Yes, it's the Pickle!

I always try out the pickle with my foster pups.  Some love it others just couldn't be bothered.  I'm happy to report that Gramercy is a Pickle  fan! This is fantastic news as it keeps his mind busy working on getting out whatever is in it.  Below it has some lamb lung which Gramercy thinks is pretty fab!

 

What is this thing?

 

Yum... now to get it out!

Can I lick it out?

 

How about using my foot to hold it and teeth to get at it

Is it all gone?

Maybe if I lick it more will come out?

This pickle is hard work!

 

Getting into the pickle and you can hear Catty in the background - she's not happy that can't play with the pickle.

Gramercy is losing weight!

When Gramercy came to us, he weighted in at 18.2lbs. He's now down to 16.0!  His idea weight is around 15lbs and his future adopter will need to keep him at this weight given all his structural issues.  Like most dogs,  Gramercy loves food.  It's been a bit of a challenge in feeding Gramercy because I want to save his food for training (that's a different post).  So, what we've been doing is giving him reduced portion of his regular food 2x a day and kicking up the fruits and veggies so he gets a good size meal that's full of good stuff!

 

Waiting on his mat while I prepare breakfast

 

Catty decides this mat is nice!

Breakfast is served - blueberries, green beans, pumpkin, apple, nonfat plain yogurt and a tiny bit of dog food

 

Gramercy eats in his crate and you can see he loves mealtime!

 

Humm... the apples were not his favorite. 

"I'm done" - he waits patiently for everyone else to finish their breakfast

One of our past adopters sent us a gift card to Amazon to purchase interactive toys for our foster dogs and look what I just bought!  This is going to be awesome - I can put all kinds of food in here and then the clean up will be super easy! Stay tuned to see what Gramercy thinks of this.

Gramercy visits with the orthopedic surgeon

First of a ton of thank you's to my co-state coordinator for coming with me & Gramercy (again) to the vet visit.  This is all new territory for me and there's a lot of information to take in.  So here's what I took away about Gramercy from the orthopedic surgeon:

 

- his left front leg's bowing is genetic and not an issue 

- the right front leg may have possibly been fractured at some time and there may be a break that never healed properly in that leg . That leg is sensitive to touch and the surgeon couldn't really do much manipulating as Gramercy wasn't going to allow that.

- both back legs have luxating patellas

- on his left back leg, he has an ACLbreakdown.  Here's a great link talking about an ACL Injury in dogs  Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury in Dogs

So, the surgeon believes the ACL and luxating patella need to be repaired in the back left leg.

As he said: "the little guy needs 3 good working legs and right now he only has 2"

The surgeon would like x-rays of all the legs we can see what we are dealing with and if something else beside the back left leg needs to be fixed. Given how they will need to bend and manipulate all 4 legs for good x-rays, the surgeon feels Gramercy needs to be anesthetized. The good news is that the surgeon said we could do the x-rays and then the surgery (for the back left leg) at the same time. This would save Gramercy from being anesthetized twice.  The surgeon was very confident on his diagnosis of the ACL breakdown and the luxating patella in that back left leg so we are in agreement of getting that done asap. 

 

The plan of action for his front right leg will need to wait until the surgeon and a radiologist both see the radiographs of that leg due to the complexity of the deformity to the joint/leg.

The great news is that the surgeon dontated  his surgical consulation fee ($150) given we are a rescue.  How cool is that?! I also really, really liked the surgeon - he met with us for an hour and was a super nice guy.

The bad news is that the soonest any of this can be done is on March 7th. We went ahead and scheduled the surgery/xrays and now we just wait and hopefully continue to raise funds for this sweet boys surgery and xrays.

As you can see below Gramcery was a very good boy!

Gramercy is in the canine clinic

Look who's in the New Rattitude Canine Clinic!  We are starting to fund raise for this great boy so, if you know anyone who would like to help sponsor sweet boy, tell them about Gramercy. 

 

As you can see -----> ----->

 

I've linked an easy way for anyone who would like to donate towards his medical expenses.  100% of your donation will go directly towards Gramercy's vet bills.

 

 Thanks to members of UKC Teddy Roosevelt Terriers, Rat Terriers & America Hairless Terrier who have already made $130 in donations to Gramercy. In addition, Gramercy has also received donations from past NR adopters and folks who are fans of this sweet boy!

 

We are seeing the orthopedic surgeon today so, stay tuned to hear how what the surgeon has to say about shorty boy Gramercy.

 

Play time!

Yesterday was a fun day for Gramercy as someone will finally play with him. 

 

Gramercy had been playing with just platypus but...

 

D brought over his favorite toy to show Gramercy...

and it was game on!

