Katie Black Labrador Retriever Female 9 Years Old ID #2663

July 10, 2020

Katie helped us welcome another Brookline alum here this week.  We are dog sitting a friend’s black lab.  It seems the “black pack” is expanding!  Of course, Katie was her lovely and welcoming self.  All four dogs get along very well.  Katie still likes to run around with Pepper while Colin and Freda just watch.  The heat has been kind of intense lately, so we’ve been shortening our walks, but Katie still loves her walks!

We have had a lot of honey bees in the yard this past week.  I found out that Katie is a flying insect huntress, even if it stings!  Somehow this girl manages to NOT get stung.  She’s really good at keeping the flies out of the house, but I would prefer if she left the poor honey bees alone.  I’m pretty sure the bees agree!

July 1, 2020

Katie is a 9-year-old female black Labrador retriever.  She is a petite purebred lab at 60lbs. She came into rescue when her owner, a farmer, passed away.  Katie was not in good shape when I met her on a chain at the farm.  She was suffering from something called pyometra.  This is an infection of the uterus.  She was rushed to a vet for emergency surgery.  She has thankfully recovered very well from her medical emergency.

A few weeks later, Katie started having a heat cycle even though she was spayed.  We did some testing and figured out she had a small ovary hiding behind her kidney.  Silly girl, that’s not where ovaries belong! She then had surgery to remove the ovary.  That surgery was a success, no more heat cycles for Katie. Then we noticed that Katie was having some difficulty breathing when she would play with other dogs.  She was diagnosed with lar par and had surgery to correct the issue.  Shortly after surgery, she got pneumonia, but we were able to successfully treat it, and Katie is now breathing well.  This girl has had her fair share of medical issues this past year, but true to her spirit, she has come through them all.  She’s an amazing dog!

Katie has adapted very well to living in a home.  She is currently living in foster care with two other labs.  She really likes our playful female lab and has no issues with our more chill male lab. She loves going on walks and lounging around the house. Katie enjoys all people and does not jump up or pull on a leash.  She’s an absolute joy to walk.  Well done Katie!

Katie is crate trained and house trained.  She is up to date on her vaccinations and spayed.  She loves her people and is what we call a “Velcro lab”.  She will follow me around the house wherever I go.  She has no issues being left when I leave, which is always nice.  She is completely trustworthy with free roam in the house too.  One of the side effects of her lar par surgery is that she cannot vocalize when she barks.  She now makes “huffs” when she barks.  It’s kind of cute and doesn’t bother her at all!

If you are looking for a sweet, friendly, easy going lab, then Katie may be just the dog for you! Please email autumndynell@gmail.com with any questions about Katie.

May 31, 2020

Well it looks like the world is slowly opening up and as such it’s time to make Katie available for adoption.  This girl has come so far and is just amazing.  She happily greets the neighbors; she loves other dogs.  She’s so well behaved, she’s often the best-behaved dog in our house!  She’s wonderful on leash and perfect in the house with free roam. She is also crate trained, but doesn’t need it.  She’s had more than her fair share of medical issues over the past year, but she has overcome them all.  She is a healthy and happy lab!  Her blood work is beautiful.  She runs and plays in the yard with Pepper and no one can believe when I tell them that she recently turned 9 years old.  She looks great!

The threat of aspiration pneumonia has long since passed.  She breathes easily and keeps up with our younger and much more energetic resident lab. She lives life to its fullest greeting each day with her foster dad and foster fur siblings.  It starts with a joyful run around the backyard with a quick potty break, happily eating her breakfast then running upstairs to say hello to me!  I prefer a much slower start to my mornings! 😉

We have absolutely loved our time with Katie.  Letting her go is going to hurt, but the reason we foster is to help dogs on their path to their forever families.  Katie is more than ready.  This will allow us to help another dog in need, and there are always more dogs in need.  So, with a lot of tears, and little excitement for Katie’s future, we will be posting this beautiful girl as available for adoption.  Is that my foster “allergies” kicking in already or are my eyes leaking?!

April 26, 2020

Katie continues to do so well here in foster care.  I cannot believe this is the girl that was in the hospital with pneumonia a few weeks ago.  She is remarkable!  She finished all of her meds, her blood work is beautiful and she is a healthy and happy girl.  The lar par surgery was a success and she breathing easily now.  This is all we ever wanted for Katie and we are so pleased for her!

