Tyra is a beautiful 9-year old husky girl who came to Homes for Huskies Rescue Inc, blind, and in awful condition after a distressing, neglected life.
We made her a promise that she would have whatever she needed and she would never suffer again and we are keeping that promise.
In late 2020 Tyra had a very successful surgery on her eyes after an intensive fundraising effort that raised an incredible $4,343.12 towards Tyra’s care and vet bills. Tyra’s carer wanted to share her story.
So how do you become a foster carer for a husky? Quite unexpectedly as it turns out!
Earlier this year (before Covid) my family and I were trying to adopt a dog. We weren’t breed specific but looking at the older rescue dogs as I felt that they might have difficulty finding forever homes. We applied to adopt a husky but it wasn’t meant to be.
A couple of months later I got an email from Homes for Huskies asking if I was still interested in adopting an older dog as they urgently needed a foster carer for a 9 year old badly neglected surrendered dog. Initially we were advised that all that was required was putting on weight, getting de-sexed and for her flystrike ears to heal so I said I would give it a go.
After the yard check, we needed to do some remedial work to put down wire mesh along the fence and move the wood pile to prevent opportunities for escape! Then I went to collect Tyra.
Oh dear! This poor girl was in a very bad way. You could see her ribs, her nails were overgrown, she had very bad fly strike ears and looked very tense and stressed. I suspected she had eyesight problems too as she kept bumping into things as she walked around and found it very hard to negotiate the steps.
After her visit to the Vet we discovered that she had diabetes and cataracts, so essentially she was blind, as well as only weighing 14.5Kgs.
I was very overwhelmed with all the information and our family were quite distressed by her condition as she is such a gentle soul. Then the rollercoaster of emotions started from the lows where she was so lethargic she couldn’t even walk 100m to going for her de-sexing operation but requiring a blood transfusion afterwards and then having to stay at the vets for the entire weekend.
However, the highs were so good from little things like when she first wagged her tail or started gaining weight and chatting to us; to the transformation of a completely new dog after she had her eye surgery and is now able to go for 5km walks where she tries to say hello to as many people as she can! And no more bumping into things!! Tyra has needed lots of Vet appointments, love and attention not to mention a 100% increase in my veterinary skills.
So, I went from having no dog to one where I inject her twice daily with insulin, monitor and record her water intake plus check the glucose in her urine, weigh her weekly and recently learned how to take bloods to do a glucose curve!!
Throughout all of this, the support from the Homes for Huskies team has been fantastic from weekly check-ins via messenger to phone calls to setting up a Facebook support group for foster carers with diabetic dog experience.
I have definitely felt part of the group and felt appreciated for the time and effort that is needed to get a very neglected husky back to health. Has it been worth it?
Well, when her little personality starts to shine through, her tail starts wagging and she starts having a chat with you as well as jumping up on the couch demanding pats and belly rubs and showering you with kisses – you absolutely know you have done the right thing.
