06/02/24 Rhubisk passed away peacefully in his sleep. Run free little man
Rhubisk is a 18 year old Tibetan Spaniel who came into our care in June 2021 due to his owners moving to Australia.
On arrival Rhubisk seemed in pretty good health especially for his age apart from a number of small masses on his rear end near his tail. A number of fine needle aspirations confirmed that these are thankfully benign but these are closely monitored for any changes. Rhubisk also has some kidney disease.
Rhubisk does not seem to be a big fan of male vets so where possible an appointment is always booked in with a female vet. He can find the handling rather stressful and will voice his opinion when upset.
Due to his great age and health issues, Oldies Club made the decision to place Rhubisk 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.
Rhubisk made an impression on his fosterer straight away after his arrival by running around in the garden and refusing to be caught or herded into the house for well over an hour. He came in with a lot of belongings and had clearly been loved.
He is a rather picky eater and can be a bit “cat-like” in the way he eats food. One day he will happily eat something and turns his nose up at the next. Rhubisk’s fosterer is happy that he does eat enough but he tends to spread out over the whole day. He gets offered a selection of different foods to encourage him to eat.
Rhubisk can sometimes appear aloof and then other times he acts quite friendly. He has made friends with a lot of the local dogs. He seems to like people especially females and has been known to approach and go on his hind legs to say hello.
Although he is 17 Rhubisk loves running. He has free reign in the garden but when they are out and about his fosterer has to keep him on the lead. Even when on the lead he spends most of his time running and wears his fosterer out. He is an incredibly fit dog for his age.
Rhubisk enjoys a game of chase where he runs in from the garden from one side of the house to the other (through kitchen, dining room and lounge) to his fosterer and then his fosterer has to chase after him. He will then chases after his fosterer making him do this 3 or 4 times.
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 Rhubisk, or one of the other special oldies we are caring for in our sponsor dog scheme.