THIS SWEET FACE AND THOSE BIG BROWN EYES BELONG TO A DOG WITH A VERY BIG HEART. HER NAME IS JEMMIE .... HER HUMAN, SARAH VARANINI WORKS AT THE SACRAMENTO S-P-C-A... AND THAT'S HOW THEY FOUND EACH OTHER...THEY LIKE TO TAKE WALKS TOGETHER, AND AS YOU CAN SEE, JEMMIE HAS A LOT OF TRICKS UP HERE SLEEVE... FROM DANCING .... TO SITTING DOWN TO PLAYING DEAD ..... BUT HER BIGGEST TRICK OF ALL IS HELPING TO SAVE A LIFE.
"We had a family come in with 2 kittens that they had found in their backyard, stray kittens that just showed up, they were the only 2 that were alive." THESE TWO TINY KITTENS HAD SOME VERY BIG PROBLEMS. "One had 2 eye ulcers in his eye- so basically eye infections that are really really bad squinty couldn't see...."
SO BAD, IN FACT, VETERINARIANS BELIEVE THAT AT LEAST ONE EYE WOULD HAVE TO BE REMOVED ... BUT NOW THERE'S AN ALL OUT EFFORT TO SAVE THE OTHER EYES USING ANTIBIOTICS AND A SPECIAL SERUM.... AND THAT'S WHERE JEMMIE COMES IN.... SHE DONATES THE BLOOD TO HELP SAVE THEIR LIVES.
"In order to get the serum, we need a good amount of blood, we get that from JEmmie here and basically we spin in down until we get the serum on top and that's all the good stuff in blood and then we use that as eye drops for the little kitten."
AND, BECAUSE IT'S NOT A BLOOD TRANSFUSION, SARAH SAYS MIXING DOG BLOOD WITH THE KITTENS IS NOT A PROBLEM. SHE SAYS IT'S BEEN A SUCCESSFUL PROCEDURE USED MANY TIMES AT THE SACRAMENTO SPCA AND FOR A T LEAST ONE OF THE KITTENS, THE PROGNOSIS IS GOOD.
"It looks a little better,- the kitten is able to open it just a peep,and so hopefully we'll be able to save it."
AND AFTER DONATING HER BLOOD, JEMMIE THEN GETS A SPECIAL REWARD, SPENDING TIME WITH HER FAVORITE FURRY FRIENDS. AND SARAH THINKS IT'S THEIR WAY OF GIVING BACK.
"She came from here, she's giving back to kittens and there's nothing she loves more in life than kittens so I know she would love to do it if she could talk."