Blaze 05-172

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7/22/05: Blaze has been with us for 3 weeks now so it's about time I got around to doing an update. Blaze was an owner surrender. He came from a loving family that was very sad to give him up but felt they could no longer afford his medical expenses. Blaze has had a tough Spring. I'm not sure exactly how everything evolved but apparently he tore his ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) in one of his back legs. He under went surgery & then due to his obesity he had to go to physical therapy at the University to do the underwater treadmill. He is on a special diet to help speed up his weight loss. At some point Blaze fell again & tore his other ACL. Since he has been with us he had a general health checkup. He has hypothyroidism for which he is on medication (it is relatively inexpensive though). Then 3 days ago he had his 2nd ACL surgery & is now on the road to recovery & is looking for his forever home. He is currently on antibiotics & pain medication & is limited to leash walking for the next 8 weeks. Since his weight is close to normal now (he only needs to lose another 5 pounds or so) he does not need the physical therapy that he had before. We covered our hardwood floors with throw rugs & he is limited to the main floor. He is also supposed to avoid stairs & slippery surfaces for now until he heals & is able to walk better. He is starting to bear a little bit of weight on that leg. He gets his stitches out in 10 days. He is currently wearing a cone to keep him from getting at his stitches. He also had some torn cartilage removed with the surgery. His prognosis is great. He has some arthritic changes in his leg but given his age that's pretty normal. The vet says the initial recovery period is 8 weeks, but it can truly be 3 to 6 months for full recovery. He should be back to normal soon.

Blaze is a great guy. He celebrated his 8th birthday on the 4th of July & has his AKC papers. He is a darker red with a thick, beautiful coat & is just starting to gray around the muzzle. He looks like a big, cuddly teddy bear. Blaze gets along great with my 3 kids, ages 11,8 & almost 3. He lived with a cat at his former home & they were the best of friends. Blaze also gets along with my 3 goldens, 2 females & 1 male. He hasn't really played with them much & he definitely isn't into retrieving balls. He does however love his nylabones & he is a great helper at picking our raspberries. He'll either catch the berries that you toss his way or he'll pick his own. I can't get him to help fill up the bucket though!

More to come as Blaze recovers.

At a Glance #05-172

Breed not specified Born: March 1999
Male Weight not specified

Status: Adopted

Profile

7/22/05: Blaze has been with us for 3 weeks now so it's about time I got around to doing an update. Blaze was an owner surrender. He came from a loving family that was very sad to give him up but felt they could no longer afford his medical expenses. Blaze has had a tough Spring. I'm not sure exactly how everything evolved but apparently he tore his ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) in one of his back legs. He under went surgery & then due to his obesity he had to go to physical therapy at the University to do the underwater treadmill. He is on a special diet to help speed up his weight loss. At some point Blaze fell again & tore his other ACL. Since he has been with us he had a general health checkup. He has hypothyroidism for which he is on medication (it is relatively inexpensive though). Then 3 days ago he had his 2nd ACL surgery & is now on the road to recovery & is looking for his forever home. He is currently on antibiotics & pain medication & is limited to leash walking for the next 8 weeks. Since his weight is close to normal now (he only needs to lose another 5 pounds or so) he does not need the physical therapy that he had before. We covered our hardwood floors with throw rugs & he is limited to the main floor. He is also supposed to avoid stairs & slippery surfaces for now until he heals & is able to walk better. He is starting to bear a little bit of weight on that leg. He gets his stitches out in 10 days. He is currently wearing a cone to keep him from getting at his stitches. He also had some torn cartilage removed with the surgery. His prognosis is great. He has some arthritic changes in his leg but given his age that's pretty normal. The vet says the initial recovery period is 8 weeks, but it can truly be 3 to 6 months for full recovery. He should be back to normal soon.

Blaze is a great guy. He celebrated his 8th birthday on the 4th of July & has his AKC papers. He is a darker red with a thick, beautiful coat & is just starting to gray around the muzzle. He looks like a big, cuddly teddy bear. Blaze gets along great with my 3 kids, ages 11,8 & almost 3. He lived with a cat at his former home & they were the best of friends. Blaze also gets along with my 3 goldens, 2 females & 1 male. He hasn't really played with them much & he definitely isn't into retrieving balls. He does however love his nylabones & he is a great helper at picking our raspberries. He'll either catch the berries that you toss his way or he'll pick his own. I can't get him to help fill up the bucket though!