 

This series lasted for about 10 minutes which is about all Gramercy's legs can handle.  It was a lot of fun for both boys - D was a bit perplexed as he always wins at tug because he bigger than all the other dogs.  Not so with Gramercy!

 

 

  

 

Sweet weeble wobble boy

 In this video you can get a better sense of Gramcery's leg issues.  His front legs bow as he walks and watch his front right leg.  He does more of a weeble wobble walk on hard surfaces like hard wood floors, concrete sidewalks.  If his legs are tired or get sore, walking on these surfaces are harder for him and that right front foot will roll under and he loses his balance. In looking at his shelter paperwork, this poor boy had been in the shelter system since at least June of 2012 - that's a lot of time for his legs to be wobbling on those hard concrete shelter floors. 

 

I'm going to be heading to the store this weekend to look for some long rugs that don't slip.  Thinking we can lay them down for him to walk on instead of the hardwood floors.

  

Any one want to play?

While Gramercy has leg issues, he still loves to play.  Lucky for him and us we have a very long carpeted hallway that has a thick carpet pad.  The room that Gramercy is baby gated in during the day (when we are at work) has the same flooring set up so good news for his legs during play time!  Here's Gramercy having lots of fun with a foster favorite the Platypus egg babbie  he had already taken out the eggs and then it was game on.

 

Gramercy was having so much fun D came out to see what was going on.  While D likes to play a gentle game of tug,  Gramercy play was a bit much for Mr. D but, he did try!  I give D lots of credit for coming and checking out what was going on!

 

Rub my belly!

As Gramercy settles in he's learning that belly rubs are pretty awesome!    You can kind of see in these pictures the loss of hair on his chest.  The vet let us know what we are seeing is due to trauma and the bare skin is scar tissue.  Gramercy doesn't seem bothered by it - what an amazing little boy he is.  AND super cute as you can see!

Happy boy who...

loves belly rubs!

 

"Why did you stop rubbing my belly?!"

 

 

Gramercy vists All The Best

We needed to purchase some duck feet so off we went to All The Best.  As usual, the staff there was the best!  Everyone fell in love with Gramcery and really, how could you not.  He quickly made the rounds, greeting everyone and Binky (the dog).  Binky went into play bow with Gramercy which was pretty cool.  Had there been carpeting or firmer ground I'm guessing Gramercy and Binky would have played together. 

 

Making a friend

 

working his cuteness hoping for treats

 

As you can see Gramercy likes treats - he only got small pieces as he's on a weight  loss plan.  And that plan doesn't include lots of treats!

 

Gramercy checking out the busy store - he did great with all the people and dogs.

 

 

Gramercy hoping someone sees him way down on the floor and can give him a treat!

 

 

Tired boy!  He was happy to crawl in this guys lap - that's Binky who is a cute terrier!

Lots of emails & phone calls...

As I said earlier our action plan for Gramercy is to have a consultation with an orthopedic surgeon so we have a complete picture of what we are dealing with.  For the past couple of  days my co-coordinator and I have been asking around for recommendations of surgeons.  We received lots of recommendations which is super and I spent yesterday calling around.  While it's wonderful that New Rattitude will pay for needed care, it's important for us to be good stewards of New Rattitude funds.

  As many of you know New Rattitude functions based financial donations so a lot of thought and care is needed as to what we can do for each dog.  New Rattitude has rescued over 1000 dogs nationwide so there's a lot of need to be judicious with money.  In a perfect world we would "fix" everything wrong with Gramercy's legs but, the world isn't perfect so we need to find out from the surgeon a treatment plan that New Rattitude can work with and then what his future adopter may be looking at down the road.  By doing this everyone is on the same page and Gramercy is still getting so relief.  Right now we are able to pay for the surgical consultation and the repair of his back left luxating patella. 

I'm currently working on a write up for  New Rattitude's Canine Clinic where people can donate funds specifically to Gramercy.  Once that's up I will link it to my blog page and we'll go from there.  In the mean time I have a call into the surgeon hoping we can have Gramercy seen later this week or next week for the consolation.

Below is what Gramercy was up to while I was calling around (make sure to turn up your volume)

What's a boy to do?

 

In the first week, Gramercy spent a lot of time sleeping due to just settling into foster care and his body was working on mending itself. After about a week Gramercy perked up and he's now a very busy boy who wants to play and do stuff. Usually our way of draining energy is to go for long walks and playing with the tail teaser. Well Gramercy can't do either so while we are sorting out the vetting, the question comes up of what are we going to do to keep Gramercy busy?

Belive it or not there's LOTS of fun stuff to do that doesn't require a walk! So get ready to watch Gramercy learn all kinds of new tricks and skills. While Gramercy's body may be on "rest" his brain won't be. Langley another NW foster pup had a consult with a behavioral veterinarian and one thing that was talked about was brain exercise vs. body exercise. While exercising a dog's body is important, it is only one part of keeping a dog busy. Helping them work out their brain can be nearly as energy draining as a brisk walk.

