Gizmo - the Million Dollar Shelter Dog

D

dogs2birds

Cathlete
Well, Gizmo is home from the vet yet again. He had a hole inside his mouth where he was still healing from his jaw surgery and a little piece of the tip of the prairie grass we have snuck its way in there. That caused an abscess that just got bigger and bigger. So they got it out and now we need to rinse the site twice daily and apply a warm wet rag for 15 minutes twice a day. Hmmm...we'll see if he'll sit still.

As for his leg, she said that his knee (his ACL) is loose. This is TERRIBLE news, as we had a Rottie with bad knees just like that and had to have and $800 surgery at the same vet (meaning same price, I'm sure). She said that she is hoping to avoid surgery since he's so young. She says he may heal. She said to try to keep him from jumping off the couch and the bed and to keep him quiet for two weeks. Oh, okay. That shouldn't be a problem. HA!

So, $250 dollars later he's on Rimadyl, antibiotics and has that special stuff to wash his owie. He was sedated and x-rayed as well. Poor guy! I don't think I want to add up everything we've spent in his little life. But he's SO worth it!

The FABULOUS news is that the vet who worked at the Shelter who supposedly fixed Gizmo's jaw the first time (only to find out it was never fixed at all) is no longer employed by them. Apparently Gizmo was not the only animal from the Shelter who received poor veterinary care.

Let's hope that this will be all for him and that he will now have nothing but fun, fun, fun. They all LOVE him at the vet. They love the way his little tongue sticks out because he has no teeth on that side to hold it in. I heard one of the gals calling him "tongue dog". Another gal told me she absolutely adores him and his little tongue. And of course our vet calls him "My Gizmo" and just loves him to pieces. How could you not? :)

Suz

"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened." - Anatole France

http://www.picturetrail.com/dogs2birds
 
Kudos to you for taking such good care of this little guy!!! Sounds like in spite of all his troubles, he's turning out to be a super lovable, huggable, addition to your family.
 
The day you found him was a good one for Gizmo. I hope he doesn't need the surgery. He sounds like he is worth every penny. But aren't all of our pets worth it?
 
It's a good thing Gizmo is worth all this! LOL!

Maybe he'll be like my diabetic cat, Scooter (who has to stay at the vets when I'm out of town) and have 'friends' at the vets that you don't even know (the assistants at my vets office always recognize Scooter, but they don't recognize me! And I've met some I'd never seen before who seem very familiar with Scooter!).
 
Yikes, poor Gizmo! He's lucky he found you. Gabby's littermate had an injured ACL which they weren't sure was torn or not at about 12 weeks and she did heal without surgery. BUT the owner kept her activity totally restricted for several weeks.

Colleen
 
wow, gizmo sure has gone through so much in his life so far, but he sure got an angel to take him through life when he found you. it is so incredible to read about a rescue dog that has found such an amazing owner as you. there are so many dogs that don't get that chance, so gizmo must be a special little guy with a special purpose in your life. he is so cute, and it is good to know that not every shelter immediately puts pit bulls down. the fulton county shelter in atlanta ga will put them down before you get out of the building without giving them a chance just because of the reputation. it is awful as i know that pit bulls are not born mean, they are made mean, and gizmo is a perfect example of that. good luck, gizmo and mom!!!
 
Gizmo is truly blessed to have found you. As for activity, is there a place close to you where you can take him swimming(pool/lake/pond) (after the abcess heals and only with your vet's OK of course) I know my vet recommends swimming for rehab purposes on leg and hip injuries. Might be something to check out. Of course he may not like swimming, but maybe its an option. Swimming burns alot of energy too.

Jean

p.s.
This is one pet that would have benefited from pet insurance. I'm so sorry you had to spend so much on him. Any chance of getting donations from the shelter for some of the expenses or from the unscrupulous vet who should have treated him in the first place? Glad he lost his job!
 
Thanks for all your kind words. You are all too nice, as usual. As I always say, WE are the lucky ones for having Gizmo brought into our lives. He is worth every penny!

