My name is Midnight!

12/20:09: Midnight is recovering from surgery, she experienced a great ammount of post-op pain from this past surgery, more information soon.

12/15/09: Another Surgery For Midnight

Poor Midnight has had some grueling surgeries in the past and still has another one scheduled for Tuesday, Dec 15th. She had a list of surgical procedures that needed to be addressed when she initially came into rescue, and the medical experts felt it best to stagger the operations. The doctors did not want to subject her body to multiple traumas all at one time.

This latest surgery will involve the doctors evaluating Midnight’s injured eye to determine whether it is best to remove the “dead eye” completely or just the eye lashes, which are turning inward and irritating her cornea. They will also access her broken tooth which will have to be carefully removed because of the severity of the previous injury to her jaw. In addition, if all goes well, they will remove two masses from her upper body which will need to be biopsied.

Throughout this long and drawn out healing process Midnight has been a perfect angel. Midnight never complains or shows any signs of aggression, even after she has been poked, prodded and handled by strangers. She is an extraordinarily trusting soul that seems to understand that the end result will be worth her endurance. Her foster mom has nothing but praise for this angel girl and knows whoever is blessed to adopt her will find a lifetime of happiness with a loving companion.

However, with all this good come the costs. NBR is incurring staggering bills for all the medical procedures that Midnight requires. We know many families are also struggling in this economic downturn and we are grateful for any donation to help with Midnight’s special medical expenses.



11/30/09: This survivor is not out of the woods yet, more surgeries to come - update posting shortly. Please consider making a donation in Midnight's name.

11/02/09: Midnight’s Ability To Heal Never Ceases To Amaze

Midnight is almost fully recovered from the tragic beating she endured over two months ago. On October 22 I noticed that one of her wires (holding her jaw together) was coming up a bit. I contacted her Orthopedic Surgeon who recommended that I bring her in the next day to have her checked out.

The wires in Midnight’s jaw were not due to come out until November 27 so I was a little nervous. Low and behold when I took her in the Vet took some x-rays and came back and said that her jaw was completely healed and that the wires were ready to be removed.

The procedure was done the same day and it went well. Everyone was absolutely amazed how quickly Midnight has healed. The vet suggested that I continue to feed her soft food for the next 3 days which I did. I then switched her over to regular dog food (soaked in hot water) and she has been doing excellent.

Midnight still has several surgical procedures left to go. Due to the severe damage that was done to her right eye (her eye is basically dead), the eyelid is collapsing into the socket which is causing her eyelashes to irritate her eye tissue. Obviously this is not comfortable for the poor little girl. She will need to have her eyelashes removed or her eyelids adjusted.

She also has a broken tooth that was caused by the beating. This tooth will need to be very carefully removed as not to hurt her fragile jaw. In addition, Midnight has 2 lumps along her spine that will most likely need to be removed and biopsied just to be safe, and last but not least she is now healthy enough to be spayed.

So, as you can see we are still in desperate need of donations to cover the cost of her medical bills. Midnight has such a wonderful tenacity for life and is finally getting a chance to live the life she deserves.

We would like to thank everyone for their prayers and donations up to this point. We could not have saved this little miracle girl without the help of each and every one of you!

10/09/09: MIDNIGHT'S EYE IS HER BADGE OF HONOR

Midnight went for her follow-up examination and x-rays. Everyone at the vet hospital was thrilled to see her and they were in awe of how great she looks. The orthopedic specialist was pleased with the results of the x-rays and felt her bones were healing well. There was only one small section of jaw bone that still needs to heal.

For the next six weeks Midnight will need to be kept on soft foods and her foster mom will need to be extra careful that none of her activities put too much pressure on the jaw. This will include not chewing on hard objects such as bones or pulling tug toys. The doctor explained, “anything that tugs on a dog’s jaw can be harmful...this pertains to ALL dogs”.

In eight weeks Midnight will return to the hospital to have the wires removed from her jaw and she will also be scheduled to be spayed at the same time. The doctor will also re-examine the broken tooth that could not be extracted when the jaw was being repaired (because it would have caused more instability of the bones). Midnight also has a small lump on her chest which will be surgically removed and biopsied during the surgery.

Midnight once again had her eye examined. The eye does not look much better and it has a small discharge which is being treated with antibiotics twice a day. The doctor felt that as long as Midnight's eye does not bother her it is not something to worry about. Her eye may not look very appealing, however it is mostly cosmetic. We feel she has been through enough trauma and we will not put her through another surgery that is unnecessary. We see her eye as a badge of honor for what she has endured these past months. She is a true champion.

