February 21, 2010

Rita's Alice adopted!




























I am so very, very happy to announce that Rita's Alice has decided to stay with her foster dad and mom, Dave and Chevy.  Alice came in from Taiwan in January, along with Evan and Dora.  When she came to us she had been diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, which is a serious heart condition that leads to a reduced life expectancy.  Chevy and I took Alice to the heart specialist, and the cardiologist couldn't find anything wrong with her heart.  She did, however, find an enlarged spleen. We've done many tests to see if we can find out why, but so far everything has come back normal.

Alice would like to thank Rita and MJ for rescuing her in Taiwan and helping her find her way to the US.  She thanks the Taiwan Welcome Waggin' led by Ira for greeting her upon her entry into the country.  She thanks Cheryl C. for doing Chevy and Dave's home visit awhile back as well as recruiting them as volunteers/fosters (they adopted Braveheart, now Buddy, from us just over a year ago).  Finally, Alice is so very grateful to her wonderful foster family who have become her permanent family.  It's not everyone who is willing to take a partially house-trained dog with unknown medical issues into their heart and home as Dave and Chevy have done.  They are truly Golden Angels!

From Chevy & Dave:

We are beyond thrilled to have Alice as a permanent member of our family. We are aware that we may never know what the future holds for our large-spleened beauty, but we know that we are so lucky to have her with us. We will be keeping "Alice" as her forever name, because it's the name that her mom in Taiwan gave her (and it fits her perfectly!).
 

She has come such a long way since she first arrived at LAX. She always wanted to be outside for the first few days, and now she is completely an inside dog. She has mastered the doggy door (and even remembers to go potty on the OUTSIDE of it, most of the time!). Her ear infections have cleared up, and most importantly, we are so appreciative that her heart issues don't seem to be anything that has to affect her life. I am glad to be Alice's own private duty nurse, and to make sure that she has the best care possible!
 

We are so grateful to Rita & M.J. for rescuing this gentle soul. We appreciate that Kriss graciously let us have our pick of the pups that came in that day, and you, Sandy, for helping us to get so much medical information on Alice. We may not have all of the answers, but we have a lot more information than we started with.
Thank you for allowing us to renew our membership in the "failed foster" club (it's been just over a year since we "fostered" our Buddy Braveheart). Our family is now complete.

Sincerely,
 Chevy & Dave