Beyond a Cute Dog Painting : Chely

"a pint-sized girl with the heart of a lion"

Chely

12/31/2022-04/11/2023

Chely Daniela Ana Omara was born on 12/31/22 in a kiddie pool that was snuggled into the corner of a retired OBGYN's laundry room. As funny as that sounds, it's true. Her bio-dog-mom was rescued from a hoarding situation in Yakima in early December 2022. She was so undernourished that nobody realized she was pregnant until a few weeks of good food made things biologically obvious. Dr. Q "met" Chely for the first time in early December when she vetted Chely's bio-dog-mom and the rest of the dogs from the hoarding situation. On that day she gave Chely's mom's belly a thoughtful squeeze and declared that she was full of poop from spending all day eating good food for the first time in a long time. 

Nothing could have been further than the truth! Chely did nothing in life that made her resemble a turd. She had soft, fluffy white fur that didn't shed, ridiculously tiny little paws, a scruffy muzzle that was half masked with a splotch of tan, and two spotted ears that ended in the most delicate of tufts. Apart from not physically resembling a turd, her personality was as sweet as could be. She loved cats. She wanted to play with all of the creatures presented to her, it didn't matter if they were smaller than her 2.5 lb frame or 20 times larger. If it moved and looked fluffy, she wanted to engage. 

Chely spent most of her days hanging out with her mom, Dr. Q, either at the office when she worked for Boosterpet or on the road when doing house calls for VIP@Home Vet. Chely, ever the social butterfly, warmed the hearts of many clients. Her easygoing disposition meant that she didn't make a peep when taken into appointments in her dog purse. She would politely look around with big curious eyes, entertaining owners with her love nibbles while her moms worked on the patient(s) at hand. 

Unfortunately, Chely's life was cut short due to a vascular malformation in her liver. Two weeks after coming home to live with her new family, she started demonstrating gastrointestinal signs. A cursory ultrasound showed an abnormality in her liver, another ultrasound and a CT later the grim diagnosis was finalized: She had an intrahepatic arteriovenous fistula with multiple portal systemic shunts and portal hypertension. As the weeks wore on following her diagnosis, her moms tried to find someone that could help. They consulted numerous internists, nutritionists, and surgeons. Finally, they were in touch with a surgeon in NYC that was experienced with her particular type of abnormality. As soon as they got the OK, Chely's mom Coral bravely took her on a red-eye flight to NYC to see the one person in the world that could take her out of hospice care. Sadly, Chely had started to rapidly deteriorate on the day of travel. She passed not even an hour after being admitted into the hospital for the procedure from sudden seizure activity and subsequent cardiac arrest. 

Chely is survived by her two loving mothers-- Illiana (Dr. Q) and Coral-- who wanted to give her the world. She also leaves behind her two dog comrades- Inigo and Iota, her favorite brother- feline Bruce, five guinea pig siblings who shared their meager closet with their teensy canine sibling on multiple occasions (Benito, Beto, Brisa, Beatriz, and Bart), three hamster friends who she loved to sniff (Senorito, Tiramisu, Manquito), and an axolotl named Elvis who was way too high up for her to ever have noticed. Chely was never able to meet any of her distant human family despite a reservation having been made for her to do so. If she had met them, they would have loved her to the moon and back just as everyone else did. The five weeks that her moms spent with her were filled with a wide variety of emotions but they hope that over time they can focus on the joy, laughter, and lessons in fearlessness taught by a pint-sized girl with the heart of a lion. 

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This week what I have been reading about dogs :

No More Begging for Treats, Dogs Now Have Restaurants

We’re in Denial About Our Dogs : Pets love beaches—and wreak havoc on their wildlife.

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