Hi, my name is Rose and I'm a 9 month old Saluki puppy. I just got out of the hospital after 3 weeks in something called "intensive care". I caught a stupid bug out running in a state wildlife area and everybody says I should not be here. I got liver failure, kidney failure, acute pancreatitis, DIC (a hemorrage), left ventricular failure in my heart, thrombosis and gangrene in my foot, which is why I'm writing. I don't have a foot anymore. I'm famous too because a newspaper reporter wrote a story about me and took pictures of me and my mom after I got out of the hospital and everybody calls me "a miracle". Mom hasn't quite figured out how to send a good picture of me over the net but as soon as she does, we'll send you one. Thank you for letting me join your club. Oh, by the way, I'm at home and doing just fine and I'm even being naughty and getting in trouble, just like the old days. ...Rose the Saluki puppy (and mom Debbie Martin)

Cynthia - Attached is the story from the newspaper. It's quite a story. Hope you enjoy it. Rose continues to improve by leaps and bounds and she doesn't even know that she doesn't have a foot (except when she has an itch!). She has gained over 6 pounds since she came home and she's as bad as ever, getting into trouble daily. Rotten little hound!
She is a darling little girl but she is evil, too. You can't really see it in the pictures I sent you, but she is. Salukis have minds of their own (they're hounds after all). I wouldn't trade her for the world, though. Actually, there isn't enough money in the world to pay her vet bill. Ha ha! I would have just spent it on something stupid like a new car that I desperately need. I'll be in Topeka on Sunday, April 25, at the Kansas Expocentre Exhibition Hall, showing Rose's brother, Dani, who her breeder GAVE to me. She was so impressed at how we pulled Rose through, and obviously how much I loved her, that she wanted me to have her brother so I can show again. This has been quite an ordeal, let me assure you. I'm too old for this kind of stuff! Talk to you soon.

...Debbie and Rose

Caption under photo: A survivor:

Debbie Martin with her Saluki, Rose, who has survived several life-threatening crises.

Headline: 'Miracle Dog' Survives Mysterious Ailments

If you don't believe in miracles now, you just might after reading about Rose.
It's a story of hope, says her owner, Debbie Martin. "I don't know where Deb got her optimism," said Dr. Hal Smith, one of the veterinarians at the Pitts Veterinary Hospital who treated Rose during a two-week roller-coaster ride. "We really didn't have a lot of hope. We came close to losing her." But nobody gave up, least of all Rose, who battled five life-threatening medical calamities as an unidentified toxin swept through her like a wildfire. Martin gives the highest praise to the dedicated doctors at Pitts, who persevered through each medical crisis the 7-month-old Saluki puppy faced, only to see each success cascade into a new crisis. Several times, weary and worried, Martin resolved to have her beautiful pup put down. But when she arrived at Pitts, as she did four times daily during an ordeal that began Feb. 26, she would gaze into Rose's eyes and see a fire there that said, "No, I'm not ready to go."
"I would never have brought that kind of suffering on a dog," Martin said. "But she'd look up at me, and it was as if you could see into her soul. She wanted to live." Rose, aka Shaseis Stolen Moment, came into the world specially blessed: She was born on the birthday of a boy near and dear to Martin's heart. Matthew Savage died last spring on the way to a dog show in a car accident that also killed a brother and his mother, veterinarian Fran Savage. Dog show people share a bond, and Martin and Fran Savage were good friends besides. Rose, Martin's first Saluki, was an up-and-coming show prospect. She had just taken a reserve win under a highly respected judge. This dog is Westminster material, Martin thought proudly. To celebrate, Martin let Rose run loose in a wildlife management area. Salukis, perhaps the most ancient of purebred dogs, are Greyhound-type coursing hounds ancient Sumerians and Egyptians used to hunt gazelle and antelope. In the modern world, cars are Salukis' greatest enemies.

