Newf Friends

Ella's Journey from Back-Yard-Breeder to Forever Family

It isn't where you came from, it's where you're going that counts ~ Ella Fitzgerald

Ella was born on Aug 13, 2009. Her mom was a Newfoundland and her Dad a Great Dane giving Ella the markings of a Merle Dane and the soft coat of a Newf -- with her long eyelashes, and gorgeous colouring she is a beautiful girl. Ella came to us as a breeder surrender at the tender age of 5 weeks, far too young to be separated from her litter. Her litter mates had already been sold and pushed out the door, and Ella remained, unwanted and unloved because she only had 3 legs. Nobody wanted to buy the little dog with the infected stump, and her breeder surrendered her to us saying she was "Glad we'd take her so she didn't have to kill her."

We were told that Ella was born without her leg, but x-rays suggest that it is likely that her mom accidentally bit the leg off when removing the umbilical cord. Ella lived 5 weeks with her breeder without receiving any veterinary care whatsoever. The pain she endured must have been unbearable. Her stump became infected, swollen and as the infection spread through her bone, it made it's way into her tiny body. Left with a raw, oozing stump with a painful open sore on the end, Ella was exposed to e-coli infection from contamination from unhygienic living conditions. This infection spread into her urinary tract, and by the time we rescued her the infection was so severe her urine was thick with pus. At 5 weeks, Ella was only 3 lbs, very underweight, dehydrated, malnourished, and fighting for her life from systemic infections. By denying Ella access to the veterinary care she needed, Ella's "breeder" nearly cost Ella her life.

Upon arrival into our care, saving Ella's life was our first priority. Ella was taken to Dr. Kim Facey, Apsley Veterinary Services, and she was immediately treated for infections and an action plan for her recovery was made. Ella is a fighter, and she responded to treatment immediately and within days was growing stronger. Under Dr. Facey's exceptional care, Ella thrived.

It was obvious that the only chance for a long, healthy, pain free life for Ella was removal of her infected stump. With no salvageable bones in the stump, a prosthetic limb was not an option, so it was decided that amputation at the shoulder would be the best option. Before we could proceed with surgery, Ella needed to be strong enough to survive surgery and the lengthy recovery. For the next 7 weeks Ella was nursed back to health through a combination of antibiotics, daily cleaning regimens of her wounded stump, a healthy diet and lots of love. There were many ups and downs throughout her recovery, which have been chronicled on this site.
Intake
Week 2
Week 3

Ella received extensive veterinary care in those weeks, and even with the very generous discounts granted to us by Dr. Facey, Ella's vet bills mounted. As Ella's story began to be told to the Newf community, via Newf Net, she touched the hearts of many, and the donations for her care started pouring in. The outpouring of support for "wee Ella" as she became known, was astounding, and the generosity and kindness the Newf community has shown Ella has been remarkable.

Beyond her physical needs, Ella's social needs had to be addressed as well. Pups who are separated from their litters at such an early age miss out on the essential social skills that puppies teach each other, including bite inhibition.

To counter that, Ella was socialized with a pack of dogs in her foster home. With 5 other dogs to live with this was her best chance of learning the important "social" rules that other dogs teach each other during their early months. Although nothing can compare to the social benefits of living with litter mates for 12 weeks, we provided Ella the next best thing. She is very well socialized with other dogs, and plays well with her pack. She enjoys sleeping curled up with the other dogs, and seeks out the companionship of each of them.

On her 13 week birthday Ella underwent surgery for amputation of her infected stump. Dr. Facey enlisted the help of Dr. Michael Faessen, Soft Tissue and Orthopaedic Small Animal Surgeon, to perform this delicate surgery. Posts about her recovery can be seen on our site.
Surgery
Post Surgery

Ella came through surgery with flying colours and hasn't looked back. She bounced back from surgery far better than anyone could have expected, and is well on the road to a full recovery.

UPDATE: Ella was adopted on December 8, 2009 to a loving family that will cherish her and give her the life she deserves. She joins a canine pack of 3 -- Denver, a senior shep mix who is also a three legger; Jake a young lab who lost his eyes due to infection thanks to the carelessness of a breeder; Zoe another Newf found wandering homeless and starving, plus a couple cats, and of course two loving parents who think the world of her!

