30.09.2025 🕊

Eira had only a short stay with us, but she left a big mark on our hearts.

We found her this Saturday in a state that no words could describe, and we couldn’t let her behind…First aid was given during the weekend, and what we could see from the outside was already devastating: severe flea allergy dermatitis complicated by generalized demodicosis, yeast and secondary bacterial infections, with intense pruritus and ulcerated skin lesions. She had a corneal ulcer in the left eye, purulent conjunctivitis in the right eye, multiple mammary tumors and a mass near the elbow. She was malnutritioned, had a severe dental disease with periodontitis, otodectes infestation in both ears, and clinical signs of anemia and a likely a chronic urinary tract infection.

Despite this, she kept wagging her tail more than any dogs we took in and showed incredible strength. We started stabilising & gradual treatment whilst we were planning and hoping there was still a chance for Eira.

On Monday, September 29, we completed diagnostics together with the veterinarian. Bloodwork confirmed anemia and azotemia consistent with kidney damage. The most urgent finding was pyometra, which required further stabilization and emergency ovariohysterectomy.

But just before surgery on tuesday, thoracic radiographs revealed something new: her lungs were filled with nodules, consistent with pulmonary metastases.

From that moment, the prognosis changed completely.

If we had proceeded, her life would have become a sequence of major interventions:

→ Ovariohysterectomy + biopsies/histopathology of the mammary tumors → Further thoracic imaging/biopsy if pulmonary metastasis had not been confirmed → Depending on results of bipsy; further surgeries amongs them possible complete full dental extractions. With supportive therapy in between, including nutritional rehabilitation, intensive skin treatment, and eventually vaccinations. Her left eye was already at risk of blindness wich might have required surgical management.

The suffering would have only continued…It was simply too much for a body already so weak..

We then made the heartbreaking decision to end her suffering whilst she was still wagging her tail. Unfortunately, despite all the goodwill in the world, it doesn’t always have a happy ending. Some are not as lucky as our other rescues to end their days in a loving family. Eira never got that life, but she had a family in us.

She is now free from pain and we will remember her with love 🤍.

We named her Eira, from the Old Norse goddess of healing, mercy, and protection. The word itself means peace and help. Though we could not heal her body, we could give her mercy, protection, and peace in the end. True to her name, she left this world with dignity, surrounded by love…and tears..