My name is Samatha!

UPDATED BIO 07/28/2014: Hi! I’m Samantha! Remember me?? I’m not sure if you do or not because I haven’t gotten a lot of emails from you! I am a 4.5 year old 12 lb little Princess who is being fostered in Miami, FL. I know you may have read about my history. Well, see, I was rescued with a bone stuck in my throat. UYR literally SAVED MY LIFE because I don’t think anyone else would have spent the time or money on me to make me better. It was a long road, but I am 100% better now. I love walks. I love to play. I love food. Basically, I am easy to please!! I tolerate well behaved dogs unless they come too close to me while I’m eating or just chill in’. I guess I’d prefer to be the only Princess in the castle!!

I am 100% house trained and love love love the outdoors. If you have a big fenced in yard, let’s be friend okay?? xoxo - Sam



UPDATED BIO 05/25/2013: Hi everypuppy!!! Remember me? I'm Samantha!!! I am a 4 year old 11 lb little girlie who is being fostered in Miami, FL. If you read my previous bios, you'll see how far I've come!!! I haven't had any vomiting in almost 2 months. I was spayed and had a dental last week, and I am almost off all of my tummy medications :). I am doing SUPER WELL!! FM says I can start looking for my FURever home now. She says she will be so sad to see me leave but that there's a home out there looking for a weel behaved little girl like me :)

See, I am just about perfect FM says :). I like other dogs (just not the super alpha ones). I love kids. I love people. I love walks. I don't potty in the house. I don't shed (because we think I'm a shih-tzu/maltese mix). I am a lap baby and love snuggling. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE a yard with a fence and maybe some of those little people named kids to play with. I am hopefully going to be off my stomach meds (pepcid and prilosec) by the end of the month. Looking forward to hearing from you!!
xoxo - Sam


UPDATED BIO 04/14/2013: Hi everypuppy!!!! It's me, Samantha! Boy am I feeling better! In case you forgot (I know you didn't!), I am a 4 year old now 11.5 lb little girl who is being fostered in Miami, FL. I was rescued from the shelter with a bone stuck in my throat. I've had to have 2 endoscopies (where they give me anesthesia and look with a camera down my throat). After they first took out the bone, I still had a lot of irritation in my esophagus. I've had to take lots of medicines (ones most of you probably know!) like Pepcid, Prilosec, Carafate, and Propulsid. Foster mommy says I am doing SO much better. I used to vomit a lot of mucous (apparently, it was a protective mechanism for my body to try and coat the irritation with a l ot of thick mucous). I would vomit many times a day.... not food... just this mucous. It was icky. Now, I can go a day or so without vomiting. Yay!!! The dogtor told my FM that it can take up to 6 months for me to heal. I have a feeling I'll be ready for adoption in just 2-3 months but shhhhhhhh. I don't want to jinx it! ;)

OK, a little about my silly personality.... I am a happy happy girl. I LOVE people and I actually like other dogs too. Rarely, I get a little possessive over my foster mom and dad, but for the most part, I even like my foster fur sister, Charlotte! We LOVE the dog park. I run and play with the other furkids. I am 100% housetrained. No lie! I am so smart. I LOVE to eat. I should be closer to 12 lbs when I'm done gaining weight. I love walks, and I love toys. FM says I am the perfect doggy. (though she says Charlotte is pretty cool too). FM is taking applications for patient people who can wait until I am all ready for adoption :). Thanks for reading about me and donating for my very expensive care (which shouldn't be expensive once I am all better!!!!) xoxo - Sammy

UPDATED BIO 03/27/2013: Samantha is a sweet 4 year old now 10.7 lb little girl who is being fostered in Miami, F
L. She was rescued from a high kill shelter just 3 short weeks ago. What UYR didn't know at the time was that sweet Samantha had a huge piece of bone almost totally blocking her esophagus (throat). The only thing that would pass by was baby food and water. She needed to spend a week gaining strength before she was stable enough to have the endoscopy that saved her and removed the large bone that was present before she even made it to the shelter.



After her scope, Samantha did much better. Her red blood cell count (hematocrit) is now up to 39% from 15%. She is almost 11 lb and she is happier. However, Samantha isn't 100% better (this is her pictures with her vet). She is still having regurgitation and discomfort. We brought her back to the vet after a week of healing time (the throat takes a long time to heal, and we attributed a lot of her symptoms to pain). Well, it looks like there is still something caught in there that might have been missed. Sam has had to spend 5 nights at the vet so she can have ANOTHER scope on Friday.



We need donations badly for this little girl who surely would have died if not for UYR. Thanks for reading about we and for your prayers.


UPDATED BIO 03/10/2013: Samantha is a sweet little 4 year old princess who now weighs 10.5 lbs (should be closer to 12) and is being fostered in Miami, FL. Remember Samantha was rescued from the shelter and couldn't swallow anything? She was constantly regurgitating until we had the doctors perform a barium swallow and x-ray series on her. They discovered that there was something obstructing her esophagus. At the time, they weren't sure what it was, but she was too weak and anemic to have the anesthesia to pass the camera to see what was going on anyway. She spent the week eating baby food and other liquid diets.



On Friday, Samantha finally had her endoscopy. Lo and behold, the doctor found a large sharp piece of bone obstructing her throat. We are so thrilled that this little girl is doing well. She is in some discomfort right now, but she is receiving pain medication. She is eating soft food and tolerating everything. Her surgery cost approximately $1000, and she still needs to be spayed. We are so thrilled that we happened to rescue this little girl in her time of need, but we are definitely asking for help in paying for her hospital bills. Thank you all so much for your prayers. They obviously worked.



INITIAL BIO 03/03/2013: Hi! My name is Samantha, but sometimes FM calls me Sammie. I am a 3-4 year old little girl who is being fostered in Miami, FL. I am almost 10 lbs but should be closer to 12 lbs. Well, how I came to be a UYR foster pup is kind of an interesting story. My FM said she thought by my shelter pics that I was a yorkie mix. I was brown colored..... Well, that's because I was covered in reddish/brown flea dirt. I was INFESTED with fleas. FM contacted the shelter to take me home because her foster pup, Vivian had just gone to the Rainbow Bridge and she needed another little girl to try and save.

When she brought me home, she saw I was matted to the skin. I was SO anemic from the fleas eating me alive that my gums and skin were completely white as a ghost. She shaved me down to the skin and tried to give me some food.... That's when foster mom realized that I had a bigger problem. I couldn't hold down ANY food. As soon as I ate, I would regurgitate. Initially, she thought it was from the stress of the shelter, the change in diet, or the flea medication she received at the shelter. The next day, She brought me to a dogtor who gave me some medicine to help keep me from vomiting. I also got some IV fluids to help my dehydration. The medicine didn't work, and I kept vomiting. FM took me back to the dogtor 3/2 where I had more tests done. Turns out I have something blocking my esophagus. The dogtor thinks it's a parasite, but we aren't sure yet. I had a fancy test called a barium swallow which shows that liquids are able to get past the blockage (so now FM feeds me baby food with a syringe. It explains why I couldn't swallow regular dog food. It was too big to get by!). I need to have a test called an endoscopy later this week to confirm the diagnosis, but right now, FM is trying to help me build up my strength so I can tolerate the anesthesia. I am so grateful for UYR for saving my life!! I was so sick and weak when I was rescued. I am not sure I would have made it much longer at that shelter. xoxo - Sam