Smartyjones - unfortunately I just heard that our new Shelter director puts down pit bulls without giving them a chance. :(

Jean - hmmm...I wonder if I could bring him to work with me and throw him in the college's pool for some laps. :p As for having the Shelter help pay, they did offer in the beginning to pay for the original surgery to fix his jaw, but they are struggling so much for money and I was on their board and still work on various committees, so I couldn't imagine taking them up on their offer since I'm trying to help them. Then a couple of months ago they got a terrible case of canine influenza and euthanized almost all of their dogs - outraging the community and losing even more support. So they're in a really bad way right now. BUT...don't think I didn't let them know my feelings about having an inept vet on staff. I have many friends on the board and they all got a detailed e-mail about it, as did the Shelter manager and the interim director. My vet told me the other day that she had been called to go over some "cases gone wrong" with the Shelter's previous vet - although she wasn't asked about Gizmo. So at least they did check into that vet and let him go (mine was obviously not the first problem). I think he's left the state, thank goodness!!!

Suz

"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened." - Anatole France

http://www.picturetrail.com/dogs2birds
 
Awww the poor little fella. I hope everything works out OK. My cousin's rottie had ACL surgery on both his hind legs during the last year--he's about 5 or 6 & he recovered very quickly. Hopefully b/c Gizmo's smaller the recovery time & effort won't be as bad.
 
it is so sad to hear that because of so many irresponsible breeders and pet owners, pit bulls have been given such a death sentence if they are sent to the shelter. i wonder if the shelters even try to find a lost pit bull's owner if they have tags...

your little crew can be goodwill ambassadors for the pit bull breed. they are so cute i just lover seeing their pictures, and crack up when i see the one where they are all looking up at the camera with their tongues out. Amber and Macy are gorgeous dogs, and i know gizmo will be one day too (because he is so young, he is just plain old cute). i used to have doberman pinschers, and it was amazing to see the reaction people would have to them when we were out walking. they would grab their kids and move away quickly. i always encouraged the kids to come up and pet my dogs, and the dogs were always so gentle with them and loved the attention. i would explain to the kids and their parents that my dogs were an appropriate represetation of the breed, not the snarling, viscious dogs you see portrayed in hollywood movies. it is dogs like your pit bulls and my dobermans that will help change people's views about these wonderful animals and put an end the the flat-out ignorance that is out there.

anyway, sorry for getting on my soapbox, but i feel very strongly about our little ones. give all three of yours a big kiss for me.
 
Pitbulls are cute. I always say dogs are like kids--their disposition depends on their upbringing. One of our councilmembers hates them & has worked really hard at getting the state to outlaw breeding & ownership of them. Isn't that insane? IMO it's pretty much a kind of discrimination.
 
> One of our
>councilmembers hates them & has worked really hard at getting
>the state to outlaw breeding & ownership of them. Isn't that
>insane? IMO it's pretty much a kind of discrimination.

Unfortunately, in some areas of the country in particular, most pit bull owners are using them for fighting. Even at our local shelter, where pits are adopted out like any other dog if they don't have biting problems, some people are obviously looking for pit bulls to breed and probably to fight (and are really p##$d off because the shelter refuses to adopt out animals until they are spayed or neutered).

IMO, it's not the dogs that need to be euthanized (though many of them that have been used in fighting are ruined for anything else because all they want to do is attack other dogs), but the irresponsible owners/breeders who exploit the dogs and train them to be mean. At the very least, those people should be neutered.;-)
 
we have a dog fighting problem in georgia as well. i believe that the euthanisia would be the best solution for the owners who make these dogs so mean. before the death shot, however, i think castration would be appropriate, without any anaesthesia of course.
 
Laura - I was hoping that since he's so small the cost would be less than what we paid when our Rottie had his knee done. And yes, breed specific legislation is awful. It really p!sses me off. As the saying goes, punish the deed, not the breed.

Obviously since we choose to have pit bulls and have had Rotties in the past, we know that people are going to say things. DH's aunt raised NICE pit bulls when DH was growing up so he always wanted one. We did LOTS of research before ever getting our first one because I wanted to be sure I knew what I was getting. I doubt we'll ever have anything but pit bulls as long as we don't end up with breed specific legislation here. There has been "talk" about it, but I'm not sure it would happen. We live in the county, so if it were a city thing, we'd be exempt. Although our dogs are nice, we take care to watch them at all times. They are NEVER left outside alone when we're not home. We have a fenced yard that they can play in when we're home - but they're big time lap dogs, so they'd rather be on the couch.

Kathryn and Smartyjones - I like your ideas of euthanizing the people! Sadly I think a lot of the country still struggles with pit bull fighting. So sad. :(

Suz

"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened." - Anatole France

http://www.picturetrail.com/dogs2birds
 
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