Congratulations IBR's Unrequited Love JH
Tax-deductible monetary gifts can be mailed to: P.O. Box 364 Wood Dale, IL 60191
Illinois Birddog Rescue is an all volunteer foster home based dog rescue. We have no paid employees--we help these homeless hunters because they need us. Due to our ongoing research into Tick Borne Illnesses, we are making strides in helping the vetting community and pet loving public learn about the severity and wide spread problems these illnesses cause.
We survive only by donations and we really need your help. We currently have 3 English Setters on special diets and we could really use help with the cost of their food. Rory and Bogie are both on lamb based moist food for their allergies, and Ophelia is on raw to help with her weight loss and because of the cancer scare. We also have over 30 adult dogs in foster care that need monthly Heartguard heartworm preventative and Frontline flea and tick preventative. If you can spare a few bucks to help out--that would be most appreciated. Feel free to contribute to one of our raffles as a way to help too!!
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BIG CONGRATULATIONS to Meg Hoffman and her IBR adopted English Setter Heathcliff aka Cliff for finishing his AKC Junior Hunter's title this spring.
Heathcliff was pulled from a very high kill shelter in Southern Illinois by a friend of the rescue, Cancy Thomas. He was out of time and while we didn't have a foster home opening, Candy opened her home and got his vetting started until we could make room. Cliff was ornery and "snarky" upon arrival to foster care but blood work showed he was infected with Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) and with the headaches, hot flashes and joint pain, that would make any dog grumpy. IBR was in the initial stages of our tick borne illness research and we knew that any aggression could be related to his low positive diagnosis. While undergoing doxycycline therapy, Cliff also suffered from severe separation anxiety and became a very challenging foster dog for his very experienced foster mom--Pat. Follow up tick panels also revealed Cliff was also fighting Ehrlichia and Lyme disease.
Through patience and understanding and months of antibiotics, a very crabby, frightened senior Setter blossomed into the amazing hunting dog. Pat's love/hate relationship with Cliff turned into a true love affair as she helped him overcome his demons. It took a bit of arm pulling on my part but having noticed Cliff's very reliable off leash skills and pointing abilities, I convinced Pat to run him in a hunt test last October once we had his AKC registration accepted. Cliff's PAL name became IBR's Unrequited Love as a tribute to the book Wuthering Heights and the character he was named after. I have NEVER in 6 years of my acquaintance with Pat, saw her as happy and proud as the day she ran Cliff and worked him magnificently in her first hunt test and PASSED!! She was a natural and Cliff made it look easy.
On January 30th, Heathcliff was adopted to a wonderful family in Madison, WI and they agreed to continue his medication and retest in the spring. Cliff was their first English Setter and he started working in the field and pointing birds to their delight. In the spring, Cliff's new mom ran him in 3 consecutive AKC Hunt tests with solid scores and her first titled Setter. We could not be more proud of them both. Cliff's follow up tick panel in June shows his Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever are gone--but he still has antibodies for Ehrlichia so he will continue treatment and hopefully be negative in a few more months.
Here is a nice email we got from Candy once she heard of Cliff's recent accomplishment, "Meg, what a difference a year makes !!!! It was a year ago, June 1st, that I discovered CLIFF at the pound. He came in that day and just look at him now. This exceeds all hopes and dreams we have for our rescue dogs. There is so much sorrow and pain in rescue and many times when dogs cannot be spared euthanasia or illness strikes them, this is one case that keeps the hope alive and keeps the 'fire in my belly' as the old saying goes-- to continue on when all seems futile. --Candy"
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Ollie is a handsome 7-8 year old Black and White American Field Bred stray Setter who was running out of time in an over-crowded shelter in Russellville, KY. Sadly, blood work shows he has heartworm disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF). I do think that Ollie has an extremely bad heartworm infestation as he struggles to breathe and his gums are so very pale--most likely due to the lack of oxygen to his lungs from his heart. He could also be very anemic. As he is also struggling with Kennel Cough--the last thing he needs is an upper respiratory infection.
I haven't been this worried about treating an older dog in a long time. If we are not cautious--Ollie could die. At this time we are pre-treating him with doxycycline for the Wolbachia issue and also for the Kennel Cough and RMSF. He will need to be on doxy for up to 2 months ever after he is heartworm negative as our research shows that the RMSF infection is very difficult to fight in an older dog with a very compromised immune system.
From the shelter volunteer that contacted IBR about Ollie, "I am glad to hear he is doing well. He is such a sweet dog and had no options until you spoke up for him. It broke my heart to think he would just die here. You have a very kind heart and don`t just care about the young and beautiful.. He is beautiful though!" Think happy thoughts that Ollie makes a full recovery - he deserves to have a loving home. If all goes well--Ollie will be available for adoption in May if not sooner.
UPDATE 02-16-10 Ollie has recovered from his Pneumonia and his bloodwork looks decent. Due to his heart murmur, we will just do one Immiticide injection and repeat with a double in several weeks. He will be on doxycycline therapy up to two months post a negative heartworm test as Rocky Mountain spotted fever will hang in there until his immune system is less challenged. Thanks to an amazing donation by Amy Dempsey and family in memory of her sweet dog Tucker, a huge dent in Ollie's vetting expenses has been made.
UPDATE 3-25-10 A month after his first Immiticide injection, Ollie's CBC/Chem looks pretty good, however his latest tick panel shows not only does he have Rocky Mountain spotted fever, but he also has Lyme disease. It may have been in remission and the start of the antibiotics has brought it to the surface. He still has a bit of a cough but chest X-rays look good.
