MaggieOlatheKS

Hello, my name is MAGGIE. Just look at me, all bathed, cleaned up, and treated for fleas! I feel like a new girl! I look a lot different than before. Sadly, all that bee-yew-tee-ful long hair on my head and feet is gone, but I'm told it will grow back. I can hardly wait! I feel naked... that is, except for my collar!!

Anyway, there's nothing like a relaxing evening at the spa to get a girl over the trauma of being taken from her home and abandoned at a strange place that didn't even have any couches! I was cared for there very well, and the ladies were all very nice to me, but I would have liked to curl up in a big easy chair and taken a snooze after dinner.

This place seems to be okay - there are lots of dogs here, but they all seem nice. A lot of them look like me, large and red and... EEK! Their heads have been shaved, too! HELP!!!!

I have a big yard to play in and I love to run all over and look for birds. There are also 3 cats here. They seem to be okay so I don't mind them. If only that lady with the clippers would just move out, this could be paradise!

Guess that is all for now. Thanks to all who cared for me during my stay at the Humane Society. You folks are great and I appreciate you for taking me in. I will keep you posted on my life and let you know where I travel to when I find my forever home.

Love,

Maggie

Maggie is now at the vet hospital at Kansas State University in the ICU. She has pneumonia in her left lung and due to the chest films, we found she also has a large darning needle in her upper intestine where the stomach empties into it. It has been there for quite awhile as it has inflammation around it and it is embedded. They estimate it has been there for a month or longer. I now believe her previous owners knew she had this and dumped her to avoid caring for her. This explains why she kept getting sicker and would not eat. She has lost 6 pounds and yet is fighting to live and still wants to be cuddled and kissed.

She is under 24 hour care now in ICU and they are going to stabilize her and then hope to operate on Monday if her lungs are clear enough. She is with the best doctors in the area and they are committed to saving her and restoring her to health. Her student just called and said Maggie is comfortable and is being spoiled by everyone due to her sweetness and beauty. She is in an oxygen nebulizer tent and being given IV antibiotics and is having compression treatments throughout the night to loosen the "muck" in her lungs. She is expected to fully recover. Fostered by Becky in KS.

UPDATE: Apparently the students at KSU are arm wrestling, drawing straws and doing rock, paper, scissors to win the privilege of caring for Maggie! She is the big hit of ICU! They all say she is soooo sweet and precious that she is the number one patient! So far she is progressing nicely. This afternoon they will do another evaluation and then in the morning they will meet with surgery to determine when they operate. More to come...

UPDATE: KSU just called and Maggie came through surgery just fine. Diane, her student, actually left the surgery room once they started closing her up to call me as she knew I would be worried. The needle was disintegrating and has been in there even longer than they thought. It had already punctured the wall of the duodenum and was migrating toward her liver, but was trapped in the omentum which is the fatty connective tissue between all the organs which keeps everything in place. They were able to get it with out opening up her intestine so that means quicker recovery. They checked out everything inside her and all was fine.

An odd thing though was that she still had her uterus inside her. The ovaries were gone, so she was sterile, but Diane said whoever spayed her used a predominantly European technique. They went ahead and removed the uterus, as leaving it there is just providing another place for something to go wrong. She doesn't need it, so take it out. It would be interesting to know who did her spay.

MAGGIE's Heroes: John, Carla, & RUFUS Webb (in memory of BEAR), SHAMROCK Tyhurst, Jim Kotva, Retta Holefca, Dr. and Mrs. Marc A. Wessels (in honor of Holly, Kelly, Katy, Brandy and Miss May), Graham Wenger, Tim & Kim Kleinschmidt (in memory of TOBY & SHEBA), Shannon Bishop, Brenda Boutin, Karen Zaleski, Margie Hohman, Brian Duff, Erin Stoy, Hilary Cosell (in loving memory of Howard Cosell and his Beloved Irish Setter KELLY), Sandy Miller (in memory of MEGAN, SCARLET, RUSTY, SHAMUS, ARIEL, and in honor of SADIE SUE), Paula Northern, Debra Quinn, Kate Houghton, Jackie von Soosten, Susan Hilleary, Cindy & RORY Kiser, Tom Kallenbach, Chris Reed, SADIE Rehder Clark, SEAMUS & MAGGIE Maine, Bonnie Naperala, Mary Sutkus, Anonymous Donor, Susan & Andy Clay (in memory of TRAVIS & BRACKEN, and in honor of BOUNDER), Deniece Sprinkle, Shelly Smith, Victoria Hyndman, Robert Salyer (in memory of MAGGIE Hilleary), Barbara & Wilbur Longmire (in honor of ANNIE), Friends Of The Animals - Junction City KS (in memory of ELLIE, GILBY, and ARLO), CLIFFORD (CAMERON) Schiman, Jonnette Claridge, Steve and Barbara Ristvedt, Julie Edwards, Kelli Smith, Natalia Wenger, Lin & FINN Klein, Shelly Smith (in honor of Irish Rescue MORGAN), Polly and MEGAN Mandel, Jeff and BETHANY Jochum, Irish Setter Club of Seattle