Transformation....

One of our goals at Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary is to strive to raise awareness of the joys and challenges of living with senior dogs. In this post, I am going to discuss one of the biggest joys in fostering or adopting a senior dog which is watching and being a part of the transformation from sad shelter, stray or neglected dog to happy family dog.
Here are a few of our shining stars so far:

LEO

Leo 3/16/12

Leo 8/24/12

LAYLA

Layla 8/4/11

Layla 7/15/12

BANDIT

LUCKY PENNY

Lucky Penny 8/7/12

Lucky Penny 9/15/12

PRINCESS LEIA

Princess Leia 9/7/12

Princess Leia 9/15/12

An Old Friend's Retirement Budget

You may look at the ChipIns on our website and wonder where we come up with the estimated costs to care for an Old Friend in the Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary program. We have given this a lot of thought.... the numbers for one year are based on the following:

1. Vetting: the average Old Friend will have an initial vet visit when they arrive. At that time, they will get a check up, all of their basic vetting, shots and preventatives. There will often be a problem to address at this time:
estimated cost $130
2. Preventatives: we use Trifexus for heartworm and flea protection. It is given monthly.
total cost $120
3. Two follow up vet visits during the year. Some will have none, some will be back 3 or more times. Lucky Penny had a visit just last week for a urinary tract infection.
estimated cost: $200
4. Medications: many of our old Friends are on some type of medication or another. Very few are on nothing at all.
estimated cost: $240
5. Food: we feed Nature's Select because it is a good quality food and they give us a good discount as well. (plus, as an added bonus, they deliver)
approximate cost: $250
6. Extra food, treats, etc: $150

Total cost estimate: and this is very conservative. I have not added in anything that would be out of the ordinary for any senior and/or disabled dog that we take in.

$1060 per year

This is why our ChipIns are set at $1000 for a year's costs for a dog in our program.
We also rely heavily on general donations to pay for general supplies and maintenance.

Please Donate... as much as you can or want to. Every bit helps. We have so many plans for the future but can not proceed without your help.
So.....here's a link to donate to our general fund. If you would like to donate to a specific dog, please go to our website click here to Sponsor an Old Friend
 

All of the donations made to Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary go to the care of dogs who were brought into our program after April 2012. We have already committed to taking care of the needs of the dogs who were here before that time.

Princess Leia - the dog previously known as Yoda..

Yesterday morning, three separate people asked if we could help "Yoda" a poor dog who was only looking for a place to live out his last days in a comfortable place. It was truly a hospice case, but that is what we do, and we felt particularly strongly that we should check on this boy. Bandit's foster Dad had even offered to help with fostering if necessary... we knew that we couldn't say no.
Here is the photo and description that we responded to:

This old boy is going to live his last days @ Greenbrier Animal Control....

We braced ourselves for the worst. At the very least, we would be able to give him a comfortable place to rest his head for those last days. We hoped that it would be better than that.
At Greenbrier Animal Control, we met one of the truly good people in this world. Randy, the sole animal control officer in Greenbrier, TN met us at the shelter in the midst of a bad day and between multiple emergencies.  Randy not only maintains the day to day operations of this small, capacity 10 dogs, animal shelter, but has worked to develop a network of rescues and volunteers that has resulted in only one euthanasia this year. Because of limited resources and horribly high counts of owner surrenders, strays and other homeless dogs, rural animal controls have traditionally had the highest kill rates of any of the shelters. The successes of Randy and the network who works with Greenbrier AC, are incredible and commendable. Yoda would have, that very day, have been the second euthanasia of the year.
When we met "Yoda" who had up until yesterday been laying on the concrete floor, "he" was standing at the door of his kennel waiting for us. Good start....Randy immediately realized that a mistake had been made and that Yoda was indeed a female. Keeping with the Star Wars theme, we renamed her Princess Leia.
We thought that we would have to carry her to the car, but when we put a leash on her, she followed us right to the car and Randy helped her in. She remained passive and non-agressive. We noticed that poor Princess Leia had some serious issues. Her eyes were covered with a white shroud and only a slit of pupil showed, she had scars and sores all over her body, she was very slow and cautious and behaved strangely with labored breathing and strange periods of extended spacing out. On the ride to OFSDS, she curled up in the foot well behind the passenger seat of the car and waited...
When we arrived at our final destination, Princess climbed resignedly out of the car. She was easily led into our recovery room and spent the next hour or so checking out her new digs. She would walk around the perimeter of the room, then would sniff (but not drink) at her water bowl and then sniff (but not eat out of) her food bowl. She made several of these rounds of the room. Soon after we took her for a walk around the yard then she went back and tried to get some sleep.

first walk through the yard

look at her poor eyes....

Her first attempt at sleep

I wrapped a comforter around her and gave her a toy and she slept

This morning, Princess woke up better than yesterday. She went out for a short walk and walked around her room some more. In the late morning we took her to see Dr. Benner to find out what was really going on.....
The news was much better than we had anticipated! Yes, Princess is not perfect. She was covered in fleas, has hookworm. Dr B feels that he reason that her eyes look so bad is because she is severely dehydrated and her third eyelid (dogs have them, we don't) is covering her cornea to protect it. She got SubQ fluids while she was there (and we got a lesson in SubQ fluids that may come in handy some day), de-flea, and wormer and came back with antiobiotics, steroids and more wormer. We are waiting on shots, preventatives and spay until she is stronger. She is probably middle-aged rather than a senior citizen.
Although we do not want to focus on what was in favor of focusing on what can be, it is possible that this poor girl was a bait dog or had had been attacked by another animal in her recent past.

eyes are still bad, but we are hoping they get better soon

she is actually starting to enjoy her walks

Tonight, Princess took her walk and peed while she was walking, a first. She has eaten two hot dogs today (one with hidden antibiotics), but will still not eat her food. She is friendly and seems to love the company of humans. We are thrilled with the progress of this "hospice" dog.

