotics, and if that worked to at least get the infection under control, then we could decide if we  wanted to have the surgery for the removal of Foxy’s uterus.We headed out after the appointment to meet my oldest daughter, her husband and three of our grandchildren in San Diego for a few days. Foxy went with us, and she enjoyed her days at the beach, and the kids sure did give her lots of love.

Playing Wii with Daddy

After arriving back home, it was now mid November, and we had to make the hard decision about the surgery. The negative points were she might not survive the anesthetic, her heart murmur could develop into full blown cardiac arrest and we would loose her anyway. Once again we consulted with Dr. McGill, seeking and depending on her advice. She was truthful with us about the fact that Foxy might not make it through the surgery, but also pointed out the fact that Foxy was a fighter. That she was for sure. 

Just before her surgery

On one December morning, with her little Santa hat on which read “Believe”, we handed her over to the staff at Kachina Animal Hospital and went home to wait for news.

I have to note here that every staff member at the office truly cared about what happened with Foxy. It is so amazing to find a group of people who see thousands of pets, yet can be so compassionate and kind hearted to one they have just met a few times.

We went home and and waited and waited for what seemed to be an eternity of time. I had posted on Facebook Foxy’s journey and all our friends were praying and sending good energy for Foxy to make it through the surgery.

 Finally the call came….Foxy had survived! The surgery was a total success, and Foxy was recovering and would be ready to go home in a few hours. When we picked her up Cyndi (one of the vet techs) said that she kept watching Foxy’s heart rate throughout the surgery and that it just kept beating at a perfect rate. This was one dog that was determined to live.

And live she has done! When she went back in for her check up she greeted Dr. McGill not just with a wagging tail and sparkling eyes…she barked. It was the first time anyone there had heard her bark. Foxy was all feisty and letting everyone know that she was doing great.

Ebony, Mommy and Foxy

As we celebrated her one year of being with us in April, we were looking at a totally different dog. No longer does she just lay around sleeping. She barks when the other dogs bark, she chases our cat…a game which our German Shepherd, Jake, taught her…so now Inky has two dogs that play with her. Foxy loves to go outside now, she will stay outside and smell as much as she likes. She bounces and hops when we play with her. She is very spunky spoiled!

Foxy truly has been our miracle dog from the moment she ran into my arms.

She has gained weight, now tipping the scales at 5 pounds 11 ounces. Her hair keeps getting poofier and poofier. She stills wears her little diapers, especially on the days she takes her lasix, but she is dry most of the time. She is enjoying life and life is sure enjoying her.

What is Family?

I was told one time by a woman who really didn't know me...that the reason I didn't have family around or have many close friends was that I was one of the most cold hearted people she had ever met. I have been called many things in my lifetime, but never cold hearted. So this one threw me for a bit, until I realized that she was angry at me for something that had nothing to do with me, it was her own issues of judgement and living a life of non compassion.

When I was a young child I thought that family was a unit of people all born in under the same family name, including children adopted into a family. I grew up in a very dysfunctional family (I have yet to find someone who grew up in a perfect home, whatever that is). I was adopted, as I have written about in my previous blog posts, but really never felt that I really fit into my mother's blood family (except with Cecil Jr's and his 4 sons

1. Uncle Roy who died before I was ever born
2. Uncle Cecil who died when I was 2, his son
1. Cecil Pearson and wife Rose Edna
1. Boys, Michael, Gary, Byron and Steve
3. Joe and Ethel and their children:
1. Pat and second cousins, 
1. Penny and a boy whose name escapes me now.
4. Uncle Elmo and wife Aunt Evelyn, whose children I have forgotten their names, except that one son was a wrestler, and he had some beautiful daughters.
5. Aunt Juanita, married to Uncle Al, 
1. Cousins Pam and Keith; 
6. Aunt Edith, who was divorced by the time I remember her, with cousins 
1. Diana, 
1. Daughter Caroline, and Ricky (from 1st marriage)and Michael Schroeder (from her second marriage)., 
2. Wanda Sue, (daughter Shannon), 
3. Mary Hazelwood Sanchez and her family who moved to Oklahoma City.

My Dad's family we didn't have a lot to do with:

1. His mom Illian Traweek Bryan Johnson of Redondo Avenue, Long Beach, California.
1. His brother Ted Bryan died of polio when I was very young. Wife Maureen and Daughter Sharon in Dallas, Texas
2. His brother Max Bryan, who lived in Abilene State Hospital, and died sometime after 1985 when my dad died.
3. His sister Joyce, who died of leukemia in California, before I was born; married and had one daughter
2. His Grandmother Poll Traweek, lived in Abilene
3. His Uncle Dick Bryan of Dallas, Texas

That's about all I really had a family. It felt very disjointed and we never had any Thanksgiving or Christmases celebrated with any of them, except when I was very, very little. There are some old home movies showing Christmas morning with Pam and Keith opening gifts also.

Since my parents were 35 when they adopted me, and with my Mom being the youngest of 7 children,  it is easy to understand that my grandparents were not around. My Mom's mother and dad were both dead when I was born, as was my Dad's Father. The only grandmother I remember is Grandmother Illian who lived in California.

As far as not having had a any close friends at that time,I had just gone through a divorce, and all my close friends were involved in the church we were attending at the time, and as so often happens, those friendships just slipped away like ribbons falling through my hands. I did not want my ex finding out anything about my life through them. I did however have new friends in Paramedic class, and I cherish those friends, and of course our friends in Owatonna. Priceless gifts of 'family'.

Anyway, along my life's journey there have been people who have come into my life who I would call surrogate moms, dads, sisters and brothers. I never thought it strange that our 'family' wasn't close. It was just normal. From my experiences in life, it has been friends that have played the very important 'family' roles.

So, to me family is much broader than my husband, my four children, our 5 grandchildren, one ex daughter in law (although she is not an 'ex' to me), one ex girlfriend who is mother to one of our grandsons. Marty's Mom and Dad and sister's are in there too. My 'family' includes my friends...those who I have known for more than since high school, since I was a young mother.  Friends from Chicago, Friends from Minnesota, and now Friends here in Prescott Valley. They are family to me.

Friends are truly the family we chose........