Sponsored by:

Dennis, Joanne and Shayna (a Golden about Jack's age)

June 22, 2012

Viewers, meet Jack.  Jack came to us on the Saturday the 16th of June, just in time for Father’s Day.  Jack as you can probably see, has some severe allergy issues which have not been treated. Hence the poor look of his coat and bald spots, etc. It was quite a shock to meet him with his very poor condition and a huge relief now he is in foster care.  We were very anxious for our vet appointment on Monday, the 18th needless to say.  Jack was very uncomfortable, sore, smelly and very scratchy.  First, let me say how good he did coming into a new home, met 2 new dogs (Maggie, an Eskie-border collie mix who is 11 and Eddie, a Pembroke corgi who is 3.5) and also the 3 resident cats.  Jack is a very gentle guy who took things in stride, was very happy to have tons of affection and enjoys good food.  He rides in the car fine and needs a ‘leg/boost’ up and is just fine otherwise (hard to get up into some of our trucks/suv’s).  He went ride into a station wagon with ease though.  Jack did come with a large kennel/crate which he has zero interest in.  Therefore, he is babygated in a large bathroom off the master bedroom with a big doggie pillow and old blankie of his which came with him.

His first day/night here he did wonderfully.  We needed to wait a couple days until the vet appointment so we were allowed to give him benedryl to make him somewhat comfortable until that time.  Takes them great with cheese.  His appetite is fine.  Once he got on some good food his poop was 1/10 the size of the first day.  Jack was great but so miserable.  The scratching, the wounds, the smell, and discomfort just broke our hearts.  Jack is your typical golden and leans to you for loves and pets; he does really like and enjoy his walks; and is an all around lovely golden retriever.  In that he is a ‘wreck’ when he came to us, we sure looked forward to the medical attention and bath at the vet’s and he was ever so patient even though it was difficult for us to watch his condition and discomfort.

It is very difficult to see the wounds, the cracked paws, chocolate ooze out of his ears which were swollen, raw around his eyes, and all the raw patches of skin which had been chewed and scratched off in terrible itching frenzies due to the allergies.  His sad distressed face which tells us of a plea for help.  Yet, in pets and rubbing, the happy golden tail wags….. a true golden retriever.  Such neglect and sadness is so hard to witness but we have only one way to go now and that is UP.  J  Gosh what a lovely boy.

What I will try to do here is give the basics and then explain our treatment(s) which is slowly getting him on the road to recovery.  Please know if any of you would like to SPONSOR this grand boy, please, we need your help!  http://ragom.org/shop/donat.html

Jack is:

• 8.5 years old with a DOB of  March 2004
• Male, neutered PB golden retriever
• Weighs in at 79#
• Does very well with children, other dogs, cats
• Enjoys car rides
• Loves and really enjoys his walks and walks well on a leash (he would be great with his recall as well)
• No known behaviors and is very gentle
• Seems to do fine with stairs
• Respects baby gates

I truly cannot say enough good things about this ‘soon-to-be’ healthy, beautiful golden.  STUNNING personality……. And soon he will feel good.  When discussing Jack with his previous owner, he did mention Jack had previously had a couple small seizures in recent months.  Unfortunately, but not to our surprise, he did have a seizure on Monday evening, after all the vetting, rides to/from clinic, bath and of course, just being here in foster care for a few days. We have not had any since and again, I feel all of the stressors came to a head.  We will of course be monitoring this closely too to see if any medication (sigh) will be warranted for this at all.

OK now, I will list what treatments that Jack is currently going through due to his very poor condition:

(I actually ended up making a spreadsheet to check off the below listing of medicals; again, this is where we [Ragom] can sure use your financial support)  ♥ Thank you.

Here is our current meds:

Good news, he is HW negative and Lyme’s negative and has received a dose of Iverheart.  Fecal was negative.  He has bacterial and yeast infections. Large amount of bacteria in the ears (very swollen and lots LOTS of black goo).  We will need to treat with otomaxx (2X day) until swelling goes down some (they are VERY sore) and he is scheduled next week (June 26th) to be sedated and flush/clean them.  They are horrible.  I am applying a small amount of the Otomaxx in-between his toes and cracked pads too.  We saw some flea dirt and we did test for mange, which came back negative.  He has ‘dry eye’ in both eyes…. Not a drop of tears.  We are pretty sure he cannot see out of the left eye or very minimal at this time.  When I met Jack I could not even see his eyes for the green pus/matter in them.  This is definitely caused from the severe allergy condition which was left untreated. He is on Trioptic cream and Cyclosporine for eyes 2X a day each. He will be on cyclosporine life-long.  We did frontline Jack on Saturday and due to such severe skin condition he will go back to vet office today where he will get a medicated bath/dry and some spots shaved and cleaned up.  Jack is very uncomfortable.  He also can stay on Benedryl (three 25mg tabs) 2X a day also.  He is on Chephalexin 2 tabs for 2X a day for a few weeks. He is also on Prednisone (progressive dose). Getting Fluconzole for fungal infection. His baths consist of using Keratolux medicated shampoo. 

I DO HAVE TO SAY what a wondrous boy he is… taking into account everything above, he is so lovely, gentle, sweet, and beautiful boy.  We will get our vet appointment done next week for the ears, and get microchipped at that time and another medicated bath, and move forward with our recovery process.  How grateful his eyes reflect to me on finally feeling good and getting healed.  Jack is one lovely golden boy!  He is going to make some family very lucky :)