NOTE* Dahlia was originally named Princessa, I called her Cleo to avoid confusion. She was later named Dahlia and the name has since stuck

Dropping off Mr Iru I found this little girl. She was at the foster home that accepted Mr Iru. Good people, however this little doggie is in bad shape. She’s was clearlt not ok, she smelt like poop, her gums were white, her bones were showing and her ears were full of ticks.

I negotiated with them. Either they pay for the erlichia treatment and I would go and get it or they gave her to me and I would take care of everything. The decision was clear for them. They cared enough to let her go. I bundled her into the car and of we went to Intensivet. On the way she vomited twice and pooped once. I scooped up the poop for a sample.

I started looking for help with a foster and donations right away. Courtney volunteered to help as a foster. Although she was all the way out in Huacas I figured we'd find a way to get her there. Lisa saw the post and saved the day as seems to be a habit these days. She said that she had a trip planned up to Guanacaste on Thursday and she would gladly take Cleo to her foster mom!

At the vet they started with some tests. The good news is she was parvo and giardia negative. The bad news is she has advanced erlichia and all kinds of internal and external parasites. Exactly which ones we are not sure yet. Her ears were full of ticks and she was dehydrated. So was booked into the hospital on an IV.

14th of June

Cleo is in bad shape. The problem is that she’s been in bad shape for too long and her body doesn’t seem to be able to regenerate the red and white blood cells she needs to recover properly. The vet called me today and explained that the ideal way forward would be a blood transfusion and a couple more nights in the hospital. She knows that Cleo is a rescue and that finances may be an issue but said in about 2 days they’d know for sure if she’d need it for survival.

The extra days in hospital plus the infusion has more than doubled the bill from 126,000 to 295,000. Unless there is someone who really really wants to help out, my only option is really to let things play out and see if she will pull through on her own. Within a few hours I was contacted directly by Sheryl offering to pay whatever Cleo needed. I called the vet right away and they contacted me at 4pm the same afternoon to let me know that the transfusion had started and that she had not had a negative reaction to it.

15th of June

Cleo’s blood transfusion was a success. Her poop is going back to normal, she’s eating and seems to be on the mend! They plan to discharge her by tomorrow, just in time for her road trip on Thursday.

Courtney offered to foster Cleo and the ever amazing Lisa drove her up to Huacas. Cleo fit in wonderfully, playing with the children and living ehr best life until Courtney's husband was called back to work in the United States. The family left with very little notice bringing little Cleo, who they had now named Dahlia, back to me. Patty agreed to foster Dahlia knowing that I had a full house, and so begun a new phase for Dahlia.

The first 2 days at Patty's house were trying. Patty would let Dahlia in and right away she would urinate in the couch despite being outside for ages. This is a very typical sign of a urinary tract infection. Patty had a sachet of Fosfomycin on hand and after some quick research determined it could be given to dogs. She gave Dahlia this medicine and she was a different dog. Her desire to eat become stronger, she stopped urinating inside and started picking up weight fast. The foul breath went away slowly but surely.

When Patty was unable to continue fostering dahlia, she brought her here where the weight gain continued and Dahlia grew into a fairly large dog.