Delilah

Once upon a time, I was browsing for office furniture on the Next door app. But instead of furniture, I came across this photo with the caption: must be picked up today or we will take it to a nearby shelter.

I did not message the owner immediately since puppies always find homes quickly. I thought to myself: let me check on her later in the day.

For the next few hours, I couldn’t stop thinking of her. I decided to reach out to my friend Ivonna from Kosma rescue and get her opinion on the idea of picking up this puppy from an unknown environment to foster and rehome it. What I value about Ivonna is her loving heart and also her honest opinion. She gave me the blessing of picking up this puppy and shared her experience rescuing dogs for many years. Many puppies like this come from backyard breeders. And many times, when breeders have one puppy left that they cannot sell, health problems are the underlying cause, and they are not willing to deal with medical bills.

I messaged the owner to see if the puppy was still available, and she replied immediately. I asked her for the address pick up and shared that I needed to arrange an uber ride. That’s when she said no worries I will drop her off in the next 45 minutes. I gave her my address and screenshotted it with google maps of the front of the building entrance to find the building easier. You would think she could find the building with all the technology in your phone? She could not find the building and was driving around the block until we got on the phone, and I guided her like Siri to my location.

A big black SUV with tinted windows pulled up to the no-parking zone curb. A young woman jumped out of the driver's seat. In the front passenger seat, she had a teenager deeply rooted into his iPhone, and in the back seat, she had two toddlers in car seats. Right next to them was a plastic filing box with a 4-month-old puppy in it. She handed the puppy to me in front of the kids and drove away with a verbal agreement that there was no turning back. Since she pulled to the no parking zone curb, I did not have much time to ask questions like - what is her health history? Has she ever seen a vet? Does she have any vaccinations? Is she spayed? When is her Birthday?

But I got all of the answers over text messages later that evening. They got this puppy over the holidays as a gift, her sister-in-law's dogs had puppies and this puppy was the largest in the litter. She knew her birthday and even texted me pictures of her parents: English bulldog daddy and pitbull momma.

When I asked her - if there was anything she needed to tell me about her health? According to the woman, this puppy didn’t have any health problems. Note: when I brought her home, she smelled horrible, like piss from the alley of DTLA. But I thought, she probably just needed to be potty trained.

Introducing Junior to my new “Next door finding” looked like reuniting with someone he already knew. Instant bond. One minute sniff sniff and ready to play. When it comes to her name, I had to give her the name of my true love, one and only - Delilah.

After the first bath, little Delilah slept like an angel on the first night with me. We woke up early, so I could teach her the basics of potty training. Upon awakening, I noticed my bed was a little damp, and I was a little concerned - did she pee in her sleep?

On the first morning walk, I was thrilled to see she had a healthy-looking stool. Since she is a puppy, I took her out every two hours. In the city, puppies must learn to hold it and use pee pads in an emergency. In a blink of an eye, she was ready for a second walk.

The horror of the second walk I can not wipe out of my memory, and WARNING I’m about to share a not-so-pleasant visual from that morning. I had never seen anything like this. Little Delilah sat down for a second poop that morning after breakfast, and instead of healthy poop, she layed giant piles of roundworms that kept moving and kept coming out, sticking out of her butt like a broom. I know, you probably think - what a fuck, Galina!, now I'll be thinking about it all day. Sorry, my friend, this is just a short visual of what conditions backyard puppies come with. Neglected, poor thing. That’s when I realized she had probably never been to the vet and never had deworming medications vital for puppies.

I knew I had to make an emergency vet appointment. I also noticed her nose was very dry, which is a sign of lacking nutrients in her body (who knows what they were feeding her).

With medication, it was easy to get rid of roundworms. But this was just a tiny part of what was coming next. Within the next few days, I noticed her squatting and peeing very often, and it smelled awful, totally looking like a UTI symptom. We went back to the vet again and this time for a UTI test, and walked out with a round of antibiotics. The doctor said her UTI test returned potent with infection, and one round of antibiotics might not be enough. She was right, and we had to come back for one more round of antibiotics, but this time for almost three weeks. She also said if the UTI kept coming back or she was still dripping pee between using the potty, I would need to schedule her for a consultation with an internal specialist.

