Half Way Home

Excitement and stress combined the day Sundae was picked up along with two others for transport to another boarding facility in Kansas City. Sundae loves to go for car rides, and a car ride to her this time meant getting out of boarding and possibly on to something better. She was happy for the first time in 28 days. The excitement caused her cough to worsen, but she didn't care. She was filled with anticipation. What Sundae didn't, and couldn't know, was that a critical driver had cancelled at the last minute due to her own dogs health problems. We had just a few hours to find a replacement or Sundae and the other two dogs would be stranded in Kentucky.

The stress was starting to take its tole on us, and on Sundae as well. Sundae had traveled 291 miles that first day, over 5 hours in several different vehicles, being handed off to someone new at each stop. She had no time to relax, to survey her surroundings, and get to know the new people helping her before she was handed to the next person. She was tired, sick, and nervous. She arrived in Kentucky and was given a clean, spacious kennel to rest in over night. While she rested we continued to search for a replacement driver. Once again it looked like hope was lost, morning came and the transport was stuck.

Sundae and the others needed a miracle, no driver had been found and the transport could not go any further without one. Sometime after the dogs should have been on their way to Kansas City our miracle was found. The driver who had cancelled called to say she could do her portion of the drive once again! Although behind schedule, the dogs were moving again! Over 7 hours later, and several hand offs along the way, Sundae and the others made it to a wonderful boarding facility in Kansas City.

Sundae was understandably uneasy about the new facility. She had traveled a great distance just to be kenneled once again. In her eyes there was no improvement in life. Another kennel, and more barking dogs, and this after 2 days in different vehicles with different people. This time however, we knew she had a way to get to us, we just didn't know when. She was on the list to get on a very special transport from Kansas City to Denver, a transport that saves hundreds of homeless dogs every month. We were ecstatic! She was going to make it here to safety soon.

10 days later Sundae was even more depressed. No matter what the kennel staff did to try to make her comfortable she would not improve. Her coat became brittle and dry, and her cough much worse. She weighed only 8 pounds now and was still declining rapidly. Sundae had lost 40% of her body weight in the last 38 days. She couldn't keep it up much longer, if she continued to decline she wouldn't survive. Her muscle mass was gone, her ribs had no covering other than skin, and her pelvic and shoulder bones protruded. How much longer would she have before it was too late? Could she continue to hang in there just a few more days?