Oscar is an 11-year-old German Shepherd Cross who came into the Oldies Club in November 2024 after one of his owners passed away and the other went into a care home.
Upon arrival Oscar relaxed straight away and was as good as gold over night. It took him about two weeks to settle into his foster home fully, getting used to the new routine and where all the comfy beds were.
His fosterer was concerned about his teeth as he kept pawing at his face. At his first vet visit he was checked all over including his mouth. His teeth had plaque on them and mild gingivitis but the vet felt this wasn’t causing him much in the way of pain. Oscar was booked in for a dental to sort this out. He had a slightly tender stomach and arthritis for which he was prescribed medication but on the whole Oscar was given a clean bill of health.
Oscar initially went up onto our website for rehoming and the rescue did start to go through the adoption procedures with a potential new home but Oscar then began to displaying symptoms of being unwell such as lip licking, nausea and attempting to eat grass. A change to his feeding routine was applied along with the use of probiotics but the symptoms still continued. Oscar was prescribed omerprazole to help. Oscar was eventually put on a supplement which seemed to help.
Unfortunately Oscar started displaying other signs of discomfort such as his foot knuckling and lashing out at a doggy friend. Whereas previously he would walk beautifully on lead he began lunging at other dogs and the vets felt that the pain from his arthritis although medicated, was making Oscar anxious causing him to bark and lunge. He was eventually diagnosed with Canine Cognitive Dysfunction.
Due to his deterioration in health and increased anxiety Oldies Club made the decision to place him in our sponsor dog scheme which means he will remain at his lovely foster home on a permanent basis. The charity will pay his vet bills for the rest of his life and will continue to monitor his pain levels and keep him as pain free as possible.
Oscar loves his walkies and sniffing everywhere. Previously he would have three walks a day between 15 minutes and an hour depending on his mood but sadly due to the stiffness caused by his arthritis he cannot walk as much as he used to. His fosterer has altered their walking regime keeping this in mind and has also changed the times and locations they go to to avoids coming across other dogs which would make Oscar worried.
Oscar adores food, more than he adores his fosterer! He would eat all day if he could and his fosterer believes that Oscar’s dream would be to have a conveyor belt constantly running through the house full with his food so he could help himself whenever he wanted. He can be a little thief and his fosterer has to make sure there is nothing left about to tempt him. If he does manage to sneak something, he always comes and shows her, then calmly takes it into the sitting room, to his favourite spot just in front of the fire.
The size of his gentle nature, matches the size of him. Oscar adores everyone including the vet and never once has he shown any aggression towards him or anyone else.
He loves to be brushed daily and gets quite giddy afterwards. He also loves his comfy beds.
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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 one of the special oldies like Oscar who we are caring for that, due to health problems, are unlikely to be offered a permanent home.