Dog/Bad water may have infected pet

The wildlife area seemed a safe haven to run her hound. Now Martin believes that the bug Rose picked up may have come from a stagnant pool of water Rose raced through that day. Within a couple of days, it was evident something was wrong. Martin was alerted by a mournful howl from her elder Irish Setter. Rose had collapsed in her crate. Martin rushed Rose to the vet's office. Smith remembers that Rose was "just not quite right, but there was nothing dramatic about her condition." The next day, however, Rose was unable to walk and a blood screen revealed serious liver damage. A high white blood cell count indicated a possible bacterial infection. Rose was put on IV fluids. Meanwhile, the dog had stopped eating and was vomiting bile. Naturally gaunt dogs, Salukis don't have a lot of fat reserves, so Rose's only chance, Martin was told, was for doctors to insert a feeding tube directly into Rose's intestines in a procedure used so rarely that the Pitts vets had to get the special tube from Saint Elizabeth Regional Medical Center. During the same surgery, Rose underwent a liver biopsy with the hope it would shed light on what was wrong (it didn't). Five minutes into the surgery, Rose lost blood pressure. She revived but later began hemorrhaging internally. Doctors began transfusing her with blood and hydrating her with fluids. To compound matters, Rose chewed out her feeding tube. Now it was truly eat or die. Miraculously, she began to accept food from Martin and a vet technician named Jane. Dr. Terry Pitts began to call Rose the little miracle dog. She had survived liver and kidney failure, hemorrhage and acute pancreatitis. Then her foot developed a thrombosis from the IV tubes and the bleeding episode, which developed into gangrene and necessitated amputation. But the damage to her system precluded use of anesthesia. So Pitts put a morphine drip into Rose's spine and used a local anesthetic block to amputate the foot. Against all odds, Rose came home the middle of March. She was racing around the backyard the night I called. And still, doctors hadn't a clue what had nearly killed her. Frankly, her long-term prognosis remains cloudy. Nor will the little Saluki who once turned heads in the show ring enter another dog show. Though that door has closed, Martin sees another one opening for the tenacious hound. "I'm going to make a therapy dog out of her," Martin said, a certain survivor's pride evident. "She's an unusual dog who's gone through unusual circumstances. I think people (in nursing homes) can identify with her."

Kate Gaul, for the Lincoln Journal Star, Monday, March 29, 1999

Rose is doing FABULOUS! The vet told me last night that he only needs to see her once a month now! Her kidneys have returned to near normal function and her foot is healing nicely. We made her a prosthetic foot out of 2" PVC pipe and she gets around good on it. The muscle in her leg atrophied so we're working on building it back up. Yes, I was with Peaches when I put her down. I was the first person she saw in this world (I whelped her litter) and I was the last person she saw when she left. That's the way I wanted it. She seemed relieved. She was a very sick little girl. I don't know where the cancer comes from. If I could afford it, I would feed the all natural dog diets. If I had time, I would make my own dog food. But, unfortunately, I'm time and money poor so I have to rely on commercial dog food. I firmly believe that processing has a lot to do with the high incidence of cancers anymore. I've tried to be so careful over the years about breeding a genetic predisposition to various diseases. I've never had epilepsy, hip displaysia or bloat in my lines (I've been breeding for almost 20 years) and this is only the 2nd cancer. Unfortunately, her mother had a fast cell mastic cancer but I had surgery done on her (at 10 years old) and she is with me to this day (12 years old). I now am afraid that I have a genetic predisposition to fast cell cancer so I'm rethinking my program. The Salukis seem to be free of a lot of the common ailments, like bloat, displaysia, cancer, epilepsy and so on but they do have a tendency towards auto immune disease and cardiomyopathy. Yikes! We did rule out auto immune with Rose and her heart failure was due to debilitation. Her heart is functioning normally now. Sometimes I wonder if its worth it at all to breed these animals. I haven't bred that many litters over the years and I keep in touch with all the owners and so far, my research and strategies have paid off as far as long term health and stable temperment go. I would like to breed Rose because I think she is an incredible animal and, since I can't show her but she would have kicked some major butt, I think she will produce herself and would like to have another. Did you know I have her brother? He is gorgeous. I showed him in Topeka and he got a lot of attention because of his almost angelic expression and his gorgeous golden/white color. He's not my Rose but he is a very nice dog.