Saving Mags

For those of you who don’t know Lisa, she is the most amazing advocate for animals that has ever graced the earth. As a groomer for Chicago Heights Animal Hospital, Lisa has spent countless hours helping animals found through local police departments and animal shelters to clean up dogs brought in under horrendous conditions. She takes these animals into her home in many cases, and donates her time grooming these animals for free to help nurse them back to health. There is no greater lover and caretaker of animals than Lisa Riegler. For all of the love and support she has given to forgotten animals, it’s time Lisa gets some help from us.

Recently, she has taken a very sick two year-old French bulldog named Mags into her care. Mags was found in a backyard by a young child who was worried about her upon discovery. She was suffering from a prolapsed rectum. Instead of seeking care, her owners chose to let her suffer her condition and eventual death in the backyard, where she was found emaciated and covered in maggots.

A rescuer then brought Mags into South Suburban Humane Society where she was taken in as a medical case. The shelter repaired the original prolapse, and cleaned off her maggots. Even after all of this care from Lisa and her amazing team, Mags was still suffering from bloody diarrhea, and despite a healthy diet and appetite, was still straining to defecate. Naturally, Lisa took this dog on as a personal mission. The more desperate the dog, the more eager Lisa is to help.

Upon further evaluation and numerous medical tests, doctors indicated that Mags was suffering from a stricture, or the narrowing of her colon. Since much was unknown about her history, it is assumed that the stricture occurred as a result of the prolapse, which was further exacerbated by the necrotic areas and residual scarring.

Because Lisa is Lisa, she took Mags to University of Illinois Veterinary center for her first ballooning surgery and various biopsies. Unfortunately due to the nature of this particular ailment, sometimes more than one treatment can fail before the correct course is found, and that’s exactly what happened in Mags' case. After another week of struggling, and more selfless effort from Lisa, she took Mags back to U of I. During the second ballooning attempt to open up the colon, Mags’ colon suffered a perforation, or tear, causing fecal matter to leak into the abdominal cavity. Her doctor’s called Lisa and gave her two options: immediate euthanasia or two additional surgeries to save her life. Once again, Lisa said yes to surgery without any concern for how this would personally and financially affect her.

The first surgery Mags’ underwent was a pull-through resection, in which several inches of her colon were pulled through her rectum,exposing the area affected by the original stricture and this new perforation. That portion was removed and reattached. The second surgery was an abdominal lavage, in which doctors enter the abdominal cavity to flush out the toxic fecal matter obtained during the perforation in order to avoid sepsis.

The good news is that Mags responded well to both surgeries! She had to remain in the ICU for awhile, but is on the road to recovery. Unfortunately, yet heartwarmingly, Lisa paid for all of this out of pocket. For those of you who are animal lovers, you know how expensive care for your own animal is. Mags’ bills were $8000.00. As a community of animal lovers, this is an opportunity to not only help Mags, but also Lisa. There simply isn’t a fiscal number that can explain the amount of time and help that Lisa has given hopeless animals over the course of her life. If you know her, you know. Mags deserves this care. She is a sweet, loving, and happy dog who didn’t deserve the lot in life she was given by careless owners. But she must have an angel looking out for her that brought Lisa and Mags together. Therefore, we are asking for anything you might be willing to donate in order to help Lisa cover Mags’ medical expenses.