auntpiggylpn

As most of you know, I lost my shepherd Zeuss just about a month ago http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-149797-1.htm and then adopted a kitten that I am sure Zeuss sent my way http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-152610-1.htm

Well, on Thursday of this past week, my other half and myself were heading on a short road trip to a LQS that I wanted to visit (about 45 mins away) As we are "window shoppers" of most animal shelters, we decided to stop in at the local humane shelter. We browsed the kitties and the small dogs and then went into the big dog room. I managed to make it past all of the kennels and talked to all the dogs waiting for adoption. My other half though got stopped 2 kennels in. In that kennel was a red and black shepherd, 4 years old and severely underweight and it had the most hopeful eyes. His tail never stopped wagging the entire time we stood in front of his cage, talking to the shelter staff member. He had been brought in on 9/21 as a stray. He was extremely friendly but very, very skinny. I squatted down to get a good look at him (the vet tech student that I am!) and he looked into my eyes and I think I knew then that he needed to come home with us. We talked with the employee for a little while longer and then decided that we would do an interaction with the shepherd. We took him outside on a leash and he was extremely well behaved and walked right beside me. We decided that we would come back on Friday and bring our other 2 dogs for a "meet and greet". We continued on to the LQS but couldn't stop thinking and talking about that dog. We decided that we wanted to get the dog! We called and told the shelter we were going home to get our dogs and would be back for the interaction. Just after we got home, we received a phone call from the shelter. They had done a heart worm test and it was a "low positive". We were crushed! We called our vet to find out exactly what that meant and were told that he definately would be treatable and but we were stunned to find out that the one and only medication for treating heart worms in dogs in on "INDEFINATE BACK ORDER!" My heart was breaking for this poor dog, he had soooo much to give and I just felt he deserved a chance. We called several vets in our fairly large town and finally found one with the medication. Our hearts sang!! We knew that this could be a costly endeavor but we knew we had to help this dog. We both gave up our birthday gifts for this year and I am giving up my fabric allowance for the rest of the year. We called the shelter back and let them know that we would still be adopting the dog and were on our way with our animals. The shelter was over joyed as not many heartworm positive animals are adopted. Well needless to say, the inter action went well, and the dog came home with us. We have named him Cooper and he is fitting right in. It wasn't until later that evening that we realized that Thursday had an extra special meaning: IT WAS ZUESS' BIRTHDAY. I'm pretty sure it was meant to be!!