Abigail was not a rescue. She is the sister of a girl, Holly, we were bringing home for a show prospect. She was a nice looking puppy so we brought both girls home to decide which one we were going to keep for show. Abigail decided not to grow very big but had lovely long legs. Unfortunately too long!
When she was about six months old, and about 2.5 pounds, she decided to jump out of a visitors arms and fell to the floor in pain. She had snapped both bones in her lower front leg. Off to the vet and then to a surgeon in Red Deer who could repair bones so tiny. Abigail had a surgery to plate and screw the larger bone together but the ulna had to hopefully knit on its own after being put together since this bone was smaller than a pencil lead that goes into a mechanical pencil. She was confined to a small play area to heal. The plate and screws were still too big for this tiny girl. She had to have a second surgery to remove the hardware. All said and done she spent eight months of her life confined to heal. Her breeder was fine with us looking after her and said we could keep her. We grew very close to her through all this.
Abigail never did grow very big and her ulna bone dissolved leaving her with only one bone in her one front leg. She topped out a 3.75 pounds until she was 5.5 years old. She developed a very rare condition called hypo parathyriodism. She likely damaged her parathyroid way back when she broke her leg. This could have been the reason she never grew much more. We found this out when she tried to die on us. She had many vet visits to rehydrate her and infuse calcium into her little body. Against all odds, and with the aggressive emergency care given by three wonderful vets, this tough little girl pulled through. She is on medication for life now but is stable and has reached 4 pounds for the first time. Her blood work has to be checked regularily and her medication can't be missed (three times a day) but at least now she hopefully will have many more years with us!!
UPDATE: Abigail did well on her medications initially but unfortunately lost her fight June 23, 2016 at 7.5 years old.
Button the Chi was owner surrendered. She was re-socialized and placed with a wonderful lady.
Precious was rescued from a puppy mill north of Edmonton. We found her at our local shelter pregnant.
Cricket was a breeder surrender. She had a very hard birth and sustained damage from the experience.
Duchess was a VERY ill girl. SHe was rescued from the ESPCA where she was registered as a boy!