Emma

So, some of you are wondering what happened to Emma right? She's still here
and still very happy. On Memorial Day weekend 2006 the board decided we
would have Emma stay with us as a permanent foster as she's already been
with us over 2 years and has not found a suitable home. Shirley & Carol
approached Emma's foster dad to see if she could continue to live with
him.......it took less than a split second for him to say "yes"! She is thriving in
her environment and we are happy to have her as a permanent resident for
Golden Years. Emma is about 8 years old now and still spunky as ever.

A little history for those of you who have not followed Emma's story. She was
found roaming the streets of Muskegon and picked up by animal control in 2004.
The poor girl had glaucoma so bad her eyes looked like the bulging eyes on a
flying squirrel. We were called and fortunately we just had a space open up in a
foster home. We tried to get the swelling down but the glaucoma was too
advanced. Emma needed eye surgery and thanks to a very generous donor the
cost of the surgery was covered. The vet took out Emma's eyes and put a
silicone ball in the eyeball and then put the whole eye back in. This was done
on both eyes and gave Emma a normal look. She started recovery well, but the
stinker managed to get her e-collar off and pulled at the stitches. She had to
go back for more surgery and this time she totally lost the eyeballs. Her fur is
very dark around the eye area so if you've never met her before she just looked
like she had her eyes naturally closed. It made us sick knowing a human didn't
have the decency to get Emma's eyes taken care of in the very early stages of
the glaucoma. It would have saved her from having to be in constant pain in
her eyeballs. We are blessed to have this girl as part of the permanent Golden
Years family. Often we forget she's blind since she has compensated so well.
Animals are truly amazing at overcoming adversity. Emma is an absolute love.