Friday, October 9, 2009

PINK SATURDAY & MOLLY THE NEWF


Hello and welcome to Pink Saturday hosted by Beverly of How Sweet the Sound. If you go to visit her you can get a list of all the other participants.

Sunday October the 4th was the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, patron Saint of peace and all God's Creations from the tiniest insect to the tallest tree.

St Francis has been my patron Saint for as long as I can remember. Living a life of peace has always been first in my life and my love of nature and animals led me to an interest in studying him.

This past Sunday in church they announced that animals could be brought to the church yard for a blessing. Since I have two dogs and 8 cats I opted not to bring my menagerie in town but said a prayer to Saint Francis asking him to please bless my pets.

When we got home from church we found our precious Newfoundland Molly laying in the backyard in pain and not able to walk and her breathing was erratic.
We rushed her into the Emergency Veterinarian Hospital. We were so scared because we lost 3 dogs to liver cancer and they had the same symptoms. They took her right in did xrays and found that her stomach was still full from the night before and nothing was moving, her intestines, colon were all shut down due to large pockets of gas all over her abdomen.
They had to do emergency exploratory surgery. They had to call in a second Dr. due to her size.
She is 171 pounds and too large for one Dr. to handle.
Anyway the surgery showed that she had a very bad infection in her stomach causing everything to shutdown. Our poor girl made it through, she has a 20 inch incision in her belly.
She will be on meds for a few weeks. We are not sure how she got this infection, we feed her good food and keep her bowls and water very clean.

There were other dogs in there with the same thing and I'm suspicious of dog food being contaminated.
My son took his cat to another vet last night to be spayed and there was another dog in there with the same thing. Those people could not afford the surgery for their dog and had to have it put down. How sad that must have been. My heart would just ache! The vet told my son he has had several dogs this week with the same thing. Scary isn't it?

Anyway Saint Francis sure did bless our baby girl this week. We have her back home with us and she should be OK in time.
We will continue to pray for her and Saint Francis will continue to be my Patron Saint. I have this pretty cross stitch shown above of Saint Francis in my bedroom and it's the first thing I see when I get up in the morning. I'm also looking for a Saint Francis statue for my cottage garden. I say this prayer when I get up and when I go to bed at night.





My husband and I have rescued dogs and cats our entire married life of 38 years but there was a dog that I had always wanted, was not sure what kind of dog it was. I would describe her to my husband and he was not sure what type of dog I was talking about.
Then one day the L.L. Bean catalog came and there was the dog on the cover. I showed my husband and said "there's the dog I want" He then told me that was a Newfoundland so I set out to find my dog. I lived in Newfoundland for 5 years when I was young and perhaps I knew one there. Don't know but the picture of that dog just tugged at my heart.
We reseached and studied the breed for three years, not wanting to contribute to any puppy mill, we found a responisble breeder in Connecticut.
While waiting for the big day that we could go and pick her up, I cross stitched this little banner and another one with her name. Crocheted her blankets in pink of course.


Molly is from a wonderful blood line called Nashau-Auke, her father and mother were both champion dogs. Her father was 181 pounds and her Mother was 169. Molly has grown to a hefty 171 pounds. We don't show her but she has done water rescue. She can pull a boat in, take a tube to a drowning person, or even pull a person into the shore. We don't have her in a rescue group right now. She's just our sweet house pet.


Here's Molly the day we brought her home from Connecticut. My friends from NJ drove up to the New England states with us to pick her up. They were the Grandparents. LOL. Molly is our empty nester dog. So you can just imagine how spoiled she is. She is like a baby sister to my kids and grandkids. She slept all the way home in her basket. She missed her Newf family and when she would wake she would cry terribly.
Here she is at her first Birthday Party.




She's such a sweet girl, she shared her bed with her brother Elvis. He died 3 years ago, they were good buddies!
Molly loves to go to the beach with us. She loves to swim, she just glides through the water. No splashing when she swims.

