UPDATE: March 23 - Rogan & Song are done with heartworm treatment. On re-test, they were negative! Join them in a happy dance! Minkah has one more treatment left.
Will you please pull up a chair and listen to our stories for a minute? We'd be ever so grateful. If we could, we'd give you Siberian kisses through the glass-front box in front of you. Rogan wants to tell his story first, but let us all tell you why we're telling our story. All three of us have heartworm disease. We have already cost Pet Harbor Rescue a lot of money because we had to have the usual vet work done. Pet Harbor Rescue simply cannot afford the added expense of heartworm treatment, and they and we need your help. Thank you for listening.
ROGAN: Hi there. I'm a big handsome fella with a short snout. I had a family for a short while. I was a lost boy who ended up in a rural animal shelter. I could not find my way home & could not tell anybody how to get me there. I was adopted from the shelter. My new family found out I had heartworm disease. Then my daddy lost his job. My parents could not afford to treat my disease. So 3 months after I got a family, back to the animal shelter I went.
Now it's time for the little Song to tell you her story.
SONG: Good morning or whatever period of day it is where you are. Do you mind if I tell you my story? I will sit quietly until you are ready unless there is another dog nearby. Then I leap in the air like a deer and flirt. I don't stop to find out if the other dog is a boy or girl. I love dogs so much! That Rogan is a really good playmate, but so is Minkah, too!
They also didn't get me spayed. So, of course, I escaped from my yard because that's what happens when you have dogs who aren't fixed. I went down to the neighbor's yard and got pregnant. I am a very tiny girl. The last thing in the world I needed was puppies.
Still not spayed and back in heat, I escaped my yard again. This time it almost cost me my life. I went to a farmer's house and killed a livestock animal. At least that's what they told me I did. I'm such a gentle little girl I can't imagine it, and I don't remember doing it. Why, I even love my parrot who rode around on my back. So it's hard to believe the story they told me.
Off to jail I went. They stuck me in a cold empty cell. I did not understand. I was in there over a month. They said I had to go before a judge & find out my fate. I got my day in court, and I was sentenced to death. I had one way out. Rescue. So Pet Harbor Rescue saved my life. Unbeknownst to them, I had a bad case of heartworm disease.
2/19/05 Update: I am having complications and had to go back to the vet. They think I'm going to be okay and had to put me on NSAIDs, but my bill went up!
3/2/05 Update: I have developed lung sounds & a heart murmur as a result of heartworm treatment. Now I'm on steroids and antibiotics. Of course, that made my bill go up again! Please keep your paws crossed and hands folded for me! I have a home waiting for me as soon as I'm better. And please keep your babies on preventative so they don't have to go through what I'm going through!
Now it's time for Minkah, who is even smaller than I am, to tell you her story.
Pet Harbor rescued me, but they scratch their heads. I have been loved, and I have been well-trained. Unfortunately, nobody can figure out why I wasn't loved enough for somebody to make sure my medical needs were met. I tested positive, a strong positive, for heartworm disease.
So now Pet Harbor has three dogs going through expensive treatment for heartworm disease.
The second reason we are writing is to ask you to help Pet Harbor Rescue pay for our heartworm treatment. They set up a fund for this purpose. Our total bill for the heartworm treatment is $956.70 as of 2/19/05. Barring any further complications, that should be it. If you can help, please send tax-deductible donations to
Click to see our angels.
Pet Harbor Rescue never takes in dogs they know have heartworm disease, but I was such a good boy they didn't want me to die. And the animal shelter was filled with dogs who were there because people don't spay & neuter their pets & homeless animals are all over the place. Dogs were going to have to die because there simply was not enough room. So Pet Harbor saved my life.
On January 31, 2002, I was born in a really big puppy mill out in the Midwestern part of the United States. They shipped me off to a pet store in northern Virginia. I was purchased from there for $650 as a birthday present for my new daddy. I had a mom & dad, four small children, kitties, and a parrot. I was loving life. But, for some reason, even though they spent $650 to buy me, they could not spend just a few dollars to keep me on heartworm preventative.
MINKAH: Hello! Hopefully you won't mind if I greet you with kisses! Like all good Siberians, I am eternally happy - always smiling, kissing, and playing. It's really sad how I ended up in rescue. I lived out in the country. I owned a 12-year-old boy & his parents. His daddy had show chickens. Nobody told me they were not for lunch, but somehow it became my fault. Daddy said, "OUT!" So my boy's mommy took me to a shelter.
ROGAN, SONG, and MINKAH: Pet Harbor got Rogan and Song both fixed now and got all of our shots updated, etc. They even gave us baths. Well, for that one thing we aren't grateful! We have all been through the first phase of heartworm treatment. Pet Harbor called our vet to see how we did with treatment, which can be a very serious thing. Some dogs can't even go through treatment. We're glad we could! The vet said we were all doing great. Everybody at our vet's office loves us! They say we're just the sweetest dogs! Well, what Siberian isn't?
We have to go back for two more phases, and then we will hopefully be all better. Rogan & Song will be finished with treatment on March 23, Minkah on April 11. They told us we had to be kept still this month. That's not going to be easy. We're Siberian Huskies. Siberian Huskies and energy go hand in hand, especially those of us who leap like deer.
We are writing this story for two reasons. First, we want to make sure you keep your dogs on heartworm preventative. If you love your dog, you will. Preventative is very inexpensive. The opposite is not true. If your dog gets heartworm disease, it can cost up to $1,000 to treat. We even heard of some vets who charge $1,500! A packet of preventative for six months can cost you $25. See? Please love your dog & keep him/her on preventative. Our foster mommy knows firsthand. Her first Siberian Husky died 26 years ago because she had heartworm disease. The vet told her only to keep her dog on preventative in the summer months. Her dog died because of that. So please keep your dog on preventative and please do that year-round, not just in the summer. Isn't your dog worth that? Oh, by the way, you get preventative from your vet. It's not something you can buy in a department store. Here is a picture of what heartworm disease looks like, but it's not for the squeamish. Picture
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Please indicate your payment is for the Heart Fund. You will see your name here in my list of angels, and Pet Harbor would be delighted to send you a receipt. As contributions are received, the new balance will be posted here.
Still needed as of March 3, 2005 is
MELANIE & MICHAEL McCARLEY, MAGGIE & BAILEYJOSEPH & ROSEMARY BROWNBRUCE BURNETTECINDY MEYERTHE JOHNSONS - MICHELLE, CJ, NIKO & MacKENZIESCOOTER, LADYBUG, AND OBIWAN ROINA-MAINDONATION JAR FROM 2/19/05 EVENT AT STAFFORD PETsMARTBONNE, OZZIE, & WILLIE JONESARMSTRONG ROSSTAJA PERGOSKYMR. & MRS. WILLIAM HICK & TAZ
