Bandit - the First OFSDS Forever Foster Dog!!

Today Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary, for the first time, placed  a wonderful senior dog in an amazing Forever Foster home. We are so excited to now be doing what we set out to do at the beginning of 2012. At that time, we decided to create Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary as a non-profit organization with the goal of providing Forever Foster Homes to dogs who were unadoptable due to age and/or disability. It's been a long path, but finally we are here.
Just this past weekend, we first visited Michael, who was willing to Forever Foster an Old Friend. Once we saw what a loving home he could offer, we immediately started working with him to find the right dog to fit in with him and his three sweet dogs. After seeing the following video of Bandit, it was decided that this poor, sad, old (10-12 years old) dog would be the one.

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He was coming from Daviess County Animal Shelter in Kentucky. It was a three hour drive each way, and, thankfully, Mandi, a volunteer for the rescue group that works with the shelter, was able to meet me half way. This is a dedicated group of volunteers. They were also responsible for helping to get Penny to us a month or so ago.
Just moving Bandit from one car to the other was a challenge.We had to load the poor, pained boy onto a blanket and then transfer him onto a doggy bed in my car. He was so scared.
I brought Bandit directly to our vet, Dr Benner, at Village Veterinary Hospital in Mount Juliet. Bandit was feeling extremely bad by this time. He screamed when he was picked up in his bed for transfer inside. It was necessary to use a muzzle because Bandit was lashing out from the pain. Dr Benner determined that he has a disc problem and was able to isolate it to the middle of Bandit's back. He gave Bandit a steroid shot and a pain killer. It was such a blessing that Bandit was finally getting some relief from his pain.

Although the original plan was for me to bring Bandit directly to Michael from Village Vet, I did not feel comfortable bringing him anywhere at this point. He was highly stressed, in a lot of pain and completely immobile. I felt that rest was what he needed so I brought him and a medicine cabinet of drugs back to OFSDS and put him in our recovery room. It was very difficult to move him alone. He had made a mess in his bed and needed to be moved out of the bed so that it could be washed. Just rolling him off the bed onto a rug on the floor was a chore. At this point I was very worried.
For the next few hours Bandit just lay on the rug, sleeping on and off. I was so afraid for him.

At dinner time, I was able to hand feed him his medications with his dinner (Tramadol-Pain, Cephalexin-antibiotic and Prednisone-steriod). Thank goodness his appetite was still good. It was the only encouragement at that time.
I checked back on him often, occasionally softly petting his head. His legs and feet were very tender and he would scream if I touched them. At about 11pm, I went back to check in on him and HE WAS SITTING UP!

Over the next hour or so, he actually got himself up and walked a little bit to relieve himself in a far corner.
We all went to bed and this morning, Bandit got up to eat breakfast and then lounged back into his bed until the afternoon.

This evening he would move to his Forever Foster Home. We wanted him to get on with his life.
After dinner and a short walk in the grass. We lifted Bandit into his bed in the Cruiser and he was on his way. When we got to his new home, he took a short walk around the yard and waited to meet his new family. When his new brothers and sisters came out to greet him, he was thrilled. His tail wagged and there was sniffing all around. It was hard to believe that this was the same dog who, just yesterday, couldn't even get up by himself.
It was a bit of a challenge getting him up the three stairs to the house. We put a rug under his mid-section and helped him to climb. He really wanted into the house so he was eager to help. He immediately ran in, found the food and water bowls and began sniffing, in true hound dog style.

He was checking out his new digs. In just a few minutes, Bandit knew that he was home. He has canine friends and a wonderful Forever Foster Dad. Bandit will live here for the rest of his life, but Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary will take care of his vetting and basic needs. In this way, we hope to be able to find Retirement Homes for as many as possible of the sweet seniors who face euthanasia every day because they are unadoptable due to unknown vet costs and limited remaining life.
Here are a few more pictures of Bandit with his new family.

If you can spare a little bit to help with Bandit's vetting and basic needs, please ChipIn to Bandit's Retirement Fund. Anything at all is greatly appreciated. We will not take on new dogs into the program unless we are certain that we can support our existing Old Friends for the remainder of their lives.

We're an OFFICIAL Non-Profit now!

For the past few months we have been waiting for our papers to come through. The papers that would make us "official" - the papers that will make it possible to ask folks to make tax-free donations - the papers that will give us discounts - the papers that will allow us to apply for grants - the papers that will allow us to rescue more senior dogs!!

Well..... today we got our determination letter and we are so excited. We are now a recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with an effective date of exemption of April 26. We feel that now is the TRUE START of Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary!

Here's how the process went.....

