This was the first picture we saw of Hero. On March 29th I received an email that had been forwarded through a couple different Shiba rescue contacts. This poor guy was in a shelter. He’d been hit by a car and the shelter was looking for someone "in rescue" to take him off their hands (probably meaning they’d have to put him to sleep if someone didn’t go get him). By March 31st I’d spoken with the shelter and had a volunteer foster home all lined up. On April 2nd, Foster Mom Terra drove to the shelter and picked up our new, nameless male Shiba.

When she got there, she said it took about 30 seconds for him to stand up. He could barely stand or walk. His skin was a disaster - no undercoat at all, black scaly skin, coat missing from several large areas. He was really underweight. His hips were weak, his back legs barely working. She was a little freaked out that he seemed in so much worse shape even than we expected. (The shelter said he’d spent a week at their vet. We thought he’d at least be clean and recuperating. He was oily and dirty to touch.)

She’d already made an appointment for Hero to see the vet that afternoon, so I told her I’d meet her there (fearing a tough decision was in our collective future). When I walked in the vet’s waiting room, I almost cried. This poor guy was so pathetic looking but WOW did he have heart. He tried to get up to greet me when I walked in. Terra said she’d named him Hero and we both agreed there was no way this dog was being put to sleep.

Foster Mom Terra has a dog already, as does everyone else that had offered to foster Hero, so we were like “what do we do now?” regarding his skin condition. We had no idea if it was something contagious. The vet we went to basically said she couldn’t tell us anything without a bunch of money though. She recommended the ASPCA, but when we called them, they wanted $150 just to let us walk in the door. So I called my vet and they squeezed us in at closing time. My vet had JUST given me a big discount on the first checkup on my adopted female, Secret, so I hated to go in begging for a discount. However, he did not charge us for the visit and then kept him for two nights and did blood work for free. They only charged us for the bath and meds! They gave him pain meds and an anti-inflamatory and bathed him with a medicated bath and then treated him with Revolution 24 hours later.

I talked to the vet the next day and the blood work had ruled out thyroid problems or testicular tumors that could have been causing the skin condition. His thyroid was low, but the vet said that could be a symptom of his health problems, not necessarily a cause. He thinks a lot of Hero’s troubles are from malnutrition. He doesn’t have any current fractures but he has a good bit of muscle deterioration and arthritis and probably some poorly healed old fractures. Mostly likely scenario is that he never recuperated from a previous accident (notes from the shelter say he has a plate in his hip from before they got him) and then was hit again recently. His general health checks out pretty well though except for the back legs and the skin. The vet thinks with some exercise, good food, and physical therapy he could build his muscle tone up to compensate. He’s only about 5 years old, so he’s got some good years left in him if we can get him healthy and neutered and adopted out.

Oh, and he is SO SWEET. He was just an angel for us. He never complained when we picked him up. He walked as much as he could and we carried him when he got tired. When we were waiting at the vets he laid down and put his head on my leg. He was just so sweet. He’s got the Shiba pride and stubborn streak though. He’ll probably be a handful when he’s healthy!

We have high hopes for Hero!

Posted on April 12th, 2007 by jenna
Filed under: Hero