Ranger

Just thought I'd share my bittersweet morning.

Ed went to breakfast this morning with a friend (a weekly ritual for them) and he called me about 7:20 to tell me he was coming back home. I asked him why and he said he had someone in the bed of the truck. Huh???? He picked up a stray dog at the restaurant. Cute pup - obviously mostly yellow lab, but a bit small for a lab. Only about Hank's size. And seriously starved. You could see his hip bones, vertebra, ribs, everything. He was sooooooo pitiful. It was obvious he had been chained as the fur around his neck was black and he had some sores in a couple of places. And his toe nails were really overgrown, another sign that he was neglected. Very sweet temperament - came right up to us and let us scratch him and check his ears and teeth. We tied him in the front where he could get in the shade and Ed went to work. Before Ed left we had sort of decided to call him "Ranger". I called the vet to see if he could be seen today - didn't want to put him with our boys until we knew he didn't have anything contagious - and they could see him this morning. Got dressed, put him in the back of the Durango (he let me pick him up) and off we went.

Got to the vet's office and Ranger was super sweet. Our vet's office has two "office cats" and he was curious about them, but didn't bark or try to go after them or anything. He let one of the techs check his teeth and got on the scale without a fuss. They said he was probably about two years old, and he only weighed 44 pounds. He could easily have used another 20 pounds to even begin to look healthy!

We went into the exam room and another tech came in and loved on him and he just ate it up. She even stuck the thermometer up his butt and he didn't fuss too much. He was just being so sweet. Then he went nuts. Started barking and snapping at her. I had him on a short leash, so I was able to pull him away before he bit her (she was down on the floor with him). She went to get someone to help her muzzle him. They tried - didn't work. Had to get a third person involved. Then a fourth! Two techs, each holding a leash (one on either side), one person behind him, and one very experienced tech with a nylon "lasso" to tie around his snout so they could get a muzzle on him. What a nightmare!!!!!

They finally got him muzzled and settled down. The doc came in and examined him and he was calm and sweet again. Then out of the blue he freaked! Started growling and trying to get the muzzle off. Then he calmed down again. He did this several times. The first two times we figured he was just really scared and was trying to protect himself. Unpleasant, but understandable. We finally decided that he just had a freaky temperament! Probably the result of being chained and abused. I just don't understand why people get pets if they don't want to take care of them!

They had taken blood to do a heartworm test and it came back a really fast positive, which means that it was probably pretty advanced. He was so starved that we would have to try to put some weight on him before he could be treated for the heartworms. And treating heartworms is a long, expensive treatment without any guarantee of cure. No, thank you! I have no emotional attachment to this dog and we can't afford any more expensive vet treatments!!!! Sam's surgery wiped us out! So I opted to have him put down. The vet said I could take him to the pound and they would put him down if no one was looking for him, but I didn't want to take the chance of him biting me, so I went ahead and paid the vet to put him down. I hated to do it, but it seemed like the most humane thing to do.

So for a little while today, we had three dogs. I wish Ranger could have been healthy and a sweet addition to our family, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. At least now he isn't starving or dehydrated or having to deal with this heat.