After some time with dog rescue, working with the wonderful folks at Middle Tennessee Golden Retriever Rescue, we began to realize that our real passion lies with the older dogs. Maybe because we are getting older, we felt a special camaraderie with the oldies, those who were down on their luck in their retirement years.

Slowly our dream started to take shape and earlier this year we decided to act upon it. We began to plan and dream, dream and plan. In March, we decided that we were going to make our dream a reality.

Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork.....
We had to fill out paperwork.

First we had to become a non-profit corporation in the state of TN. We decided to get some help from our friends at Legal Zoom for this part of the process. We had to get a mission statement together and bylaws. Then it took about a month, but by the end of April, we were incorporated as Old Friends Senior Dogs Inc. in the state of TN.

Next was the fun part. We had to fill out the IRS form to file for 501(c)(3) non-profit status. I decided to tackle this part of the job myself. It would cost hundreds of dollars to have someone else do it and Legal Zoom gave us a great book to guide me along the way. It took me until the first of July to get everything figured out and ready to go. This application was many, many pages long and required attachments galore to answer essay questions and to clarify various items. I was so relieved to bring it to the post office.

Then the wait began. I had heard that it could take as long as six months to get a determination letter, with lots of questions along the way. I was nervous... Around the end of July, we got a letter from the IRS. False alarm. It said that they had received our application and that it could take as much as 90 more days for a determination or for it to be assigned to someone for further review.

Again we waited.....

So, you can't imagine how excited I was to see another, thicker, envelope from the IRS in the mail today. Opening it was the best part. I think that we were actually pretty fortunate to get through the process as quickly as we did.

Now the REAL work begins! It is just what we have been waiting for.....

New News on some Old Friends

It's been a very busy couple of weeks here at Old Friends. That coupled with computer issues (UGH!) has kept me from keeping everyone updated. Some of the news is very good, none is terribly bad, so here goes....

Toby

 Toby had an annual physical... he has lost 9 pounds since last year and still has a few to go. He is doing great, no problems to speak of. Dr. B thinks that he is younger than the 12 years that we were told by his previous owner because he is so spunky and doing so well.

Lucy

 Lucy was on Prednisone and antibiotics after a blood test showed that she was anemic and had high white blood count. She also had lost weight since last year, even though she eats like a horse. Her follow up blood test showed that everything was back to normal. She does have some new mammary masses that will have to be removed. She was diagnosed with grade 0, simple, mammary carcinoma earlier this year.

Layla

Layla went for an annual exam and to our surprise showed up as heartworm positive after having had a negative test last year when she came here and having been on preventatives since then. The worms that she now has are a year old and there are no new worms because she has been on preventatives. She is asymptomatic, so we have decided to continue her on preventatives and to let the adult worms die naturally rather than put her through the "fast kill" treatment. Other than that, we have perhaps gone a little overboard in helping her to gain weight since she came to us last year as a frighteningly skinny girl. We are working to get a few (5-10) excess pounds off of her over this next year.

Rannie

Rannie has been acting and feeling well since she was sick and we found out that her liver enzymes were high and treated her for that. Unfortunately, her levels have not improved. We are going to put her back on Denamoran, at a lower dosage than she was at after her sickness, to see if that will improve her count over time. If not, an ultrasound may be necessary to determine what is happening.

Lucky Penny

Lucky Penny has been doing great. She is eating well and has gained a couple of pounds. Some of her hair is growing back in and  she has gone from moving at a sloth-like speed to a normal pace. She likes to follow us around from room to room. She is still a little itchy, and needs medicated baths and ear cleanings, but getting better. House training is going extremely well. She has gone all day without an accident. She has figured out how to use the doggy door so she can go out when she needs to. She's a smart girl.

Charlotte

 Charlotte has continued to do quite well since she was switched from Novox to low dosage prednisone for her mobility problems. Her activity level and speed have both increased.

Hunny Bunny

Hunny Bunny has been shining star in the improvement category recently. She had been having severe mobility problems, often falling down and needing help to get back up. No matter how much we cut down on her food she was not losing weight and her future was not too promising. Switching her from Novox to low-dose prednisone helped her some, at least she was having a better time walking once she got up, but still she was not doing very well. At her annual physical, she was given a blood test and we found out that she was hypothyroid. Just a few days after starting on Soloxine, she had very significant improvements. She is getting up and down much more easily and walking quickly through the house, even off of the throw rugs. She is doing the "bunny hop" when she goes to her room for dinner. She is brighter in her eyes and we are pretty sure that she has already lost a couple of pounds. We have even been able to take her "bathing suit" (diapers) off during the day because she has had the energy and will to get up and go outside to relieve herself. She has even taken to barking at Leo.... it's annoying, but it shows that she now feels good enough to think about more than just getting up. We are very happy for her.

