Rescue Tails / 600 Days

Dutchess, a beautiful white American Bulldog, was seized 600 days ago.It all started with a litter of puppies. Dutchess gave birth to a litter of puppies in late 2017. Her owner took the puppies from her at only five weeks of age when Dutchess was having trouble feeding the puppies. She failed to notice that her dogs mammary glands were red and swollen and she was in a tremendous amount of discomfort. By the time our Marathon Campus was notified,  there was only one puppy left.

Our Officers quickly noted to the owner that Dutchess needed to see a Veterinarian immediately as she was most likely suffering from complications from the litter. They issued a warning to give her owner an opportunity to do the right thing, Officers followed up soon after and were not pleased with what they saw. Her owner had yet to care for her immediate medical needs. Dutchess was diagnosed and suffering from a condition known as Mastitis. Mastitis is an inflammation of the mammary glands in the breast that produce milk. Acute septic mastitis is the other type and happens when bacteria enter the mammary gland and cause an infection or abscess. It can be fatal if it goes untreated. On our follow up visit Dutchess was doing worse and Officers were concerned that Dutchess was in very poor condition and not receiving proper treatment for the infection.

She was seized and taken straight to a local Veterinarian that confirmed our fears. The infection had spread to her uterus causing an additional potentially fatal complication, Pyometra. If treatment was not performed quickly, the toxic effects from the bacteria will be fatal in many cases. Dutchess underwent an emergency spay to remove her infected uterus and placed on a heavy course of antibiotics and fluids to fight the infection. Unfortunately, due to her owners negligence, the infection had spread to her kidneys, and the formally exuberant one year old dog was diagnosed with irreversible kidney damage. Dutchess would require a special diet and constant medical care for the rest of her young life.

Her owner was charged with multiple offenses. In Dutchess’s case, her owner had a lengthy history with our local Sheriff’s Office and through the course of her animal control case, was in and out of jail multiple times further complicating the process. Eventually, local lawyer Richard Malafy stepped in probono and took Dutchess on as a client. With his help, our Marathon Campus finally won the custody trial of Dutchess, 500 days later. With excitement roaring through our Marathon Campus Dutchess celebrated with a huge party with all of our staff and volunteers. Finally she could be placed for adoption and find her way into a safe, loving forever home. Who wouldn’t want to adopt such a wonderful, special dog?

To all of our surprise, it would take another 100 days for the right family to come along. We were all eager to see Dutchess be adopted, she had at this point spent more time in our shelter, than in a home! But it had to be right, perfect in fact, and we were thrilled when that perfect fit finally came along. 600 days after we first took Dutchess into our shelter she finally met the perfect family and was adopted. The dog that captured all of our hearts, and even had her own lawyer, found her furever family. The Florida Keys SPCA is a no time limit shelter, meaning that any healthy adoptable animal can stay safely at one of our Campuses until they are adopted. 600 days is a long time to wait, but for Dutchess, day 1 with her new family starts today.