This is Betty.  She is a senior Yorkie these photos were taken at the vets office Thursday night. She is very weak.......

 I would estimate her age at 10-12 years.  She was also lice infested.  She has little sight and hearing problems. 

We hope one of her eyes is operable for cataract surgery, we would love her to

See the beauty in the flowers grass tree and sky also the love and compassion on human faces she has never seen.

Thank you :

Teresa Siegrist, John Lech, Eileen Mattoon,  Eileen's Gifts, Llaurie Meyers, Lana, Bill & Kira McClure, Linda Bruce.

Miss Betty went to the ophthalmologist on Tuesday. There was good news and bad news.

First the good news. Her tear production is staying up there not perfect, but she will continue on the medications she is on. She is on cyclosporine drops twice a day, and artificial tears once or twice a day. She will need these drops for life. The ulcers on her eyes are healed, and hopefully, with proper care, they will not return.

Now the not so good news. She does have cataracts. One eye her left one is completely covered. The lens is thickened. Her right eye is not as bad. I told the eye doc that, if at all possible, PMR would want this little girl to see, at least something, now that she is free. So, we did every test we could. We were with the dogtor for over an hour. We dilated her eyes, and after all sorts of lights and gadgets, looking into her eyes, it doesn t look like surgery will help her. The vitreous fluid (the stuff that fills the inside of your eye) has degenerated. The dogtor described it as looking at a field of sparkling stars. Also, her retinas have degenerated. They are full of scar tissue. Even with her eyes fully dilated, she could not see any movement. She may be able to detect a small amount of light, but, even if the cataracts were removed, it is highly unlikely that she would see anything even light. The dogtor feels the chance of her being able to see anything, even a tiny bit more light, does not outweigh the risk of cataract surgery - especially at her age.

Miss Betty is a happy girl. She loves to be held; loves to bury her head in the crook of my arm, and snuggle down to sleep. She will snuggle with whatever pup will let her (usually Jazz). She enjoys exploring the back yard. Her nose still works and, even though her hearing is not great, she does hear. Miss Betty may not be able to see the grass she is walking through, or see my face, or the faces of the other pups here, but she can hear them, feel them, smell them, and love them. I talk to her every day, and tell her about her world now. I do not talk to her about her past other than to tell her she will never go back there, never be cold, or afraid, or left alone. The dogs here talk to her too. When ever she comes back to join them (after some time on my lap, or after her face wash, her bath, or a potty trip outside), they all tell her how much they have missed her especially Jazz and Saoirse Rose. They are so happy to see her, to tell her what they have been doing, to ask her where she has been. So, Miss Betty will not see with her eyes what the world looks like outside the mills, but she will know because we are all telling her in every way we can. And I Know that she knows her life is different. I have seen the changes in her. From a fragile bent little girl, who wouldn t respond at all, to a regal lady that holds her head high, and is no longer afraid. She knows her name, knows when it s time for breakfast and dinner. Knows when Sherman announces it s time for a snack, and is right there with the rest of the gang, waiting for her treats.

I know how wonderful and joyous it would have been to know that Miss Betty Isabella would be able to see. The millers took her sight. They broke her bones, took away her teeth, and allowed parasites to invade her body. But they did NOT take her spirit. She is one tough old gal, with a wonderful character, amazing courage and a will to survive.

I know a lot of folks out there donated money for eye surgery for Betty. I would like to thank you all for your generosity and your prayers, and let you know that your donations will go to help other dogs like Pippi, McKenna, Jenny, Kayla, etc., and will help to get more dogs free - hopefully before the millers have a chance to take away their sight, or shatter their bones, or break their spirit.

Thanks to all of you for your wonderful support of PMR.

Debbie in RI (The Crazy Dog Lady of Cumberland Hill)

We are testing her for thyroid problems.  She is very sweet considering all that she has been through.

I wanted to let you all know that I am now the proud foster mom to Miss Betty, one of our more recent rescues. (I have added Isabella to her name, because such a special girl nees a name that says just how wonderful she is).


Miss Betty Isabella went to the vet on Monday, shortly after she arrived here. She has been losing weight, despite eating like crazy, and we also wanted to check out her heart. They took an x-ray of her last week and her heart is very large. The vet here listened and said, it is a very strong and regular heartbeat, and her pulses are very good. Her lungs sound and look good. She does not appear to be in any kind of heart failure, and there doesn’t appear to be any masses on her heart. Her eye ulcers are healed.

She is blind - the vet said she may see light and dark (but I think maybe she was telling me that so I wouldn't be so sad for Miss Betty Isabella). The vet feels that Betty's little body is in what she calls "starvation recovery mode". It sounds like what poor PMR Emmy went through. Her little body is so depleted from lack of nutrition, dehydration, the lice, mites, etc, that she has a long way to go before she will start to gain weight. I am feeding her every 2 hours for the next week. They will check her again at that time.


