Old Cocker Spaniel Needs Home

We’re calling her Lady. She was found wandering the streets with no tags, so no one knows all the details of her background. I’m not actually the one who found her; I saw her at the pound when I was picking up rats for the Rat Refuge. I don’t currently have the set-up for dogs. However, my heart melted when I saw her, because the sign said she was estimated to be 12-15 years old and had a lot of medical conditions. The consensus was that no one would adopt her because of age and medical bills, so I just couldn’t stand to think of her spending out her remaining time alone in “jail.” So, I sprung her out of jail on Tuesday night before thoroughly thinking it through. They said it was a miracle that I adopted her, because no one else would have likely ever done that based on her age and condition. Even though I run a fish and rat sanctuary, I figured we could handle one dog. However, after one night of being vigilant to be sure she was kept separate from the rats, I realized it wasn’t fair to her because we couldn’t give her enough social interaction (a lot of my time is spent caring for all the rats and fishes). So, on Wednesday, I had her groomed and then took her to the vet for a full exam. She’s in better health than anyone originally thought. Her main problems are her eyes (she can see just fine but has a growth on one lower eyelid area, which may or may not need to be treated, since it doesn’t bother her at all) and a bad skin condition on her chest and underbelly (the vet thinks it was caused by long term untreated allergies). She is also quite overweight, but apparently her thyroid is fine; she just overate! She also has a urinary tract infection and something going on with her ears, both of which are currently being treated. I had them do every test possible so we can do as much as possible for her. Basically, she was just neglected for a very long time, so now we’re helping to get her back in shape.

She is EXTREMELY sweet, knows “sit,” and only goes to the bathroom outdoors. Not that looks matter, but she is very pretty. She is also far more spry than I originally realized. I felt so bad for not having the right housing situation for her, and it was obvious she needed more social time with people and/or other dogs than I could give her, so I checked her into a local doggie daycare/boarding house on Wednesday night, where she is getting tons of attention and interaction with other dogs. The dogs are NOT kept in kennels; they sleep in their dog beds in the bedroom of the nice man who runs it, and he takes them on field trips and basically gives dogs attention when their people don’t have the time. He also gives them their medication as needed. So, Compassion Circle paid for a week, which means she has a place to live until Wednesday, December 5th, and then I need to figure something else out. If someone can offer her a good home, that would be awesome. Compassion Circle can pay for her medical expenses; I just want to make sure she has a good, safe home to spend her golden years.  -Kim