On August 15th, 2011, I received a phone call from the Executive Director at the Center asking me to come to the shelter immediately.  The local vet recommended euthanizing a puppy that had been brought into the center the day before.  When I got there I was led to the section the puppy was kept and there found a small 3 1/2 to 4 month old black mixed breed puppy.  She was very sick and could barely raise her head.  As I leaned over her and looked at her gums, which are normally pink in healthy puppies, they were nearly white.  Smelling her I could tell immediately she had Parvo. Though she had been tested for the deadly virus when she was received into the shelter, it showed a false negative, as sometimes happens.  Due to the incredibly infectious nature of the Parvo virus, most shelters will immediately euthanize any animals found to have it.  It is just too dangerous to the other animals housed there.  Additionally, it is extremely costly to treat an animal with Parvo. There is no magic drug, no perfect pill, just the necessity of constant i.v. fluids and antibiotics to keep the organs from failing as the puppy's immune system tries to fight off the disease itself.  A puppy not treated has a 95% chance of perishing. One treated has an 80% chance of surviving. 

Seeing the little puppy laying there I was overcome with the desire to help her fight. I agreed, along with the Executive Director and the Board Vice President, to sponsor her costs at the Verde Veterinary Hospital and we immediately loaded her into a kennel and transported her there. She didn't even have a name yet. The Director decided to call her Sparkles because, despite her condition, her eyes still sparkled with the will to live.

That evening the veterinarian called me to let me know puppies treated for Parvo will often begin feeling better within about three days of treatment, then may have a dip as their body worked harder to heal itself before finally stepping firmly on the road to recovery.

The next day, the veterinarian called me to let me know the puppy was still fighting but didn't look good.  She continued to have a high fever and was not able to eat or drink anything.  She was surviving on IV fluids only. As the days passed, she didn't make the sudden jump to recovery as many puppies do, and continued to struggle with the fever.  The vet decided to give her the strongest antibiotic they had in-house.  The puppy was residing in isolation away from the other animals.  The doctor did give me a bit of hope though, when she told me the puppy had lifted her head and tried to lick faces.

Several times I stopped in at the Vet's office to check on the puppy's condition. Before touching her I was required to put on a medical gown and gloves in order to contain the virus. Seeing her sit in her little cage with a cone around her neck and bandages around the top of her shaved legs to protect the two I.V.s, she had in was heart breaking.  She was still not active.  But you could tell she wanted so much to be.  She actually tried to scoot out of her cage when I opened the door. She was completely silent and never made a sound in the many times I stopped by to rub her floppy ears and gaze into those sweet brown eyes.

Seven days from admittance the puppy with the sparkling eyes was released from the hospital.  She still had problems with eating and drinking but her fever was gone.  However she had to remain in quarantine at the Center for several weeks. Once a puppy begins to recover from Parvo, they still "shed" the virus in their feces and urine.  Those still contain the virus and other animals can still catch the disease from them.  The shelter staff picked her up from the hospital and placed her in a small isolation room at the Center. It was a much better place than a tiny cage and allowed her a little wandering room once she began to feel better. She wasn't allowed to be taken on daily walks by staff as all the other dogs are because of her "shedding".  So the wonderful caring staff gave her some chew toys and a stuffed animal and it appeared a little white teddy bear became her best friend!

As time passed I'd been in to the Adopt-For-Life Center to see the puppy several times. She was so wafer thin and wasn't doing well the beginning of the week so they had to give her fluids via IV again.  She just didn't want to drink.  It must be hard to be so tired that even drinking is a chore.

I brought my 14-year old daughter to visit her as well.  When we opened the door into the quarantined room the puppy made the first sounds I heard from her.  A wonderful little growlie sound like, "where have you been!"  She climbed slowly up onto both of our laps as we sat together, and snuffled contentedly.  After lots of cuddles, we took her outside, in a secure area in front of the old building, to let her see the outside world.  She was quite wobbly on her legs, something the vet called kennel paralysis.  When recovering animals don't move around and are kept crated they have no muscle memory or strength and have to build it up.  She looked like a deer or horse that had just been born, thin, wobbly and clumsy but infinitely curious.  

Each time I visited, when I left I had to take great precautions not to bring the Parvo virus home to my own dogs. I washed my hands and arms with a disinfectant before leaving the center. A sheet was spread out on the front seat of my car and I took my shoes off before I sat down, setting them beside me on the sheet as well. Once home I immediately dropped the sheet, shoes and my outer clothing in the washroom and took a shower before greeting my own dogs. The contaminated clothing and shoes were put in the washer with bleach and I also sprayed down inside the car, house door knobs etc., with a bleach mixture to kill any wayward virus material.  My house smelled like Clorox on and off for several weeks!

As the days passed it was inevitable my affection for the puppy would grow.  My husband eventually came with me to the center one day to see her. He was very careful to keep me grounded as she was still weak and survival was always a question.  I'm very pragmatic about death and disease and understand things happen and he worked hard to protect me from getting too attached.  However, when she climbed up on him, showering him with kisses and snuffles, he was as sold as I was.

Once she passed the 4 week mark we brought her home.  I had already been at the shelter helping unload  over 5,000 pounds of dog food, donated by Purina, which the Board Treasurer, Executive Director and I went to Flagstaff to pick up. After unloading this huge amount of kibble at the Center and using every nook and cranny to store it, I decided it was time to adopt the little puppy I had come to care for so much.

She was an absolute angel on the ride home, sitting on my adult son's lap like she took car rides every day. My household was amazed that she could be so thin, with her fur stretched tight over her little bones. And the canine members of my family were a little put out by her presence.  The puppy excitedly took her huge paws, batting disconcerted chihuahua's on their heads and grabbed the grumpy old border collie by the neck, again with her over-sized paws, to lick his ears.  As she stumbled around, investigating every nook and cranny my husband was given the ability to name her.  Something of a consolation as I had brought, yet another rescued puppy home! After playing with several names and watching her response, he settled on Maggie, which in it's Greek form means "pearl". She had definitely struggled through some rough times to become our priceless gem.