Eva was our surprise puppy. We found out just four days before she got here that we were getting a puppy. She arrived with two of her brothers and one sister from a private breeder at the age of 9 weeks 1 day old weighing 10 pounds. Not only was she my first golden retriever and female to raise, she was also my first assistance dog instead of guide dog to raise. It was an adventure right from the start! She is a ball of fire and attitude that had no end. At 11 weeks old, after weeks of refusing to eat and obsessive drinking and excessive urination and weighing only 8.8 pounds, Eva was taken to the vet after I asked for a week and insisted she had an infection. I was only partly right though, she did have a slight UTI, but she also was diagnosed with chronic kidney failure. She was tested by the vet the organization worked with and they discounted her test results and put her on antibiotics. 2.5 rounds of unmonitored antibiotics later and she was not better. We strived to keep her alive and happy and at 6.5 months she went to the founder/director/sole trainer of the organization for the "swap." (The organization traded dogs between raisers for 4-6 month periods.) Eva came home 4 weeks to the day later. The organization finally realized her kidney failure was irreversible and that she was dieing. She was 7 months old. We've enjoyed the last year with her home as our pet and we couldn't be happier with her progress and life thus far. Only time will tell how long she will be with us before her body gives out from the lack of filtration of the bad things in her body.
