Dorothy

Updated 6/20/10

“Surrender, Dorothy!!”

Surrendering herself wouldn’t have been a good move for Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz,”  but for our Dorothy, letting somebody else take over was excellent advice & the solution to all her troubles.  Dorothy’s GRR story began just a few days ago, when “a woman called the Hotline. She found a Golden wandering the streets.  She has small dogs and does not want to bring the dog inside so she is staying outside in the backyard.  She has seen this dog posted on CL for about a week.  Apparently she escaped from whoever found her first. She said the dog is in bad shape—thin, dirty…  seems sweet though.”

The idea was to meet the old gal and transport her to the shelter for a stray hold, but when volunteer Tracy met Dorothy, plans promptly changed. “This dog is in such neglected shape that it is apparent nobody has cared for her in a really, really long time. I transported her to the vet for immediate medical attention. She is skinny and very weak, has trouble standing up from a lying position. Her ears are swollen shut and oozing blood and pus. I can't imagine that anyone would be looking for her.”

In true Golden fashion, though, Dorothy hustled to meet her new friend as fast as her old legs would take her and rolled right over for a tummy rub. “She is very friendly and trusting even after all she has been through.”

The vet gave us some good news -- Dorothy is happy, alert and wiggly. “Just like you would expect from a Golden!” She’s heartworm negative (incredible!). She did have loads of fleas, but those have been dealt with, and her skin and coat can heal up now. She has arthritis, but that will likely improve as her overall condition gets better. The bad news: her ears are truly awful, some of the worst the vet has seen. The canals are calcified and so enlarged that there’s no way to instill meds; Dorothy will need a course of steroids to shrink the  swollen tissue before we can really treat the infections, and she will also require surgery in the future. And she’s likely almost (if not entirely) deaf.

Dorothy will soon see a specialist, so we can get going on a treatment plan for her ears. But in the meantime, she is having fun in her foster home. She is in good spirits and eating well. From neglected stray to cared-for house pet with a pretty new collar and many, many new friends – now that’s a true rescue! Stay tuned for more news.