She was babysitting 2 poms, we had 4 and she had 11. Noki was 80lbs and her smallest dog was 3lbs. That poor guy sat and laid down in slow motion and never squished anyone. The little dogs would run over him and he didn’t move. Noki was so smart and she was surprised how careful he was.
Wow, I thought I was being bold by taking in 2 when I already have 3 of my own. I cannot imagine 17 together or even bringing in 6 new ones at once. That's a lot of poop to pick up!
Dropped off Miss Lucy at the vets for a full workup, teeth cleaning, and exam. She has pica (found her chewing/eating gravel and sticks), possibly diabetes (lots of drinking and peeing, plus she eats plenty of food but is very scrawny), probably cataracts (squinting, cloudy eyes), and a noted heart murmur from shelter (though they did not note grade), and has lots of chocking fits where she sounds like she can't breathe. Vet's going to do blood tests and full exam. Had to write everything down for him to make sure he didn't miss anything. Poor little thing.
On the plus side, she was a doll in the car on the way there and didn't seem scared at all to be there, even after the resident cat hissed at her. There seems to be some mutual natural animosity between cats and tiny dogs. The cat has never hissed at any of my other pets when I take them in. And my cat has let it be known that she's not very happy about her presence, though she mainly just keeps away and gives her the stink eye.
Miss Lucy does not have diabetes, vet thinks the symptoms are from stress and the medical procedures she had done recently. And her blood work was good. That's the good news. However, her cataracts are quite advanced and he thinks she will lose her sight in the next year or two. She's not a good candidate for surgery due to her heart condition, she has a grade 3 murmur. He said she might not survive the surgery. And the surgery would be $5k per eye. So the best we can do is give her twice daily eye drops for pain, inflammation, and light sensitivity. The shelter had her age at 7 yrs., vet thinks she's at least 12. Lots of missing teeth.
Now I have to find her resting respiratory rate to see if she needs heart medication.
He said she's underweight so I need to fatten her up a bit. Luckily, she's been eating really well and I'm giving her good quality food. Hope to see improvements soon.
I had been thinking that she might be a foster fail for me because she is doing so well with us. She is so happy. This morning she was dancing around in her little hoodie after her morning walk and her breakfast and treat. And my dogs love her. But my boxer is a bit of a bull in a china shop kind of dog. No grace to speak of, often crashes into the patio door in her haste to get in and out, regularly jumps over both of the small dogs instead of going around them. I fear that she'll accidentally hurt Lucy if Lucy's blind.
I'm so sad for her. I wonder if we'll be able to find her a good home before she goes blind. Vet said it's best if she gets settled in and learns the house layout before she looses her sight.
When dogs are in that bad of shape and that old my friends just keep them. Might be a good idea to do that.
You don't think my boxer will hurt her? I'm wondering if she would be better off being an only pet, or with another small pet.
A few minutes ago she was doing a happy play bow to my maltipoo, tail wagging and butt shaking. It was adorable. And then she chased him a little for fun. I just want to do what's best for her.
I think the chance of her finding a home are about zero. I don’t think the boxer will. I saw noki who was old jump over the little dogs to avoid stepping on them.
Originally Posted by Teacher Terry
�� Sorry
Dh and I are coming around to the idea of keeping Lucy if we can't find her a good home. Realistically, we know that we would not get rid of her if we can't get her adopted. I've been reading articles about caring for blind dogs and one of the tips was to have the other pets and humans wear bells so she knows where we are. I like that and if Bella the boxer can be trusted around her I will feel better. I'm going to ask the vet how much eyesight she's lost so far to see what adjustments need to be made now.
The secondary concern is our moving. I really, really want to get out of the Bay Area. So whether we head out to Atlanta or the Central Valley, I'd like to be out within the next couple of years. It's very possible that when/if we move, she will already be blind.
I'm trying to make the adjustment from trying out fostering for the first time, to taking on a blind senior dog in less than a 2 week period.You guys said chihuahuas live forever, right?
Beware of those tiny old dogs who live forever!
When we took in the six French bulldogs, DH and I kept the eldest two, a mother and daughter because how long could they live? Not that long, we thought.
Well I will tell you something. The eldest Frenchie in the group was 12 years old. Guess who died within the next four years? The five other Frenchies. Chablis, aka Granny Pants, outlived them all at age 16.
We knew their exact ages because they were from the kennel of our friends.
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