About The Foster Zoo

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We have decided to blog our adventures again. So much has changed since we last blogged. Bella and Shiloh both went to their forever homes and they are in wonderful families. June Bug got adopted. We quit fostering dogs after those adoptions because Tanker's epilepsy got bad. We quit doing therapy dog work because Tanker's epilepsy got bad. Tanker passed away June 9th, 2013. We adopted a senior border collie named Shania Tankerbelle in his memory. We still have our two cats, Sweet Pea and Little Bit. Wes has started rescuing pitiful bettas from Wal-Mart and we currently have seven. We have a camper. We camp. We have focused on giving our animals the best lives possible. We are The Foster Zoo Crew and we like to have fun.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Buster

Last week, I was contacted by Louisa County Animal Shelter about this sweet Australian Cattle Dog (Baxter) that they had. Cattle Dogs are not incredibly common in Virginia (not like Georgia) and word had gotten out through my rescue friends and therapy dog friends that I work with Cattle Dogs. I had never worked with Louisa Shelter before. Wes and I had just rescued our newest cattle dog, Tango, out of a high kill shelter in Georgia; therefore, we could not take another dog at the time. I had a friend (Julie) who was wanting to adopt a dog to train to be a therapy dog. I contacted her about this dog and we went down to Mineral, VA (where the epicenter of the earthquake was) to meet him and she adopted him. She renamed him Buster. Days after bringing Buster home, he was diagnosed with heartworms. Heartworms are very expensive to treat and treatment can be hard on the dog. I went with Julie to Banifield vet today where they drew blood to determine the stage of heartworms he has. Julie should know the results in a few days. I had the opportunity to watch Buster while at Petsmart to see how he will be as a therapy dog. Buster was calm in all situations. He walked nicely on a loose leash and was friendly to strangers who approached him. He even got petted by several children and was great with them. He did well when approached by another dog, and although was a little stand-offish, did not show any signs of aggression. Buster and Julie came back to my house and Buster played with Topher, Tango, and Tanker out back. (Bella and Shiloh are a bit hyper for Buster at the moment since he is not feeling well with the heartworms.) Once Julie gets the results back from the bloodwork, she will decide on a treatment plan for him, whether or not she wants a second opinion from a canine cardiologist, and we will determine the expense of treatment. My friends at No Kill Virginia are ready to start raising money for Buster's care. We will probably start a chip-in and maybe organize a fundraiser. Let's get Buster feeling better!




2 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear about the heartworm. She might want to look into this -

    http://www.ambertech.com/products/hwf-tm-formerly-heartworm-free.html/

    I've used their Parvaid before for dehydration in dogs with great success. If he's not heavily infested she may be able to use just the preventive each month to kill them slowly over time. Heartworm is no fun for anyone :( I had a foster who died during the treatment years ago - he was heavily positive and they didn't listen to me and space the treatment out. If she goes the traditional treatment route, have the vet do it slowly - the doses weeks apart instead of days apart. It works the same way but is safer.

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  2. Dad & I really like the new photo you are using for your blog! Buster is adorable....we will keep our fingers crossed and hope that the heartworms are not too advanced. Buster deserves his new owner and home, and we want him to be around for a very long time!

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