Special Dogs

Sultan’s Story

Sultan was picked up as a stray in Cuyahoga County, taken to the county shelter and waited for his owners to come claim him. Nobody did. The staff and medical team at the county knew Sultan had some serious medical issues with his rear legs and were unable to place him so they networked him to rescues. Knowing that we have a lots of followers and could find a way to raise the money if needed for his care we agreed to take him in. Sultan is estimated to be between 3-5 years old and currently weights 55#. He has a happy disposition and wonderful personality that would qualify him to be a great dog for any family or owner who falls in love with him. Sultan is up to date on shots and neutered.

Sultan has a funny walk but that was not stopping him from being playful with the dogs in daycare, hopping into cars with volunteers to go to Pet People for adoption events or to Gateway Animal Clinic for his health exam. We found him a foster home and then took him to see Dr. Liz. She took Xrays of his legs and determined he would need to have two knee surgeries and referred us to Dr. Bob at Tremont Animal Clinic. Sultan as bilateral, permanent medial luxation — both knees are being operated on and we expect a full recovery over the next few months.

We are setting up a YouCaring Fundraising account to help us raise the necessary funds to cover the costs of his medical care. Click here to donate:

http://www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/sultan-needs-a-new-pair-of-knees-/337620

Sultan was adopted on May 9, 2015 shortly after his first surgery. His new mom, Amanda, is also having knee surgery and plans to recover with him during his second surgery later in the summer 2015.

Update: May 15, 2015 — From Sultan’s (now Jackson) Mom:

I wanted to touch base with you after the vet appointment with Dr. Bob. He said everything is healing perfectly and they are really pleased with his progress, so I am thrilled. We are going back on April 28th for another follow up, and then after that we will start prepping for the next surgery (!).

All of a sudden in the past few days, Jackson’s (I call him Jax now) really started putting his back leg down a lot more. It’s like he all of a sudden realized he could. I think it makes him a little more sore, but he’s getting lots of good walks and heat pads for his knee. Dr Bob said by next summer you won’t even be able to tell he had surgeries, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself! Just want to make sure our sweet pup is comfortable and happy.

It looks like we are so close to the fundraising goal! It’s incredible how many people are stepping up. Thank you for everything.

Mandy

Miracle’s Story

Miracle will be available to adopt when she is healthy and our veterinarian gives us the green light to place her. We imagine it could be months. Those interested in adopting her or any of our dogs can find our adoption application and information here.

If you would like to donate toward the medical, shelter and food that will be necessary to take care of Miracle you may make an online donation through Paypal, call us at 216-664-9660 or mail a check to:

Miracle
c/o Secondhand Mutts
2603 Scranton Road
Cleveland, OH 44113

December 15, 2014
Miracle was brought to us the evening of Monday, December 15th by one of our dedicated volunteers. She was wrapped in a towel, skin and bones, with a bad skin infection we suspected as mange, open sores, barely able to keep her head up. Her eyes were barely able to stay open – but there was a glimmer of hope inside this pup. In a neighboring community Miracle was reported to Animal Control after being discovered around 11 AM under a porch.  The Animal Control facility reported back they would send someone to get her after lunch. At 4 PM when the resident came home from work the pup was still there on the porch huddled and barely alive. She then called the police non-emergency to request a dog warden and flagged down a police officer for help.  He took the report but was not able to take the pup so the woman who found her posted her on her Facebook page. It was there that our volunteer saw the post and immediately went to help. She called us immediately because she knew the pup was suffering and needed immediate medical care and we, as a team with Gateway Animal Clinic, got her the medical care she needed.

Miracle is an obviously neglected puppy who had been fending for herself for months and found shelter under a porch at a home where she could smell other dogs. Dogs are resilient.
When she arrived at Gateway Miracle was examined and her body temperature was 96 degrees.  An IV was inserted into her vein. It was very difficult to find the vein but once it was in she was receiving the fluids she needed. She was bundled up and moved to a heated cage with blankets to start raising her body temperature. A short time later we received a short video from the clinic staff showing a pup who could wag her tail and start to prop her head up.

December 16, 2014
We received an update this morning that Miracle’s body temperature was back to normal. She was able to keep her head up in the cage and was wagging her tail at the clinic staff. They stood her frail body up to examine her further and she was able to stand for about 3 minutes before needing to collapse for rest. We will have the results of her skin scrape to determine the course of medical attention she will need. It will be a long road to recovery but we know she has the spirit and support of our followers keeping her going.

