Meet Tasha!

 

Brent kindly gave Tasha a lift and brought her to us on April 25, 2009.  We were going to be her foster family. 

The folks she owned before us ran into financial difficulties and could no longer keep her.  The background information she brought was somewhat limited but she is between 8 & 11 years old, unfortunately probably leaning more towards the later. 

Within hours of her arrival I knew I wasn’t going to be the best “foster” parent.  Tasha quickly became part of the family and giving her up to an adoptive family was not a thought I relished. 

Our family consists of a 9 year old Great Dane, Udo; a 6 year old St. Bernard, Debo who suffers from wobblers syndrome and a 22 year old African Grey, Gus. 

Tasha was, by far, the worst smelling member of the family but family nevertheless.  Although she really enjoys being brushed and didn’t mind my untrained clipping efforts, she needed professional help.  She visited the groomer on Monday and came out looking lovely but smelling the same.  Another trip to the groomer and a bath at home led us to a third trip to the groomer for a clean start….a shave.   

After a couple of days it was clear that Tasha could not see nor hear very well.  She enjoyed going for walks but oddly stayed in physical contact with Udo during our walks.  It took me a bit to figure out what they were doing but I believe she uses him as a guide because of her poor eyesight, what an awesome sight to see!

Tasha’s first visit to our vet was a sad one.  She had a nasty urinary tract infection, impacted/infected anal glands, tape worms, entropion, advanced cataracts and arthritis.  She also tested positive for heartworms.   Tasha went for a 2^nd opinion, both vets concurred that traditional heartworm treatment could be done but would be extremely tough on her due to her advanced age.  In their opinions, euthanasia was not an option to be ignored.

Tasha started taking antibiotics, was treated for tape worms; received an injection to help with the pain in her hips and started on Rimadyl. 

Thanks to the guidance of Brent Ellis, Jocelyn Hawley and Mary Price the difficult decision not to treat her for heartworms was made.  Untreated, however, Tasha posed a risk to other animals that are not protected by heartworm preventative.  The recommended course of treatment was to start her on a heartworm preventative to kill the worms present in her blood stream.  While this treatment presents risks of it’s own I am very happy to report that she has had her first month’s worth and so far so good!

Tasha’s infections have cleared up, her tape worms are gone and she is moving with a little more ease.  She looks a little goofy with her new doo but she also looks and acts 5 years younger – and she smells oh so much better!  She loves everyone she meets whether they are 2 or 4 legged, all of her new friends have given that love right back.  She is a great passenger and enjoys car rides especially when they end at Petco and something tasty is involved. 

Debo cannot walk very well because of the wobblers but loves to try and play, while I believe Tasha’s hips feel much better she would just as soon not get up if she does not have to but also likes to try to play.  We started rolling a ball back and forth on the ground between them and they will do that until my arms are ready to snap off. 

Tasha has a couple of favorite snoozing spots one of which is right in front of the birds cage just in case he gets corn-on-the-cob because Gus will throw her corn and she gobbles it right up.   She loves to lie under the sprinkler and would rather bury her face in the stream of a garden hose than drink out of a bowl any old day. 

In my mind she was permanently adopted just shortly after her arrival on April 25th, happily enough that became official this week. 

All three dogs have more time behind them than they do in front of them but they are happy and content.  I will thoroughly enjoy all of the time in front of us!          

In addition to being a gift to our family, Tasha is also a testament to the kindness of the Hanc organization and the volunteers.  From Brent to Jocelyn to Mary; Tasha and I have had tremendous support and all have offered their continued support for as long as we need or want it.