Meet Kokopelli: My Dog Who Was Once Hospice

Dear Isaac, Maia, and Virtual Wanderers,

Where do I even start to tell you about my precious and mischievous Kokopelli (Koko)? When I lost Sazi in March, I was beside myself with grief and decided to look for a new specisl needs rescue dog (that looked different from her) to help me to heal.

I applied at Harley’s House of Dreams because I’ve followed them for years and love their work against puppy mills. I was picky about what I wanted (another IVDD dog), but when Kokopelli came up just days after I applied, she grew on me. Hospice – 6-12 months lifespan predicted.

Well, she looked different than Sazi and maybe showing her some quality life after living in a hoard of 89 dogs would help me heal my grief. She had a bad heart murmur and was severely underweight with mange and giardia. She was unspayed and had bilateral perineal hernias at age 12. A couple days before I was scheduled to drive 600 miles round trip to pick her up, an echocardiogram cleared her for surgery.

It was decided initially just to do the dental and spay – the shelter would pay my vet. She was old and tired, and perineal hernia repair is intense. But, Koko stated to feel better in foster and just kept perking up. The subject of hernia repair came up again and after much research and contemplation, the rescue and I decided to proceed.

I sought out a board certified vetrinary surgeon in Carbondale because the hernias have a high failure rate and surgical expertise with the procedure matters. Kokopelli was under anesthesia for 3 hours to be spayed, have perineal and umbilical hernias repaired, have her bladder tacked in place, and have 2 huge ovarian cysts removed. I held my breath on recovery, but she was a good crate rest patient and Sazi taught me a lot about managing a dog on rest.

I adopted her on April 10th and she had surgery in mid May. She was on strict crate rest until stitches came out in 2 weeks. Then, over 3 months, she gradually worked up from a crate to hiking 3-5 miles.

She is so fun and living her best life. She is primarily Japanese Chin and Chihuahua per DNA – so she can be a willful little imp. She has nearly finished obedience training classes. I guess she didn’t get the memo about dying.