Bailey 06-436

Profile

10/1/06: There's nothing I like better than a good challenge. So, I offered to foster Bailey and she's home with me tonight :)

Bailey is a spayed female, who has had puppies at one time in her life, is approximately six years old, and is currently 55 pounds - which is 20 pounds HEAVIER than she was in July. No kidding. She was rescued from a neglectful situation a few months ago, and has been living with a very loving family since then. Unfortunately, the multitude of costly medical issues with Bailey has made it impossible for the family to keep her, so they surrendered her to RAGOM with the hope that she would receive all the medical care necessary. Here's the list of issues so far:

* She is Heartworm positive, and has already endured one series of injections - but remains HW positive. Her second round of injections MUST take place this week, which I will arrange for bright and early Monday morning.

* She has skin allergies of some kind; her fur is very sparse, patchy, and brittle, and has sores that resemble bruises. I can tell she is very uncomfortable and itchy.

* An infection that was never dealt with basically destroyed a portion of her rear-right foot, and some deteriorated bone needs to be removed (amputation). This can't be done until her Heartworm treatment is finished (sedation plus worms equals trouble).

* She is on Thyroid medication, which seems to have stabilized.

* She has chronic ear infections; I have yet to look in her ears but I can tell they are goopy from medication.

* Her left eye is swollen shut; the previous vet thought it may be nerve damage from all the ear infections, but the jury is still out on that verdict. She may have some depth perception issues because of this.

* It appears that she does not have much muscle mass in her hindquarters, or may possibly have some hip issues.

Despite all of that, she is an amazingly sweet and beautiful little girl! The pictures do her absolutely NO justice at all. The previous caretakers reported an amazing improvement since July, and she still has a long way to go. This will be a very rewarding experience, and is why I foster and love animals so much. The appreciation that rescued animals show in return is beyond explanation.

Off to bed we go; I am hoping that she will be comfortable in bed with me tonight and that her tiny little cries will subside so that we can all get some sleep. Keep Bailey in your thoughts and prayers.

Bailey Bailey

At a Glance #06-436

Breed not specified	Born: March 2001
Female	Weight not specified

Status: Adopted

Profile

10/1/06: There's nothing I like better than a good challenge. So, I offered to foster Bailey and she's home with me tonight :)

Bailey is a spayed female, who has had puppies at one time in her life, is approximately six years old, and is currently 55 pounds - which is 20 pounds HEAVIER than she was in July. No kidding. She was rescued from a neglectful situation a few months ago, and has been living with a very loving family since then. Unfortunately, the multitude of costly medical issues with Bailey has made it impossible for the family to keep her, so they surrendered her to RAGOM with the hope that she would receive all the medical care necessary. Here's the list of issues so far:

* She is Heartworm positive, and has already endured one series of injections - but remains HW positive. Her second round of injections MUST take place this week, which I will arrange for bright and early Monday morning.

* She has skin allergies of some kind; her fur is very sparse, patchy, and brittle, and has sores that resemble bruises. I can tell she is very uncomfortable and itchy.

* An infection that was never dealt with basically destroyed a portion of her rear-right foot, and some deteriorated bone needs to be removed (amputation). This can't be done until her Heartworm treatment is finished (sedation plus worms equals trouble).

* She is on Thyroid medication, which seems to have stabilized.

* She has chronic ear infections; I have yet to look in her ears but I can tell they are goopy from medication.

* Her left eye is swollen shut; the previous vet thought it may be nerve damage from all the ear infections, but the jury is still out on that verdict. She may have some depth perception issues because of this.

* It appears that she does not have much muscle mass in her hindquarters, or may possibly have some hip issues.

Despite all of that, she is an amazingly sweet and beautiful little girl! The pictures do her absolutely NO justice at all. The previous caretakers reported an amazing improvement since July, and she still has a long way to go. This will be a very rewarding experience, and is why I foster and love animals so much. The appreciation that rescued animals show in return is beyond explanation.

Off to bed we go; I am hoping that she will be comfortable in bed with me tonight and that her tiny little cries will subside so that we can all get some sleep. Keep Bailey in your thoughts and prayers.

Bailey Bailey

Updates

Sunday, December 3, 2006

Hey, everyone, Bailey here! Foster mom is napping a lot this weekend; she's getting a cold and that's why she didn't bring me to the St. Louis Park PetSmart on Saturday. Sorry if you came just to see me and I wasn't there! I guess there is another get-together at the Petco in Maple Grove, and I'll be giving mom the Sad Eyes to bring me. I suppose she'll want to bring Chester 06-530 as well and maybe Libby the Yellow Lab, because otherwise Libby gets mad and poops in the house if she's home alone. Ha-ha-ha-ha, what a scheme she's got going! Well, all three of us dogs got a bath on Saturday and mom tried to take pictures, but I was too darned busy with my rawhide to pose for the flashy thing. Here's a photo to show you what a bad photographer she is--her camera makes me look about ten pounds heavier, too!

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Bailey is laughing at me right now - trying to take a picture of a dog's wagging tail has been a challenge this evening! But, I feel motivated to do so, as I received word that a donation came into RAGOM in Bailey's honor, hoping that someday she would grow feathering on her tail. Isn't that just wonderful?!? It is such a shame that Bailey's health deteriorated to the point it did, and that most of her health issues could have been avoided with very inexpensive, preventative care. Hopefully, Bailey's fur coat will fully recover now that she's stabilized and she will someday have a proud, feathered Golden Retriever tail. Right now, her fur is growing in thick and curly which is really, really cute (and doesn't shed much at all!). Time for bed; we're exhausted! :)

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Hi everyone! Did you get to see me at PetCo last Sunday? I met a new friend named Kim - she's in the pictures here with me. Kim came out just to see me, but she shares her house with a Sassy and a Wyatt, so I guess Kim and I can only be friends. Hi Kim!!!

