Emma-Bear’s Rescue Journey
By Sarah Layton Wallace. Photos courtesy of Amanda Norton.
Emma-Bear was found wandering alone in a park in Tucson last fall. She was obese, her fur was thin and in spots missing altogether. There were lumps at the base of her tail, on her mammary glands and her back, and we found a broad mass under the surface of the skin on her chest. Her frosted-white face over chocolate fur hinted at the many years she had lived, but without a microchip or identification tags, nobody knew anything more about her.
The Good Samaritans who found her posted on social media and filed a found report with the shelter hoping to find an owner. When none came forward, they contacted local rescues to see who could help. With Tucson rescues full, they turned again to social media to find a rescue that could take her and give her the veterinary care she needed.
Yavapai Humane Trappers Animal Search and Rescue (YHT), a 501c3 based out of the Prescott area, sent transporters to Tucson. They named her Emma. A wellness check revealed low thyroid which partly explained her large size and damaged skin and fur. They also determined that Emma was not spayed.
Full body x-rays showed that cancer had metastasized to her spleen and lungs; with her age and condition, surgery was not an option. She was prescribed a twice-daily thyroid medication and joined YHT’s Forever Foster program for animals that are not adoptable due to health challenges that require ongoing and potentially expensive vet care. Emma needed a foster home comfortable with providing love and hospice care for whatever time she had left, which the veterinarians estimated was between four weeks and six months.
Upon seeing Emma’s photo and learning of her rescue, I contacted YHT founder Katrina Karr and volunteered to be Emma’s forever foster mom. My husband and I had provided a life-long home to a pair of chocolate female Labrador Retrievers in the past and recently fostered many Labs for Lab Rescue; I thought I had the right experience to help this ailing old lady in her remaining days. I filled out a foster application and a local YHT volunteer came to my home to conduct a home check.
After meeting Emma in Prescott, my husband and I took her home to Sedona. She weighed 95 pounds and had a hard time getting up from a laying position and squatting to pee.
At first she would not eat, which can be typical of a dog in transition. However, we soon concluded that Emma may have been fed people-food in the past since she was interested in our meals but walked away from kibble. We fed her three small meals a day, mostly freshly chopped vegetables along with some protein. In time we switched from meats to a small portion of kibble and some canned dog stew to accompany her vegetables, which is what she eats today.
For exercise, we walk Emma on the local golf-course cart path and around the neighborhood where she is a favorite. She regularly greets every human and dog that wants to greet her. As the excess weight melted away, Emma walked farther and got around easier. She now weighs 70 pounds.
In her four months with us, Emma has thrived. As our forever foster dog, she receives our daily love and care. She also gives love, happiness and hope to all who meet her in person.
Through her Facebook page called Emma-Bear’s Rescue Journey, she teaches and inspires hundreds more to care about and understand the needs of rescue animals. That is Emma-Bear’s purpose and perhaps why she still is with us today, on her beautiful rescue journey.