UPDATE! Ella recently celebrated her 6 month birthday. Pictures and an update about wee Ella can be read here!

UPDATE! Read the latest update from Ella's mom in this post from November 6, 2010.

UPDATE! Check out another great update from April 2012!

Thank you everyone for your support and concern for Ella. Her surgery went very well, she was home with us that evening, and has been doing fabulous.

Ella is doing far better than we could have hoped for. She must be feeling so relieved to have that awful stump off of her - -she is so happy, energetic and playful, just like a 13 week old puppy should be.

Her bandage was able to come off today, and her incision looks great. She seems to be healing well.

Her bladder culture came back, she is 100 % free of infection now, which is terrific news!.

Finally, wee Ella has turned a corner.

More details to come.....

Our Bancroft Times Remembrance Day Article

Ella, the Newf/Great Dane mix, pictured here at 12 1/2 weeks

Thank you for all of the emails and letters in support of Ella, and for the generous donations that so many of you have made towards Ella's veterinary care.

Ella's amputation surgery has been rescheduled for Thursday, November 12. She has grown considerably in recent weeks, and her strength, stamina, and naughtiness increases daily! Ella is behaving like a happy, healthy, mischievous 12 week old puppy, and we can only hope that with the removal of the infected bone she will become even stronger, and be ready to live a long, healthy, pain free life.

Updates to follow....

We only need a few more artists to fill the calendar, so please cross post to any artist friends who you think may be interested.

We're working on an exciting Newf Rescue fundraising project for 2011 featuring the work of artists who have depicted Newfs in their work. This can be pencil sketches, watercolour, oil, stained glass, needlepoint, etc.

For 2011, rather than having a calendar of photographs we have decided to offer something a bit different......we are creating a calendar of Fine Art Images of Newfs, then holding an auction to auction off the original pieces that the artists have donated. This auction will be held at our huge newf gathering in Bancroft on September 18, 2010. To reach the largest audience we will likely be also allowing live voting via the web so that our Newf Friends worldwide can participate. This calendar is going to be truly unique -- a collection of images created in different media -- truly one of a kind!

So far, we have confirmed several Newf loving artists who are happy to participate in this fundraiser, and we are now looking for your help in finding a few more to help us complete this calendar.

12 artists will have their donated piece of art as the large feature image for the month, and will have their bio and contact info featured on that page. They will also be featured on our rescue site.

We have extended our confirmation and submission date, we just need a couple more artists to sign up -- we would like to have our list of participating artists confirmed by November 30, 2009 with donated art submitted by March 15, 2010. Artists can use either one of their existing pieces, or create a new work for this project. Once pieces are received, they will be photographed to be included in the calendar, then kept aside until the auction date of Sept 18.

If you are interested in participating in the fundraiser please contact us at newf.friends@gmail.com Please cross post to other Newf loving artists who may be interested in being a part of this endeavour. If response is really strong, we may end up incorporating all of the images into a book as well.....but first step is our calendar!

We look forward to hearing from you!

George, the senior Newf/Golden mix is still searching for a family to call his own. This sweet old boy wants nothing more than someone to love him, hug him and pet his belly. He'd be a great addition to a quieter, slower paced household. George is such a good boy, and has so much love to give! We hope that his perfect family comes along soon! Visit our available dogs listings to learn more about this sweet boy!

Barley, the brown Newf is doing great in foster care. There have been many excellent families applying to adopt him and he will be placed very soon! Lucky boy! All of the wonderful families that are being considered for Barley will be added to our waiting list and as new Newfs come into our program we will have perfect homes ready and waiting for the right match for them.

Ella, the Newf/Dane mix puppy continues to improve and is healthy enough now to proceed with amputation of her stump. THANK YOU to all of the people who have shown their support for sweet Ella, your donations are greatly appreciated. Ella's surgery is scheduled for Friday, October 23 and will be performed by an orthopedic specialist who works closely with Ella's vet.

Edited October 23: Ella's surgery has been postponed. She became very ill this week (possibly a reaction to her vaccines) and although she has recovered and seems fine, we have opted to put her surgery off for a few weeks to ensure she is fully recovered.

