The Long Road to Recovery
This is Josie.
For most of her life, Josie was probably used as a hunting dog, just another tool in a hunter’s cruel bag of tricks. Sadly, when the hunt was over, Josie was left to fend for herself on the side of a lonely gravel road. When rescue workers from In Defense of Animals’ Hope Animal Sanctuary found her, she was still waiting patiently and faithfully for someone to return.
As part of our intake procedure, Josie was tested for heartworms; Josie’s test came back positive.
Spread through the bite of mosquitoes, heartworm is a deadly parasitic disease that spreads filament like roundworms throughout a dog’s heart and lungs slowly killing the unfortunate dog over time as the worms starve the body for blood and oxygen. Heartworm is entirely preventable with easy and affordable routine monthly medications. Josie never had anyone in her life that cared enough about her long term health to get her these necessary and preventative medicines.
Every animal rescued by us is made a promise; a promise to provide those things they lacked or were previously denied: simple things like love and kindness, food and water, medicines and health care.
Josie will begin receiving a course of the drug Melarsomine which will kill the parasites living in her body as well as an antibiotic to kill bacteria associated with the worms. After finishing the drug courses, Josie will need to have her activity severely limited to prevent the dying parasitic worms from breaking apart and traveling to her lungs and potentially causing respiratory failure and death. It’s a long and costly process, but it’s all part of keeping our promises.
Your generous donation today will help to fund this expensive treatment for Josie and 31 other dogs at Hope Animal Shelter just like her. Please be as generous as you are able. Your support today will save a life.