Noelle's Health

Prior to bringing Noelle here I inquired of her health history and vetting she may have received. Noelle had been a stray who found her way into a Mississippi Shelter. Somehow, I'm unclear as to how or why, Noelle ended up being fostered temporarily at a vets office. Anyway, I was told by my contact that she believed Noelle to be current on her vaccines but she didn't think much else had been done. At some point Noelle's situation became urgent, I'm not sure if the shelter was so full they couldn't take her back, or if her age played a roll, or if the vet could no longer keep her. For whatever the reason was, Noelle's situation became URGENT and she needed a foster or forever home NOW!

I wasn't horribly concerned that a heart worm test hadn't been done. Here, where I live, its not uncommon for shelters to not perform this test. Its very possible to adopt or foster a dog that is heart worm negative despite not being on preventative, sometimes for years. I should have thought about this dog's location, but I didn't. I should have thought that Heart worm Disease is much more common down south than it is here. Not that its unheard of here either. After committing to bringing Noelle here I talked to a friend of mine who also does rescue. My friend, lets call her N, helped save over 60 dogs after Hurricane Katrina. Of the 60 dogs she brought here, only 2 were heart worm negative. I admit this got me a bit nervous about funding such and endeavor, but I was still optimistic.

Needless to say, once Noelle got here and I went through the vet records that she did have, I found that the vets office had tested her for heart worm and the results were.....POSITIVE!! My heart went into my throat. I had already gotten to know Noelle a bit and she was so sweet and friendly; very outgoing and social, and wanting to be active for her age. Which was older than we'd all anticipated. To further complicate matters Noelle was underweight and in poor condition overall due to her "stray days" I imagine.

I was unsure, at first, if treating Noelle would truly be in her best interest. She is older, what if she doesn't live through the treatment? All that money and the time everyone invested in getting her here for what? Since she is older, there may be other health issues that could be affected by treating or not treating. So we screened her for many issues, and all looks good. If I just let the disease run its course would it really detract from her life in years or quality of life? The x-rays we did showed the heart worm was fairly advanced, and most likely would cut her life short. She does occasionally have a cough that is from these nasty invaders. My other concern was of her breed....Collie. Typically, most Collie type breeds can't take Ivermectin (which is in many heart worm preventions and is part of heart worm treatment). How would this affect her treatment? Would it put her in a higher risk category? So many questions, but decisions had to be made, and there were no guarantees.

Ultimately, after living with Noelle for nearly a week, I saw her zest for life. I also saw her stop playing to catch her breath. I'd see her wake up each morning coughing. I realized she'd already started the downward swing of this disease, and that if I waited that in itself would be a choice. Life, for Noelle, is about experiencing as much as she can. Its about running, and chasing the other dogs, rolling on the floor for belly rubs. Rubbing her head under your hand to remind she's there. Its about following you around the house to keep tabs on "her family". Squish testing furniture and chasing dust bunnies. Life, for Noelle, did not include the effects of heart worm disease. With that knowledge, I made the choice...we were going to treat Noelle; she wants to live.