Shyla was abandoned by her family when they moved out and left her. She was discovered chained up behind a shop almost a week after they had moved out…no food, no water and Shyla was in pretty rough shape. She was immediately taken to a vet and it was determined that Shyla’s heart rate was very low and the vet couldn’t get any lung sounds so she did a couple x-rays and found Shyla had a very large dilated heart (dilated cardiomyopathy) and could have a possible heart based tumor. Shyla needed to see a cardiac specialist and we arranged an appointment and was preparing her to be transported to the Seattle area. The vet put Shyla’s prognosis as guarded to poor. She also had a mass on her tail that maybe was cancer, but it was the least of her worries at the moment. There was a lot of staining around both of her eyes and she was sneezing which may have been an upper respiratory issue.

Shyla was 5 years old, she was underweight with her ribs prominent. It was not ‘just’ a week of no food or water that took its toll on her body—it was a long period of neglect.

Shyla passed away peacefully in her sleep last night at her foster home. At least she didn’t die alone chained behind a store. Rest in peace dear Shyla and know that there are many, many new friends awaiting as you cross the Rainbow Bridge.

Thank you to Yakima Valley Pet Rescue who initially stepped in to help Shyla and to foster dad Jason and to our own board member Kristi who was working so hard to put all the puzzle pieces together so Shyla could receive the care she needed.