Viva, a small Golden mix, was about 10 years old when we rescued her from the MCACCS westside shelter. She was very thin, lethargic, had weak hind legs, was loaded with ticks and her coat was a matted disaster. Hoping to put some life back into this sad, dispirited girl, the transporter named her Viva. To get rid of the ticks, she had to be shaved, which, of course, got rid of all the awful mats. Surprisingly, her bloodwork showed no disease, just slight anemia, which was probably a result of neglect rather than illness. As we expected, once she had regular meals with good-quality food, the anemia improved. However, three months after we brought her in, she tested positive for tick fever – yes, sometimes it take a while for this illness to develop after the dog has been infested with ticks. Viva’s adopter renamed her Daisy, because she had adopted a dog named Daisy from us in 2013 (went to the Bridge in August 2019) and was used to using the name. The adopter graciously offered to cover any vet work Daisy might need going forward.