REPORTS have been confirmed that a superstar is now residing in Moree.
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The superstar, Sweet Pea, formerly of Sydney and has a Facebook fan base of around 6500.
Sweet Pea’s move to Moree was influenced by local fans on her Facebook page who decided to adopt her... Wait, we should probably mention that Sweet Pea is a little, white, Maltese dog.
It is true though that she is a superstar with a wide Facebook following, and it is also that she used to live in Sydney, where she was taken in by Paws for Thought (PFT) Rescue after a life of neglect.
The owner of Paws for Thought Rescue, who likes to go by the name of Mrs PFT, received Sweet Pea on July 11.
She said Sweet Pea was in a “very depressed state”.
“She had an enormous tumour on her front foot, her left eye was damaged from previous untreated ulcers, and she had suspected cushing’s disease because it was like she was always in third gear. It’s really bad and dogs can die from it; she was in an awful state,” she said.
Mrs PFT took Sweet Pea straight to the vets where she underwent a consultation followed by blood and heartworm tests.
“We had to wait for the results of those tests and when they came back there were issues with cushing’s disease so we had to take her back a week later for more tests and in particular a two-hour blood test so I had to leave her there and again wait for the tests,” she said.
Mrs PFT explained with cushing’s disease the medication dosage level ranged to how bad the disease was in the dog, and it was always a “hard task” to find the correct dosage the first time.
“So we’re given a medication to give her for two weeks and then we’d come back and have to get more tests and if it was not working, we’d have to try a different one… We went through that process five times over two months before the right medication was found,” Mrs PFT said.
“It was the highest rate of cushing’s disease my vet had ever come across; the poor girl was about to explode.”
After this dilemma, a new heart-wrenching symptom appeared on Sweet Pea’s body as she was covered in “shockingly terrible bruising” and was sent to have clotting tests.
“We then had to take Sweet Pea to SASH (Small Animal Specialist Hospital). During the consultation with a SASH specialist it was recommended to take out her left eye, get her desexed and remove the tumour on her foot,” Mrs PFT said.
For three months Sweet Pea had to be prepped for the operations. “So during the operations Sweet Pea had to be opened up whilst the vets desexed her, but they found she was already desexed which is an even harder procedure as they have to move organs around,” she said.
The operation was deemed successful as the tumour and eye were removed, and Sweet Pea boarded at SASH for a week to make sure her dressing was changed frequently.
“We thought that was the last of it so we prepared Sweet Pea for her forever home, but then her back legs started to give way. We thought it was her balance after having the tumour weighing one foot down for so long so we didn’t do anything.
“Two weeks later she couldn’t walk so we took her to the vet who said it was a serious problem and sent her to another consultation at SASH, this time with the one neuro-specialist in Australia who recommended she have an MRI scan,” Mrs PFT said.
Now, here’s how Sweet Pea’s legion of fans came about…
Mrs PFT uses Facebook (search “Paws for Thought” Rescue) to connect her old and special needs dogs, rescued from death row, with the world by sharing their stories, personalities and quirky faces.
So she thought, after being told the MRI would cost over $2000, to ask the PFT community to donate and the response was overwhelming.
“We were inundated with donations and we succeeded the amount needed for Sweet Pea which will go on to help future foster dogs in my care,” she said.
Mrs PFT said SASH was the top vet hospital to go to but they did not have an MRI machine, which meant dogs needing the scan had to visit a human hospital which only allowed two or three dogs per week.
“For two dogs to go into an MRI you need one vet and an anaesthetist… Anyway after her scan they came back and said they’d found nothing; no cancers or tumours and none of the specialists had any answers for us,” she said.
Sweet Pea was then called a special needs dog.
Despite her special needs, through Facebook, two local lads fell in love with her and decided to adopt the little superstar.
For around two weeks, Sweet Pea has been enjoying her new, warm home with two, caring loving parents.
Helping Mrs PFT locally is Carol Fulton-Kennedy who, through living on a farm, takes care of dogs from death row who need a long period of rehabilitation.
Sweet Pea’s new owner, Leigh Carroll, wanted to thank Mrs PFT, Carol and the local vets in Moree who’ve all helped Sweet Pea on her long and finally happily ever after.