Lulu has had a tough life. She was a street dog in Santiago, Chile for most of her eight years. She was malnourished, had mange (a parasitic skin condition), and a broken pelvis from being hit by a car.
She was rescued by animal sympathizers in Chile and treated for the accident but needed someone to adopt her. She found a home in San Ramon with Eliana Caimanque. Eliana has lived in San Ramon for 12 years. In fact she lives only a few blocks away from me. I've visited her house as a member of Safe Cat to bring cat food for her fosters and a cat for her to foster.
Eliana has been involved in animal rescue for the last 10 years, first with Tri Valley Animal Rescue, then with Safe Cat Foundation. In the last few years she has also been involved with animal rescue in Chile, where the situation of stray animals is overwhelming.
Eliana was born and raised in Chile. She came to the United States from Chile in 1974 with her husband. He came to pursue his PhD in Chemistry at U C Davis. In 1982 Eliana received a degree in Nuclear Medicine from UC San Francisco. She has worked at the San Ramon Regional Medical Center as a Nuclear Medicine Technologist for 14 years.
Lulu was doing well after she was adopted by Eliana. Then Lulu started having really bad pain when moving her neck. Lulu was treated at Bishop Ranch Veterinary Center for a month with muscle relaxants, anti-inflammatory injections and a lot of pain medication, including a fentanyl patch to deliver an opioid like morphine for a few days at a time, but this was dangerously addictive.
Eliana took Lulu for an MRI to locate the source of the pain. The MRI showed c4-c5 herniated disc. Lulu can have surgery to fix this at the Sage Veterinary Center in Dublin, but the cost is $6000. Eliana cannot afford this much. She is asking for donations to help Lulu get the surgery to be pain-free.
The surgery has a very good prognosis and according to the literature, Lulu should recover quickly. Lulu is very healthy otherwise. All of her organs are working perfectly i.e., heart lungs, brain. Kidneys, etc. As Eliana told me, "She has been through a lot. She is a survivor and more important she deserves a chance!!!!"
