Success Stories

Margie, September, 2000

Margie was spotted in the Ashtabula, Ohio shelter by a woman who does Dalmatian rescue. She contacted Lake Eric Labrador Retriever Rescue thinking Margie was a Chesapeake Bay Retriever. A volunteer with LELR went to the shelter to look at Margie and knew right away that this two year old girl was a chocolate Lab - a very nice Lab!

She rescued Margie from the shelter and decided to foster her. Margie was doing fine the first two days in foster care but on the third day she refused to eat. Later that day, Margie started drinking lots of water but could not keep it down. She got worse the next day so her foster mom took her to see her vet; she was worried that Margie might have Parvo. The Parvo test was negative but Margie had to stay at the clinic for a week for treatment. After she was feeling better, she was sent home.

Margie had also been tested for heartworm and that test was positive. Now Margie had to undergo heartworm treatment. But she was coughing a little and her foster mom and the vet thought it best to x-ray her chest to check how far the infestation had advanced. Margie's lungs and heart looked good, so the cough probably had a different cause. By the time the x-rays were done, Margie wasn't coughing any more and had recovered from her intestinal problems so the heartworm treatment was started.

Margie's foster mom had contacted LABMED about help with Margie's medical expenses. LABMED had to wait for the x-rays to be taken before being able to make a decision but since those showed no problems, we were happy to fund both the hospital stay for the gastro-intestinal problems and the heartworm treatment.

The active Lab responded well to the heartworm treatment; her foster mom told us that she has also calmed down quite a bit and isn't barking as much as when she first came to her foster home. Margie will have to be kept quite inactive for a few weeks now but after the recuperation period she will be able to go back to the things she loves the most - water and chasing her Kong toy.