Sweetwater

NRGRR accepts golden retrievers into their program regardless of age, medical condition, or cost to treat them. We also pledge to help families who can no longer care for their goldens by offering an opportunity to surrender their dogs, knowing that they will be well cared for and placed in loving forever homes. Please consider making a donation so we can continue to help dogs with special needs.

Literally on the day we were saying goodbye to Daisy, this little girl was sadly being surrendered to NRGRR by her owners. Lucy (club name Sweetwater) was diagnosed with the same ailment, a portosystemic liver shunt, and her family was unable to give her surgery she needed to survive.

So, our special fosters were back at it helping these special dogs in need. Lucy came into the program in mid-August and will have to wait until the end of September before she will be old enough for the procedure to determine a possible course of action moving forward. 

In late September, Lucy had a CT scan to get a better look at her liver and we finally got some answers. Lucy does indeed have a liver shunt, which was caused by a malformation at birth, possibly due to poor breeding practices. Unfortunately, due to the position of the shunt, we can not surgically correct it. This means that we will have to manage her condition with special diet, supplements, and medications. It also means that she will have a significantly shortened lifespan. We are working on a plan for her but luckily we have lots of experience with this type of condition.

Lucy (Sweetwater) becomes a permanent foster!  When very sick dogs come into the program that require life long attention and medication, NRGRR often makes them permanent fosters, which means that we will take care of their medical expenses for the rest of their lives. Thankfully, we have very special fosters who have excitedly volunteered to help her through her journey. These fosters share a wealth of experience with Lucy's condition and could not be happier to be a part of her life.

Stay tuned, we will continue share Lucy's story through the coming months and hopefully years.

Lucy Update, December 2019
Lucy is now 8 months old and is doing pretty well given her chronic conditions. She has co-fosters caring for her, one home that is quiet with no other dogs and another where she is in dog heaven. She is growing into quite the little lady but her condition still affects her at times and we are continuing to work on adjusting her regimen to find what works for her. 

Here are some reports from her foster moms:

• Lucy is so happy and has that cute golden wag where she shakes her whole butt back and forth when she wags her tail. She loves to play with her foster bro Frappuccino. They wrestle and chew on antlers together. She seems to have no fear. She quickly learned to use the steps so she could get on the big human bed in the house and when Frap gets annoyed with her and gives a low growl, she just jumps on him and starts the game all over again.
• Lucy continues to enjoy visiting children in the park and her neighborhood canine and human friends. She loves riding in the car, doesn't really want to go anywhere, just ride.

The average cost of bringing local dogs into the program is around $1200, but can easily exceed 5-10 times this amount to care for dogs with serious illnesses, such as Sweetwater’s liver shunt. Please consider making a donation so we can continue to help these precious dogs in need.