06/06/22 Unfortunately Shadow collapsed earlier today and was rushed to the vets. Sadly it was kinder to let him go. Sleep tight lovely boy x
Shadow is a 12 year old Staffie boy who came into Oldies Club care in October 2017 due to the breakup of the relationship of his owners. When he arrived he was a rather distressed little boy who wasnt in the best condition. He had infections of the ears, eyes & skin.
Despite his health issues Shadow settled in well into his foster home with the resident dogs and cats. After slight grizzling and a bop or two on the nose which thankfully Shadow didnt take any notice of this slightly less than warm welcome.
When Shadow first came into our care he had a lump on the inside of his left upper eye lid, which was successfully removed, bad news was that it was cancerous. The good news was that they had got all of the cancer. So, in short, he is cancer free.
One night before his dental was due, he woke up with a sore eye. So, his dental was cancelled he had developed an eye ulcer. That was January 2018, after many trips back and forth to the vets (with many thanks to the animal ambulance) and an operation on his eye, he has finally been given the all clear.
After all that Shadow had been through in his short time with us he ended up having to go into the vets for three days, to have a scan and endoscope camera. Shadow was diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease. He was also diagnosed with bleeding ulcers.
This means that Shadow’s diet had a complete overhaul. He is on a special gastro-intestinal diet and he can’t have anything processed, containing wheat or additives, or gluten. The new diet has had an amazing effect on him his waist has filled out and his coat is looking so much better.
It was quickly realised as well as the health conditions Shadow also suffers from chronic separation anxiety. It has taken his fosterers 7 months to be able to leave him for 30 minutes. Any longer and he grabs anything he can including jigsaw boxes and destroys them. Once when he was left alone for a short period of time he climbed onto the computer desk and stole a box of Turkish delight, which he enjoyed (no chocolate was on it thankfully).
Shadow’s fosterers have progressed so well with this little lad and are managing to managing his IBD and separation anxiety brilliantly. Oldies Club made the decision to place Shadow in our sponsor dog scheme, which means he will remain at his lovely foster home on a permanent basis, with the charity paying his vet bills for the rest of his life.
Shadow loves going for walks (but not in the rain), but really wants to go home to get his food. Shadow is walked on a long line, even though his recall is excellent. The reason is he doesn’t like a lot of other dogs, though this could be just that he doesn’t know how to behave with them as he lacks social skills.
He lives with two other dogs and two cats and he barely acknowledges them. Shadow is in a world of his own, though being a bit clumsy he sometimes knocks over the resident Yorkie. He is a bull in a china shop.
Shadow has discovered Hedgehogs, though his fosterers don’t think he realises that they are animals he just thinks they are spiky balls and tries to pick them up which resulted in hedgehog spikes getting stuck in his face.
Shadow loves to have a cuddle and snooze, though his snoring is like a Harley Davidson.
If you would love to offer a home to an oldie but your circumstances aren’t suitable, perhaps you would be kind enough to sponsor Shadow or one of the other special oldies we are caring for in our sponsor dog scheme.