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 :)

Prednisone - a miracle drug for Senior Dogs?

Hunny Bunny

Let me start this post by saying.....I am not a veterinarian nor an expert on this subject, however, right now we have five dogs who are taking prednisone, for some completely different reasons, and it has been beneficial for all five of them. I was compelled to do some research and this post is a summary of our experiences and what I have learned. 

The Old Friends who are on prednisone right now are:
Rannie - for elevated liver enzymes causing loss of appetite. The cause is still unknown. Although the enzyme levels are not down, they are not up either and her energy level and appetite are back to normal. Also taking Denamarin.
Lucy - her blood work showed anemia and high white blood cell count. She is now back in normal levels. Also took antibiotics.
Charlotte and Hunny Bunny - both are on a low dosage maintenance level of prednisone to help with difficulty walking because of back and/or joint pain due to arthritis. Their improvement has been significant. It works much better for both of them than carprofen, which also has potentially dangerous side effects.
Maggie - for allergies. She is scratching less and her ears are staying clear.
It is amazing to me that one drug can do so many things.....

Prednisone is a synthetic steroid, used for animals and humans,  that lessens inflammation and lowers the body's immune response. Because of these effects, it is useful for a variety of senior dog problems. It's use is not to be taken lightly, as there are as many potentially dangerous side effects as benefits, but, if used correctly, it has significant quality of life improvement potential for the senior dog. With senior dogs, our decisions weigh more heavily toward quality of life than quantity of years, so, although a strong consideration still, long term side effects are of lesser importance than they would be for a middle aged or younger dog.

Before taking prednisone, the dog must be stop taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs), such as carprofen (Rimadyl, Novox and others) for several days. Using these drugs together or without the waiting period can have a fatal reaction. Always, a veterinarian should monitor any changes in medication.

Prednisone is started at a higher dosage and is either decreased over a period of days or weeks until it is no longer used or it is tapered down to an, as low as possible, maintenance dosage. The reason for this taper down is that prednisone is similar to cortisol, a hormone naturally produced by the adrenal glands. While taking prednisone, the adrenal glands will reduce the cortisol that they produce. If the prednisone were to be suddenly stopped, the dog's body would have withdrawal symptoms. By gradually decreasing the dosage of prednisone, the adrenal glands are given the time to resume their normal functions.

There are many possible side effects of prednisone, especially with long term or higher dose usage. The risk of side effects must be balanced against the benefits of use. In senior dogs, the scale tips toward quality of life issues, since without quality of life, quantity is not important. In the case of Hunny Bunny and Charlotte, they are barely able to stand up or walk without prednisone. Other options, such as carprofen, have not been as effective and carry their own risks. Both of them are also on a glucosamine/condroitin supplement that may or may not be helping, but it is inexpensive and without adverse side effects. Lucy took prednisone for a specific problem and is currently being weaned completely off of it.
Some of the side effects of prednisone include relatively minor issues such as increased hunger and thirst, but can also cause ulcers, muscle loss and personality changes. It suppresses the immune system and can reduce the resistance to other diseases. In the most severe cases it can cause a susceptibility to diabetes due to metabolic changes or can cause canine Cushing's disease which is caused by a hormonal imbalance.

Prednisone is administered for the treatment of numerous diseases and conditions, including, but not limited to, allergies, inflammation from arthritis and back problems, auto-immune disease, asthma and tumors. In senior dogs, it can offer a significant quality of life improvement that often outweighs the risk of side effects. In a younger dog, risks and benefits must be weighed differently. Your veterinarian is your best source for information on medication and it's usage. Prednisone, like any medication, should only be given to your dog as prescribed by your veterinarian.

These are a Few of our Favorite Things - Beds

I think Gracie might be more comfortable with her head ON the bed

I just took a bed count in our house; we have two human beds and ten dog beds. I should correct that and just say we have twelve beds.... the humans don't sleep on the dog beds, but the other two are first come, first sleep. Of the ten dog beds, five are conventional pillow beds, very popular with the smaller dogs and occasionally one of the big guys will cuddle up. The other five are Coolaroos, a camp cot type, off of the ground, indoor/outdoor bed.
Coolaroos are great. They have no stuffing, so there is no temptation to rip them to shreds and pull the innards out (thank goodness, we are past that stage with our gang). They are lifted off of the ground and are made out of a porous weatherproof fabric that allows both air and water to flow through. We have had some of them for several years and they still look nearly as good as they did when they were new. The one on the back porch is a favorite in cooler weather, even right after a rain. One of the ones in the house is placed right over an air-conditioning vent and the air comes right up through it. Guess which is the favorite Coolaroo in the house in the summer. Added bonus, they are very inexpensive...only about $35 for the large (golden retriever) size and, if necessary, you can get a replacement cover for under $20.

Gracie helps to assemble a new Coolaroo

Even Hunny Bunny occasionally uses the outdoor Coolaroo

Belly prefers a pillow, it fits her Princess image

Gracie is flexible in her sleeping preferences

Zuzu enjoys the sun on the back porch

Sometimes the human/dog bed gets a little crowded