Bomber

So I was going to post on Bomber a couple weeks ago and never got around to it.

So I will now!

A month or so ago the resident handyman at the shelter came in exclaiming that there was a dog loose behind the dumpster and he needed my help so it wouldn't run away. I ran around the back side while he went the front. We needn't have bothered. There sat little ole Bomber, his tummy hugely swollen and his ribs sticking out despite that fact. He sat there patiently. I approached him slowly, not knowing his demeanor with a loop leash expecting him to react in some way. He didn't.

I put my hand out asking him to smell it and he looked at me like "oh please, just do it already".

So I looped the leash around his neck and he stood up like "about time. Lets go inside."

I thought he was a she. Why? Because his abdomen was so grossly swollen with fluid that he appeared largely pregnant. I had a few ideas, once I realized she was indeed an intact male, as to why this should be.

I tested my first theory. YUP!!! Practically oozing heartworms. The test was a super strong positive for the antibodies to heartworms! His heart musta been crammed full of them. To the point that his body was having trouble returning all the fluid to it and was shoving some out into his abdomen!! Takes A LOT of heartworms for a very long time to do this. And he only appears to be about 5 years old! His heart has a murmur, and will for the rest of his life.

Well he was malnourished and had most of his bones fairly identifiable under his skin. But he never lacked for the happy enthusiasm of a good boxer.

Bomby, as we called him, was looked at by the Boxer rescue but they could not take him due to the cost of treatment. Well, we decided to give it a try. Not all vets would advise treatment with heartworm disease that advanced. But as a shelter we aren't under the luxury of most clinics. We kept him in the clinic and went for the modified treatment, which takes several months.

I pulled some of the fluid off his stomach, started feeding him, and then started his first round of shots. NOW! A month later, we are on his second set of shots. Once the fluid had gone down, we put him out for adoption. OF COURSE he got adopted, he's just a wonderful dog.

He is still at the shelter, waiting till the first of November so we can do his last segment of treatment and then his neuter.

He is such a wonderful dog, even though the shots are extremely painful and deep into the muscle tissue of their back, he still gives us a shake of his rump and a lick when we are through injecting. Such a wonderful dog.

Number 2 we love you. :)

I don't have any pictures of him the way he looks today, but show quality, you betcha!!!

I will try to take somemore with him all filled out where you can barely see his ribs...

He came in at a fluidy 47lbs,

Dropped down to 42 once we removed the fluid

And is now up to 60!!! And not yet fully fleshed!