10/31/2007

UPDATE:

Tru is doing GREAT! All of his immediate physical problems have been taken care of, with the exception of his teeth, which will be fixed Nov. 16 when he gets neutered.

He sleeps in the bed with me at night with his brother Louis and his sister, Lola. He is still pretty terrified of any human hands coming towards him, but he will let me pick him up most of the time as long as i don't make any sudden movements. Despite his fear, he wants to be with me 24/7 and is taking treats from my hands--a sure sign of trust.

He still walks sideways due to his fused patellas and the scars on his eyes are never going to go away, but he is looking much less pathetic.

10/3/2007

UPDATE:

What a Trooper! Tru's infections are all gone, minus the fungal infection on his ear--but even that is almost gone! He's getting medicated pads put on his ear twice a day, and that seems to be doing the trick. He went back to the vet, and it was confirmed that he is at least 2 years old and was probably used as a breeding dog. He'll be neutered soon and will get a good teeth cleaning as well. He still needs to gain a few pounds, but he's looking great. He is heartworm negative as well.

The vet said that the reason for his bowlegged-ness and the fact that he runs sideways is because he has luxated patellas at a grade 4. That basically means his little knee caps slid out of place a lot when he was younger and nobody took the time to correct it, so now his knees are permanantly out of whack. It doesn't hurt him though, and his sideways run is cute as it can be! We'll just have to be careful he doesn't gain *too* much weight and watch for arthritis.

9/17/2007 

UPDATE: Tru is really beginning to come out of his shell. He's been to the doctor and is being treated for a staph infection, two eye infections, and ring worm in his ear. He sure wasn't treated very well in his last home. The vet thinks he is about 2 years old, judging from the condition and decay of his teeth. He may have to have a bunch of them pulled!

Despite his physical issues, Tru is finally rolling over and letting me rub his belly, sleeping in the bed with me and the rest of the kids at night, and about half the time he allows me to pick him up and pet him without flinching. I think this is quite an accomplishment.

9/10/2007 

I haven't had Tru very long, so I don't know much about his personality as of yet. He's big on the humping, though! Animal control in my area picked him up and he was close to being euthanized. I went and picked him up and took him home. Right now, he is severly malnourished and needs to gain some serious weight. He's extremely bowlegged and has an underbite and is missing some teeth. He's got cloudy eyes as well, and I won't know anything about his condition until I get him into the vet in a week. It's obvious he's never been anyone's pet, but he's a trooper and he's well on his way to being a happy, healthy boy!

Scout isn't really my dog--he's my parent's dog and Lola's littermate. But I have lots of pics of him, and I felt that he deserved his own profile.

Scout came to my parents in September of '06 when the breeder I bought Lola from called me and told me he was getting a puppy back from Lola's litter who had demodectic mange (like Lola) and the guy who'd bought him from the guy who'd bought him from the guy who'd bought him (this pup exchanged hands about a dozen times) had called the breeder and told him that either the breeder give him his money back or he was going to have Scout euthanized. So, the breeder took him back and called me. I called my parents because they were in LOVE with Lola, and they went out and took one look at Scout and brought him home.

He'd been pretty badly abused and neglected (probably just from living in so many different homes) when my parent's got him, but over the last year he's really come around. He is a GIANT Boston, weighing in at about 35 pounds. He is also the most beautiful Boston Terrier I've ever seen. He's loving and wonderful and thankfully there are almost no signs that was ever treated poorly.

Ruthie is the sweetest girl! She was born with deformed front legs, but you'd never know it by how fast she can move!! She sounds like a herd of elephants running down the hallway, but she moves almost as fast as my other three babies.

Ruthie was a breeder surrender to the American Boston Terrier Rescue in Gainesville, TX. Her legs can't be fixed. The vet said that a surgery would be very painful and only carried about a 10 % chance that it would work. So the wonderful people at the rescue decided that since Ruthie isn't in any pain and gets along just fine. We recently got a donation to order her a front end wheelchair. She hasn't gotten to use it too much yet, but as soon as I get the chance, I'll post pictures!