Claudia

Karma's Place Rescue
November 14 at 6:00 PM ·
A few months ago, at quarter to 5 on a Friday afternoon, I received an emergency call from a vet hospital.
They had a 7 month old, Boxer puppy who had come in with her humans and it was not the sort of visit where they were planning on taking her home again.
This poor girl had been through hell and her “family” had only owned her for a couple of months. She was totally emaciated, had watery, bloody diarrhea and was listless and flat.
This dog had been suffering since the owners had bought her but although they had taken her to another vet once before, they were not willing to follow any vet advice, not even changing her diet, in order to help her.
Things had got so bad, and the poor girl had become so unwell, that they finally took her to be euthanized.
After speaking with the owners and realizing they were not willing to take her back home, the vet had called us, in desperation, in the hope of saving her life.
Of course, we agreed immediately but at the close of business on a Friday afternoon, we needed to move heaven and earth to save her. The hospital agreed to keep her overnight, but we needed to have someone there to pick her up early the next morning.
Thankfully, we sprung into action for this girl that we had never even seen a photo of and when she arrived, we were absolutely horrified.
This beautiful Boxer, we named Claudia, was a far cry from what you would expect from a Boxer puppy. There was none of the ridiculous Boxer exuberance that usually comes with these dogs. There was no chaos or shiny fur or fun. Her tummy had sucked up and shrunk, almost to her backbone. Her eyes, which should have been bright and full of mischief, were dull and at just 7 months old, this baby had nothing left. Far from being the ravenous foodie that most Boxers are, Claudia had very little appetite and she was barely more than a skeleton.
Vets had suggested she was probably suffering from “Boxer colitis,” a disease which usually doesn’t have a good outcome, but we had to give her a chance.
I started to research immediately, and I found some studies where some dogs had shown great results with one medication. A “last resort” antibiotic, which is expensive, seemed to show some promise and after discussions with vets, we decided that we had nothing to lose by trying it.
The next few weeks were fraught with worry as we researched and tried different diets. The first thing to do was to build up her appetite and although it was slow going, Claudia developed a taste for raw meat. As her appetite increased, she slowly came to life and although it took many weeks, we could finally introduce some high quality dry food and after a couple of months, we finally began to see normal poo!!
Claudia is now a typical, mental, hyperactive, goofy, silly, energetic, Boxer. She still has some weight to gain but she is making up for her past and she is making the most of every minute. She is a clown and she is impulsive and she is very food motivated!
We are so thankful to the vet who couldn’t put her down without trying to find help for her. Claudia is loving her life and she is almost ready to find her furever home.