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Meet our first Doberman of 2009! This beautiful girl is Ramona. She had the spirit of a lover and a fighter. Yes...I did say had.......Very sadly, Ramona died of tragic circumstances this past month. She was chosen as Doberman of the Month for January not to be morose, but to make Doberman lovers everywhere aware of the plight of so many homeless, unwanted Dobermans. If posting this photo of Ramona can save only one homeless Doberman, then she has not died in vain. Ramona was very loved and cared for in her last days as the foster dog of boured.
I met Ramona on November 25th, 2008, at our local animal shelter. As soon as I saw her, my heart went out to her… she was skin & bones, had sores all over her body, and her lymph nodes and all of her feet were terribly swollen. To make her even more heart-wrenching to look at - she was missing an eye. Despite the fact that she was starving and probably in pain, when I squatted down to talk to her, she buried her head in the crook of my arm, and her little nub of a tail wagged & wagged. That was it…. I knew I had to do something to save this sweet Doberman! I named her Ramona.
I got permission to take Ramona to the vet that very day. Unfortunately, the vet had bad news for me… Ramona had Blastomycosis, an often deadly disease caused by a fungus. It is difficult to treat, and many dogs don‘t make it even with treatment.
Initially, the president of our Humane Society told me to take Ramona back to the shelter and have the staff euthanized her. It was incredibly hard to do it, but I knew it was probably for the best. We have a hard enough time finding healthy dogs homes, I doubted anyone would want to take on a sickly dog that would need months of veterinary care. By the time I got home from the shelter after leaving Ramona there, the Humane Society president had called me again, and told me that she had contacted the Illinois Doberman Rescue about Ramona, and they had agreed to take her and pay for her treatment! I called the shelter immediately and told them not to put Ramona down- she was going to be saved!
Ramona stayed with me for 4 days, just until she could be transported to Illinois. Even though I started her on the medication for Blastomycosis, she quickly started to go down hill. She stopped eating, her sores became even worse, and she spent most of her time sleeping. I was very worried about her, but I kept up hope, knowing that at The Illinois Doberman Rescue, she’d get better, more expensive medication to treat her disease.
Ramona left for Illinois on November 30th. As soon as she arrived she was taken to an Animal Hospital, placed on IV fluids and started on the new, stronger medication to treat the Blastomycosis. I kept in touch with her new foster mother Pam, who also remained hopeful. Unfortunately, despite the greatest efforts to save her life, Ramona succumbed to the Blastomycosis on December 3rd.
Ramona was a very special girl; incredibly sweet and affectionate despite the neglect she has suffered in the past. She touched so many people, from the staff at the shelter, the staff at our veterinarians’ office, the people at Illinois Doberman Rescue, and many people here on Flickr that read her story.
Posted 39 months ago.
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This sparkly, antler-clad dobergirl is Nika, our Doberman Pinscher for the month of December! She is the dobie of besiaka13 .
Nika's mom writes:
"Nika is a 2.5 year old dobie. Nika is very sweet and loving, and very funny, and goofy. She loves to play tug of war and cuddle with us in the evening. Empty water bottles are her favorite toys and her favorite treat is chicken. She puts a smile on our face every day. Nika is the perfect dog, i couldn't ask for anything else."
Posted 29 months ago.
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