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Jake chewing on the carrot flavored treat that Brenna�s parents gave him.
I think a perfect family for Jake is somebody who would appreciate spending time with somebody like Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor from Home Improvement. Jake is a lot like the TV character: he wants to be "The Man", yet he has his sensitive side. Clueless at times, but has great insights at others. A friendly and funny guy who can be a bit stubborn, but very loyal once he decides he likes that person.
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
I took Jake to the vet yesterday to ask them about his dry lip and pungent urine smell. The vet said both might be contributed to the food he's eating.
About the dry lip, when he first came, his lips and nose were cracked dry, but when I started him on fatty acids (Nature's Variety brand) right away, about two weeks later, his nose and left side of lip became normal, but his right side lip is still dry and cracks and even bleeds sometimes. I've given Jake Vitamin B and C twice in the past four month, and I think both times helped his right side lip to become moist for about a week. I told this to the vet also. The vet said it's best not to give him Vitamin B and C on regular basis unless we know he lacks these or see symptoms that seem like he lacks these (decreased appetite for Vitamin B, etc). She thinks he might lack Zinc. So I'm going to switch him to a fatty acid supplement that has Zinc in it (Drs Foster Smith Vitacaps). She also gave me a petrolatum based ointment to put on his lip, but we both think it's not going to work well, because he's just going to lick it off. There are a few more possibilities (allergy, viral infection), but the dry lip is not spreading, so the vet doesn't think it's anything serious. I'm going to try the Zinc first.
About his urine, he always had this really pungent urine smell. I think Ed or Ron in NC also mentioned it. I thought it was because he wasn't neutered, but it's four months later, so I'm wondering if there's something else going on. Both vets said strong urine smell is usually due to the food, but they think the food I'm giving (Natural Choice Nutro Ultra Adult) is good and shouldn't be the cause. The vet did a urine test to make sure anyways. Everything was normal, except trace of blood and protein was found in urine.
However the vet said by itself, the trace of blood and protein doesn't mean anything, since Jake had no increase in water intake or urination frequency (he always drinks a lot of water, less when the temperature's cooler; and he can hold his bladder 8 hours during the day with no problem). So they are not doing anything about the urine smell.
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This is Snoopy. On the morning of Monday, October 17, 2005, I got to school and started checking emails as usual. Then I came across an email sent by Heather asking me to transport a dog from Valley, AL (about 30 miles away near the AL-GA state line) to a vet clinic in Opelika, AL (right next to Auburn). Heather said that Cathy (the one who volunteered at Woofstock in August) had offered to pay for Snoopy�s vet and boarding fees until we can transport Snoopy to her foster mom in Atlanta later that week. So I called the woman who had Snoopy, and it turned out that she found the dog as a stray and the dog is kept outside, and she didn�t know exactly when she�ll see Snoopy, because Snoopy goes into the woods sometimes. So I asked her to try to get Snoopy right then, and when she did, to call me right away, and I could be there in 30 minutes to pick up Snoopy anytime that day. About five minutes later, she called me and I went home to grab a leash and collar just in case the woman didn�t have a set on Snoopy already, and rushed to Valley. In the mean time, I also called Heather about Owner Relinquishment form, because I forgot to print one out before I left school. Even though the woman found the dog as a stray, we still needed her to sign the form, to say that the dog has not bitten anybody before, and to prevent her to say later that the dog�s actually hers since the dog�s born, she never told us that we could keep the dog or that she thought we were only keeping the dog for her temporarily, and now she wants the dog back. With the signed consent form, the dog will legally belong to ESRA. Anyway, Valley is a very small city by the Chattahoochee River, and the woman�s property is right next to a county road, the house is about 100 yards from the road (the driveway�s longer, because it�s curved, like �J� shaped). There�s a thin line of trees blocking the view of her house from the road, and there�s about an acre of grassy yard, and the rest of the property is just trees. I missed her driveway and got on her neighbor�s property. The area is not out of middle of nowhere, but still pretty rural. As I was driving on her driveway, a huge Great Dane mix chased and barked at my car (there was no fence anywhere), and I saw the woman came out of her back door and into the back porch, which is entirely fenced in (with three foot tall wooden bars). As I approached the back porch, a big liver and white Springer jumped up and put her paws on the porch gate. What a cute face! Seems like a very friendly dog, so I didn�t worry too much about aggression. The woman was about to open the gate, she told me that we had to be careful not to let the dog out (the dog wasn�t wearing a collar), so I told her that I�ll just put the leash/collar set on the dog (bending over the fence) before she opened the gate, it�ll be safer that way. The dog is HUGE, at least 20 lbs overweight, plus she has a big bone structure for a female Springer to begin with, so I was guessing she was about 70 lbs. Large head also, no wonder she�s called Snoopy. I let the dog sniff my hand and sat down on one of the chairs on the porch. 