Here's the post http://rescuedratties.blogspot.com/2012/11/langley-starts-twisting.html

 

Ready for what's next!

Visitors & house guest!

My sister and her family (who live in Hood River Oregon) were up in Seattle for the weekend and they stopped by to say hi to Gramercy!  

 

My niece Olivia trying to say "Gramercy"

 

Giving Gramercy a treat - he sure likes kids

 

Friends!

My amazing sister also fosters with New Rattitude and her current foster pup has a great application in Seattle so, we went and did the home visit together which was a lot of fun.  The home visit went spectacular and Goya is staying with us until all the contract stuff with Goya gets sent out to his new family.

Goya and Gramercy meet

"Play with me!"

Playing tug

Having fun

D not so excited about Goya

 

Nor is Catty - she kept reminding Goya to keep his distance.  He's a smart boy and caught on quick

 

 

 

But Gramercy is having a blast with Goya.  It was a real challenge to limit Gramercy's play so these are video's over a short time and then there were lots of time out and crate time for Goya with a bully stick!

 

Gramercy's vet visit

When Gramercy arrived to WA, right off of transport my co-state coordinator and I knew something was a little off with his legs.  We figured it was just a case of bowed legs and we'd just watch and see.  After about a week with us and talking back and forth with New Rattitude's treasure (she has extensive dog medical knowledge) it was decided that Gramercy needed have a vet look at his legs.

On Thursday we headed off to a great vet who we knew would give her thoughts and not pressure us one way or another - not all vets are like this.  I asked my co-state coordinator to come along and hold my hand as I've only had a couple of medical issue foster dogs and none of them had leg issues.  She was kind enough to give up part of her day to come along.  Thank goodness she did as I was overwhelmed with all that the vet told us so, having 4 ears instead of 2 was a really good idea.  In a nutshell, Gramcery has a lot going on and when we combine them all we have a sweet little boy who needs surgery.  Here's my notes from our visit:

He's had trauma to his body due to likely being hit by a car and then just sucky genetics.

- Trauma from the possible car are around his left front and left back foot.
- The nail bed has probably been damaged that's why his outside nails are so oddly shaped. He has visible scaring on his outer nail to skin portion. He's not fond of anyone touching these toys probably from the injury.
- He also has a lot of missing fur on his chest and the vet said this was probably road rash from what ever happened to him as there's a good amount of scar tissue where the hair should be.
- On his back left leg he has visible scars from what ever happened to him.
- His front right leg has had some kind of trauma possibly for whatever caused all of the above.

With regards to his genetics the vet paused trying to come up with a positive word but finally said he had structural deformities.

- His front legs bow out bad due to the the bones not all growing at the same time and/or correctly
-He has a grade 3 luxating patella in both back legs
- His body is so oddly shaped that as he gets older it's likely that he will throw his back out so see recommended that whoever adopt him look into chiropractic care
- He shouldn't be jumping up or down on things (bed/furniture) as that could mess his back and/ legs up worse than they are.

So with all this info the recommendation is to have the back left Luxating Patella repaired sooner rather than later. The problem with him is that he can't walk more that 100 feet without pulling up that back left foot which then as he keeps walking his right front foot attempts to overcompensate and that already messed up leg/foot can't hold up his body and the front foot slips as he's cupping it to keep moving forward. Right now he can't walk more than probably 1000 ft without his body turning into a gimpy mess. 

Given the impact of all his problems we all think this makes sense for him to have the surgery while in foster care. And the vet felt because of all his issues that we need to go see an orthopedic surgeon for consultation.

His shelter paperwork says that he's two but, the vet thinks he's between 4 and 5. Which we agree that he's older than 2. He has a all over yeast infection and pimples on his tummy - this due to poor nutrition.  I've been giving him a high dose probotic, he's on high quality food and other supplements.  All of this seems to be helping the yeast but this little muffin has had a rough go at life.     

 

What I think is pretty amazing is that New Rattitude takes care of the dogs we rescue.  We could have easily said this is how he is and tell his future adopter that he's adopted "as is".  But, given what we know, this needs to happen to get this boys body some relief.  So for those of you who donate to New Rattitude, you're going to get to see first hand your dollars at work.  Gramercy sends his thanks!

 

Gramcery and his other cool toy!

When we were visiting with Rain's family Gramercy thought this little toy was the best thing ever!  This is why we went to the pet store - specifically for this "hide a squirrel" toy. Lucky for Grammy he was able to get two fun toys on that trip.

