Meet Mackie ... Mini Doxie Extraordinaire

Awwwwwww

Mackie is my new foster - she's an itty bitty thing of a dachshund.    She's all of 8 1/2 pounds - as a friend of mine likes to say - she's a "cocktail weenie."  ha!    We actually got her from the Humane Society.   She ended up there as the result of a puppy mill raid.    She had a growth on her head and that makes her unadoptable under their policies.     One of their managers contacted our group and I was just getting ready to think about taking in another foster when I saw the request.    We knew that she needed a dental, she needed the growth removed and the regular spay & microchipping.   I wanted to make sure our group was in a financial situation to cover these costs.     When I found out we could, I immediately contacted the person at HSMO.

Mackie at the Humane Society

I have to admit, this is the most excited and happy I've ever heard a shelter worker behave when I said I'd be picking up a dog to foster.   I think they face the senseless death of so many animals that they learn to not get too attached to the homeless animals.    Turns out, though, right as I made the call Jennifer the assistant manager was just getting ready to put coding into the computer that a foster had been unable to be found.    That meant Mackie had no chance - nobody was willing to take her and HSMO couldn't adopt her out.    She was going to be euthanized ....

BUT she wasn't because I made that call and was able to make arrangements to pick her up.    We had her get spayed, receive a dental and have the growth removed at the Chesterfield Valley location.    When I picked her up she was in rough shape.     She had her surgery on Friday the 16th and her temperature had gotten dangerously low during surgery.   In fact, when I picked her up Friday evening her temperature still hadn't risen to normal.    I was instructed to keep her warm and not even let her outside.   I put a sweater on her when we got home and made sure to keep her bundled up in a blanket.

She was very weak and absolutely not interested in eating.   In fact, it took her two days before she decided to eat anything.    In my mind, I understood she had a rough surgery and she was in a new environment - it's not at all unusual to for a new foster to not eat for a few days.     But I needed to get some pain medication and antibiotics down her as well.   It was not looking good.

I had a few visitors last Saturday - my sister in law and my nephew during the day and then I had a friend over for movie night.    Everyone thought she was just a doll - but everyone was very worried about her.  :(   Finally, I got her to eat a little bit of wet cat food and it's been nothing but improvement ever since.

She is a real sweetheart, but she is a tough little cookie.   In a size/bark ratio comparison she definitely has the loudest of all barks in the house!   It cracks us up.   She is also not intimidated by any of the much bigger dogs in the house.   She's very loving and very much a velcro dog - she prefers lying on top of a person instead of just lying next to them.    She sleeps with  me every night and she is so excited to greet me in the morning!   She is unbelievably affectionate and very interested in the world around her.   She walks a little bit crooked - I think it's because she spent her life in a crate that was too small.   Even though she gets around well, she does better on carpet and grass. 

We got the test results from the growth yesterday and the great news is that it's just a cyst and not cancerous.     We should be able to get her stitches removed on Monday and then she'll be ready for adoption!   I'm planning on taking her to Channel 5 next Saturday as one of our featured dogs for a 5K and Fun Run that's being held on October 8th in Forest Park. Kingsbury Animal Hospital is sponsoring this event that will benefit our group.