Hello Sheltie Friends…
I haven’t been here for a long time. I had a neurotic and very much loved Sheltie, Lochiel, also called Lucky, who died in 2018.
My husband and I found we could not bear to live without a Sheltie! We tried to adopt one here in northern New England—we live in Vermont. Everyone was very helpful, but said we had to have a fenced in yard. We have quite a lot of land, but we don’t have that. And our house is on a hillside so it would’ve been difficult.
Fortunately, a friend in Pennsylvania found out about Max, age 8, who had been passed from owner to owner because his mom had gone into assisted living. He had rescued her twice when she fell,running out to bark for help like Lassie, and leading the Helpers back. The second time she went to assisted living . I won’t tell the whole story, but Max had lived with a series of people , who each gave him away because he didn’t suit their living situation. When I found out about him, he was being fostered by a very nice lady who also had 14 pitbulls! (She was a foster for a couple of different rescues.) She loved Max but felt that it would be better for him to be in a home where he was the main dog. We fell in love with him immediately when he came to us, and he immediately rolled over and let us pat his beautiful, big fat tummy. Somebody, I suppose, maybe his first mom, had fed him hugely. He has a thyroid condition. I was told that it was a bad idea to try to get him to lose weight I think because it would just be so hard for him. We decided, though, that he could have a happier life if he were thinner. So we took care of his thyroid medication, but we also cut his food down in accordance with what his vet had to say. In spite of his obesity, he bravely chased away a bear that was climbing on our balcony. It was scared, and it ran!
He did lose weight, although I gave him more treats then I was supposed to, I’m pretty bad about that.
He enjoyed being slimmer and could go on long walks for the first time in years.—Didn’t need a fenced in yard – – Max would follow our every footstep, and had no interest in running away.
So forward four years, now Max is 12 and his kidneys are very quickly declining in function. He seriously is not doing well. He’s very thin at this point& a foolish groomer cut off all his fur because they thought we wanted that. So he doesn’t even look like a Sheltie right now, but he’s still beautiful. His fluffiness is beginning to grow back in.
He is extremely thin… and at one point his leg fell out of its socket, and we had to have a series of operations to get it back in and then to sew up the wound, which he kept getting at in spite of his cone. We finally got a longer one. Anyway, now it’s unclear whether he has Cushing’s or not. My husband is inclined to test for that and test to see if he has a tumor on his adrenal gland.
Max has reached the point where he won’t eat very much and if he does, he throws it up again. He needs an infusion of water under the skin because he can’t drink enough.
still yesterday he went for a walk with my husband, much longer than I had thought he could. He has recovered from the operation and he enjoyed that very much. Still, he won’t eat , except for a small amount of chicken, and he is a food oriented dog. I think that he is too close to the end to do all that, pester him with tests and so on. I doubt that he could get any more time out of all this, but perhaps I’m wrong. I feel that he should be made to be as comfortable as possible, and then be let go, with all of our love. I will be with him till the very end, of course, and so will my husband. Does anyone think that Max could get more time out of an MRI and all that to see if he has a tumor on his adrenal gland? Max is a great dog, one of the best I’ve ever known,
Thank you everybody,
Isabella.
I haven’t been here for a long time. I had a neurotic and very much loved Sheltie, Lochiel, also called Lucky, who died in 2018.
My husband and I found we could not bear to live without a Sheltie! We tried to adopt one here in northern New England—we live in Vermont. Everyone was very helpful, but said we had to have a fenced in yard. We have quite a lot of land, but we don’t have that. And our house is on a hillside so it would’ve been difficult.
Fortunately, a friend in Pennsylvania found out about Max, age 8, who had been passed from owner to owner because his mom had gone into assisted living. He had rescued her twice when she fell,running out to bark for help like Lassie, and leading the Helpers back. The second time she went to assisted living . I won’t tell the whole story, but Max had lived with a series of people , who each gave him away because he didn’t suit their living situation. When I found out about him, he was being fostered by a very nice lady who also had 14 pitbulls! (She was a foster for a couple of different rescues.) She loved Max but felt that it would be better for him to be in a home where he was the main dog. We fell in love with him immediately when he came to us, and he immediately rolled over and let us pat his beautiful, big fat tummy. Somebody, I suppose, maybe his first mom, had fed him hugely. He has a thyroid condition. I was told that it was a bad idea to try to get him to lose weight I think because it would just be so hard for him. We decided, though, that he could have a happier life if he were thinner. So we took care of his thyroid medication, but we also cut his food down in accordance with what his vet had to say. In spite of his obesity, he bravely chased away a bear that was climbing on our balcony. It was scared, and it ran!
He did lose weight, although I gave him more treats then I was supposed to, I’m pretty bad about that.
He enjoyed being slimmer and could go on long walks for the first time in years.—Didn’t need a fenced in yard – – Max would follow our every footstep, and had no interest in running away.
So forward four years, now Max is 12 and his kidneys are very quickly declining in function. He seriously is not doing well. He’s very thin at this point& a foolish groomer cut off all his fur because they thought we wanted that. So he doesn’t even look like a Sheltie right now, but he’s still beautiful. His fluffiness is beginning to grow back in.
He is extremely thin… and at one point his leg fell out of its socket, and we had to have a series of operations to get it back in and then to sew up the wound, which he kept getting at in spite of his cone. We finally got a longer one. Anyway, now it’s unclear whether he has Cushing’s or not. My husband is inclined to test for that and test to see if he has a tumor on his adrenal gland.
Max has reached the point where he won’t eat very much and if he does, he throws it up again. He needs an infusion of water under the skin because he can’t drink enough.
still yesterday he went for a walk with my husband, much longer than I had thought he could. He has recovered from the operation and he enjoyed that very much. Still, he won’t eat , except for a small amount of chicken, and he is a food oriented dog. I think that he is too close to the end to do all that, pester him with tests and so on. I doubt that he could get any more time out of all this, but perhaps I’m wrong. I feel that he should be made to be as comfortable as possible, and then be let go, with all of our love. I will be with him till the very end, of course, and so will my husband. Does anyone think that Max could get more time out of an MRI and all that to see if he has a tumor on his adrenal gland? Max is a great dog, one of the best I’ve ever known,
Thank you everybody,
Isabella.
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