Torii has been adopted!

Again we have another amazing adopter! This one is for Torii and she's all set for a wonderful new life.  Torii's new mom adopted from New Rattitude a number of years ago and she adopted a hard to place dog.  Her sweet rattie boy had a wonderful life and sadly he passed away due to kidney failure.  We were thrilled when we found out she was interested in Torii! 

We've actually know of her interest in Torii for some time but, we wanted to sort out Torii's medical issues before adopting her out.  Her new mom was extremely  patient and accompanied us to our last vet visit for Torii - which as you read was a great vet visit.

Torii's new mom is a wonderful woman and she wanted to again adopt a hard to place dog and that's Torii.  Due to Torii's age, the fact that she is on anticonvulsant medication and she's still pretty touch aversive - this makes her a tough dog to adopt out.  And yet none of this dissuaded Torii's new mom. Pretty amazing if you ask me!

Torii's new mom is all about honoring & allowing Torii to be Torii.  She's excited to pick up on the work we started with Torii.  I have no doubt with time and patience Torii is going to do fabulous.  Her golden years will truly be golden!

So happy new life to Torii! Her adoption reminds us that there is often adopter out there for dogs with a variety of things going on for them.  We just need to be patient and good things will  happen!

Torii's vet visit

Torii has continued on anticonvulsant medication and to the best our knowledge she's been seizure free!  This is great news for Torii.  We headed back to the vet for blood work to determine the level of medication in her body and to do another senior blood screen panel.   

More fantastic news - her blood work is amazing and comparing it to her last two screens she's really made a ton of progress.  I'm guessing that a variety of things have brought about this great blood screen - getting the excess weight off her, not having humans grabbing at her/forcing her to do things (so a reduction in stress & anxiety) and getting on medication to help her body reach stability.

Checking out the exam room

Torii is very popular at the vet office and I LOVE Urban Animal!  They are very gentle and sweet with her and she is all about taking treats and going up to offer "touch".  Way to go Torii, you are an amazing rattie girl!

Brain game for Torii

Torii has frequently surprised me with how much she loves puzzles. Here she is in an earlier post of Torii and the kongs  As you can see, Torii excels at "brain games"! 

This is a strange looking kong!

You can see her trying to figure out the puzzle

 

She quickly figures out that flipping it releases the treats

And she's now a puzzle master - watch her work!

"That was a ton of fun!"

Torii's post bath photo shoot

Torii had a bath over the weekend and she did amazing!  All our work together around building trust is really paying off.  After bath time, Torii hopped up on the crate to dry off and relax - perfect time for some pretty pictures of this sweet girl.

 

Lovely Torii



"What's up foster mom?!"



Deep in thought



Watching the bird outside



One of my favorite pictures of Torii





Torii's weight loss journey - Part 2

We are happy to report that Torii is now at her goal weight of 12.6lbs.  She looks great and clearly feels much better.  Torii motors around, she can get up and down stairs pretty quickly and her breathing has improved. She's also become a pretty spry girl earning herself the nickname "Busy" - she's such a terrier!

You saw in the post   that Torii likes broccoli.  She also likes diced up fruit and other veggies.  She certainly doesn't think she's been on a weight loss plan!

 

apple, blueberry, nectarine, peas, green beans, cucumber & zucchini

I give Torii a little less than 1/4 cup of chopped up fruits and veggies.  I give her a variety for a couple of reasons:

1) to give her choice of  trying new items - seems Torii likes everything!

2) I like her to try out different textures as that works her brain. I'm always looking for ways to mentally stimulate Torii and this seems to be a nice addition.

3) fruits & veggies are good for dogs and they help her to feels full

She chooses some cucumber

Yum!

back to eating

Goal weight photo and Torii is feeling & looking great!

If you are wondering what NOT to feed your dog  here's a great illustration by Lili Chin 

Torii's weight loss journey - Part 1

When Torii entered the shelter in January 2014 her intake weight was a bit over 16 pounds. When I saw her mid February she'd lost a little weight but, she was clearly overweight. I was pretty sure that the extra pounds contributed to her uncomfortable looking movement of walking.  As you know Torii was adopted out of the shelter and then quickly returned.  She was placed in observation at the shelter for a number of weeks before she came into foster care with us. During that time she lost some more weight which was good for her overall health but, she still had some weight to loose.

Having extra weight on dog isn't good for any dog and here's a link talking about some of the Health Risks in Overweight or Obese Dogs  For Torii the extra weight impacted her breathing, she was lethargic, her mobility was affected and she had trouble getting up and down stairs. We also know that extra weight affects organs as well so, no doubt that was going on too.  

Physically, Torii has had a rough life and one of the best things we could easily do for her was to get the excess weight off her.  So, once Torii arrived into foster care, we began our plan of getting weight off of her little body frame.  

During Torii's weight loss she has enjoyed eating her meals out of kongs,  she's tried out a number of steamed & raw veggies which she thinks are amazing. We also use training treats and break those down into small pieces and she's perfectly happy with a small treat as you can see in this post Torii working on hand targeting.

Here's one of her meals - stuffed kongs, steamed broccoli drizzled with coconut oil

Yummers!

Working the Kong

"All done and it was fantastic!"

A special gift for Torii

Back in April one of our foster parents met up with Girl Scout Troop 42263 in Burien, Washington. They spoke about rat terriers, animal rescue and fostering.  It was a great time for all and kuddo's to our foster parent who took the time to talk to this group providing education and a fun time with two cute NR foster puppies!  To see the blog post here's the link: Girl Scout Time

After the meet up, the troop made our Northwest foster dogs all a cozy bed and fun braided chew toys - a bed for each active foster home and a chew toy for each of our current foster dogs! Pictured are Troop members Olivia and Isabelle who made the delivery. Thanks guys!!

Lots of wonderful beds and toys!

And look who's enjoying her bed...

"Is this for me?"

"This sure is soft"



"And cozy"

"It's rat-tastic!"

"I love it!"

Many thanks to Girl Scout Troop 42263 for you generosity and kindness to our foster dogs!