Please read the entire bio for this rescue, it will provide all the information that one needs to decide if they would like to apply to adopt from SCMR.
Cheerio
Cheerio (previously named Cymba) is a 6 yr F Maltese that was rescued from a not so good breeder situation in Virginia. She had a lot of people rooting for her and dedicated to getting her to Chattanooga, TN so she could start living the life she deserves. She even got to fly in an airplane!
She is currently fostered by Dr. Amy Holford in Chattanooga due to her range of health conditions and need for daily medications. She will continue to be fostered until she is deemed healthy and ready for adoption.
It’s going to be a long road….
Next up for Cheerio is an interventional surgery where our local cardiologist will attempt to place a coil into her patent ductus arteriosis (PDA) which should have closed at birth. Access will be through a large vein in her back leg and will need to be performed under anesthesia. She will have a one night hospital stay for her procedure. Since she has been living with this condition since she was born her heart has become enlarged and she requires two heart medications that will likely need to be continued long term. That will be based on follow up echocardiograms and recommendations from the cardiologist. This is the same heart condition that sweet baby Huckleberry had and I do believe they may be related!
In addition, Cheerio needs to have a spay, her large reducible umbilical hernia repaired and she is in desperate need of a dental with extractions.
She also has asymptomatic luxating patellas that will need to be watched long term.
Despite her medical hardships Cheerio is such a sweet, spunky, sassy and fun little girl. She loves most other dogs (only issue was my female doodle when Cheerio was in heat) especially her foster brothers (or should we say boyfriends!!) that are a Maltese, toy poodle and bichon frise! She is active and loves to get zoomies and chew on bones. She’s not huge on toys. She loves going to the dog park and anywhere you are going in the car. She can figure out how to get out of the open car windows though so if she needs to be left for a short time in the car she would be best off in a crate/kennel.
She likes wearing clothes!
She is pee pad trained and does well wearing a diaper. She will occasionally have an accident especially if you have accessible floor vent grates (I think this has to do with previously being on metal crating/grate material).
She crates up well but does bark when left alone.
She is up to date on her vaccinations.
At this time we need all the help we can get financially to provide her with her heart medications, her interventional PDA repair procedure, cardiac follow ups, as well as her spay, hernia repair, and dental.
Please click on the following link to donate to Cheerio’s ongoing care.
December 29, 2025, 5:49 pm
