Lilli, a miniature Dachshund, was brought into the Warrick Humane Society shelter in the fall of 2018 along with her sister. Their former owner, a breeder, had become homeless and could no longer care for her dogs. Lilli was suspected of being pregnant and had tested positive for Heartworm Disease. Thankfully her sister was not pregnant or ill and was adopted fairly quickly. The shelter was planning to wait and see if she was indeed pregnant before giving her shots and dealing with the heartworms. They planned to treat through the “slow kill” method since it was much cheaper and easier than the American Heartworm Society (AHS) protocol.
Lilli was brought to the attention of Bandit’s K9Care by our board president’s daughter Alissa, who was a volunteer at the shelter. The organization paid for Lilli to receive an ultrasound which showed that Lilli was not in fact pregnant. They also paid for a chest x-ray to see how the worms were affecting Lilli’s heart. The images confirmed that one side of her heart was enlarged, leading the vet to conclude that the AHS protocol was called for.
With that information, the shelter agreed to cover the cost of the treatment. Because the protocol required Lilli to be kept calm and restricted from exercise for over 2 months, Alissa agreed to foster Lilli. At the end of the treatment, the heartworms were gone and Lilli could be spayed. Bandit’s again partnered with the shelter to pay for a portion of that surgery. Lilli then became eligible for adoption, But at that point, Alissa was totally in love with the little girl she had cared for, so Lilli became a “foster failure” by being permanently adopted by Alissa.
