Thursday, October 14, 2010

Scruffers

Friends of Flicka is sponsoring Scruffers who just arrived at RAGOM (Retrieve a Golden of Minnesota). Following is his RAGOM blog post:Give a huge welcome to Scruffers! Scruffy came to us today from a "ranch" where he has been kept in a kennel for most of his life. We think he is around 12 years old. Scruffy was set to be euthanized last week because the owner could no longer care for him but the vet sprang into action and got RAGOM involved and look who's here!!

Prior to getting him into the vet today, he got to hang out in a fenced backyard (Thanks Auntie Jen!). He was introduced to another dog with no problems. He was very scared and flinches when you go to touch his head. He warmed up quite quickly however and came up to me for pets before too long (especially when he learned I had some nummy nummy treats).

Scruffers, however, is in pretty rough shape. He went to the vet today (cross you fingers for good blood work!!) and weighed in at 51 pounds, the vet thinks he should be closer to 75 if that gives you any idea of how thin he is right now. Prior to getting to the vets he was given a can of wet food and he ate with gusto so I'm hoping with some regular feedings of some good quality food he'll put some weight on in no time.

Scruffy has 2 broken canines and several incisors that will need to be removed. He also has tremendous pain in his back legs. The vet said that the muscles back there are severely atrophied, likely from spending so much time in a kennel. Since Scruffers is so scared right now, we made the decision to keep him at the vet with his buddy Goldie so he could have his teeth pulled on Monday morning and then I'd bring him to my home.

We don't know what Scruffers needs in his forever home at this point, but his vet bills are going to be quite large so I wanted to get his story out there, you know, just in case you wanted to help him out ;-)

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UPDATES:
10/12/2010:
GReat news! All of Scruffers blood work came back great! How often do you get an older dog who is 20 pounds underweight to have good blood work?!? All that means is some regular feedings of some good quality foods should get him up to a healthy weight!

Scruffers ended up having a total of 5 teeth pulled. His poor mouth was so swollen when he got to my house but that didn't stop him from eating! He got some wet food and was excited to eat it. We are doing a mix of wet food and dry food that's been soaked in water so he gets a little bit of both worlds. We'll slowly switch him to pure kibble when his mouth is able to handle the crunchies.

Scruffers met the resident pack with little fanfare. Granted, he was a little woozy from the drugs but after he was up and about, during the night and this morning everything went great. He's such a little squirt that he fits UNDER one of my resident dogs! He got to meet most of the neighbors who, naturally, fell head of heels for him. He's just got that lovable kind of face :-) He also met the resident pip-squeak, Stella, who is a 9 pound puppy mix. He did just fine with her along with the 2-year-old neighbor girl next door.

We took our first walk this morning and he needed a lot of encouragement. I don't imagine he's ever been on a walk before so he kind of pulled the puppy thing, i.e. if I sit and don't move you can't do anything about it. He did end up doing a pretty good job after lots of praise.

I was happy to know that loud noises to not bother him, but I'm starting to think he might be a little hard of hearing. He doesn't respond to his name, but that's not too surprising considering where he came from. However, he doesn't jump or flinch with any noises which is a little "off" since he is a little bit scared overall. I'll continue to monitor this and keep everyone updated!

Scruffers doesn't exactly go to the door when he needs to potty, however he does cry and pace, which is a very good sign in my book! He slept in the kennel last night and wasn't a happy camper but did settle down after an hour or so. With some consistency he will be a pro at night!

I'm still not sure what Scruffers needs in his forever home. If he does have a hearing issue he will be safer with a fenced yard. He hasn't shown too much interest in the resident pack yet, so don't know if he will need/want another dog to live with. Keep checking back and I'll keep everyone updated on his progress and we'll find out what he needs! In the meantime I'll be sure to give him some extra lovin :-)

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Rescue organizations need support in many ways. I help abandoned animals find loving homes. You can, too. . .