Rhonda

In early April 2012, we saw an elderly beagle on our local shelter’s website. She came in as a stray.  After 3 weeks, she was still unclaimed. She was about to be put to sleep. Since we lost Tara to cancer in January, we had space for one more dog.  Rhonda has a microchip which was never registered, but we were able to trace her back to the company which had implanted it. They are the world’s largest supplier of puppy mill puppies and ship puppies world-wide. Rhonda will be 10 in September. She arrived here with kennel cough and had to be isolated for a few weeks. She was also extremely hyper excitable and somewhat dog aggressive, so we sent serum to Hemopet for thyroid testing. She came back in the lower half of normal. Despite this, I decided to give her a trial of very low dose thyroxine and within a few doses, she was calmer & less aggressive. I asked Dr. Dodds (of Hemopet) what she thought and she said Rhonda was probably  ”subclinical hypothyroid” and it was OK to keep her on the low dose if it improved her behavior. It definitely did. She is much less anxious.  Rhonda still is very possessive of her belongings, food and treats, so she has part of the house to herself and has her own yard.   Rhonda had severe dental  disease and required anesthesia and 8 extractions at a cost of $375. She is now enjoys tooth brushing. She also surprised us by coming into heat and had to be spayed.…I really hate seeing senior dogs ending up at shelters, it is not the fate they deserve after years of serving as someone’s pet.

Here she is being silly after her bath. http://youtu.be/OYEkpSK8mgQ

Rhonda

Rhonda

Rhonda’s temperament improved after being on thyroxine, but she still is kept in her own area of the house & has her own yard because she is overly possessive of toys and treats.

 

The cost of saving and rehabbing Rhonda was more than $800. She is not really adoptable, due to her barking and tendency to start fights over toys, food and other “possessions”. She has a permanent home here, but we need help supporting these special needs, older & health challenged animals. Please consider becoming a JERAS supporter. Thank you.