December 17, 2014
Miracle is confirmed to have demodectic mange and we will start slowly treating her for that this afternoon after her bath. She is eating a bland diet and will start on puppy food slowly in a week or so. The clinic is sending out blood to the lab so we will have results in a couple days on her blood count abs any other concerns associated with internal organ function. Her poop remarkably is normal! 

Locals: we are in need of boiled potatoes and frozen or cooked (boiled) chicken breasts to keep in our supply for her. Drop off at 2603 Scranton Rd 44113 weekdays from 7 am to 7 pm and weekends from 9 am to 5 pm. 

We will continue to post updates here and on our Facebook page throughout her recovery.

December 18, 2017
We received the blood work results from Idexx Labratories and it shows, which is no surprise, she is anemic. Her counts are looking better and there is no indication that Miracle will have any liver or kidney issues despite the decomposed condition she was in. It truly is a miracle and this gives us more hope that she will indeed survive from her bout of starvation. Miracle had a second medicated bath this morning and the stench on her body has dissipated a bit but yeast and mange has a strong odor and it will take weeks for her skin to cool down and smell better. Miracle has gone on short potty break walks outside with the staff at Gateway Animal Clinic and we are grateful for the tremendous care she is receiving there.

Miracle is still receiving IV fluids and sugars. She is eating a small, meatball sized bland diet. We have been inundated with donations for her meal plan and will start cooking the chicken and potatoes and will pass those along to her foster home. We expect in two weeks she will start eating small portions of Diamond Chicken & Rice puppy food (also Costco Kirkland Puppy formula). Puppy food donations are certainly appreciated.

Our goal is to move Miracle to her foster home Saturday morning. There she will get round-the-clock care with the person who ran to her rescue after seeing the post and plea for help on Facebook  and brought her to our facility on Monday. Her foster mom has been fostering puppies and dogs for us for years, has adopted two Secondhand Mutts of her own and is currently home on maternity leave. We know she will be in great hands with Amelia and she will be keeping us up to date on her progress with reports and pictures to share.

January 9, 2015

A long awaited post and we appreciate your patience. Miracle is doing exceptionally well. Here (see our Facebook page) is a short video of Miracle playing with her foster sister Alabama (a former Secondhand Mutt). As you can see she’s gaining weight and her skin is looking so much better too!

January 21, 2015

We wanted to share some photo’s of Miracle Portraits by Martha took and donated (see Facebook). Miracle is doing fabulous and we will start our home selection process for her next week. Because of your donations, care, follow up and her foster mom we were all able to save her life and we are looking forward to her send off to her forever home happening in the very near future. Your donations exceeded our expectations and allowed us to put funds aside for the other dogs we are going The Extra Mile for including Harlow and Guinness.

We are busy gearing up for the Barkfeast fundraiser this coming Saturday. We will have two of our heartworm positive positive dogs there for you to meet, along with Miracle who will be making her debut from 10:30 to Noon.

For those of you who have applied to adopt Miracle please know this process is painstaking for us, especially because we have received dozens and dozens of applications. In the end we will chose the best matched home for Miracle as we do all of our adoptable dogs.

February 12, 2015
Miracle is doing really great and started coming to play at The Mutt Huttrecently to meet friends and have her fully evaluated for her social skills with other dogs: big and small. She really loved the interaction with the pack and went back to her foster home a very tired girl. 

The last medical step for her before placing her in a home was to have her spayed, get her final round of vaccines and give her some recovery time where she’s comfortable.

We know so many of you have been patiently waiting for updates and to see her in her forever home: thank you for allowing her to heal, trust and learn to be a dog who is loved. Thank you to the nearly four dozen applicants who have given us the time required to do our best to read each application and narrow down our search to choose her forever home and family.

We are in the midst of making our final selections (and it has not been easy – there are so many loving homes waiting for a dog!) while she recovers from her spay surgery. We will make our final decision soon and anticipate she’ll be placed by the beginning of March.

We all knew there was only one Miracle and one home for her. The final candidates have been contacted, if for some reason you’re not one, please consider adopting another one of our dogs or any of the others waiting for homes in shelters and across in our area.

March 17, 2015

The Cleveland Miracle