Starla

  Vestavia Hills Alabama

Female
Age: ~10
20#
Health: Cataracts, rest TBA
Adoption Donation: TBA

Welcome in, Starla! When we received the below photo and message ⬇️ from a shelter in North Alabama, we raced to spring this sweet girl out and welcome her in! 💜

“Our officer responded to a potential injured and abandoned animal inside an apartment on 07/15/24. He located (Starla) inside of the apartment where there were no utilities turned on and the thermostat read 83 degrees. Our officer contacted the leasing office who advised her owner had passed away and it is unknown how long she was alone in the apartment. We filed seizure paperwork, and the courts granted us custody of (Starla) yesterday.“

Sweet Starla has arrived to her foster home in Birmingham, Alabama and will undergo her full intake vetting this week. She will also soon see our wonderful ophthalmologist in hopes that she’ll be a candidate for cataract removal surgery so we can give her the gift of vision again 🙏🏻  Despite the heartbreaking series of events that she has endured, made even worse by having to navigate it all blindly, Starla’s amazing Cavalier spirit is still shining bright! She is already a star! 🌟

UPDATE AUGUST 19, 2024:You may recall that we recently welcomed in precious Starla 💫 into our care after receiving this below message from an Alabama shelter ⬇️
“Our officer responded to a potential injured and abandoned animal inside an apartment. He located (Starla) inside of the apartment where there were no utilities turned on and the thermostat read 83 degrees. Our officer contacted the leasing office who advised her owner had passed away and it is unknown how long she was alone in the apartment. We filed seizure paperwork, and the courts granted us custody of (Starla).”
Starla arrived into our care in pretty rough shape - while we don’t know how long she was alone in the apartment, it appears she has been neglected for quite some time 💔 We have treated her for an upper respiratory infection and are currently treating her for a urinary tract infection, skin infections, advanced dental disease (until she is able to undergo a much needed dental), and really bad ear infections that have caused a lot of stenosis of her ear canals and have left her deaf. She is also blind with extremely hypermature cataracts. 
With all her infections receiving treated, Starla is feeling better and was up for a visit to our ophthalmologist so we could evaluate her eyes and determine if she is a candidate for cataract removal surgery.  As you can see, she wasn’t real stressed about the visit and made herself comfortable in her favorite belly up position while waiting on her report! 
Her evaluation revealed that she has complete hypermature cataracts in both eyes. When a cataract is complete, all functional and detailed vision is lost. Some light perception and shadow vision can be present which indicates that the retina and optic nerve are still functioning, which is the case for Starla! We found her right eye to be a good candidate for cataract removal surgery (and a new lens put in) with a great chance for vision restoration! 🙌🏼
Her left eye is more complex because the lens has started to shrivel and shrink (which you can see in the circled part of the below photo.) As a result, this has given her a small little window to see out of!!!! This was an “ah ha moment” as it explains how she could seemingly “track” you at times! Removing this lens would be risky and likely stir up some complications, like glaucoma which she has somehow managed to avoid. Therefore, we are going to leave this eye alone for now and continue to monitor it. There is even a chance that the cataract further shrivels and shrinks and she gains even more vision out of this eye without any intervention!
We will be looking to move forward with the right eye cataract surgery within the next month and are excited about giving Starla the gift of vision again! We don’t know how old Starla is (10-12 is our best guess), and we don’t know how long she has been blind, but judging by how very advanced her cataracts are, it’s been a very long time since she’s been able to see. A whole new world soon awaits her! 💕

SEPTEMBER 18 , 2024: There is no doubt that rescue is truly life changing for so many dogs 💕, but we’ve had the unique opportunity to give Starla the gift of vision and change her whole world 🌎 Starla arrived into our care blind with hypermature cataracts. These suckers were VERY advanced and Starla has not been able to see for a very long time. Her left eye is quite complex and was not a good candidate for cataract removal surgery due to the high risk of post operative complications, but her right eye was found to be a good candidate with a good chance of restoring some vision. Yesterday, she underwent the surgery where the cataract was removed and a new lens implanted! Surgery went very well and she woke up being able to see! It was a special moment as her foster mom was right there with her as she woke up and took her first look around 💜Her vision should improve more and more as post operative inflammation subsides. She is on lots of eye drop medications to help prevent infection, decrease inflammation, and help prevent glaucoma which is always a possibility when a cataract was this advanced. She returns to her ophthalmologist on Tuesday for a recheck and pressure check where we hope her intraocular pressures remain nice and low 🙏🏻Starla is still recovering from her BIG day and a is bit groggy to fully appreciate her new found vision, but we can’t wait to watch her explore her new world in the days to come. We can’t stop staring at her beautiful clear brown eye 🤎