She’s A Peach!

This sweet 10-year old girl is Peachy and she arrived over the summer due to a sad set of circumstances. Her 88-year old owner, recently widowed, was having to sell her home here in New Hampshire and move to an apartment in Washington, D.C. to be closer to family. The move date was coming up soon. She couldn’t take Peachy with her, and had spent nearly a year trying to find someone in the area who could adopt her. But Peachy had very elevated liver values, and the apparent medical problem was an obstacle to finding a new home for her. Finally a mutual friend suggested she contact us.

We typically try not to take dogs from private individuals, preferring to save our very limited space for disabled dogs at risk of euthanasia in shelters. But Peachy’s owner had already tried all of the family and friends she knew, and had also reached out to her church’s congregation as well. No one was willing to take her. So when Peachy’s owner called us and we heard the story, we decided to say yes. Peachy wasn’t exactly disabled, but she kind of squeaked through that criteria on a “medical exemption” with those elevated liver values.

Peachy had started off life as a street dog in Puerto Rico. A Good Samaritan had seen her wandering a neighborhood with puppies in tow, and knew that at least one of Peachy’s puppies had already been run over and killed. This person managed to get Peachy to a rescue group, which eventually got her on a transport taking adoptable dogs to New England humane societies. One of those was in New Hampshire, and it’s where Peachy’s owner adopted her.

So Peachy had spent the last several years living a wonderful, quiet life in a lovely old farm house in a beautiful setting in northern New Hampshire. She was the focus of attention for her elderly owners who doted on her and took her for twice-daily walks. She was an only dog, too, which made us a bit concerned about how she would do with us.

We needn’t have worried! Peachy, it turned out, thrived on all the activity and new friends she has here. She is a delightful, adorable, funny little thing and we’re thrilled to have her. Peachy has impeccable house manners, too — something that is too often in short supply in this place!

We still had those liver values to worry about though. Peachy’s primary care vet had earlier recommended an ultrasound, so we scheduled a complete evaluation with one of our internal medicine specialists at BEVS in Burlington. It turns out Peachy’s gallbladder was accumulating sludge, which could decrease bile production and lead to the increased values we were seeing. But we also learned that Peachy’s urine protein levels were severely elevated, meaning she was losing a lot of protein through her kidneys. After getting those results back from the lab, the internist asked us to have Peachy’s blood pressure checked immediately, since high blood pressure can be associated with this condition. That’s when we learned that indeed, Peachy has moderately elevated blood pressure, too.

After a month on various liver and blood pressure medications, we took Peachy back to our local clinic last week for follow-up tests. Fortunately, her protein loss has dropped dramatically, though her blood pressure remains elevated. But the key liver value we’ve been tracking has come down a lot, too, so we are making progress. The next step is an evaluation of these latest results by the internist and a follow-up ultrasound.

Meanwhile, Peachy has settled in to her new life at the farm. Remember those twice-daily walks she used to get? Well, she doesn’t let us forget about them, and she is one insistent girl morning and evening until she gets her walks!  Here she is going down our road at one of our stream crossings:

Peachy has great social skills and gets along with everyone. Here she is with Sally, our wobbly old Beagle:

So that’s the story on “The Fruit” as we sometimes call her. A rough beginning in Puerto Rico, then many years of a settled, contented life with an elderly couple, and finally upheaval this summer and a new beginning with us. But she’s happy, loved, and making the most of it!