A few nights ago I was browsing Craigslist and saw someone had found a chihuahua which they wanted gone right away. He was skin and bones and barely could walk. He has no teeth, his eyes looked dead and he had been thought to be roadkill until a door to door sales person noticed he moved a little and alerted a neighbor. It has been really really cold and rainy here the last few weeks.
His story broke my heart and I have a soft spot for chihuahuas anyway so at midnight I hopped in my car and drove 60 miles to go get him. He was worse than I even imagined, He smelled like a filthy litter box and he couldn't walk. He tried to pee and he tipped over and fell into it. It was the saddest thing I have seen in a long time. Apparently several people from Craigslist came to look at him and left him because they said he was dead already anyway. He is probably 15 years old too. He is an old old dog. That makes it even sadder.
I could tell he was really sick so I took him to the vet and got him antibiotics for the upper respiratory infection he had. I'm waiting for that to clear before I pay for tests to look deeper into his health. No sense if he can't recover from the URI. I also have him on a dog allergy medication because he looks like he might have allergies like my last near death old dog rescue (who is a totally happy bouncy dog now, totally not near death anymore).
I got a sausage grinder so I have been making home made dog food which they all love. For this poor little chihuahua I mix flax and lard and olive oil in addition to the sausage. He loves it. He has gained about 6 ounces so far and he is doing really well. I think he might just pull through. Today he got wet when I took him out to go potty and when he came in from that he ran around in a circle crazy wet dog style!!! I was ecstatic!!! He couldn't even walk 5 steps a few days ago!! He couldn't pee without falling over and he RAN!!!
I thought I was going to be providing hospice or euthanasia care to this dog but I now think I may have him for a while. This brings the chihuahua to human ratio at my house dangerously close to crazy!
I'm trying to post pics but in my blog I guess it won't resize. There are photos in my pics.
His story broke my heart and I have a soft spot for chihuahuas anyway so at midnight I hopped in my car and drove 60 miles to go get him. He was worse than I even imagined, He smelled like a filthy litter box and he couldn't walk. He tried to pee and he tipped over and fell into it. It was the saddest thing I have seen in a long time. Apparently several people from Craigslist came to look at him and left him because they said he was dead already anyway. He is probably 15 years old too. He is an old old dog. That makes it even sadder.
I could tell he was really sick so I took him to the vet and got him antibiotics for the upper respiratory infection he had. I'm waiting for that to clear before I pay for tests to look deeper into his health. No sense if he can't recover from the URI. I also have him on a dog allergy medication because he looks like he might have allergies like my last near death old dog rescue (who is a totally happy bouncy dog now, totally not near death anymore).
I got a sausage grinder so I have been making home made dog food which they all love. For this poor little chihuahua I mix flax and lard and olive oil in addition to the sausage. He loves it. He has gained about 6 ounces so far and he is doing really well. I think he might just pull through. Today he got wet when I took him out to go potty and when he came in from that he ran around in a circle crazy wet dog style!!! I was ecstatic!!! He couldn't even walk 5 steps a few days ago!! He couldn't pee without falling over and he RAN!!!
I thought I was going to be providing hospice or euthanasia care to this dog but I now think I may have him for a while. This brings the chihuahua to human ratio at my house dangerously close to crazy!
I'm trying to post pics but in my blog I guess it won't resize. There are photos in my pics.
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Hope he continues to improve.