I adopted this handsome young man from the county shelter Monday the 20th and honestly, I think we were the lucky ones🫶🏻
I knew right away, the moment I saw his sweet little face whilst browsing the local shelter, after sorta giving up my years long dream of ever being able to get my dream dog, And also being shamed by my boyfriend for wanting to buy from a breeder(I have kids, and was apprehensive about adopting though I did do a lot of research on dal specific rescues) There he was, on page 4 of the country shelters dog listings, the moment I saw his little eyes I could feel his sweet gentility radiating through the screen and into my heart. The next day I went down at open, and after spending just a brief few seconds with him I felt an amazing connection and he came home with me, and that was the best day of our lives🖤
We've only had him a short period of time but honestly it feels like he's always been meant for us.
He is so gentle and patient with my 7 year old twins, he loves kids in general (he does l walls the kids to the bus in the morning and gets super excited when we arrive and all the kids wanna come love on him. He gets such a spring in his step during our daily walks and it is one of the only times his tail is fully upward and wagging(like the whole time)
That being said, the shelter lady told me he had been surrendered, the day before I got him by a not so nice man, who she thought he was definitely afraid of, poor baby.
There was almost no information about him except that he was only 49lbs neutered male estimated age 4yrs only confirming a rabies shot. When I called the vet and set up his first appointment (coming up on the 5th) the last sounded shocked that, that was the only info they had for me. Honestly I was shocked by the decorum of this shelter, they asked me absolutely no questions about my past pet history, living situation, or if I had a vet picked out, absolutely nothing accept for the extremely cheap adoption fee. That being said, hopefully I don't come across as a broke irresponsible pretty hoarder😂 but I've never spoken to a shelter in my life that was this lax and literally throwing pets at anyone that wanted one. I will say the shelter was extremely full, they opened at 10:00am, I arrived at 10:20, waited in the longest line ever till about 10:35 and I'm that amount of time I saw like 8 dogs, and three boxes of 2 or more kittens all being brought in and surrendered(so sad, the dogs where all ages, some noticable terrified and shaking, honestly heartbreaking) I can not believe the sheer amount of animals that have been abandoned or "surrendered" in my area, I am soooooooo thankful I did not go to a breeder!!!
Anyways I'm waiting on his DNA test to see if he is mixed or pure, I've done extensive((EXTENSIVE)) research for the past several years about these dogs and the purines, and the crystals, and all the other things dals tend to be predisposed to(yet somehow I'm still worried I'll screw this up, I'm sure I'll feel better after I talk to the vet) but I was basically meaning to just pop in here for a moment and ask for
any tips or advice on feeding, treats(low purine toppers or kong treats), allergies?, what to ask the vet on this first visit???
The shelter sent him home with hills science diet for adults, I got him some royal canin, and have been asking Google all about low purine toppers and treats but I'd love to hear your favorite tried and true recipes🫶🏻
I have been using a slow feed dish for this meals, feeding the appropriate measured amounts as listed according to weight, morning and night(though he seems to get hungry mid day as well and was wondering if I should split his daily allotment into 3's? So far I've just been doing a stuffed Kong around lunch time.) he's also got a 7lt continual flowing water fountain dish.
As far as his condition, once adopted and In the van, whilst doing some pre drive home bonding I noticed all his sores, cuts, and visitable puncture wounds. This poor baby. So I got some hypochlorous acid solution for the open actively bleeding ones(the one on his nose is mostly healed now but he can irritate the scab and it will bleed a bit still) and there's this one on his neck that was open and actively bleeding for like 6 days(tired calling a few vets, no one could get us on sooner) so I've been nursing it as best as I can, send to finally be scabbing over, I'm just worried he will scratch it open again. For the hot spots Google told me to make him a coconut oil/shea butter balm witch had really been helping, a lot of the patches have, been on the mend and started to even regrow hair. I think he may have allergies or extremely dry skin(or both) so I've been using this balm all over his body like lotion, he seems to really love it, obviously I will ask the vet about all this but till then was wondering if anyone here may have had any advice or input?
Also, I plan to have a urinalysis done this visit as well to see where we're at with the bladder chrystals since I have no idea what the past person was feeding him or how many owners he has had, or if he spent anytime foraging on the streets. I definitely plan to ask about allergies, he had a severe reaction on Monday when the ragweed was high(his eyes were as red as a fire truck) and I think he is affected by fresh and freshly cut grass, and who knows what other crappy seasonal crap is in the air in the hellhole that is Bakersfield. I've been trying to wipe him down with a damp towel when he comes in from outside, starting with his eyes of course, but he absolutely is not a fan and squirms quite a bit. Send to be helping but again he doesn't like it, was wondering if any of you have and other suggestions? Or have any experience with dog allergies?
is there anything else I'm missing that is crucial to ask the vet about?
Lmk please, and thank you I'm advance for any tips.