Adopt a GSD

Joe

 

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Joe came into the Charity having received a call from a Dog Warden in South Devon concerning a GSD Cross who had been found as a stray. He was desperately trying to find a rescue place for the little chap as they had been holding him for two weeks and they are only supposed to hold dogs for seven days before euthanizing them. We agreed to take the dog immediately.

When he arrived it was clear that this dog had been straying for some time. The dog they had named Ranger was in a very poor state, he was very matted and extremely underweight. His teeth were virtually worn away and his breath smelt terrible. He also had two suspect lumps, one on the top of his head and one on his front leg. Ranger also had hair loss on his back end and tail, his skin was flaky and he was extremely itchy. It is difficult to guess at his age because his teeth are so worn and stray dogs have a hard life, which can lead to them looking old before their time. We estimate him to be 8–10 years old.

The first thing we did for Ranger was to have his lumps removed and he needed to have five teeth removed as they were completely rotten (his breath now smells a lot better!). The results of tests on his lumps showed them to be benign, however one was of a strain that could return as malignant and will need to be monitored. Ranger then went into foster care, where it was decided a new beginning warranted a new name and Joe was born. He has increased in weight by 7 kgs. Joe was then vaccinated, wormed and flea treated. Next Joe was pampered with a medicated bath for his skin and groomed to rid him of all the horrible matting. Ten days after his operation Joe’s stitches were removed and he left foster care and went to live out the rest of his life with one of our Trustees. Joe was still extremely itchy and a skin scraping showed him to have a bacterial infection on his skin, which was treated with antibiotics.

For all this lovely boy has been through he is one of the most gentle, sweetest natured dogs we have ever met. He loves to play with the ball and is always ready for a cuddle.

 

 

Some update pictures of Joe, now looking much better: