#FightLikeAPearl 2nd Release

As some of you may have known, our little bully girl, Pearl, has had many obstacles to overcome in her life. Before joining our family, she was not well cared for, and her health suffered horribly. By the age of one, Pearl had a whole litter of puppies pass away in utero.

Abandoned at a rural veterinarian, Pearl’s tiny body was almost completely septic. The kind doctors and nurses saw Pearly’s fighting spirit and sweet nature, and fought tirelessly toward recovery. Though the odds were stacked against her, Pearl survived.

Proudly displaying a body-long scar, Pearl slowly began to recover. She not only had battle medical issues, but Pearl was also very depressed over the loss of her babies. The staff new something hadto be done to ease the poor girl’s spirits. Miraculously, the answer presented itself soon thereafter. Anoter tragey at thvet ha left a new itter of pupies without a mother. Pearl’s maternal instincts kicked right in. She nursed the litter to health; nursing and healing her spirit in the process.

Pearl came to us as foster from LoveMuttsRescue in Raleigh, NC about a month following her surgery. She was recovering from her surgery incisions, but also suffered from stress related mange which made most of her fur fall out. The bald, pink, Pearly had to be carried up and down stairs, and was cautious, but desperate for love. As time went on, Pearly became the crazy, loud, and treat-obsessed baby that made us proud to be called “foster failures!”

About a year later, we noticed that Pearl was beginning to lose significant amounts of weight. This observation marked the beginning of our endless quest for answers. While our girl battled through various health issues, we sought out second, third, and fourth opinions. Each veterinarian gave us a different diagnosis, prognosis, diets and medications. Some of the medications worked for a while, but shortly after, the negative symptoms would return. This went on for about 8 months. Pearl was now down from her typical weight of around 45 lbs, to 28 lbs. She had very little energy, but kept her sweet nature. Her tail kept wagging through it all.

We decided to stop looking to local vets, and in the beginning of April, we had Pearl admitted to the NC State Veterinary Hospital in the ICU. We were blown away by the dedication, attention, and love the staf at NC Stat gave our faily. They imediately begn testing, ad were soon able to correctly diagnose Pearl’s condition as Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency (EPI). Pearl also had hookworms, anemia, an eye infection, and associated ailments. Pearl stayed in the ICU for six days. We came to the visiting hours around the clock. Our admiration for the staff at NC State is incomparable. We were so lucky to be able to place our baby in the hands of people we think of as our heroes. On 4/10/16, we were able to bring Pearl on her “freedom ride” home. Her fellow four legged brothers and sister were thrilled to have our family back together again. Unfortunately Pearl wasnt quite ready to heal on her own yet, and stopped eating her food to let us know she needed help.  After only 5 short days at home she was back in the ICU, where we found out that her tiny body was once again septic, but Pearl refused to give up. With the help of the doctors and staff, that we now consider family, she regained her strength and overcame the odds once again.  The road from here is long and uphill, but Pearl pushes on.

Pearl's fight and will to live is remarkabe to say the least.  We owe it to her to keep fighting just as hard and give her every opportunity to keep moving forward.  We can all learn from this little girl who's tail has never topped working, in spite of everything else seeming to do so.  We should all strive to #FightLikeAPearl