More to come as Blaze recovers.

Updates

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

It is with great sadness that I write this final update for Blaze. Blaze came back into foster care last week. He was very depressed & was not eating after he was adopted. His new owner felt he needed a family with children or other dogs, so he was again surrendered to RAGOM. After a brief stint with another foster (thank you Wendy) Blaze was returned to his original foster & boy were we happy to have him back! Unfortunately, it was quite evident that Blaze was not enjoying optimum health. He was very skinny, to the point that you could feel every bone, but yet he had a very enlarged belly. He perked up as soon as he realized he was home again & made a beeline out to the raspberry bushes, where there were a few frozen berries hanging on & Blaze gobbled them up as quick as could be.

He had a good time watching the other dogs & our kids but was not very energetic. I had already set up a vet appointment for him & it was a good thing, because he was having a hard time going up & down the 2 stairs it takes to get in & out of our house & was also very short winded. As soon as we got to the vet it was not good news. They took an x-ray, did some blood work & then an abdominal ultrasound. Blaze had a very large mass/tumor attached to his spleen, was very severely anemic (his blood levels should have been 40 to 48 but he was only 14) and his abdomen was filled with fluid. Given all the information, the vet felt Blaze had only a day or perhaps a week at the most. So with many tears, Blaze laid his head in my lap & was helped to cross the Rainbow Bridge. It was very peaceful for him as my daughter & I told him how much we loved him & looked into his eyes as he made his departure. We know he is in doggy heaven without pain, no limping & eating all the raspberries that he wants. We are thankful for his time with us. He touched our hearts in a special way. We love you Blaze & miss you dearly!!

Monday, September 26, 2005

Howdy all. It's been a long time again since there's been an update on Blaze. So much has happened & yet so little. The main thing is that Blaze is now off all his restrictions & boy is he loving it. He has free roam in the house & outside. He is no longer limited to walking on the leash. Blaze likes to be outside. He has never been real playful with our other 3 Goldens, but is a bit more so when he is outside. He likes to run around with the others but he doesn't have the stamina to keep up with them yet. We've discovered that he really likes a good game of tug of war, and so far he always wins.

Blaze LOVES to lay & sleep in the sun on our back porch. He is also very fond of our raspberry patch. When he heads outside to do his duty that's the first place he goes. He eats the raspberries right off the vines. Sometimes I throw a handful of them in with his breakfast. There is no problem getting him to eat his fruits and vegetables (wish I could say the same for my kids!). When this bag of dog food is empty I'm going to slowly switch him over to regular dog food. He has been on diet dog food for quite awhile & he has been maintaining his weight loss very nicely. Now that he has been increasing his activity I don't think he'll have too much of a problem keeping it off. Blaze also LOVES riding in the car. He tries to jump in an open door every chance he gets. He doesn't care where he's going, he just likes looking out the window & keeping his people company. Blaze is such a goofball when it comes to belly rubs, too. He lays completely on his back, with all four legs up in the air, & wiggles all around. It's quite the sight to see.

Blaze is a wonderful dog. Don't let his age or his past medical problems scare you off. He has a lot of years left in him & he would like to spend it with a family of his own. His hypothyroidism is easily managed with a few inexpensive pills daily. And anyone can injure their knees (& believe me, I know all about that!!). Blaze was just unlucky enough to do it twice. His prognosis is good. He still walks with a little wobble, which is still pretty noticeable when he is tired. But remember, it's only been 2 1/2 months since his surgery & it really takes 6 months or so to fully recover. He's doing great. His range of motion is good. He walks nicely on the leash, & doesn't wander when off leash. He still tires out with running but don't most of us? It'll just take a bit of time.

If you'd like to meet this handsome boy, email placementatragom [dot] org.

We're also planning on being at the Maplewood Petco/ RAGOM event this Saturday, October 1st, from 11 to 3. Stop by & meet this lovable teddy bear.