Sasha – Our Newest Foster Girl

A few weeks ago, a tiny Shiba girl ended up in a shelter in Florida. She was brought in as a stray and no one claimed her. By the time the rescue community heard about her, she didn’t have much time before being put her to sleep. She was pulled by a temp foster with the intention of sending her to a permanent foster in the Midwest. After a couple days though, the temp foster reported that she wasn’t getting along with her dogs and should be an only dog. The planned foster home in the Midwest no longer wanted her and suddenly she had nowhere to go. Even though I had recently promised Snick a break from fostering, he and I decided that it would be OK if she came to live with us for awhile. (What I didn’t know at the time was that she was in heat.)

After being boarded for about a week in Florida, she was transported by multiple volunteers (thank you Sue, Bob, Cynthia, and Jennifer!!) to Birmingham, where my daughter and I met her. She spent the two hour drive home curled up in my daughter’s lap and was renamed Sasha before we made it home. When we got home, I let her meet my older female, Secret, briefly, which went well. After Sasha was in her crate, I brought Snickers in to meet her, but I didn’t let him get very close. She curled her lip and snarled at him a little bit. She had dinner and snuggled with my daughter till bedtime. Honestly, she may be the sweetest, snuggliest Shiba girl I’ve ever met.

Since my neighbor’s Boxer is intact and known for jumping the fence to get out of his yard, I couldn’t have her at my house without risking a fight with my dogs and the Boxer, so the morning after she arrived she went back into boarding – this time at my vet’s office. Luckily, my wonderful vet felt comfortable spaying her while she’s in heat instead of waiting until after, which means she’ll be back home with us sooner rather than later.

I met with the vet on Friday after I dropped Sasha off, to discuss her health and to get an estimate for everything that needed to be done. Sasha’s skin was in terrible condition when she arrived. She has thickened, infected, black (and stinky) skin on her back and tail. Her teeth also looked pretty bad, and, of course, she needed to be spayed. I asked the vet to do a full senior panel along with the pre-op blood work. The vet suggested also testing her thyroid, in case hypothyroidism was contributing to her skin condition. We decided to put her on antibiotics to help with her skin and scheduled her surgery for Thursday the 31st. Although, I was worried about how I’d pay for all this, I signed the estimate, gave Sasha a kiss, and headed to GNC to buy some probiotics for her.

The first time I went back to visit Sasha, we played fetch in the atrium. Fetch is her favorite game and she had a great time. She even caught the ball in midair a couple times.

Her pre-op and senior blood work all came back GREAT except her T4 level was really low. She was spayed on Thursday and that went really well. She had about six teeth removed and the rest cleaned. Surgery went really well. She’ll have to eat canned food for a week or two, but she should heal up nicely. I bought some canned Taste of the Wild and went to visit her again the day after surgery. She was doing great! She was really happy to see my daughter and we even played some more ball in the atrium. Her skin is looking better already as well, which made me really happy. The plan is for her to come home Thursday of next week, so she’s all healed and no longer smelling like a girl in heat.

The vet and I discussed putting her on a trial dosage of thyroid medication, but decided to wait until she’s healed and healthy and has been getting good nutrition and supplements for a bit and then we’ll retest.

Donate For Sasha Here

Edited to remove donation form after goal was met. $785.00 was donated for Sasha.

I’ll be posting more photos and updates after Sasha comes back from the vet. I’m expecting to make her available for adoption by mid-June and will be looking for someone who spends more time at home than I do. She is super sweet and loves to be with her person. She also LOVES TO PLAY FETCH!