Kiara the Strong!
July 5 2026
Baby update for all the Kiara stans out there
We had our first vet visit post ER break out and while everyone was excited to see her, Kiara’s bloodwork was not quite what we were hoping to see. She is no longer considered contagious (hence Momma Mable in the background who is so happy to be offering her healing services), but is very clearly still fighting a nasty infection because her white blood cell count is still really high. She is also still anemic, super dehydrated, and wildly underweight. At her first vet visit before all this started, she was 12 pounds and now she’s a measly 8.6 pounds Despite being absolutely ravenous for food, her little body is struggling to keep her food down and absorb nutrients. If she wasn’t throwing it up, she’s been battling some of the worst diarrhea we’ve ever seen, and we’ve seen a lot So we left the vet with 5 different medications and subcutaneous fluids to do at home until her next bloodwork recheck later this week!
All this being said, it’s quite obvious that this little girl is starting to feel better despite what her bloodwork says because her little (big) personality is starting to come out! We are limiting time out and about with her foster siblings because the more she sees them, the more she wants to play and she really can’t afford to lose the calories. But we’ve discovered that she’s big on the cuddles, loves a good bone (the bigger the better), and has even begun to find her little houndy voice!
The past two days have been Kiara’s most lively by far, she’s kept all of her many tiny meals down, and has been so brave while getting her fluids! We think she’s going to show that bloodwork who’s boss next week
June 30 2026
THE BABY IS COMING HOME
It’s been an absolute whirlwind of a couple of days and we are so sorry to have left everyone worrying and waiting. After days of hearing how little Kiara was responding to treatment, that they weren’t seeing the change they’d hoped after her blood transfusion, and being described as “static”, we were completely floored to get a call early Monday morning saying that Kiara was doing “fabulously” and could likely go home later that day. She’d finally eaten a full meal on her own and was even “talking” in her crate! We were over the moon and rushed to get prepared - we got what we call the “puppy bin ” out of storage and began setting up her isolation/healing area. But before we could begin the journey to pick her up, we got a call that Kiara’s levels had tanked again, her white blood cell count was crazy high, and she was lethargic and a totally different puppy than what they saw a peak of earlier that morning
They wanted to do a plasma transfusion and keep her for at least another night, which added to our ever growing bill. We were originally quoted $5-7k but as is the case in rescue, things changed drastically and we are now setting at just over $12k. But the doctors believed it wasn’t time to give up on her yet though, so we hopefully (and anxiously) put more money down and continued to channel all the Swampie Magic we could. After a day and a half, and multiple updates with little to no change, Tori and I started to have a conversation that no one ever wants to have. As much as we wanted to save Kiara, her quality of life had to come first. Well little miss thang must have sensed our doubts because we got a call literally less than 2 hours ago informing us that Kiara had been stable all day and it was time to come get our girl!!!!!!!
Kiara isn’t totally out of the woods yet but her doctors believe she’s far enough along to begin her recovery at home. We still have no idea what this crazy “parvo not parvo” virus is, so we will be keeping her isolated while she continues oral treatment. She is coming home with pages of discharge notes, multiple medications, and instructions to feed her baby food every 4 hours until her GI is strong enough to handle regular meals of puppy food. We are in this thing for the long nights filled with little sleep and whatever it takes to try and recoup our funds, but Kiara is worth all of it
Because of your generous donations, we were able to keep Kiara at the emergency vet longer than most would have in order for her to receive days of life saving treatment. We are so thrilled to share this incredible news with you all - our Swampie family There are simply not enough words to even begin to thank you all but hopefully this amazing news is a start
June 26 2026
Just over 24 hours at Capital Veterinary Specialists - Jacksonville with round the clock care, fluids, and antibiotics, and things are honestly not what we’d hoped for our newest Swampie baby
Kiara is “lethargic and dull” and now anemic on top of everything else. She is still testing negative for parvo which has everyone baffled, but experiencing all the symptoms. She doesn’t have an appetite so they’ve resorted to inserting a feeding tube in the hopes that she can get the nutrients her tiny, malnourished body so desperately needs. Between that, the hemorrhagic diarrhea, and what the doctors think might be a possible GI bleed - meaning she has far less blood in her body than she should - Kiara simply isn’t strong enough to fight much of anything right now She is on hour 2 of a 5-6 hour blood transfusion that we are all hoping will give her the boost that she needs to keep fighting
We were lucky enough to visit her this afternoon and told her just how many people are rooting for and love her already! We left her with a Boo Boo Lamb Chop to keep her company and help her heal. When we put it in front of her, she lifted her head just the littlest bit to sniff it, which was more than we’d seen her do since we got there
Swampies are fighters and little Kiara is no different, but any extra positive vibes, prayers, manifesting, and magic sent her way would be much appreciated We’ve seen the donations pouring in and we could just cry (we actually already have) over all the support. Because of you guys, we have the opportunity to save this little girl and that’s something she didn’t have a day ago. So thank you, truly. We are so unbelievably lucky.
June 25 2026
Today started with a phone call from our vet. “Would you be willing to take on a critically ill puppy?” And would you be surprised if not two hours later we were speeding from one vet to the ER with our newest Swampie. Fam, meet Kiara.
Kiara was picked up by someone about a week ago from a man was giving puppies away on the side of the road. As each day passed she got sicker and sicker, and when the reality hit of how expensive her vet care was going to be, they opted to euthanize her. That’s when our vet reached out to us, a hail mary at giving her a shot at survival.
Kiara is showing all the signs of parvo, even though test after test comes back negative. She is exhausted, dehydrated, has a distended abdomen, and has alarmingly bloody diarrhea she cannot control. She has lost almost a pound a day since she was taken from the side of the road. We know she has some sort of virus, we just aren’t sure what or why.
Kiara is expected to spend the next 2-3 days minimum at our emergency vet getting round the clock care. We took Kiara on knowing full well the bills would be astronomical. We took her on knowing there was a chance she would not survive, but we took her anyways, because she is a baby who deserves a chance. We took Kiara on because the universe said she needed some Swampie magic, and so it is Swampie magic she shall have.
Please send your good energy Kiara’s way while we see how she reacts to the antibiotics. Our low end vet bill estimate is setting right at $5000 knowing full well it could go up to closer to $7000. Anyone who is willing to donate towards Kiara’s care would be appreciated beyond measure. We can only say yes to lives like Kiara’s because of people like you who continue to support us.