On the x-ray that Robin sent with her, there was a very suspicious looking spot near her tummy, in addition to a very large heart. According to the radiologist, the "spot" is gall stones. At this point the vet feels that Betty needs to concentrate on getting good food and lots of love - to try and do the best to repair what years of neglect and abuse have caused.


There was one very heartbreaking piece of news however, that just sent me over the edge. The first thing the radiologist said when she looked at the x-ray was, "Who hit her?" At some time in her nightmare of a past life, someone hit sweet Miss Betty Isabella and broke three of her ribs. My heart still hurts today. I can not even imagine what would have caused anyone to hurt this tiny girl.


It is very hard to get pics, as she moves around when she is awake, and it is hard to get her to stop. I also wanted to give you all an idea on how Miss Betty Isabella walks and moves. Her little back is arched. When she walks, her head is down, nose close to the ground. She is constantly moving her head around from side to side. If you talk to her, she will put her head up, but she does still move it from side to side - trying to home in on the sounds. Each foot is placed carefully. And she moves in very jerky motions. The best way I can describe it, is like a marionettes puppet. Each limb moves deliberately and kind of stutters and pauses as she walks. She places each foot carefully. Because of the arch in her back, she is slightly off balance, so I think she is careful to keep herself, not only from running into things and tripping over things, but to keep from toppling over. You can see her work to keep herself steady and in balance. She does like to explore though, and is doing just great in finding her way around the rooms. (Her favorite room is the kitchen. She already knows that is where her food and treats are!)



Thanks PMR for saving her. And thanks Robin, for reaching down and picking her to save, despite how sad she must have looked. A lot of other groups would have turned their backs on her, would never have given her a chance. She has a long hard road ahead of her, but I hope we can make her way easier for her. Once again, I am humbled at these tiny creatures’ strength and purpose, their willingness to survive. I am even more amazed at their willingness to forgive. Miss Betty Isabella is a gentle and sweet little lady, who right now, only wants some tasty food, a soft place to sleep, and someone to love and hold her. She is a true gift.


I am sending on a few pictures. Unfortunately they are not very good, but more unfortunately they are very sad. You can see each of the bones of her spine. You can see her pelvic bones and her ribs, her face is even boney. Both of her ears are very "leathery" with no fur. She has deep scratches and scars on her ears - probably from scratching herself due to the lice and mites. She has sores and scars on her body too. As I said, I will try and get better pictures when I can have someone here to hold her. It is hard to get a picture of her face, but I have attached some. Her fur around her eyes and face is all wet from being washed. With no teeth, and no sight, she makes quite the mess when she eats, so between feedings and eye and ear, medicine the poor baby's face gets washed every hour or so. I think she can already tell when I come at her with the wash cloth - she tries to hide her face. I learned the first day to wash her up right away. My little Sherman has decided that washing her face after she eats is a great thing. She doesn't seem to want to stand there while he gets her leftovers off her nose!

Please say an extra special prayer for sweet beautiful Betty. Despite all she has been through, she has a wonderful spirit and will to go on. She loves to be held and loved on, and even gave me a little kiss this morning (although she might have been looking for food LOL!) She is a smart little girl, that can already manuever her way around my office and the kitchen. She is doing amazingly well on her potty training, and only has accidents overnight. She knows exactly what to do when she gets outside (although she is not too fond of the grass!).



If you have any questions, or want more information on Miss Betty, please feel free to email me at debbiejo @ cox.net (remove spaces).

May 18th Update
Betty had blood work done on Friday, and the vet just called me with the results. They did a complete CBC, a SuperChem, and a full thyroid panel. Here total thyroid values are in the low normal range, but her other thyroid values are all normal, so it looks like she does not have thyroid issues. Her liver and kidney values are all normal. The only thing that is off is that her potasium is high. This can sometimes be a sign of cushings, but all of her other values are normal, so the dogtor does not think Cushings is an issue. I will be taking Sherman in for more tests next week, and we will recheck Betty's potasium level at that time just to make sure. So, long story short, she is doing great!

BTW her back has straightened out, and she is holding her head up more and more. I think the only reason she holds it down now, is to make sure she sniffs everything as she goes. That is the one sense she seems to have working pretty good, so relys on her nose a lot. Her personality is coming out more and more. She still sleeps a lot, but also seems to show a lot of interest in what the other pups are doing. She is getting stronger every day - and now has no qualms about letting me know how much she hates her eye meds LOL!

She had dropped an ounce between the 9th and the 13th, so I am back to feeding her 6-8 times a day (I had dropped it down to 4). The vet was not concerned, said the difference could be as simple as having just eaten, or an empty bladder (an ounce is not much), and said her weight may fluctuate off and on as she rebuilds her body.

I have not yet seen her wag her tail, but she does now hold her little stub up in the air (I was beginning to doubt she had one LOL). And she has started voicing her opinion - especially at medicine time or when I take her empty food bowl away. She has a long ways to go yet, but she is doing better every day! Thanks for all the prayers!

Debbie