Everyone else is doing well. Exams are over for the moment, until Maggie goes in November. This doesn't mean that we'll be strangers to Dr. Benner and Village Vet. In between, we will be following up on some of the issues above.

Lucky Penny Update - Good News and Bad News

Penny makes herself right at home

Today the lab results came back on Penny's bloodwork. Everything was checked. The good news is that most everything was normal. The bad news is that one thing was not normal. Penny is Heartworm Positive.  She is not symptomatic, so hopefully the heartworms have not done much damage. Because of her age and condition. Penny can not be treated for heartworm using the most agressive, "fast kill" method. This treatment would kill all worms, adult and microfilariae, but could put her health in even more danger. We will instead use the "soft kill" method which involves giving heartworm preventative which will kill the microfilariae and keep new worms from growing. The adult worms already in her system will not be killed, but will die once they live out their life which can be two or more years. The decision was made as the "lesser of two evils" as the best choice for Penny. In a future blog post, I will discuss heartworm disease further.
On the brighter side, Penny is beginning to settle in and her personality is coming out. She moves from chair, to doggy bed, to couch and then to the floor. She enjoys being able to choose her place. Penny is sleeping a lot, but enjoys her slow but steady walks and having company. Our one dog welcoming committee, Gracie, spent some time with her today and they were calm and comfortable together. We are going to move Penny upstairs on Saturday when we will be here with her all day long.
A Dawn and then a medicated bath really cleaned Lucky Penny up and brought out her true, rich, German Shepherd like, colors. She is a pretty girl and will be quite beautiful when all of her hair grows back in. She was a real trooper and didn't complain at all. She enjoyed the attention.
Lucky Penny is eating well, so we expect that she'll get some meat on her bones quickly. She gobbles down the homemade stew that I make for all of our dogs to supplement their kibble.
Sweet Penny still needs a Forever Foster Home. Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary will pay for all of her vetting and basic costs for the rest of her life. Penny will fit in well with any calm, loving family. Until Penny finds her Forever Foster Home, Old Friends will not be able to take in any more senior dogs as we are now full.
 

on a walk

taking a bath, letting the medicated shampoo soak in

all cleaned up

drying off

final touch up

Lucky Penny has Arrived!

Our first meeting with Lucky Penny

Late last week, we found out about a poor 15 year old girl who had been dropped off at a high-kill Kentucky shelter by her owners. She needed immediate rescue because at her age and in her condition, she would be first on the euthanasia list since she was surely un-adoptable. 
Her name was Penny. We renamed her Lucky Penny because she was so fortunate to have people who cared enough about her to contact us. We were able to meet her half way today to get her here to Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary.
We were thankful to Sherri, who brought Lucky Penny halfway to us, cutting a six hour round trip in half. Penny took a potty and water break and easily got into the car on her way to Tennessee. About an hour into the ride, she started to make a low, moaning howl, like a cross between a cow and a howl. It was loud! We surmised that she was trying to tell us something and took her for a walk in a park on the way home. After stretching her legs and relieving herself again, she was back in the car and quiet for the rest of the drive. We figured out that she is completely deaf, she doesn't react to any sounds however loud.
Lucky Penny is so skinny. Her sides are collapsed in and her ribs are prominent. She needs some good food inside of her. Her skin is in terrible shape. Tomorrow when she goes to Dr Benner, we will find out why. We guess that she is a Shepherd/ hound dog, maybe beagle, mix. The fur that she does have is coarse and straight with
German Shepherd coloring. She is small though, probably not much more than 40 lbs. We will weigh her tomorrow when she's had some rest.
She is staying in our "rehab room", a large, cordoned off area in the cool downstairs with couch, sunlight and soft music (which she can't hear anyway) we suspect that she may be in rehab for a little while, but we hope to be able to let her socialize with the rest of the gang very soon. We hope to find her a Forever Foster Family soon where she will be able to settle in and live the rest of her life in comfort.
So far she is sweet and she is tired. She took short walk after dinner and it completely wore her out. She stayed right with us though.
Here are some first day pictures of Miss Penny. I will update again tomorrow after Penny has visited Dr. Benner. 
A few minutes ago, I went downstairs to check in on Lucky Penny. She has found the couch and was sound asleep (last picture).

Meeting Lucky Penny

At the Pit Stop

Sweet little girl with Michael

She loves to be petted

This little bed is very nice.....

But this couch is even better :)