The recent story about beautiful Bailey the little handicapped Pomeranian has led me to write about my own ‘challenged’ little dog.
Her name is Sugarmouse and she is 10 months old. She came to us just a few months ago. Dirty, bedraggled, very, very frightened and suffering from distemper. Fortunately her symptoms were mild and she recovered quickly. While she was extremely fortunate to survive, this truly horrific disease left it’s mark as she sustained damage to her central nervous system. Her limbs jerk and twitch constantly. Her head nods and when she sleeps she wheezes as the muscle contractions force the breath from her little body. For the majority of dogs in this condition, it is often kinder to euthanize. Sugarmouse however, loves life. She plays, she wrestles and she runs up and down the stairs at hyper speed. Because her body is in constant motion with never a moment of rest, I don’t quite understand why she isn’t tired all the time. She is, however a bundle of energy. She is very wary of strangers and for the moment her love is restricted to her immediate family – myself, Andy and Adam – and puppies, she LOVES puppies!
As her condition and her selective affection were obviously going to make it hard to re-home her, I made the decision to adopt her for myself. Our love is mutual and when I am home she is never far from my side.
Her condition may shorten her life and she may not be with me for very long but for now we are happy just to be in each others company.
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She is a cutie.
She really does look like a ‘Sugarmouse’! She’s adorable.