A Pommy Mommy Rescue Story “Lucia the Pomeranian”

This weeks rescue story comes from New Orleans, Louisiana!!! Meet Lucia, a sweet little angel that was dumped off at a vets office. I first met Luicas mommy and her adopted sister Prada on Instagram! @prada_puppy is her user name! I LOVED looking at all of Pradas photos. She is the best little girl, always so girly and acting like a princess! (As any Pommy should!) One day I saw a cute little white Pomeranian in Pradas Instagram feed. I had to know more about her, and Pradas mommy shared everything with us here at Pommy Mommy! Read all about how her mommy and Prada took Luica in and are taking care of her.

***Please Note***

This story is not for people who have an very weak stomach! Poor Lucia was very abused there is a section in the third paragraph where Lucias mommy describes her injuries. However she is getting better now, and she’s very happy! If you do have a weak stomach you can still read it…just maybe skip over the part about her injuries. Her story is very inspiring and I encourage you to read and share Lucias story.

Let’s see what Prada and Lucias Mommy has to say:

Lucia is our Pom that we brought into our home on August 21, 2012. Somebody left her in the rain outside of our friend Dr. Aunty

Lucias adoptive sister Prada

Charlotte’s Vet Clinic and THANKFULLY she called us and we said YESH!!!! She was covered in filth, she had been terribly abused and left there to an unknown fate. She had an eye infection, UTI, she is blind and only has one toe on her back right paw, she was also 3 lbs and very malnourished.

She is so super sweet and is super smart, she’s not afraid of people even after all she’s been through and LOVES to be held close and cuddled. We are SO THANKFUL to Dr. Charlotte for calling us to take care of her because her boss wanted to just put the pup to sleep, but now she has a chance to live a happy & healthy life like she deserves without abuse EVER AGAIN, with a family who loves her and can take care of her always!

Pommy Mommy send Lucia a Pommy Mommy leash cover that says “Be Kind I’m Blind”

Since I’ve had her and she’s become more comfortable & the primary “emergency” issues have been addressed, I’ve begun to notice some other things with her that is pointing, sadly, to some pretty bad abuse. She has a hard time taking deep breaths and when you try to pet her back, touch her torso or pick her up around her stomach she whimpers quietly until you stop. The x-rays show formerly fractured ribs & organ enlargement/swelling consistent with a possible kick to the stomach. Her heart has fluids around it and he liver has elevated levels. Her “one toe” right  back foot will have to be pinned into place & immobilized because she has no muscular control over it and it causes her to stumble when she walks. We’re hoping pinning it straight will give her a solid step & she will become more active because of that. Her left hip at one point was knocked out of socket and fused at a higher point on the pelvis which also impedes her walking. She will have surgery to remove the head of the femur & drop it back down into place and the muscles will hold it in the right spot and correct her walking issues for that leg.

Lucia in her fancy new vest a friend sent her!

Lucia suffered terrible head trauma with her former owners. Her left eye burst and is just a clump of “eye tissue” and her right eye appears as though the cornea was detached & then reattached itself along the way. She’s completely blind and will have to get the left “eye remnants” removed for her comfort & health, as it’s just an open wound waiting for infection. As for right now her right eye is fine & healthy enough to keep.

And after spending time with her I feel like that while she can hear, she has no idea what direction sound is coming from — another effect of the abuse. Being blind is bad enough and we can’t even IMAGINE what kind of trauma this poor pup went through to get such an UNTREATED head injury to be both blind AND have hearing problems. We’ve started to spray different scents on things around the house and have a rosemary bush by the front door & a mint plant by the steps outside so Lucia can smell the different things and know where she is in the house and what things are.

Sisters

Lucia came to the clinic already microchipped but she was not registered to any one. We live in New Orleans and after Hurricane Katrina any dogs that were found were microchipped to keep track of and then put in shelters for when the owners came back. Lucia is a VERY expensive little Pomeranian and we think that her owners never got her back and that she was adopted for $75 from the Humane Society/SPCA. We think this might be why she was abused so badly. Not that expensive dogs don’t get abused, but my personal theory is that a family saw a cute little puppy lost from the storm and took her home & didn’t realize Poms are high maintenance and need to be trained or they CAN be “annoying” to some people. Prada is VERY well trained and is not jumpy or yippy or anything people who don’t know Poms associate with them. So my thoughts are that they adopted her not knowing anything about Poms & just abused her along the way over the years until finally, someone in the family had a femtosecond of compassion and dropped her off at the clinic. That would help explain the blank microchip but once again, it’s just a theory. That would make her around 6 or 7 years old.

Another possibility is that they had her, the breeder made them spay & microchip her (Prada’s(Lucias adopted sister) breeder had that

Lucias Mommy is awesome! She lets her pet horses!

in her contract when I got her), and they just never went online to register her chip. We don’t know… The Vets put her at around 5 years old so the “Katrina Theory” is a possibility because then she’d only be 6 or MAYBE 7 years old. Once again, we’re GUESSING because we just have no idea and we’re trying to make sense out of something so senseless.

Lucia is now, after a month and AMAZING people in her life helping me and helping her with love, prayers & donations, up to 5lbs and will be getting her surgeries next week. We’ve been blown away by all of the help and love everyone has shown us and our hearts are so full and grateful.

Sporting her Pommy Mommy leash cover!

Please take the short time to scroll down Prada’s page and see the difference of Lucia from when I picked her up the day after she was abandoned  until now and it’s amazing AND SO SIMPLE what love can do for an animal!! Thank you all so much for your prayers and thank Dr. Charlotte Milazzo, DVM for everything she’s done for Lucia.

We named her “Lucia” which is Italian for “Lucy” and that is because we wanted to name her after the Catholic Patron Saint of the eyes/vision, Saint Lucy. Lucia will never get her eyesight back, but she will always be protected by St. Lucy AND St. Francis of Assisi (Patron Saint of Animals/Pets)!

You can see photos of Lucia from the day we brought her home until the daily PUPdates we post on Prada’s page! https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151088670664718.456919.500334717&type=1&l=6e6ced5fe7

 ***Special Thanks***

Find out more about Dr Charlotte Milazzo and the animals that she helps at her Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/DrCharlotteMilazzo She’s the one who found Lucia, she’s the one who saves these pups & has “pet projects” Her goal in life is to one day not only have her own clinic but a clinic that welcomes and helps pups like Lucia!