I was really excited to be at the PetCo event; it was crazy busy! I couldn't decide who should come and pet me first - I wanted to meet everyone! Foster mom said it was strange when I barked at the other dogs who weren't RAGOM dogs; she kept saying that I must be prejudiced toward non-Goldens! But, that's not true, because I like other dogs who don't necessarily look like me; I was just talking to them and wanted to meet them all! It was a very crazy, busy day and foster mom is sure happy that it's over...I guess I was acting little hyper or something. But, hey, I was just showing how happy I am to be a RAGOM doggie!

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Princess Bailey-Boo can't wait to meet you on Sunday at the Woodbury Petco. As you can see from her picture, she slept-in on Saturday morning to get plenty of beauty sleep.

Wednesday, November 1, 2006

Bailey continues loving her new life as a RAGOM dog. She is very contentedly laying on the floor next to me, chewing on a Bully Stick (her favorite after-dinner activity!). I've noticed that most of my updates have been about Bailey's health, so I am on purpose NOT going to say anything about that. OK, just one thing - I've included a closeup photo of her foot with the missing toe, just to show that it's not too gross of a thing.

Since I've been fostering Bailey, she has had the entire run of my home while I am gone and she has yet to let me down. NO potty accidents - none. She is very good at waking me up in the morning to go potty, and doesn't give-up until I get up! No chewing. No naughty stuff. The only naughty Bailey thing is cats, but I've included a picture showing my youngest cat (Yonna Bah-nah-nah) sitting next to Bailey. If you look at the photo, you can see Yonna "kissing" Bailey with her eyes (you cat-people out there know what I mean), and both are very relaxed. Bailey likes cats; is curious and wants to be friends, but also likes to chase them when they are running around the house.

Bailey has many wonderful qualities; she has a very innocent and sweet temperment, has yet to shed as far as I can tell, is not a runner and sticks close to me in the yard, does not pull on the leash during walks, is not a fussy eater, and is very good bed-buddy. She's an all around great dog, and I can't wait to play fetch with her; she literally put a tennis ball in my lap and BEGS me to throw it for her :)

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Yaaaahoooooo! You should see Bailey now...she's had the stiches removed from her eye and foot, and no more cast or dressing. The vet said to go ahead and give her a bath to remove all the ickies from surgeries, ear treatment goop, wearing a cone on her head, etc. Her coat is really coming along well and is getting thicker and softer.

It is soooo tempting to let Bailey play and jump around since she is feeling so much better, but have to keep in mind that she's still recovering from Heartworm treatment and needs to be still for another three weeks. I've got an appointment set up for the end of the month to retest Bailey for Heartworm, and let's all send good thoughts that it will be negative this time!

Thursday, October 12, 2006

I took Bailey to my local vet this morning for a dressing change on her foot--yish. Even being on two different antibiotics did not fend off an infection on her amputated toe area. And, this was my first glimpse of her foot post-surgery (not that I looked too closely before surgery--ick). She'll now have a rear foot imprint that looks like a mountain goat. :)

Bailey's eye swelling has gone down and I can actually see the stitches on the outside corner. She can actually use her eye now to look ahead at her bright, rosy future!!!

She and Angel Girl are completely free in my house during the day while I'm at work, and I'm happy to report that Bailey has not had any potty accidents whatsoever. Both of my RAGOM fosters are so good; they don't chew inappropriately, don't try to get up on the future, no naughty potties, no cat tormenting and/or chasing... they are both awesome dogs.

Enjoy Bailey's new photo, and sing the lyrics to "I Feel Good" by James Brown while you do. It is sure to put a smile on your face!

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Baileyâs home!!! I took a short pharmacistsâ course at the vet's office, but we've got everything under control and Bailey is doing GREAT! She was the first of three dogs to finish her dinner, took all of her medicine (hidden in cheese, of course), let me administer her eye ointment and two ear medications, pottied outside just fine, and is starting to figure out how to maneuver the house with her Cone Head. Of course, on the looong trip home from the vet, we had to share a celebratory Filet-o-Fish sandwich in the car, which Bailey enjoyed VERY much!

Bailey is to keep as quiet and calm as possible for six weeks during her recovery from the heartworm treatment. As for her toe, it is wrapped and stitched, and the wrapping needs to be kept DRY (and it is supposed to snow soon?), so the vet made her a rubber bootie out of an IV bag (very McGyver, I must say). Her eye--well, there are stitches in there somewhere but I haven't looked too closely. I get the creepies just thinking about stitches in there!

Oh, and to give you an idea of how SWEET Miss Bailey-Boo is, when we were leaving the vet's office tonight one of the gals told me that Bailey is her all-time favorite female RAGOM dog. Now that is really saying something, because a ton of RAGOM dogs are seen at this particular vet's office. AND take into consideration the huge number of dogs that RAGOM rescues and re-homes every year!!! She is one special dog, and she is so lucky (and grateful) now to be in RAGOM's care. Right now, Bailey is crashed out and snoring next to Angel Girl 06-382. It's good to have her back. :)