Please welcome Riley, a 7 1/2 year old purebred male Golden Retriever to the RAGOM family!
Riley was surrendered to RAGOM in early April from a family who could no longer manage his allergies. As you can see from the picture, Riley was in pretty rough shape and was so itchy and painful that he had scratched and rubbed himself bald in many places. Riley was dropped off at a RAGOM vet where he stayed for a couple weeks in an effort to get his pain and itching under control and now that he is much less painful and on the road to being a dog with well-managed allergies he has transitioned into a RAGOM foster home.
Riley lived previously with small children and has always gotten along well with them. Riley also does well with other dogs but the surrendering owner wasn't sure about cats as they had never seen Riley interact with any. We did come in contact with a cat in a kennel at the vet's office and Riley seemed interested, sniffing around the kennel. As soon as the kitty hissed and gave a little growl Riley backed off immediately, happy to come back to me for pets and scratches.
Riley came into fostercare with a small pharmacy of medications from steroids to pain medication to ear drops! Riley's foster mom, who is all too familiar with allergies in dogs, knew the best thing to do first was get Riley to the spa! After using a flea comb to get out all the dead skin from Riley's coat he got a nice scrub down and soak in some special shampoo. Riley has been started on a Limited Ingredient Diet along with Fish Oil supplements, both of which should help improve his skin and coat condition and lead to less itchiness. He'll get the soak and scrub treatment every other day for the next week or two until his skin is looking and feeling good - this will make a world of difference!!
Although the steroids were necessary when Riley first arrived due to the severity of the skin inflammation and pain we would like to wean Riley from them and find other ways to manage his allergies long-term. Riley's foster mom has started tapering off the dosage and we'll see how he does. The same goes for the pain medication - once we have finished off the current prescription the plan is to see how Riley manages.
Riley is also on ear drops for some bad ear infections. When he first came in his ears were so painful that he was hesitant to let anyone touch them let alone put medication in them! Now, the inflammation and pain have gone down tremendously and he'll finish up the ear medication in a few days time.
In time, the hope is for Riley's allergies to be very well managed through diet, supplements such as fish oil and the occasional bath/brush.
Riley is a very social dog who loves the attention of people and gets along great with other dogs. Riley's foster mom runs a doggy daycare and so far it seems that he is really enjoying hanging out and socializing with the other dogs as well as getting special attention from his foster mom.
Riley is a sweet lovable boy who deserves a family to call his own. He'll need a family committed to keeping his allergies well-managed and as with all RAGOM dogs, committed to providing him with a loving, safe home for the rest of his years.
If you are interested in meeting Riley please let your placement advisor know.