UPDATE 06-14-10 Ollie had made it through the final phase of his heartworm treatment (5-18 and 5-19) and was doing great. At about the second week mark he started to have diarrhea and stopped eating. He also started drooling. His temperature shot up to 104 and I rushed him to the Animal Hospital of Gurnee (AHOG) on 6-7. Initial blood work showed his Immune System was shutting down. As he was slightly anemic in March, his red blood cell production got much worse and he became very week. At the AHOG (6-7 thru 6-12) Dr. Hanover did supportive care with IV fluids, injectable broad spectrum antibiotics and liver support. Ollie was also given anti-nausea meds as he had no appetite. The folks at AHOG didn't think he was going to make it as his pneumonia returned and it was touch and go for a while. I stopped by on 6-9 and 6-10 to force feed him some Northwest Naturals raw beef diet as I knew that would be easy on his system and the only way he was going to gain some of his strength—he was not going to eat on his own. Tina (IBR foster mom and adopter) followed up on 6-11. On 6-12, I brought him home and continued his daily medications but he started to go down hill on 6-13. He seemed very uncomfortable and started to have slight facial seizures (common in RMSF dogs). He had been off doxycycline (which can cause stomach upset) since the 7th, so I took a chance and started him back on his old meds and the next day he picked up a tennis ball in the yard!! Seizures disappeared and he continued to get a little stronger everyday with the raw diet and other supportive meds. I also had Ollie on Iron supplements and some Omega DHA/ EPA supplements and Digestive enzymes.
UPDATE 06-30-10 I knew we had to be so careful with Ollie's treatment--but the virus he picked up threw us a curve. We'd been taking care of Ollie for 6 months now because we knew the seriousness of his heartworm treatment would be complicated with the tick borne illness co infections. I really think all the prayers by well wishers kept this dog alive. Ollie is starting to eat some raw diet on his own but still needs to be force fed to get all of his medication and I am really making sure he has a full stomach on with his doxy meds. Happy thoughts he continues to improve. I LOVE THIS DOG!!!
Ollie really is going to make someone the most LOVING companion but he still had many months ahead of him before we get all his issues under control. We need a very special loving family for our Sweet Ollie.
Here is some recent video of Ollie and a steam bath to try and help him with the terrible congestion in his lungs from the Heartworm disease complicated by Kennel Cough. I am trying very hard to help him get over this as I worry that it may advance to pneumonia.
Garage Sale Finale #6: Camp Johnson, 2637 Hoard Street, Madison, WI
When: Fri & Saturday, July 23rd & 24th/ 8am-4pm
Funds raised at the Madison sale will be used to help to pay some of Duckie's vetting bills.
Email Sarah Kate if you would like to help or contribute!!
Check out Buckwheat's 2010 Garage Sale Highlights!
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Snail Mail with check payable to IBR with your ticket request/s to: PO Box 364, Wood Dale, IL 60191. As always thanks for your support and GOOD LUCK!!! You are doing a wonderful thing to help our pooches.
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We are happy to announce our latest fundraising raffle The Dyson Ball Pet Vacuum. Proceeds will be used to help with the vetting costs associated with the care of our special senior dogs fondly called Geezers & Grannies. The raffle also includes a brand new matching purple English Slip Lead and a Wonderful book called "Old Dogs are the Best Dogs". Here is a link to the photos of the raffle prizes on Facebook
Snail Mail with check payable to IBR with your ticket request/s to: PO Box 364, Wood Dale, IL 60191. As always thanks for your support and GOOD LUCK!!! You are doing a wonderful thing to help our pooches.
Our 9th year of operations posed more fundraising challenges as the sick, injured, neglected and abused dogs and puppies came in one after the other. So far 2010 has already posed many new challenges. Our tick borne illness diagnosis, treatment and research continues and many more dogs and puppies are coming into our care infected with Lyme disease, Ehrlichia, Anaplasma and Rocky Mountain spotted fever or the combination of two or three. Please click here for our Tick Borne Illness Treatment Protocols and Infected Dog & Puppy Success Stories page. We are also now going to try and test all the new dogs with a new blood test for Babesia--another tick borne illness we know we have missed in the past. We are also contacting former adopters in hopes that they will also do serology testing as a huge percentage of our old adoptees are showing they are infected. We are also conducting a few case studies with dogs that are being treated for heartworm disease with tick borne illness co infections. So far the data on Brandon, Ollie, Rosey, Praline, Ladybird and Sassy will be helpful in educating veterinarians with the optimum treatment protocols for dogs with these life threatening issues.
Much lower than in previous years due to lack of funding and the cost of vetting for the seriously ill dogs and puppies that are already in the IBR foster care program.
Lemonhead is a term of endearment we give the Lemon and White colored Field Pointers. Lemonheads have mostly orange or light orange with patches and spots and they also have lighter pink noses.
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View the new Powerpoint slideshow showcasing our rescue
legacy from the past nine years.
**You must have Powerpoint to view the slideshow. Each slide will advance
on its own. This is a large file and may take time to download.**
Paul, very devoted foster dad, snuggles with his doggie crew, including his former foster pointer Lucia, sandwiched in the middle!
Illinois Birddog Rescue is looking to recruit a few more foster homes! Fostering a homeless birddog is a very rewarding experience. If anyone is interested in opening up their home to dog in need, please fill out our online foster home application. Email Lisa for more information.
Illinois Birddog Rescue wants to make sure all of our adoptable dogs stay healthy throughout flea and tick season. We welcome donations of Frontline, Heartguard, or any similar product. Email Lisa if you would like to help.
Anne and Roger--you are my rocks!! Keely, Pat, John and Debby--what would I do without you not to mention all our amazing volunteers and foster homes. XO :O)