Again, our heartfelt thanks go out to Bianca and Scott, Midnight’s foster parents, for their vigilant care and compassion. Midnight is starting to act like a puppy; she is now happy and enjoying life.

We appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers but we still need your help. Midnight's medical care has surpassed $5000 and she has at least two more surgeries to endure.


09/28/09:
Update from Midnight's Foster Mom (new pictures coming soon)

“Midnight had her staples removed. The incision site where they went in to repair her jaw has healed beautifully. A few days after her staples were removed we decided it was time to introduce her to our three boxers; two male and one female. They had been checking each other out for weeks through a baby gate. We started with our female. Midnight instantly wanted to play. Ella was a bit apprehensive and let Midnight do her inspection. Next it was our oldest boy Gemini. He simply laid on the floor. And last, it was Oscar’s turn. They immediately took a liking to each other
and wanted to play. We spent the next days carefully watching them to make sure that no one got into a little tiff. They never did. In fact, they acted as though they had always been together. There are no signs, whatsoever, of any aggression.

This past week has been crazy (in a good way). Midnight is full of Puppy Power! It is obvious that she is feeling better. It has been a task, to say the least, preventing her from playing tug of war and getting into things such as shoes, dirty clothes etc.

Midnight is a remarkable little girl. She has alot of energy and I believe she would do best with a family that does not have small children. She will surely need a big fenced yard to burn off some of that excess energy and another dog in the home would probably be a plus. Midnight does not like the crate nor does she like to be left alone; she is just like Velcro! Placing her with a family that has someone home for the better part of the day would be ideal.

Midnight is due for a followup visit on October 2nd, which is when they will take some x-rays to see how her jaw is healing. Also, although Midnight’s eye does not seem to bother her, it does not look good at all. The eyelid is starting to cave in a bit. An appointment will be made to assess this situation also.”



08/31/09:
SO FAR SO GOOD FOR LUCKY LADY MIDNIGHT

Midnight had been at the Emergency Hospital receiving 24 hour care for several days, and she was stable enough to return to the care of the doctor who saved her life.

Her condition has continued to improve and she is feeling much better. She was able to be taken off all intravenous medication and fluids and is now able to be maintained with oral medication. She is drinking fluids on her own and is able to eat food that is prepared as a watery gruel. The best news is that the tube inserted in Midnight’s chest to relieve the build-up of air pressure was able to be removed, and she is breathing much better.

Medical attention has now been focused on Midnight’s broken jaw. The doctors assessed her jaw more closely and the additional x-rays revealed that one of her fractured jaw bones is broken in three pieces. This bone will definitely need a metal plate, but it is not yet know if that will be the case for the broken bone on the other side of her jaw.

The x-rays have been sent to an orthopedic surgeon at another hospital who can perform this kind of surgery, and we expect that Midnight will have her jaw repaired sometime this week. Her eye is still not good. The doctors expect the eye will no longer function, but it is still uncertain if it will need to be removed. We will post another update after we speak to the surgeon.




08/23/09:
MIDNIGHT WAS SEVERELY BEATEN AND IS FIGHTING FOR HER LIFE

Midnight is a young boxer lab mix who is the victim of a severe beating at the hands of a yet unknown assailant. We are still trying to gather the facts of her story and will do whatever we can to make sure the person responsible for this horrible act of violence will be prosecuted.

What we know so far is that Midnight was brought into a vet hospital by a woman who said Midnight was her dog. She told the doctor that Midnight refused to come into the house the night before. According to her story, she found Midnight in her yard the next morning severely beaten. She said that she noticed a broken window, as if someone had attempted to try and break into her home. There was blood all over the yard. When the doctor gave her an estimate to treat the dog she said she did not have the money and opted for euthanasia. At this point Midnight’s luck began to change.

One of our compassionate volunteers named Bianca happened to be at the hospital with her boxer where she learned about Midnight’s plight. When she was told that Midnight was going to be killed she fought for Midnight’s life and contacted us for help. Bianca was able to reach us by phone just as the doctor started the process of euthanizing Midnight; she had already been given a sedative which is administered prior to the lethal injection. We were able to speak to the doctor at this point to find out if there was a possibility Midnight could live if she received medical treatment.

