Poodle and Pooch Rescue of Florida: Senior Pet Adoption Assistance Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
The money from this grant was used to cover Blossom's adoption fee of $185 and 15 months of Blossom’s heart medication, pimobendan (brand name Vetmedin), for her adopter.
By being able to offer the adopter financial help with Blossom's costly heart medication, we were able to find a suitable adopter sooner rather than later, and got Blossom in her forever home.
How many pets did this grant help?
1
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
Twelve-year-old Blossom was dumped in South Florida and picked up by a good Samaritan. PPR was called and asked if we could help because she was in bad shape. We are well-known for taking in special-needs dogs and are experienced at getting these dogs the treatment they need and rehabbing them to the point of being adoptable and having happy lives down the road with a new family. We couldn’t say no knowing that this girl needed lots of medical care.
When Blossom first arrived at our vet partner, she was very quiet and disconnected, not engaging with our vet staff at all. This was not surprising since she had been left to fend for herself, outside, and all alone. After a thorough exam, our vet found her to be deaf, with an enlarged heart (grade-4), immature cataracts in both eyes, a sebaceous cyst on her right hip, thickened mammary glands, moderate to severe tartar on her teeth, and pyometra (uterine infection). With all this going on, we gave her several medicines to help make her better. She had to have surgery pretty quickly to treat the pyometra.
Sweet little Blossom needed to recover from her surgery and take time to get rid of her infection. Due to her enlarged heart, she could only do short walks and it was important to keep her from overheating. In her loving foster home, she perked up quite a bit compared to her demeanor at intake. She did really well in her foster home and became very attached to her foster family. She got along with the foster family’s other dogs and also with the foster’s young grandchildren.
Our goal was to give Blossom appropriate time to heal and eventually be listed for adoption. After completing her spay and vaccinations, getting a dental, and being prescribed the proper dosage of heart medication, Blossom was ready to be listed for adoption. She needed a special adopter for several reasons: 1. She was 12 years old, 2. she had a grade-4 serious heart condition that required expensive monthly medication as well as blood tests every six months, and it was unknown how much time she might have left and 3. she wasn’t housetrained and, at her age, will never be fully trained.
Luckily, Blossom ended up being a foster fail: Her foster family just couldn’t let her go and adopted her. They fell crazy in love with this sweet senior and she will live a wonderful life with the family and never have to worry about fending for herself again.
