November 2009

Lucy, the well-traveled young Samoyed female we told you about last month, has found her forever home. She was adopted by a family in Vancouver and looks forward to a long, wonderful future.

Lewis, who received his name because he was found in Lewis County, is now named Boaz. He found his family in Bend, complete with four children of his very own and a Mom who is almost always home with him. Lucky dog!

This month we took in Casey from Klamath Falls. His owner was a university professor who died last month at 46, without family, and his dogs were all sent to the shelter. They wrote to us and we arranged transportation for November 7. He made a 400 mile trip, first to Portland with the shelter volunteer, then to Longview with Melissa, and finally to Tenino with Kathy. The entire trip he had diarrhea, so his first stop was the shower.

We broke a cardinal rule by bathing first, then grooming, but this wasn’t a time to follow rules. Kathy spent four hours with the dryer and comb after washing, and he smells much better now. He has two very small hot spots, but they were caught quickly and are no problem now.

Casey is ten years old, but probably the oldest ten year old we’ve seen. For the first few days he had to be lifted to his feet. He walks like his feet all hurt, and it’s possible they do from the long nails he had. We trimmed at least a half inch off every nail, so now he must feel better. He has an upper respiratory problem from a cold of some kind, an infection going on somewhere, and a large stain on his neck that, when checked with a scraping, shows a yeast infection. He is a relatively small dog and needs to lose at least 10 pounds to take the stress off his joints. There is probably some minor neuroligical problem in his back. He is on a mild pain-killer, an antibiotic, and something to help his fungal stain.

After three or four days Casey began walking around, and he was allowed to meet the other dogs. We’ll just have to hope he isn’t contagious. Now he wants only to be on a pillow next to a human.