Donations are needed to help us move forward with Ella's amputation!

Ella, the Newf-Great Dane mix, had her 3 week check-up today.

She has gained another 4 lbs this past week and now weighs 11.7 lbs and is doing very well. Her stump continues to heal and the open area on the end is reducing in size. She is strong, bright, playful and a cheeky little lady! She has come a long way from the weak, anemic, sick puppy that we rescued just a few weeks ago.

Her vet feels that we need to proceed with the amputation of her stump very soon because Ella continues trying to use the stump and this is resulting in her injuring it.

Overall, Ella is strong enough now to tolerate the amputation, however, we are still holding off because her Urinary Tract Infection is still present.

The good news is that the Struvite Crystals are now gone, but she does still have an infection. Given how compromised her health was when she came to us, it is not surprising that she is taking longer to heal, and her vet feels that she may require 6 weeks of antibiotics to clear the infection.

Ella is on a higher dose of antibiotics again, and we will make a decision about when to amputate in the next week or so.

Several applications have come in for Ella's adoption -- she is not yet "formally" posted for adoption, but interested parties are free to submit their application, with the understanding that we will hold the applications and will not be following up on these applications until closer to the time when Ella can be placed.

Ella will not be placed into an adoptive home until her infection is gone, and she has recovered from her amputation and been vaccinated.

Ella's veterinary care costs a significant amount of money, and we are so very appreciative for the donations that have come in for Ella's care. Thank you to all of you who have offered your assistance, every dollar helps. If you have not yet made a donation, please consider doing so now, as her upcoming amputation will result in a significant vet bill. Donations can be made online through HART's Canada Gives button (link to the right) -- in the comment section, specify that the dollars are to be allocated to the Newf Friend's Fund for Ella's care.

Click the image to see it in larger size

Ella had her first follow-up vet visit on Saturday, Oct 3.

Good news is she has more than doubled in size. She's 7.6 lbs now, and her body condition is much improved. The vet was very impressed with how active, bright and playful she is. Her heart rate is improved, no longer racing. She's just "better" overall.

Her stump is much less infected and is healing well -- the vet was pleased with how much better it is, she was not expecting that much improvement. The swelling really has gone down tremendously, and the sore on the end has reduced in size greatly, with healthy tissue closing up over it.

We talked about the possibility of a prosthetic limb and have ruled it out due to the condition of the stump. It just won't work since there are no bones there that are salvageable to attach it to. Ella's best bet is amputation at the shoulder. Now that the swelling has reduced she was able to assess the deformity of the bones better and believes the amputation will be a simple one, without having to take any of the shoulder bone out -- this is good news.

Now the bad news. Her UTI has improved, but is not gone. Red and white cells are better than the last sample, however she now has loads of struvite crystals, due to battling infections for weeks. This puts her at a very high risk of bladder stones. Since e-coli is the suspected culprit the vet is concerned that it may be resistant to the antibiotics -- Ella is so small the vet does not want to use a catheter to get a sample so this has not been confirmed, but e-coli is 95% likely given her history at the BYB and how filthy she was when we rescued her. The big problem with a resistant strain of e-coli is that the other antibiotics that are appropriate for this infection are not safe to administer to a young, growing puppy like Ella -- apparently they damage cartilage. So we are in a bit of a pickle. We are trying another course of the Clavamox, increased dose again due to her growth, and will see if things improve.

She is still too sick to be vaccinated so that is on hold for a while. We didn't do more blood-work, since it's almost guaranteed her protein levels are still off due to the infection. We will do blood-work once her UTI is clear, then if all is well, we will go ahead with amputation. The vet hopes to be able to proceed with surgery within a month -- just have to get her healthy and strong before then.

Ella's newspaper debut......more updates to follow...

Click the image to see it in larger size

Ella's first vet visit -- September 21

Ella weighs only 3.08 lbs at 5.5 weeks of age
She is underweight and dehydrated
She has myositis in that stump -- has likely had a terrible infection for several weeks

Ella does not have a fever, which amazed her vet. This is very good news -- shows she is strong and a fighter. She SHOULD have a fever given how infected her stump is.
Ella is alert, bright, feisty -- all good signs

So first things first we are waiting on her blood results. If her liver or kidneys have been affected by the infection we may not be able to save her depending on the extent of the damage -- we will have to make that decision once we have her blood work back.

