| KAYLA |
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| Kayla is my special rescue girl. Following the death of my beloved Chipper at the age of 19 years, little Kassie was very lonely and took to hiding under the bed. Three months after Chippie passed away my husband and I went to the SPCA to acquire a companion for Kassie, one that would be her size, or so we intended. We looked at quite a few dogs there that day but nothing "drew" me to any of them. I then felt a pair of eyes on me. Looking to the back of the holding area I saw this rather dedraggled black and tan dog. I felt as if my eyes had locked with hers. I asked the attendant to bring her out to which she gave me a funny look as if to say, are you sure. This little dogs, who couldn't have been anymore than 3-4 months old staggered over with her tail between her legs. The attendant moved us into another penned area. My husband squatted and called her over to which she reluctantly came and when she got closed to him she trembled and emptied her bladder. My heart just broke to see this and I called her to me which she promptly came and put her head under my arm pit. I'll take her I said. We completed the preliminary adoption forms, they asked it I had a regular vet that they could call and then they would organise a home visit. They spoke to my vet then came back and said they would not need to do the home visit, my vet had given me a 100% guarantee as a suitable owneer. The attendant gave us the history of this little dog, saying that she had been found on their steps about 4 weeks previously, in an extremely bad state with quite a few fractures. Her jaw had been broken. Several of her teeth had been kicked out and she had injuries over her face which were consistent to being hit with a wire brush. Her skin was not in the best of condition and her coat was coarse and dull. There was a large dent in the top of her head which was the result of one of her injuries. There was a bald spot where this area had healed. They asked if I was sure I wanted her. Yes.... We took her home. This quiet, expressionless battered baby. On leaving the attendant said that this was her lucky day. She had been scheduled to be put to sleep the following morning. Her injuries slowly healed. A few more of her teeth had to be removed that had been broken. She now has no upper canines but still enjoys her food. The hole in her head had surgery to it and she now has a fine line where the scar was and no bald patch anymore. Her skin condition required steroid treatment to get it better resulting in her putting on a lot of weight. I then put her on a diet and she came runner up in the Hills Science Diet, Slimmer of the Year contest in 1998. Losing an incredible 41% of her body weight. With a lot of work, patience and love, Kayla (as we named her) began to enjoy life, competing in agility and flygility in which she did well. She had obedience training though did not compete due to her never being comfortable in the closeness required for competition obedience, but she learnt her manners well and enjoyed recreational tracking also. Her agility career came to a sudden halt after she sustained an injury to her back and xrays showed that she had spondylitis of her spine. She still does agility for fun, at the lower heights, avoiding longs jumps and anything that could aggravate her condition. The amazing thing was that at her first vet check after bringing her home, we established that her age would have been about 3.5months and counting back that many days, she was born on the day that dear old Chipper died. Kayla was really meant to be for us. |
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