Due to constant dripping from UTI, I trained her to wear diapers. Do you remember I mentioned she was not spayed? Right after the last pills of antibiotics, she went into heat. I never had a female dog in the heat. I had to read online what to do and learn if she could be spayed while in heat. Oh, and let's talk about smell; I would not want to deal with it again. And Junior, even though he is fixed, his instinct and smell got him hypnotized. I had to rotate them in the kennel to avoid Junior paranormal activities of humping.

Within a few weeks, with the help of Ivona from Kosma rescue and your donations, we got her spayed at a different vet. Before she got fixed, the doctor had to do a urine test to ensure she didn’t have a UTI and to make sure she was healthy to be spayed.

Time is flying fast. Delilah is growing; no more period, no more UTI, and perfectly healthy pee (healthy puppies have almost odorless, clear, healthy pee). Under close supervision and separating her from Junior to avoid active play, she recovered fast from surgery - except for one thing, she kept dripping pee between regular potty sessions.

On a second follow-up appointment after being spayed, we discussed her medical history, and the vet also referred us to an internal specialist, with the caveat there was still a slight chance she would grow out of it.

Time is flying again, and Delilah keeps growing. But her dripping starts becoming more consistent, more noticeable and permanent, like a broken faucet with constant dripping. I finally got to the internal specialist for consultation, and the consultation alone was $200.

Thank God I wasn’t there alone. One of Delilah's guardian angels, Dany, drove us to the appointment and went inside so we could remember the doctor's notes. After discussing and reviewing her medical history, the internal specialist proposed a plan of action and step-by-step on what needs to be done to get more answers about her condition.

This was what we found out: there is a possibility that due to her backyard breeding that she may have a rare birth defect that creates a condition where one of the kidneys is not connected to the bladder. And the only way to find out is to follow a list of tests like detailed blood work, thorough urine test and recorded ultrasound, and she needs to be slightly sedated to avoid extra moving for a clear view of organs. After the first visit, a $1,900.00 estimate was prepared for the second appointment.

If the results from tests look healthy, she would be ready for a second appointment. On that appointment, the doctor would go in with a camera inside of her urinary tract and see if there was any opening before the muscle that holds the urine in the bladder before releasing it. If that is what the doctor finds it is, they will have to go immediately into surgery - with an estimate of $ 4,700.00

Currently, shelters are overpopulated with dogs, and many puppies get euthanized if the dog is simply skittish or shy due to space issues. What would have happened to Delilah if she had gone to the shelter with her current cognition? Even if she gets adopted, do you think anyone without help, like we got from many of you, would be able to handle her upcoming medical expenses?

Exactly.

I want to thank each of you for your love and support! Huge thank you for your donations and for always considering my Handmade jewelry for yourself, your family, and your friends.

Delilah is a dog who brings joy to anyone she meets in person. It’s like she already knows her purpose — to uplift the human vibration and to share her love and affection with everyone she meets.

I believe I can find a way for Delilah's upcoming medical expenses, and with your love and support, we have what it takes to make that happen and raise $7000.

Here are a few of the ways you can help With Delilah’s expenses so I can give her a shot at her best life, despite her sad start in life:

I have set up a gofundme account for donations. Please copy the link and send it to a few of your friends!

My handmade jewelry “Paw Love” Collection is dedicated to Delilah's expenses. Save the link and send it to one or two of your dog mom friends to add to their holiday wish lists.

I also set up a Shop on Amazon to raise funds for Delilah. When you shop on amazon through my link, we get a small percentage from sales that goes toward fostering expenses like food and pee pee pads. And we all know we’re all doing some serious Amazon shopping right now for the holidays!

If you follow us on Instagram for Creative Galina, we are also getting paid for our reels views! Please share them in your stories, and don't forget to comment to boost them for the algorithms! You can also subscribe on IG, and that also helps us raise money for upcoming expenses.

With Love,

Creative Galina