Katie continues to enjoy her time with her foster siblings, especially her best fur friend Pepper.  The girls love to run around the backyard playing and chasing each other.  Katie has the cutest behavior where she nibbles Pepper all over her face.  It’s like she’s eating corn on the cob.  It’s pretty cute! She loves going on walks and since that’s one of the few things we can all do outside of the house, we’re taking lots of walks.

 

Katie sends her love and quiet tail wags to all of you.  Stay safe everyone!

April 7, 2020

Today Katie turns 9 years young!  She celebrated by having a “sundae” party with resident labs, Pepper and Colin. Pumpkin and yogurt, yummy!  Please enjoy the video of the labs enjoying their sundaes. Stay safe everyone!!

April 4, 2020

Katie was never a big barker, but one of the side effects of the lar par surgery is that the dog can no longer make barking noises.  Katie now makes the cutest little “huffs” when she wants to play with Pepper.  The last bark in the video is Pepper’s catch me if you can bark.  Enjoy!

March 31, 2020
Katie got chest x-rays today and the good news is that her lungs are clear.  No more pneumonia!  Yay for Katie!!!  The vet still wants her to do another 10 days of antibiotics to make sure she doesn’t have a recurrence.  Other than that, she’s doing so well!

She happily goes for walks.  She plays with resident lab Pepper in the house and in the yard. She naps with resident lab Colin on the couch. She loves to relax wherever I am.  She’s often napping on a dog bed behind me while I have work to do.  However, she has no problem being left alone with or without the resident dogs, which is always nice. She gets free roam in the house when we’re gone.  She’s completely trustworthy.  She is also crate trained.  She trots right into her crate when she sees her crate treats come out.  This girl is smart and pays attention and learns your routine.

I’m not sure if Katie has always had a little prey drive in her, or if resident huntress Pepper taught her.  Pepper is obsessed with squirrels! Today I had Katie on leash on the way to the car to go to the vet for her x-rays.  A squirrel went running past.  Katie tried to run after the squirrel!  The squirrel scurried under a neighbor’s fence and was gone, but that was a new one for me with Katie!

Katie will continue to heal and recover here in foster care.  Stay tuned for more updates from sweet and resilient Katie!!!

Katie continues healing in her foster home.  She is getting stronger each day.  Yesterday when it was time to take the resident dogs out for a walk, Katie really perked up.  She’s not allowed to go on big walks yet, but I took her on leash to the corner, she did really well.  Good girl Katie!  She’s happily eating and drinking.  For the first time since she was in the hospital, she picked up a Nyla bone and chewed on it yesterday.  I was so happy to see that!

Great news for Katie and all of her supporters/followers…she was released from the hospital today! She was happy to get back to her foster home and foster fur-siblings. Lots of tail wagging!

This girl is the strongest and sweetest dog. She has pulled through yet another medical issue. What a special girl she is!

She has to get daily subcutaneous antibiotic injections. Her foster dad and I will be handling that. She also has an oral antibiotic too. She will need follow up blood work to make sure her kidneys continue to function normally as that’s a concern with the one antibiotic.

I’ve been asked if Katie is prone to getting pneumonia again in the future. Just to be honest, that is truly an unknown. Her critical care doctor, Dr. Anastasio, thought it could happen. Her lar par surgeon, Dr. Sadanaga, said it is less and less likely the further from surgery she is. He believes that the meds she was on post-surgery may have upset her stomach and caused her to vomit. She’s never thrown up before, so that’s what I’m thinking too.

Right now, we’re taking it a day at time. We’re all just so pleased that Katie pulled through and is back in her foster home resting comfortably. Thank you all for the support, the comments, and the mojo for Katie. She sends everyone quiet tail wags and a gentle lab lean for a snuggle as thanks!!!

More good Katie news…she is getting better and better. She was able to go out for about a 5-minute walk today with the vet without total exhaustion. She’s able to rest comfortably in the oxygen crate, previously she was still struggling, even with oxygen support. They’re going to try weaning her off the oxygen and see how that goes. She may be able to come home tomorrow if all goes well.  So excited and happy for Katie!  She’s still got a long road to full recovery, but every step in the right direction is a celebration here.  You got this Katie!

Good news!  I just talked to Katie’s doctor. She’s improving!  Her blood oxygen levels are up. Still low, but up. She’s able to get up on her own now. She’s eating and drinking and heading in the right direction!!!

