Dogs deserve to age gracefully. Sadly there are many senior dogs with significant health problems languishing in shelters.
Potential adopters tend to go for puppies and younger dogs while seniors are overlooked. It’s heartbreaking to see a senior dog suffering while alone in a city shelter.
For one senior dog, he had given up completely. He had watched as potential adopters passed him by for years. He resided to the fact that he’d spend the remainder of his days in a loud, overcrowded shelter without a home to call his own. But one day, fate intervened. A woman, named Emma from Oregon got a call about the senior, and arrangments were made to free him from the shelter.
Emma gives the deserving senior dog a name, Earl.
Once Earl arrives in Oregon and meets his foster mom, she can see he’s worse off than she thought. She tries to get him to eat but he has no appetite. This is so concerning! Especially when Emma has to resort to syringe feeding. But thankfully, Earl gets stronger and is able to eat a bit while lying down.
But next, Earl’s breathing becomes labored and his stomach begins to bloat. He needs to be rushed to the vet, immediately! That’s when Emma receives the worst news imaginable: Earl is in heart failure and it was time to prepare to say goodbye. The next 24 hours were crucial but it didn’t look good. The vet explained that if Earl survived the night, there was hope! And guess what… he did!
The next morning, Emma comes down to see Earl and he’s wagging his tail like crazy. She’s elated! It was like a switch went off. Within a few hours, Earl was up and about, giving paw and ready to play. This was miraculous.
The vet still said that Earl likely had about a month to live but it’s been 7 months and Earl is still going strong.
There are so many senior animals in need of homes right now. They are too often passed over and we need to advocate for them. Please consider speaking up to friends and family who may be willing to adopt a new pet. Let them know that seniors make a wonderful addition to any family and deserve to live out their days feeling loved.