She always has an eye on my grandson's, she even surfed on their boards a few times. Wish I had gotten that on film!

Here's she's kissing the fish that Mikey caught.

She loves her walks especially on Cape Hatteras Island.

Molly will set at this fence in her backyard and wait for us to come home. Rain or snow she sets there. When we pull in the driveway she runs through her dog door and sets at that door with tail a wagging!

Our precious sweet girl is doing a little better day by day. We won't be feeding her dog food again until we can figure this thing out. Please keep Molly in you prayers.

Thank you so much for stopping by and listening to my Newf talk and looking at my few drops of pinkness this week. It was so nice to share with you. Have a wonderful week.
Blessings, Shirl

23 comments:

Jennifer said...

Happy Pink Sat MOm Your St Francis sampler is so beautiful.I am so glad Molly is doing better.I remember the beach photos like we were still there,Molly was so funny surfing with Mikey.I'll never forget that one.LOL Love you! Hugs,Jen

Pearl said...

My gosh that is scary! So much contaminated foods now. I was reading were green leafy vegtables are the worst. I almost lost my little poodle one year and the vet said "what kind of food, where do you keep it?) I told him I had a plastic bin in the garage that I kept the dried dog food. Long story short it was summer and had bacteria all over it. I had no idea this could happen. But thank God my little boy is o.k. and 15 1/2 years old. And he's still going strong. I hope your sweet boy will be o.k. I'll say a prayer for him. Peace

greet's foto's said...

oh,, wat erg, dat mensen zulke gemene dingen kunnen doen, in de gevangenis met ze.jaaaaa DAAR WORD IK HEEL ERG BOOS OM,IK HEB OOK EEN HELE LIEVE HOND.

LIEFS VAN OMA NIJN

Vintage To Chic said...

good morning Shirl.
The story of your sweet baby is so wonderful. Pets are just like another child in families, So glad she is recovering and will be praying for her.
Have a wonderful week,
Judy

The Quintessential Magpie said...

Hi, precious! I'm so sorry about Molly being sick, but I'm grateful to the Lord for saving her life.

I hope that someone will investigate that dog food. Where is it being made? Do you remember the food that was shipped to the US from China and was contaminated? So many people lost pets due to that.

I'm so sorry you've been through this ordeal, Shirl, and I hope Molly improves each day. My two are gone (lost them last year), and I am still grieving their loss. I know how much pets mean.

Saying a prayer for Molly right now and sending you much love...

Happy Pink Saturday!

XO,

Sheila :-)

Angela said...

Hey Shirl!

I'm so sorry to hear that Molly had to have surgery! I hope she is feeling better today!

It is scary to hear that it might be from her dog food. What kind of food do you feed her? I feed my dogs Dick Van Patton's dog food Natural Balance. I even have a post that I've been working on about this dog food. It is such good quality dog food that I feel like it has given new life to my 9 year old West Virginia Brown Dog. I was mixing in some Kibbles & Bits until I ran out and seen how much better her health got once she was eating NB exclusively! I won't buy any treats if they aren't made in the USA since all of the things that were made in China were causing so much problems.

I hope you can figure out what caused Molly to get sick! That is cool how she is a rescue water dog!

Happy Pink Saturday!

((((HUGS for YOU and MOLLY))))

Angela

Unknown said...

Oh mygosh Shirl, this post made me cry!!!! I love Molly, she is so sweet and beautiful and I cannot stand the thought of her or any animal in pain! Poor baby! I am so glad she made it through the surgery and that she is feeling better. I sure hope it wasnt the food again. My heart is breaking! Please hug her for me. I am so sorry Shirl!
Love you sweetie,
Amy

Jil~Say It With Roses said...

What a great post. I loved your prayers and am copying the first one so I can say it every day! I remember my Mom saying this when I was a child.
And Molly is beautiful! She has such a friendly face!
I am so glad your dog survived. I guess the safest way is to make our own food for the dogs and cats...I know that is a chore, but then you would not have to worry about contamination.
HAPPY PINK SATURDAY!
Jil

vickie said...

