Tania
Tania had been a princess until the day her loving owner passed away and the family didn’t want to bother with a diabetic senior. It seemed like anyone aside from the next of kin didn’t want either and she was about to get euthanized before we stepped in. She was very different from all the other rescues and that difference stemmed from the fact she had been an only dog and spoiled. She felt like doing as she pleased and was, let’s be honest, a little brat. She took pleasure in bullying the most sensitive dogs, wanting to be the center of attention and just thinking she was the queen of her new domain. She also had a big mouth and was pretty stubborn. With us, she learned to respect her pack, adjust and share, and that she couldn’t always do as she pleased, something she had obviously never done before. In short, she learned to be pleasant and kind. Healthwise, she had cataract and needed high doses of insulin twice a day. With strict monitoring, by adjusting her diet and giving her natural supplements (check out our diabetes post for our tips), we were able to lower her need in insulin by half! She was stable for a good while until she started having epileptic seizures and her diabetes became harder to control. She was also in renal failure. One severe stroke was almost the end of her, our vet couldn’t stabilize her (she kept convulsing once awake) and advised to let her go. But we didn’t give up and she was able to come home two days later. That stroke left her blind and senile, but she continued to live comfortably for another few months until we knew it was the right time to say goodbye…
Bob
Oh boy, Bob was quite something! He was on the list of euthania at the pound and when we took him out of there, not only did he fill the car with a pestilential whiff, but he also made us almost deaf. He cried the whole ride (about an hour and a half), totally shell-shocked, unable to calm down. His fur was a bundle of tangles, he had severe otitis, anal fistulas, a cyst on his butt and pretty bad teeth as well. But his mind was the most damaged. He had obviously been with a family before because he knew basic commands and was very loving. But I couldn’t fathom if he was so anxious because of the separation, the time he spent at the dog pound or if he was just a crackpot. He was over-the-top, couldn’t control his excitement, couldn’t concentrate, all of his reactions were brutal or extreme. He was not mean, but uncontrollable. Even with lots of training and exercise, in a peaceful environment, he didn’t calm down. I also wondered if he had not been beaten up at one point, which could have triggered trauma to his head. One day he bit me hard when I was just trying to avoid him knocking down a senior, gently restraining his energy. He was surely startled, but didn’t let go of my hand right away, I was shocked. We tried herbal supplements and aromatherapy to soothe his nerves, but it didn’t help much. He sometimes worked himself up into such a state that he was shaking. We couldn’t find any reason to his demented reactions so we had to come up with stronger medication. He showed signs of dementia and ended up having epileptic seizures, one also so severe that just like Tania, he spent days at the vet clinic under a drip. He came back with his back legs paralyzed and unable to eat on his own. With patience and rehab, he was able to retrieve part of his mobility, but he was just not the same dog anymore, disoriented and vegetative. We didn’t want to give up too early (he was about 11), but when he was not interested in his food anymore, we knew it was time to let him go. He had shaked our world for almost three years, we felt sad we couldn’t have helped him be in peace.
Zebulon aka Boody
This little guy had been rescued by another organization after he had been found living outdoors and left with a disabled rear end after a fight with a bigger dog, making him also incontinent. He also had behavioral issues, trying to bite almost everyone. When he was transferred to us, he was obese (was eating cat food at his foster’s home) and had pyoderma. He had a lot on his plate… Like many other biting dogs, he was just very unconfident and hadn’t received any training. Our amazing pack helped him relax and we showed him how to properly behave. He remained skittish, but didn’t bite anymore and was much more friendly. Overtime, he had other skin and thyroid issues, weakening his system. We always tried to tackle health problems naturally as much as possible, but sadly when we had to come up with stronger drugs, we knew it was triggering other issues and messed up organs. He surprised us though when he passed of a seizure before he was 10.
Leonie
This poor little nugget also came from another organization where she had been spayed and her mammary tumors removed. I don’t exactly know what had happened, but when she was transferred to us (she had spent some time there, the person had too many dogs and needed to make space), she was severely emaciated and just a wandering corpse. She was blind, deaf, senile, with kidney failure and in a very bad shape. We were not able to make up for all the neglect she’d been through for years, she unfortunately left us after a short month and a half with us… She was around 15. It always shattered me to arrive too late and not be able to at least give these dogs a little break and feel good for a while…