Snowflake Shih Tzu & Poodle Mix Homer Glen, IL

Snowflake is an adorable 12 pound silver haired female Shih-Poo (Shih Tzu Poodle mix), possibly 2 to 3-years-old. She has the sweetest personality and will curl up in your arms and plant little kisses on your face or tear around the house chasing a companion dog or tossing a fuzzy squeak toy. Leash trained, quiet, loving, friendly and playful, she has no problem with confinement but prefers to be around people or another small dog. Snowflake is house trained to a doggy door so she will need time and patience learning to adjust to your home and schedule. An amazing pet, a true delight that can light up the room merely by entering it. Although her start in life may have been sad (her story appears below), Snowflake is now a normal, healthy, well adjusted youngster looking forward to a long life in the loving arms and comfortable home of a caring and tender family. You will find the procedure for adopting Snowflake and where and when you can meet this darling girl on our home page http:// straes.petfinder.org . . . . . .

Snowflakes story: Snowflake was held as a stray by the police for about a month. She was then turned over to a holding shelter where she lived for another week. When we picked her up she was a mess of matted hair and it wasn’t possible to really know what condition she was in. We dropped her off at the vet for a shave down, exam, vaccines, etc. Through a series of regrettable veterinary oversights, Snowflake was opened for spay surgery. The vet noted “the dog has a large stomach but no uterus” and closed her up proclaiming the dog was already spayed! Unfortunately, Snowflake wasn’t spayed, she was, in fact, very pregnant and as a result of the poorly performed surgery, Snowflake was left with a body wall hernia of the suture line and protruding uterus; the head of one of the pups was caught in the hernia. Snowflake also had pneumonia, which the vet failed to notice. One week later, late Thanksgiving eve, Snowflake was rushed to the emergency veterinary clinic because she was having trouble breathing and her stomach was swelling and very hard. The emergency vet diagnosed Snowflake with significant pneumonia (her lungs were full of fluid) severe anemia and her life was endangered by the pressure of the stuck puppy. Snowflake underwent an immediate C-section and spay. Her five puppies were delivered alive, but all died over the course of three days. We believe the puppies would have lived if Snowflake had been properly diagnosed by the initial vet and allowed to deliver her pups naturally. Snowflake was a very good mommy and the loss of each puppy pushed her more deeply into depression. With marked anxiety, following the death of the last puppy, Snowflake was given antidepressants. When I picked her up at the hospital the afternoon following the death of the last puppy, even with the medication, she was very upset because she was leaving without her babies. Snowflake cried all the way home (I cried too). When she arrived at the Safehouse, she insisted on searching for her pups until she was completely exhausted. Snowflake was seriously underweight and her depression caused lethargy and loss of appetite and she was still suffering from pneumonia and anemia. Fortunately, the resilience of youth plus eight weeks of rest and antibiotics and lots and lots of love have resulted in complete recovery.