Good news is her urine sample showed that she is concentrating her urine well -- indicated proper kidney function.

Her urine this morning was milky, probably pus, so a bladder infection secondary to the infection in her stump is likely.

So, we have started her on antibiotics. I have some recovery food to add to her Orijen to get weight on her. I am to continue with salt water soaks twice daily....and we will make decisions once her blood results are back.

We will amputate the stump if the infection has not already spread to her organs. If we are able to amputate, we will need to get her weight up a bit first and clear the infection. Kim believes she can save the shoulder and just remove the leg bones -- but it is difficult to say for sure given how enlarged her stump is at the moment.

So, little Ella needs some positive thoughts. I hope we got to her in time. If the BYB had just taken her to a vet the infection could have been prevented. Instead she has a life threatening infection that may have progressed beyond the point of us being able to save her.

Update: Sept 22nd

Good news, good news!

Ella's bloodwork shows that her organs have not been terribly compromised! The infection had not yet spread through her body.

She does have a nasty UTI -- caused by ecoli. Likely entering via the wound on her stump. Hopefully we will be able to clear it with one round of antibiotics.

Her serum protein levels are low -- which would be caused by her little body fighting the infections. We can not safely amputate the stump until her protein levels rise, since her ability to heal after surgery would be too compromised. The vet figures we will be at least 2 weeks getting her levels back up, so we will recheck at that time.

One kidney enzyme was elevated, but that would be due to dehydration, and should sort out now that she is getting adequate fluids.

The challenge will be getting the stump to dry up over the next two weeks, and keeping her from re-injuring it.

This is all good news.

It takes a team to run a rescue -- and we're looking for more team members.

For those of you in Ontario who are interested in helping out with rescue we are always looking for volunteers.

There's lots of ways to help out so you don't need to jump in with both feet if you're more of a stick-your-toe-in-the-pool kind of person.

A few key areas we always need help with:

1. Foster Homes - short or long term - this is our greatest need. Most of all we need fosters who offer home-like settings and a structured environment. This can be a home with or without other dogs. We also have a need for emergency kenneling (including quarantine areas) throughout the province--and this can include outdoor kennels.

2. Fundraising -- we need help with fundraising in any capacity. We are not only looking for people to help out with this but we need someone to fill the role of Fund-raising Coordinator--overseeing all fund raising initiatives.

3. Home visit volunteers -- we always need people who can do a home assessment for us to assess potential adopters across the province

4. Help with transport - this could be driving a Newf to the vet, picking a newf up from a surrendering family and bringing them to a foster home, or helping with a leg of transport across the nation. Whatever you can manage.

5. Intakes/Assessments -- this would involve meeting with a surrendering family and assessing/possibly picking up the dog and all of the paper work involved with that.

6. Behavioural assessment/training -- any pros out there who can spare some time?

7. Photographers -- sometimes the dogs are too far away for me to go and photograph them so we need volunteers in different areas who are skilled at capturing the perfect petfinder picture. You would need to be able to visit foster homes to take pictures of

dogs. Not all of our foster families have cameras!

8. Reference checks -- We need volunteers to check personal and vet reference of potential adopters.

9. Writing a newsletter -- we'll be starting our own newsletter soon -- but for now we add articles in HART's newsletter. Please, someone volunteer to do it, I am terrible at this!

10. Anything else you can think of -- we always need help!

So please, if you have been thinking about helping rescue but are not sure of what to do to help, drop us a line and let us know you are available -- we'll find something for you to do!

And for those of you in other parts of Canada, why not contact your area rescue and see if you can help? We have a full listing of reputable rescues across Canada on our Newf Rescue Resource Site www.newfrescue.ca

Pages

About Newf Friends

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Ella's Story

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Update on Ella -- 2 days after surgery

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Remembrance Day Ad

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Ella's Surgery

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Still in need of Artists

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Updates

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Ella Needs Your Help!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Ella, week 2

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Ella

Thursday, September 17, 2009