[winic1]

We adopted a southern Tornado dog from a local shelter here up north, saw him three weeks ago, took him home a week ago. Sweetest, gentlest thing. Decided to take in a dog to keep me company and give me a reason to have to get up off the couch, as I am still trying to recover from injuries from a massive car accident a year and a half ago. This dog was just the perfect gentle, calm, wonderful guy.

Today we took him to our vet for a thorough check up. The shelter told us he would be all updated on shots and health and everything before we took him home.

The only shot they gave him was rabies. He has some kind of skin infection, possibly ringworm. He has some kind of intestinal problem, borders on diarrhea, vet is expecting giardia, tho it could be worms. He has some kind of foot infection, she expects it's bacterial as her close exam didn't look like mange after all. And he has heartworms. Stage I, she says, no obvious symptoms, but positive test and indications in heart x-ray.

So far, we have 3 medicines to give him, one three times a day, two twice a day. Medicated shampoo at least weekly. When test results come back in, there may/will be more medicines. Several months of further treatments for the heartworms. And he has to rest and remain calm, no running, no jumping, no active playing, for months until this is done. He's a young, happy, energetic, playful dog. And now he is only allowed to walk gently. My kids have a new dog, and we cannot run and play with him.

And you don't want to know what today's vet bill alone ran. After the large fee the shelters here charge to adopt. Haven't called them yet to yell at them. They PROMISED he would be healthy and all before they sent him home. Their website says the tornado dogs will only be released for adoption after receiving a clean bill of health. I told them, quite plainly, that we had kids who were very sensitive about their pets, we even bury dead guppies and goldfish, can't just flush them, and that I could NOT bring home a sick dog and put them through that. And they did this to us.

My beautiful new baby is very sick, and tho it looks good for chances of recovery after a long treatment, he could also die from it. My poor doggie.