That is exactly what I needed to hear today!  Thank you to everyone for sending the well wishes and positive thoughts.  Keep fighting Katie!!! 🥊

I just spoke to Dr. Anastasio at VRC.  Unfortunately, Katie’s oxygen levels are still really, really low even with getting oxygen support and 24 hours with another antibiotic. They want to switch her to a hardcore antibiotic, amikacin.  This antibiotic can have some serious ramifications, especially on the kidneys.  However, this is her best chance at surviving the pneumonia.  He believes that she has a multi drug resistant infection.

Her foster dad and I also have experience with amikacin.  Dr. Anastasio was very pleased to hear this.  We used this drug with Pepper when she had her MRSA years ago. This was under his direction back when Pepper was going through her own medical issues.  Assuming this works, Katie would be coming home on this injectable only antibiotic. He said he won’t know for another 2-3 days.

So Katie is staying in the hospital for now.  Her oxygen levels are so low that he does not recommend we come visit.  We saw how seeing us caused her oxygen levels to drop even more yesterday when she got excited.  We want to do what is best for Katie, so no visits today.   We’re hoping tomorrow will be a better day for Katie.

Keep sending that mojo!

Foster Katie had lar par surgery last Wednesday with Dr. Sadanaga.  She woke up this morning in distress.  We made the decision, with support from our president Marie, to take her to VRC.

Unfortunately, what we suspected has happened.  Katie aspirated, very quietly in the middle of the night.  They x-rayed her chest.  She has aspiration pneumonia in her right lung.  They believe she was laying on her right side when it happened.  They have admitted Katie to ICU.  She is in an oxygen crate, as her oxygen levels are critically low.

They are going to be giving her meds by iv, getting fluids into her and starting her on another antibiotic for the pneumonia specifically.  There are no guarantees when it comes to pneumonia, but we’re hopeful that Katie, who has proven herself a fighter numerous times before, will fight through this issue too.

Due to the coronavirus outbreak, they are not allowing any visitors for regular hospital patients at VRC.  However, ICU patients are allowed one visit per day for maximum 10 minutes.  They let us go back and see her before we left.  Unfortunately, she got excited when she saw us and it made her oxygen levels drop.  So, we got ushered out pretty quickly.  We only want what is best for Katie.  So, we’re in a wait and see pattern right now.

Poor Katie, it broke my heart to see her in such distress this morning.  Please keep Katie in your thoughts and send some of that Brookline mojo.  This sweet girl sure could use it.

Sweet, sweet Katie was picked up today from the vet hospital after her lar par surgery.  She now joins foster Cooper in the naked neck club. Dr. Sadanaga is an amazing surgeon, but his “hair cutting” skills may need some work! 😉

Katie was happy to get home, and she showed her appreciation by giving us a nice pee and poop outside on leash.  Yay!  It the little things post-surgery that we celebrate.  She has had her dinner, soaked kibble, and her evening meds.  She has quite the assortment of medications, but we’re used to this and have a routine.  It did involve a pat of butter to get the last of the pills down, but all is good now.

We have some protocols to follow to ensure Katie does not get the dreaded aspiration pneumonia.  Her foster dad has volunteered to sleep downstairs with Katie and keep an eye, or an ear, on her tonight.  We’re all hoping for a quiet slow and steady breathing night.

Thank you to everyone that sent well wishes Katie’s way. She’s currently resting comfortably with her foster fur siblings.  She’s on the road to recovery and breathing easy from here on out!

Foster Katie (on left) spent some time at Bethany beach with Brookline.

alums Colin (middle) and Pepper (right). They loved feeling the wind
in their ears!  The also really enjoyed all the smells, especially the
horseshoe crab shells that were washed up.  Such fun smells for a lab!
Pepper liked splashing in the tidal pools.  Colin and Katie were more
civilized than that! They’re all loving this spring like weather.

 

Katie continues to enjoy her time in foster care awaiting her lar par surgery, which is scheduled for March 11th.  She is often found snoozing on the couch, but she still needs to be invited onto the couch if you’re in the room.  She’s so polite!

She is now doing the stairs, with encouragement and with a leash, but still, that’s progress!  We had a recent outing to the beach. It’s so nice in the off season. The “black pack”, as I’ve taken to calling them, Pepper, Colin and Katie enjoyed a nice walk on the beach.

First the good news, Katie is now discharge free!  That’s right, the latest surgery was a success and Katie is now happily living fancy pants free.  No more ovaries, no more heat cycles, no more discharge!!! Katie’s surgeon and I celebrated that success this week.  So happy for Katie girl!

