Urgent Help needed for senior female Scituate RI

Originally Posted By: SpiritsmamNope, not heard anything yet, but the e-mail address was a generic shelter address so I wouldn't expect to hear anything until the start of the work week.
Joanne

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Hi Joanne,

GSRNE has been in contact with the shelter about both dogs. Not sure where that's going yet. I'm heading down there on Friday to do a photoshoot of both dogs for a photo story on our website.

I saw this post this morning and when I spoke to the ACO, I asked her if she'd seen your email yet. She said she got "a beautiful email from someone in North Carolina, a vet tech." I told her about this forum and that you're a long timer here and there are rescues in your area that could do homechecks, etc. She said she plans to keep an open mind about it for sure, but I think wants to see what she can accomplish closer to home first.

Here is the rest about the dogs, which she gave me permission to post:

"We don't have any background information on the dogs. The man who owned them lived alone and has emotional or mental issues. He had no family or friends nearby and was taken from his rental home by rescue. This wasn't in my town, it was in the next town over (they use our shelterf). I went with the Foster ACO and a police officer to take the dogs out of the locked house(when the rescue takes someone they have to lock the door behind them and we couldn't find anyone with a key) One window was unlocked. The dogs did not even bark or growl. The police officer climbed through the window and brought them out the front door. They love everyone that walks through the shelter. I took each of them to the vet separately and they behaved perfectly, even when having blood drawn. They both have Lyme and Erhlichia (not sure how to spell that one lol). They will start Doxycyline tomorrow. Angel is in no noticable discomfort and does not appear to be incontinent. The vet said that she probably would not have use of her hind quarters in another year. She did say that if Angel was an "owned" dog that there are some medications available to keep her comfortable and possibly slow down the DM. If there is anything you can do, I would be forever in your debt. They do not have to go together. Angel was fine on her vet trips without Max and was actually quite a kissy face with everyone at the vet. He couldn't care less if she's around, he just wants a human ball throwing machine. I joined several of the shelter volunteers and a dog trainer yesterday for our very first group class. The trainer works toward getting the dogs to earn their AKC good citizen certificate. I handled Max and he did very well. Of course, being the only shepherd in the class that kind of goes without saying. lol....At first the vet thought (Angel) about 5 or 6 yrs but then, I guess, taking the condition into consideration she decided on 8. She guessed Max as between 3 and 5. He's not muscled up really well in the hind quarters either so I'm guessing that they didn't get much exercise."

This ACO has two shepherds of her own and loves them. The vet was ready to put Angel down and she asked for more time as she feels she has lots of life left. I believe the diagnosis was made based on physical exam only, and by two different vets. BTW, Angel is NOT incontinent, and she doesn't feel that both dogs need to stay together since she's had them apart and both did well without each other.

For anyone interested in reading about DM:

http://www.mzjf.com/test.html testing

http://www.mzjf.com/signs.html warning signs

http://www.mzjf.info/Forums/index.php support group/educational (which I'm a member)

Re: Urgent Help needed for senior female Scituate

If mods want to move her to the Where are they now section, my camera will be following her as she makes her way through GSRNE now, from shelter to foster to adopter.

In the meantime, here are her shelter images. She's a soft-eared beauty (and he's to die for)!


Meet Angel.













And her companion, Max.