Dog profile for Lily, a female Chihuahua

Chihuahua

Photo Comments

Home:San Antonio, TX

Age: 7 Years Sex: Female Weight: 1-10 lbs

Dogster stats for Lily


Stars:

Leave a bone for Lily

Nicknames:
Lily Pad, Lily Bean, Lily Pie

Doggie Dynamics:

Energy

sleepy		energetic

Intelligence

silly		genius

Friendliness

aggressive		affectionate

Playfulness

not playful		very playful

Disposition

anxious		calm

Quick Bio:

-purebred

-dog rescue

Birthday:
September 13th 2004

Likes:
When active: playing catch with her favorite toy...time after time after time! When calm: sleeping completely under any cover or blanket.

Pet-Peeves:
ANY other dogs she doesn't know...she's even scared of her older sister, a Maltese named Duncan, after Duncan gets a haircut!

Favorite Toy:
Her squeeking, doughnut-like toy.

Favorite Food:
She has special dietary needs, so no foodscraps. But she seems to love Iams dog food over any other brand.

Favorite Walk:
Wherever she wants to go outside, but especially behind the apartment. Inside, she loves to run full-speed back and forth through the length of the apartment!

Best Tricks:
Lying flat on her back and stretching out so I can rub her stomach; Being able to completely hang in the air onto her toy with her mouth; Being able to jump over ANY babygate (!); Pawing at whomever she wants to play with until she gets her way!

Arrival Story:
I was searching on petfinder.com for a cute, small dog to rescue, hopefully a Chihuahua, and hopefully young. My prayers were answered when I found that the Schertz, TX, humane society (a privately-run, volunteer foundation) had taken in a litter of five pure-bred Chihuahua puppies, and were trying to find good homes for them. They had taken in this group of pure-bred puppies, and their mother, from a breeder who had become ill to the point that she was unable to properly care for them all. Among the five puppies whose pictures I saw, Lily was the runt, so she was an even smaller regular Chihuahua than usual. (I usually prefer runts and/or smaller types of dogs.) What truly set her apart for me, though, was that she had these beautiful, brilliant blue eyes! (Thus, the name Lily - a la Monet's "Waterlilies," as I am an artist.) They have changed to a sort of hazel now, but she still has absolutely beautiful eyes. When I first met the entire litter, though, I immediately (and I think it was mutual) took to Lily, and just couldn't think of taking any of the others. After that, I was truly lucky, because many of the other people who responded to the ad wanted her, too. And since then, she's been making my life brighter and more fun than it ever had been before!

Bio:
As the runt of her litter (and apparently therefore at a higher risk for the condition), Lily, we found, was born with a liver shunt - a life-threatening condition in which a type of vessel bypasses the liver, preventing the liver from being able to do its job of cleansing the blood of toxins that otherwise would build up. It basically, then, is as though the liver is not there. I only suspected something was wrong when I noticed that she would become very sluggish after eating. As I later learned, this was caused by the protein build-up that occurred after eating, which created an increase in the toxins in the bloodstream that should have been cleansed through the liver. I didn't know at the time what to do, or what I even COULD do, after noticing this, but of course immediately took Lily to my vet after she had a convulsion after eating, instead of simply being sluggish. After several days at the vet's office, my vet diagnosed the liver shunt, and gave Lily a grave prognosis. Without a very expensive surgery, Lily would likely die within weeks, even with very close monitoring, feeding, and medicine. I was faced with having to euthenize my new, beautiful puppy within weeks of having gotten her, but after long enough to have formed a very close bond with her. However, all through the matter, the Schertz, TX, humane society followed her progress. When they found out exactly what was wrong with her, they were able to find a specialty veterinary clinic which performed these types of surgery. This was her only hope, but it was going to be extremely expensive. But the humane society decided that, since I had been so caring and good to Lily, had provided her with such a good home, and had so closely monitored her progress even prior to being chosen to receive her, they would pay for the surgery to be performed - a gift both of an irreplaceable puppy (certainly the most important), but also a gift of well over $2,500. * If you have the means to do so, and/or want to contribute to an obviously truly worthy non-profit cause, PLEASE consider donating to the Schertz Humane Society of Schertz, Texas. Their address, phone #, and web address are as follows: Schertz Humane Society P.O. Box 605 Schertz, TX 78154 210.566.7776 www.homesforpets.org

Forums Motto:
Speedburner!

I've Been On Dogster Since:

September 7th 2005