Wonderful post, Shirl, so glad Molly came through ok. She is absolutely gorgeous! Happy Pink Saturday.

Dreamgirl said...

Beautiful and moving post. Thanks!
Happy Pink Saturday!

Unknown said...

Linda plegaria a San Francisco de Asis.
Happy Pink Saturday!!!

Mary said...

Shirley, I am so sorry about Molly's illness. Relieved to hear she is doing better each day. That is so scary. I remember the dog food from China that poisoned pets. I won't eat anything from China. I don't trust their manufacturing! Praying Molly recovers quickly! She is such a sweetie. I love Newfoundlands, gentle giants!

Mary

GARAGE SALE GAL said...

Hi Shirl,
So glad to hear Molly is doing better and I think I would stay away from that dog food. I have switched dog food earlier this year as Jackson Brown has terrible allergies...and my neighbor feeds her dogs organic chicken and whole foods.
Take care and loved seeing pictures of Molly.
Warmly,
Deb :)

♥Mimi♥ said...

I am sending my strongest prayers for your adorable Newfie girl, Molly. Dogs are my heart and my soul. Without them I probably wouldn't be alive today.

I am so sorry that she has been ill but so happy that she is on the mend. If a lot of dogs are having the same symptoms, I suspect something is "going on", too. Be really careful with what she eats and where she is allowed to go on her walks.

Char said...

Your sampler is so beautiful. Pets tear at your heartstrings, I love them all, Happy Pink Saturday, Char

CC said...

Your sampler is just gorgeous and so is Molly. MY thoughts and prayers for her continued recovery..and ooo,how someone needs to investigate to see if the dog foods were the same or in general, what the heck's going on.
Belated Happy Pink Saturday and have a lovely week.

Ele at abitofpinkheaven said...

OH your poor Molly, and poor you. I can imagine how worried you were. Beautiful sampler.

blushing rose said...

Love your sampler. The old samplers are getting harder & harder to find.

The pooches are gorgeous.

Have a snuggly warm eve. TTFN ~ Marydon

MISS PEACH ~(^.^)~ said...

I have been thinking real hard about you dear Molly and hope you are recoving well from your ordeal. You frightened you mommy good when she found you so sick. What a precious bundle you were when you first arrived...
All my love Miss Peach

jeanne said...

Dear Shirl, I am still visiting pinkies today and I was so mesmerized by Molly's life and her illness. She is a beautiful dog. How strange the infection is and I too wonder about the dog food. I am so happy she survived the surgery. We too have lost our dogs, but mostly of old age. One of my most precious poodles died of cancer. It broke our hearts.

We are getting a new puppy (poodle). We will bring her home in Nov. check my Mon. post. for photos. Pinks Sat. too. Our darling poodle Babette passed away last Dec. She was 15 plus years old. We miss her so much. We finally felt we were ready for a new baby. We are so anxious to bring our baby home.

I love your quotes and am so glad we met Molly today. The photo of her waiting at the gate is priceless.

Hugs...Jeanne

Anonymous said...

Oh dear poor Molly. She is beautiful and I am so happy they figured out what the problem was...how distressing for you. We love our fur babies so much don't we...even more so when our children have flown the coop and our pets become our babies. We have a golden who is spoiled rotten but such a good boy. 171 pounds...wow! I would love to meet Molly. My late M-I-L had a fabulous St. Francis old statue in her gardens. Sure wish I had it now. Hope you are having a great week and pet Molly for me. :)

Mimi said...

How is Molly doing? I am concerned.

Stephanie ~ Angelic Accents said...

Hi Shirl! What a precious post for Molly. I do pray that she is feeling much better now. I so enjoy seeing all her "baby" pics! I'll have to share this post with Mother ~ she will have fits over Molly! One of Bree's doggies is going to the vet tomorrow morning ~ throwing up, passing blood, not well either.

Much love,
Stephanie
Angelic Accents