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.