Rescue Reba

Reba came into our lives July 2013 after being rescued from a kill shelter in Austin, TX. She was rescued by Texas Sled Dog Rescue and was first placed into medical care in College Station, TX for two months before coming into our home.

Reba is a 5 yr old wooly Siberian Husky. She was used as a breeder dog her entire 5 years of life, kept in a crate 24/7 and forced to have litter after litter for her ‘owner’ to sell and make money. Not once was Reba ever shown any human emotion nor treated like any loving pet should be treated. She was kenneled and de-barked her entire life until last May 2013. She never knew what it was to be held, kissed, petted, played with or even knew what a walk on a leash was about. She was in such horrible condition emotionally, physically and mentally.

When rescue took her in, she had UTI, Glaucoma, fatty tissue they originally thought could have been a benign tumor and thyroid issues. When her spay was done, they literally had to keep stopping the surgery just to suck the fat out because this girl had never even been walked on a leash prior and probably didn’t know what it felt like to touch her pads to grass and road.

It was clear Reba was going to need a lot of work not only physically but mentally as well. She was so frightened of everything-every noise, smell, object and even touch she was scared and hunched down in fright. She did not trust people but yet she remained docile in every way. We took the challenge to rehab

foster her and we’ve had her for about 7 months now and just recently she lost her battle to primary glaucoma and had to get both eyes removed surgically.

She had always had issues with her eyes and it was very expensive and tricky to keep her pressures down and numbers low. Her left eye was already completely blind when she first came to us but still had vision in her right eye. Until last Friday when we took her out for her routine evening walk, we noticed a difference in her posture and she was literally bumping into everything as before she never had. Soon as I realized what happened, my heart sank for her because I knew glaucoma had taken the last of her vision.

We took her the next day to the vet for testing, left her there for several hours only to get a phone call in the afternoon that there was nothing left to be done-her numbers weren’t going down and it was confirmed she was officially blind in both eyes. She had lost her battle with primary glaucoma.

We scheduled her surgery 4 days later to have both of her eyes removed and this will be a first for us to have to deal with. She had just gotten so use to us, made so much progress since being with us and now this is another hurdle she will have to adjust to with us as well. Reba is also currently on Prozac and Xanex twice a day just so she can be a semi normal dog and with the meds and our progress the last 7 months she has made huge strides since first arriving into our home.

She recently began her puppy stage as she’s been destroying every stuffie and squeaking her toys every night late. She’s even woo’d probably for the first time in a long time not too long ago. She was doing so awesome and then this happened. We just hope we are able to help her adjust to this as well as we helped her adjust to us from the beginning. Having never had a blind dog before, this will be very new for us and why we seek out advice or help from others who have gone through this similar situation. Thank you-Celia