Now, the not as good news.  I have been noticing that Katie is having some difficulty breathing, especially when she gets excited or is playing with resident lab Pepper. We went to see our favorite surgical wizard, Dr. Sadanaga this week.  He confirmed what I was thinking.  Katie has the beginning of laryngeal paralysis, or lar par for short.  You can read more about it here:    https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/laryngeal-paralysis-in-dogs

Dr. Sadanaga has been doing a very specific surgical lar par repair on dogs for over 20 years now.  He is confident that Katie will live a long and healthy life once she recovers from the surgery.  Her surgery is scheduled for 3/11/20, so Katie will be spending a little more time with her foster family.  That’s ok, we adore Katie and only want what is best for her.

Katie continues to be a pure joy here.  She gets along wonderfully with our resident labs.

She is a pleasure to walk on leash.  We only use a harness with all of our dogs, but that is especially important given Katie’s lar par.  She is crate trained, house trained and loves to curl up on the couch if you invite her.  She’s a pretty easy-going girl.  Everyone at the vet’s office love her because she’s so easy to handle.

 

Katie sends love and quiet tail wags to everyone!

Katie is about a week and a half past her surgery.  She is healing well and being so compliant when she has to wear the cone. She’s such a good girl!  She has a recheck with her surgeon later this week.  She will also get her stitches out then.  We’re all looking forward to putting the cone away after that!

Katie helped us welcome foster Sydney here last week.  Sydney is staying with us while her foster parents are away.  Katie adores Sydney.  They’re both former farm girls, so maybe they speak the same language.  I know they’re both very sweet!

Unfortunately Sydney had some kennel cough when she came, which was unknown and asymptomatic at the time.  Since it is very contagious, basically a doggy cold, it has swept through the house.  I have 3 dogs with kennel cough here now.  Foster Sydney, Foster Katie and resident Colin all have it.   Resident Pepper is still holding strong!  We’ve got some antibiotics, some cough tabs, some honey to soothe their throats, and lots of humidity and rest.  I think they’re all heading in the right direction as I’m cleaning up less mucous which is a good thing for so many reasons!

Katie had her surgery today to remove the ovarian remnants that were floating in her body.  The vet spent a long time in there making sure she got all the ovarian tissue out. We will know more in about 2 weeks when she goes for her follow up vet visit.  We are hoping that this will be the end of Katie’s reproductive issues.  She really deserves that!

Katie handled the surgery well and is back in foster care tonight.  She’s still pretty sleepy, but she’s tucked in and resting comfortably.  I offered Katie a small meal a little bit ago.  She turned her nose up at it.  However, she did take a piece of her favorite treat, Trader Joe’s beef jerky strips. She’s no fool!  If she doesn’t eat tonight, I will not be surprised.  I’m hopeful that tomorrow she will be feeling better and more than willing to eat her food, like the good lab she is.

I have resident labs, Pepper and Colin gated away from Katie to allow her to rest without her “helpful” friends getting in the way.  Pepper and Colin are sitting at the gate whining that it isn’t fair and they should be allowed to help with the nursing duties.  Nice try friends!

We plan on a quiet night in.  Katie’s foster dad will be sleeping downstairs with her tonight just to keep an eye, or at least an ear on her. Thanks for the well wishes and Katie sends her love and thanks too.  Well, she would if she were awake enough to send them!

Katie has been having some ongoing medical issues with her adoptive family.  They made the difficult decision to return her to rescue to allow us to get Katie’s medical issues figured out.  Katie came back to her foster family this week and was reintroduced to her foster fur-siblings, Pepper and Colin.  It’s like they were never apart.  They all slid right back into their routine.  Good dogs!

Katie saw the doctor at Penn Vet this week.  They gave her a thorough check up and did some testing including an ultrasound.  It seems Katie has a floating ovary, which is pretty rare.  This is causing her body to believe it is in heat, including discharge, even though she has been spayed.  They were able to locate the small ovary hiding behind her right kidney.  That’s the good news.  The not so good news is that Katie will have to have another surgery to remove the floating ovary.  Katie has her surgery scheduled for Friday 1/17/20.

Katie is still her happy self here, other than having to wear her “fancy pants”.  She’s a good sport about them though, she’s such an easy-going girl in general.  She adores Pepper and running around the backyard with her.  She and Colin enjoy snoozing on the couch together.  They all love their walks too.

Stay tuned for Katie’s updates and progress and send some positive thoughts for her upcoming surgery.  Katie sends her love and licks to all!!