The Humane Society of McCormick County, Inc.: Emergency Medical Grant Report

How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?

Suki was found with a very painful condition known as cherry eyes. We could see that she had scratched at her eyes and her eyes were constantly tearing up. Left untreated, cherry eye causes infections and dry eye, which can lead to blindness.

The surgeon recommended that they create pockets for those inflamed eyelids in an effort to avoid a dry-eye condition that can occur with the traditional method of treating cherry eyes. Because Suki was miserable, we went ahead with the surgery in hopes that the Petfinder Foundation could help us with the cost. The charge was $250 for the surgery on both eyes and $100 for the anesthesia, for a total of $350.

We have already picked up several dogs with broken legs that needed surgery and emergency care this year. With cancelled fundraisers and our resale store being closed due to COVID, we didn’t know how we were going to give Suki the care she needed. We were so grateful that the Petfinder Foundation was able to help Suki.

How many pets did this grant help?

1

Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.

A volunteer’s dogs started barking and when the volunteer looked outside, Suki was on her doorstep. She had been dropped off without an explanation. Suki was just 6 months old and in terrible shape. Both eyes had a condition known as cherry eye, as well as eye infections. She was also missing most of her hair from scratching it off because of demodex mange.

With her immune system compromised like this, she was miserable, but she was still friendly and a little shy. The volunteer kept her overnight, gave her a bath, and brought her to the shelter the next day.

We immediately took her to a surgeon to have her eyes looked at and to draw up a plan for treatment. She was given Simplicef antibiotic for her skin infections and given her first set of vaccinations and a rabies shot.

Different methods were considered to correct the condition cherry eye, but Dr. Covar recommended that they create a pocket for that eyelid. The old method is to remove the eyelid, and although this method is less expensive, it can lead to dry eye and, since she had such bad infections, we didn’t want to risk her having any more complications.

Surgery was scheduled for a week later on July 28. Suki went back to the surgeon to have her eyes checked on Aug. 4, 6, and 18. She also received her second set of vaccinations and was spayed.

Suki immediately started to feel better. We work with a great rescue in Connecticut and, when she was healed up, she was transferred to Save a Life Dog Rescue. Suki is in a foster home and doing great. The family loves her and we are hopeful that she will find a forever home soon.