The doctor told us that his exam revealed a badly broken jaw, a severely injured eye, facial swelling, tongue lacerations, and her breathing was very labored. He said she was in extremely poor condition, and possibly had fractured ribs, internal bleeding, and damaged lungs.

Obviously, Midnight would need a skillful veterinarian to pull her through and, after discussing our options with the doctor, we decided to transfer her to another hospital that has successfully treated many of our other medical cases. Luckily the hospital was in the same city and not too far away.

We alerted the hospital that Midnight would be arriving shortly and they were waiting for her when she arrived. The doctor started working on her immediately, and he told me later that he was very close to losing her on the table.

Once again, luck was on Midnight’s side. The doctor who treated her is a highly accomplished veterinarian with much experience in emergency care; he was able to diagnose that her injuries caused a grave condition called Tension Pneumothorax which needed immediate skillful intervention to keep her alive. This condition is usually caused by a strong impact such as being hit by a car; the force of the blows that Midnight endured were undoubtedly intense.

Tension Pneumothorax is a life threatening situation that occurs when air continuously enters the pleural cavity of the chest and has no way out. The increasing air pressure in the pleural cavity causes progressive collapse of the lung, which severely compromises ventilation as well as venous return, leading to death within minutes. To release the air pressure the doctor had to “tap” her chest with a needle multiple times which allowed her to breathe and saved her life.

The doctor also confirmed that Midnight’s jaw is broken in two places. Her eye is so badly injured that it is questionable if it can be saved. Thankfully her ribs were not broken, and she was responding to treatment, but she was still in critical condition. The most pressing problem was the Pneumothorax and she would need to be closely monitored to see if air would continue to be trapped inside her chest cavity. Her other injuries can not be addressed until she is in better condition. Unfortunately, Midnight would need to be moved once again to an emergency hospital that was open 24 hours. After several hours the doctor had her stabilized enough to be transported, and she was transferred into their care.

The air in Midnight’s chest cavity had to be tapped again a few times throughout the night. The doctors were relieving her pain with intravenous medication, and she was resting as comfortably as possible considering her condition. The next day air continued to build up in the chest cavity so the doctors decided to surgically put a chest tube in place to help release the air. The doctors will watch her closely for the next 24 to 48 hours after which they will occlude the tube to see if the problem continues.
Midnight obviously has guardian angels looking over her shoulder, and we hope that they will continue their vigilant watch. We vow to do our part to keep Midnight alive, restore her health, and to help prosecute the evil person responsible for this heinous act of animal cruelty.

Below is the “at the scene” account from our volunteer Bianca:

“I was taking my little girl Boxer for routine vaccinations at the Vets. While there I was told about another little girl Boxer a few doors down that was in Critical Condition. Unfortunately this was another horrible case of Animal Abuse and the owner was refusing to pay for anything to try to save her, stating that she did not have the money and that little "Midnight" would have to be Euthanized.

I begged the Vet to give me a chance to contact NBR. Unfortunately they said that they could not wait very long and that she would have to be Euthanized in a matter of moments. While trying to contact NBR the Vet Tech came back in and said they couldn't wait any longer. Just in the nick of time I was able to get in contact with Jane at NBR who was willing to make a go at saving this beautiful little girl’s life.

I went running into the back of the Vet Office where they said it was too late and Midnight was already dead. They then said that they had only administered the pre-euthanasia sedative, and that she was still alive. After a few crazy moments I was able to get the owner to sign Midnight over to NBR.

I was off to another Vet hospital to try to give her a chance at life. This little girl has an incredible spirit. Even after being terribly beaten, and being administered the first drugs to Euthanize her, she could still lift her head and look at me with her one good eye. It was so heartbreaking, almost as if she was saying "give me a chance...I'm a fighter".

Midnight made it to the hospital where they were able to do some emergency work on her to stabilize her. Unfortunately the x-rays show that she has Tension Pneumothorax, a broken jaw, a lacerated tongue, and a very damaged right eye.

This little girl has a long road ahead of her, but I know she can do it. Please keep Midnight in your prayers.”

Can you donate to help MIDNIGHT ? She needs you more then ever!

You can send a check directly to: Northeastern Boxer Rescue
P.O. Box 95 Sunderland MA 01375. or use PayPal


Jane Scott - janescott@boxerrescue.com

Pam Fosco - pam@boxerrescue.com