Harmony came to us 9-11-09, a sweet 1 year old Bullie/Boxer dumped pregnant in a high kill pound in Kern county. She had her pups there a few days later.

A fellow rescuer wanted to save her but had no room. We (SAVE A DOG TODAY) took her in on a temp basis until her pups are 8 weeks old and in another foster home. That never happened. Rescuers are always full so we ended up keeping her.

Harmony arrived with us after a long 12-hour trip to Redding in a 115-degree heat. One pup died on the long trip, one died a few minutes after arriving, another the next day, and the 4th about 2 weeks later. The 3 remaining pups are well all. One remains to be adopted.

Harmony came to us looking skin and bones, with a nasty unhealthy looking coat, and not much milk to feed her babies. Our Foster Home had to bottle-feed the babies.

Harmony started to leak a bit of urine and blood about the time the pups where 9-10 weeks old. We had her spay scheduled, so we waited to get her checked in a few days to make sure she had no UTI. That vet never did what we asked. And the staff said they could not get urine from her which we did not know til Monday after Harmony stayed there all weekend recovering from her spay.

A few days after her spay, we made an appointment elsewhere to get that UTI test done. And just in time as she was pouring blood out so off to emergency she went. She had a low-grade infection but no UTI, blood work, x-rays, ultra sounds were all done. Blood work was not normal and way off. Nothing else was found. She got to stay a few days at the Vets than back to foster. The whole time she did not eat much and if so only can food and cooked meats that fosters prepared.

She also was screaming at times and then would lift up her right leg for a few seconds than it was gone. She was checked for that as well as we all thought that maybe during her spay she was hurt having her legs tied or pulled to much which can happen. We still don't know what's going on with the leg or if it maybe is all related to the Uterine stump being attached to the bladder. And the other things going on with her.


It was not long after she was rushed to the vet again for the same things and just not feeling well. More x-rays, more ultrasound, more meds and a weeklong stay which our Vet donated the boarding. She again seemed to recover and went home but again each day she was getting worse and worse so off she went again to Vet and the only option was exploratory surgery that was yesterday 12-29-09

Here is the current update as of 12/29/09

Harmony had an abscess/cyst at the end of the uterine stump, which Vet removed and is sending the fluid in for culture, in case we need a specific antibiotic. The uterine stump was adhered to her bladder wall; he detached it and placed omentum over it so it shouldn't readhere. On vaginal exam she had an extremely ulcerated/irritated vaginal tract from continual urine leaking and the urethra was extremely dilated. It appears that the urethra is paralyzed, can't contract down and that is at least partly why she is leaking so much.
There seems to be a larger than normal space in the lumbosacral joint, not sure why, but this can affect nerves to the rear end and could very well be the source of her pain post op and the paralyzed urethra.

We have radiographs going out to a radiologist, for his opinion on Harmony and also an e-mail to a neurologist at UC Davis to see if she has any ideas about her urethra and incontinence and how this might have occurred. So at this point, she is recovering fine from surgery and is on a constant pain medication for overnight and seems quite comfortable.

Our Vet is letting her stay at no charge until she feels better and good enough to go to her foster home. SAVE A DOG TODAY occurred big medical bills for Harmony and are in need of donations to cover her care. SAVE A DOG TODAY has many other dogs to care for and had tons of expensive emergencies in the last 5 months. Over $6000 that no one donated at all and we need to pay out of pocket.
Harmonys cost so far is about $2600.00. If you want to make a much needed donation for Harmony go here to our SECURE and ENCRPYTED Donation site.

Our rescue cannot go on much longer unless someone cares enough to send in donations, which are tax deductible

Please help so we can keep rescuing without funds there is no rescue!