20 seconds after we met, Snoopy sat right by me and put her head on my lap, as the woman and I were talking. Very affectionate dog, all she wants is just some attention, typical Springer. The woman handed me Snoopy�s records and went inside to print out the Owner Relinquishment form that Heather had just emailed her. The woman said they were working in Pine Mountain, GA (about 20 minutes from Valley), I�m guessing it was some kind of construction work because they were outside, and she said the dog just walked toward them. They took the dog to the nearest animal shelter, I�m guessing to check to see if anybody had reported the dog lost, and she signed the shelter adoption form to take the dog home with her. At the shelter, the shelter vet gave the dog vaccination, and they called the dog �Matty�, because her fur was very matted. That was mid-February. About a month later, the woman took the dog to another vet to be spayed, but the vet told her that the dog�s already spayed. But the vet found ear infection and gave them a bottle of ear drops. The woman said she tried to give Snoopy the ear drops whenever she could, but when I got the bottle, it was still 80% full, and Snoopy definitely smelled like she had an ear infection (yeasty smell). The woman said she also took Snoopy to the groomer once when she first got the dog, but she didn�t have the money to take the dog to the groomer again. The woman gave me a shedding blade, and said Snoopy likes to be brushed with it, and she said I could take the blade along with Snoopy. I think she only brushed Snoopy�s back topside, because Snoopy�s underside was matted. The woman said she called the dog different names for a while, and the dog responded to Snoopy, and that�s what they ended up calling the dog. I was looking through the shelter and vet records as the woman was filling out the owner relinquishment form. It says that she�s 3-4 years old, and I touched Snoopy all over as the woman was writing, so I could see if Snoopy�s aggressive in any way. And when I pointed to the ground and told her �Down�, she did! It looks like she�s trained too. The woman said that she has two dogs (both looks like black Great Dane mixes, and none of the three dogs wore collars when I drove up), all of them are kept outside, but she does bring them in for an hour or two when the weather gets bad (thunderstorm). And she thinks Snoopy�s potty trained because when she is allowed inside, she never spoiled inside of her house, and she went straight for the couch and sat there several times. I was thinking, clearly Snoopy had been an inside dog before, and Springers are definitely inside dogs. It�s good that this woman has decided to turn Snoopy over to ESRA, because it seems like she really can�t provide the proper care for a typical Springer. The woman doesn�t know if Snoopy�s crate trained or okay with kids or cats (she just lives with her husband and two dogs). Regarding other dogs, the woman said that one of her dogs would get jealous of Snoopy sometimes, but Snoopy seems to get along with other dogs. Snoopy rode in the car with her a few times to the vets and to the groomer, and she has been good in the car those times. She did give Snoopy Frontline (forgot to ask her when she did that last time), but Snoopy never had heartworm test or preventative. I couldn�t find Snoopy�s rabies vaccine record, but the woman said the vet told her that Snoopy had all vaccines. So the woman called the shelter vet when I was there, but she got an answering machine instead. The woman said that she had fed Snoopy food and meat (ground beef?) as treats, and she thought the dog would stay on her lawn like her two dogs (she has 5-acre property), but Snoopy kept running into the woods, never bonded with her. I�m thinking that the neighbors were probably feeding Snoopy too, and that�s why she�s overweight, and it seems like she has bonded with me instantly. When I walked Snoopy into my car, she had some trouble �jumping� into the backseat, but otherwise she had no problem leaving the woman and go with me. As I was driving, I left a message for Heather asking about which vet procedures should they do at the clinic (rabies vaccination, heartworm test, treat ear infection, shave, bath, etc). When we were about half a mile from the clinic, Heather called me back. She said to do everything needed at the clinic. And when I asked her when would the foster mom be available to take Snoopy later that week, Heather said the foster mom, Karen, is a stay-at-home mom, so she�s available anytime. So I asked Heather, why not I just drive Snoopy to meet Karen right now? I felt that Snoopy had endured enough in the past eight months, especially that she knows what it feels like to live inside, I really want her to live inside, in a real house, not in a cage at the vet�s, as soon as possible. Heather said Karen volunteers at a nature preserve, hikes several times a week, so she will be able to Snoopy with her on hikes and have her loose some weight also. Heather had Karen call me back, and we decided to meet at a shopping center near the Atlanta airport. Karen has two kids, but they are older, 12 year old boy and 8 year old girl, and they are used to be around dogs, so even we haven�t tested Snoopy with kids yet, it�s probably okay. And I told Karen that Snoopy smelled badly, so she probably would want to take Snoopy to a groomer right away, and Karen told me that she and Heather had talked and she will bring Snoopy to Heather�s house for grooming that night. Snoopy was very good in the car, panted a lot, don�t know if it�s because it was sunny and the sun was warming up her dark fur, or she was nervous. But she just sat or lied down, didn�t even pace around in the backseat. Snoopy and I met Karen and her daughter at a parking lot. They also brought their current foster dog, Blue, to meet Snoopy. Karen said she just got Blue recently, and she didn�t want to leave Blue home alone yet. When Snoopy and Blue met, Snoopy growled at Blue, and Blue walked away. They seemed okay together after that. As Karen and I were talking, Snoopy sat by my feet, leaned against my leg, it really seemed like she had bonded with me. Karen said that Blue is her first foster, and that Blue can be cute and naughty sometimes, so she thought about adopting him, but luckily he and her cats (Karen has two cats) don�t get along, so she can�t adopt him (so she can continue to foster more dogs). Karen had to lift Snoopy into her van, because we didn�t think Snoopy can jump that high. That night, Heather shaved off about five pounds of mats off Snoopy. The next day, Karen took Snoopy to Heather�s vet, and found out Snoopy has ear infection, eye infection, and yeast infection on her paws, but luckily she�s heartworm negative. And Heather said Snoopy was very good when they gave her a bath at a pet supply store that night. Sounds like Snoopy�s life is back to normal and she is being well taken care of. Here�s a picture of Snoopy on October 28. |
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