Lucky Tails

One early Sunday morning in June, and by early I mean about 1:30 AM, the wonderful husband of mine calls and says he has a German Shepherd puppy in the back of my jeep.

Wide awake now...

We posted found ads, told everyone we knew, called the SPCA. By Wednesday, he was ours. We named him Lucky. He peed a LOT. I pretty much carried a mop around with me those first few weeks. He had so much energy and loved to lick. I am not going to say I was enjoying this.

(Cannot believe he was this small not that long ago)

Yeah, we had a Golden Retriever (our golden child) but this was a puppy. A puppy with no bladder (figuratively speaking). Our wonderful friends that raise German Shepherds gave us some toys, food, and a crate. Boy, were we thankful for that. 

Next stop, the vet.
The Vet guessed he was anywhere from 3-4 months, had a heart murmur and a hernia. Along with being at least 20 lbs under weight. He had probably been on his own outside for over 2 months. Heart murmurs and hernias are apparently common in GSD (German shepherd dogs). The vet said it was very possible the hernia would heal and he would grow out of the heart murmur (Let's pray).

We scheduled neutering and hernia repair for early August. His bladder was improving drastically. Still loved licking. The day arrived, and Bill dropped him off at the vet. Within two hours, the vet called.

"Lucky still has his heart murmur, if we go through with this, he has a 20% chance of surviving the surgery"
Bill went and picked him up. He may be a pain, but he's like a child to us.

The vet said to wait 2 more months to see if he grows out of it, because as of October he should definitely be 6 months old. If at that time he still has the heart murmur, we were referred to a dog cardiologist (I kid you not, they do exist!...for $600 an appointment).

We can barely afford all the dog food we are running through, let alone a $600 dog cardio appt.

So last Monday, October 8, was the big day. Would the heart murmur be gone? Can we go ahead with the neuter and hernia repair?

YES! He is gaining weight as needed, growing as needed, has the right amount of energy, he's doing great! He has his surgery scheduled for the first week of December.

Here he is just this past week, as big, if not bigger than our full size Golden.

Dogs may be expensive, may be a pain and a big responsibility, but our children have four paws. 
(As i'm yelling at them to share their toys with each other)