Chipper was surrendered by his owner, who had had him
his entire life, to Animal Control because he said he was foaming at the
mouth and had rabies. The Animal Control officer assured him that could
not be possible since he had been licensed and had proof of rabies
vaccinations for the last 8 consecutive years. He also told the owner that
Chipper would no doubt be euthanized, virtually immediately, since, at his
age, he would be considered unadoptable. Despite this, the owner insisted
that the Officer take Chipper immediately from his home.
Our GRRCC volunteer happened to be at Animal Control
preparing to pull another dog when Chipper came in. She was asked by the
shelter staff if we would consider taking this lovely old gentleman, even
though it was soon determined that he was heartworm positive. One look at
his face told us the only possible answer was a resounding YES.
After a much needed ‘bath and buff’ Chipper was soon
enroute to the good life at his foster home and I am pretty sure what he’s
thinking now is " WOW, where have these nice people been all my life?"
Chipper as settled in wonderfully to his foster home, blending in nicely
with his older lab and golden foster siblings. He loves his crate and
often lounges in it with the door open watching the world go by. He has
some rather weak hips which would be totally expected for his age but we
have started him on a joint supplement and this, combined with getting
about 5 lbs off of him, will certainly make it much easier for him to get
around. His blood panel came back fine although with some slightly
elevated liver values, probably due to presence of the heartworms. We will
be doing a much needed dental on him next week and also removing a benign
lipoma from his shoulder. He is an angel in the car and loves being
handled by anyone and everyone ( even vets).
At the advice of our veterinarians we will not do the
full ‘direct’ treatment’ to eliminate his heartworms. It would simply be
dangerous and too hard on a dog of his age. Instead we will be doing what
is called a ‘soft treatment’ which means that we have started him on an
Ivermectin based heartworm preventative which will be administered
monthly. This will prevent him from developing new heartworms since it
will not allow any baby worms to survive and grow into adults. Over a
course of months to several years, the adult heartworms in the dog's heart
will die naturally, of old age, and eventually the dog will be free of
heartworm. This treatment is not preferred for young dogs because
significant, irreversible heart and lung damage can occur from the adult
heartworms before they die off. For an older dog, or dog that for any
other reason, may not be able to tolerate the traditional, direct
treatment, this "soft" treatment offers the dog their best chance for a
good life.
Chipper is just you normal ‘spectacular’ senior Golden.
So maybe his sight and hearing isn’t quite as acute as a young whipper-snapper
and maybe he can’t leap tall building with a single bound…what shines
through his wonderful smile is pure gratitude and unconditional and
unabashed love. We don’t know how many years Chipper has left but the same
can be said for each dog…we never know the Master Plan. What we do know is
that Chipper deserves to live the rest of his life as an adored and
adoring member of a family. Anybody that has ever had a senior dog will
tell you that they are simply the very, very, best.