 

 

This plush puzzle toy not only keeps dogs occupied and eliminate boredom - it also helps develop a dog's intelligence and puzzle solving skills!  Right now we are working on "finding the squirrels" but I imagine we will find out fun ways to work Grammy's mind with this toy.

 

Got it!

 

  First try with his new toy! D was interested and Gramercy wasn't interested in sharing so he motored down the hallway with toy in mouth...

 

 

Lots of fun and Gramercy is a smart boy as you can see!

 

 

How about we play tug instead!

 

 

"I have you now my pretty squirrels!"

 

 

We are heading to the vet today to have Gramercy's front and back legs looked at.  He never seems to be in pain but, we want a vet to really focus on what she thinks of his legs so everyone including his future family know what's going on.

 

You can see in the video below, as he's running to the toy - his right front foot.  It doesn't bend like a normal dog leg.  The guess is that his front leg was broke at some point and the break was not treated and healed on its own.  Gramercy also pulls up his back left leg. There's some old scars on that back left leg so that could be some of what's going on.   So, stay tuned for an update on our vet visit - I'm sure Gramercy will be pretty popular with the vet crew given his great personality and cute self!

  

 

 

Gramercy's FAVORITE toy in the world

Gramercy aka Grammy is a pretty low energy fella thus far.  After about a 5 minute walk and/or a a 10 minute play session he's pretty much ready to just kick back for the rest of the day.  Some of this is his personality and another portion of it is that his body has had a rough 2 years of life.  Now that he's eating high quality food, getting some supplements and has a warm safe foster spot -- his body is working on mending itself.

 

As you saw yesterday, Gramcery was infatuated with the cat section at the pet store.   Holy smokes, this boy is in love...  As you can see D'light thinks it's pretty fun too.

 

 

 

I have no idea why they love this toy so much but, clearly this teaser needs time outs from the boys!  However, Gramercy doesn't agree with a time out for the teaser.

 

 

Gramercy has some old foot/leg issues that we need to sort out so, the cat teaser is going away until after our vet visit on Thursday.  I had no idea that he would go so crazy over this toy!  He's a funny, funny boy who is also beyond cute!

 

 

I have you now!

Gramercy's fun adventure

While we were visiting with Rain's family, Gramercy went bonkers over one of Rain's new toys.  Since Gramercy was such a good boy I told him we'd go see if we could find one for him!  When we arrived we quickly found what we were looking for and then it was time to cruse the store.

Gramercy says "the toy is over here"  -- stay tuned to see his new toy!

Gramercy did great at the store - there weren't any dogs or cats but he was happy to greet any human that said hi to him!

He wasn't so sure about this "dog" - notice Gramcery's unsure body language.

And we walked by the cat isle and guess who was mesmerized....

Dazed and confused by these items...

I picked up the cat toy deciding if I wanted to buy it - what do you think Gramcery thought we should do?!

Reynvaan & Gramercy have a busy Sunday!

Reynvaan is now Rain!  This sweet boy went home yesterday and as you can see he's going to be one loved little rattie boy!

Rain with his sister (and me) getting treats and love - welcome home little boy

Rain's family was kind enough to let me "kid test" Gramercy. Rain's human sisters are kind, gentle and perfect testers for an unknown foster pup.  As you can see Gramercy is a kid friendly dog and would be a wonderful family member to a home with kids 7 or older.  Way to go Gramercy and many thanks to Rain's family!

Below are some pictures that Rain's mom sent. These are all from yesterday! Clearly this boy has landed in the perfect home and we are beyond excited for Rain and his wonderful family.

 

Rain snuggling with his sister

 

Rain needing more snuggles!

 Loving dad - look how relaxed Rain is!

Taking a rest from a busy day

  Getting sleepy
 

 Time for a nap

Gramercy's day wasn't done so stay tuned tomorrow to see what else he was up to!

Reynvaan has been adopted!

We knew within hours of meeting Reynvaan that he would not be with us long!  Sure enough the applications flooded in and he has found himself an amazing family.   Reynvaan is a very social, busy boy who loves kids.  When ever we have such a kid friendly dog our hope is to get that dog to a kid home.  Sure enough Reynvaan is going to have two very sweet and gentle human sisters.   Reynvaan's new family has been doing a lot of research and put a ton of thought into the pup they wanted to adopt, which is beyond wonderful.  At the home visit Reynvaan went from lap to lap giving cuddles and loves to each of his new family members -- it was clear that this was a perfect fit for everyone.

So, Reynvaan starts his new wonderful life today.  He will never be a throw away boy again and we are looking forward to hearing about all his adventures in life.  His whole family is signing up with him to go through a 6 week positive dog training class where as usual I'm sure a rattie will be the star of the class.  Way to go Reynvaan your life is going to be rat-tastic!