We have to thank Laura Suffridge, not only for sharing Ricky’s story but for her courageous fight to rescue him and bring him back to health. This is her amazing story, in Laura’s own words. Ricky is so adorable and so lucky to have found a forever home to live and begin to thrive. We think Ricky is just the cutest pup ever!

What it means to rescue a very sick pup

My first impression of Ricky was in an online video posted by a friend of mine who fosters and relentlessly cares for senior and special needs rescues. He was just a puppy, and her plea was for someone to adopt this little survivor. Some unseen force ordered me to take him, even with the looming uncertainties that come along with a distemper survivor—will his neurological condition continue to go downhill?
Will he continue to survive? Our household already had 3 big dogs and 2 cats who think they’re big, and after asking my friend to bring Ricky over for a test run, I immediately wondered what the heck I was thinking. I soon found out his whole story and knew that I had to be the one to make sure it continued.

Distemper and Demodex Mange

Ricky was brought into one of the local animal shelters here in the Houston area at around 2 months old, along with his mother. My friend, who works with rescues in the Northeast, had pulled Ricky from the shelter and was preparing to send him on a transport run bound for Maryland with other rescued pups. Just days before his transport, Ricky started showing signs of distemper, which automatically ruled out transport. Over the next couple of weeks, Ricky endured pneumonia that required treatments in a breathing chamber, Demodex mange, and other issues that required a constant barrage of medication and vet care.

What to do with a weakened immune system?

By the time I got him, he had all the tell-tale signs of a distemper survivor: neurological tics, a motion with his mouth like he was constantly chewing gum, infection around the eyes that seemed impossible to get rid of, and horrible rancid death breath. He was lethargic and was content just staying curled up on the dog bed all the time—not what I expected from a 3 month-old puppy. Then, just in time for Christmas about a month after arriving at our house, the Demodex mange returned. He had been on antibiotics since before I got him, and with the recurrence of mange, I was desperate for something to add to his conventional veterinary treatments that would strengthen his immune system and wean him off of the prescriptions so that he could get back to being a puppy.

Then I found Dr. Harvey’s E-mune Boost Supplement

My research brought me to Happy Dog Naturals for the mange treatment, and as part of the treatment, one of the suggested products on their website was Dr. Harvey’s E-mune Boost Supplement. Even after Ricky’s mange was gone and he had finished his prescriptions, I continued the E-Mune Boost supplement, hoping that it would help with his ongoing eye infections and maybe his bad breath.

He’s So Much Better!

Much to my amazement, it did just that and more. Ricky’s coat looks great, his breath is bearable, his eyes are clear and bright, and he is full of life and energy. Whenever I run out of E-Mune Boost, there is a noticeable slow-down in Ricky’s energy level, his eyes seem to start getting goopy, and his tics seem to be more severe. As we’re celebrating Ricky’s 1st birthday and nearing the anniversary of him joining our family, I pray that Dr. Harvey’s continues to make this great product so that Ricky can continue his story as the happy little dog he has become.