Triumph of Ivan

If you don’t already know, I’m the single mother of a seven year old girl. A smart, lovely but mouthy seven year old girl who I nicknamed The Bunny Child 2000. That’s her model number. I don’t know why – it just ended up that way.

Well, Bunny hasn’t been very good about brushing her teeth. We’re talking eight cavities. So tonight I stood over her and watched while she scrubbed each chopper.

But Bunny is a little sneaky, and she decided, that with school being out, she wanted some midnight ice cream.

And she crept out to the kitchen – where Ivan has been staying.

Suddenly, she came running into my room, panicking. “Ivan growled at me, Mom! I’m scared! He GROWLED!”

And as she stood right there, I heard it, a low rumble, coming from the kitchen, defnitely canine. Then I almost rolled out of bed laughing. Because I guess if you’ve never heard a Mastiff snore, it the dark it might really sound like a growl.

That oughta teach her.

Some of you may have read the post I made about Ivan when we were at the Emergency Vet and my friend [not meaning any harm] pulled Ivan’s legs as he was lying down.  Ivan reared up suddenly and vocalized, grabbing my friend’s arm firmly, but not enough to break the skin. For me, it was SCARY, because I didn’t know what happened, if he was attacking [he wasn’t] and my heart was pounding. Also, in March, where I used to live, my roommates had three dogs. They brought another dog home and the three attacked her, blood flying on the walls, terrifying sounds, etc. I couldn’t sit and watch those dogs kill her and it may have been stupid, but I started pulling them off by the legs, so I would not have to reach in between biting mouths for a collar. Of course two of the three turned on me and dragged me to the floor, biting through my boots and jeans.

I still haven’t really recovered emotionally from that [one of the dogs that bit me was shot] so the thought that Ivan might bite initially freaked me out. But then I realized it was a warning…about what…I’m not sure.

Then tonight, it happened to me. I was sitting next to Ivan while he was sleeping, and just barely shifted my weight. I have no idea what part of him was touched but he arched up. I never felt his teeth, but it was the same type of thing. [The most  got was slobber.]

Any thoughts on figuring this out? At the vet today [yes, I got a third opinion…and this vet actually found hookworms!] he allowed the vet to manipulate his knees and hips without protest.

Cachexia. Which is muscle wasting, advanced starvation, weakness. And a bit of broken spirit. That’s it. NO heartworms. No worms in the poop loop.

Thank you for all your positive energy.

The vet says that with refeeding and weight gain, Ivan should make a big turn around in terms of strength. She said, as many of you have said, that this boy needs to know compassion, what it feels like to sleep inside, have regular meals, follow a pack leader, and be loved.

She was also suspicious of the photos of the cut off paw. She said that it takes a lot for an animal to chew off his own foot, and if it were caught in a chain, it would be more likely to have lost fur higher up as well as losing the foot. She felt that he was either caught in a snare trap, or someone cut the paw off. More likely that someone cut the paw off, since someone did a home job of hacking his ears off. WHY is a question that will probably never be answered.

Thank you Thank you Thank you!

Next, we will search for a harness. In the meantime, there’s 15 pounds to be gained!

Ivan made it all the way to our laundry room in our complex, which is about three car lengths, maybe three and a half yesterday. I’ve been trying to move him when he feels inspired, because he still has not had a poop since I adopted him on Sunday morning, and movement should help the peristalsis action of the bowels.

He hobbled back, doing well, I had to carry his upper half to each step and sometimes his lower half to follow  – sort of Slinky style, except 80 pounds of Slinky. At the top, he just stopped. He was done. No forward hopping to the cool kitchen tiles, where he likes to lie. So I said, “OK – if that is where you want to stop, I’ll get your water.” Brought himhis water, but had to rub it under his dewlaps and muzzle where he licked it off in annoyance, I think, more than anything. Finaly he took a few laps.

I went in my bedroom and a while later I was surprised to see his big head poke around the corner, the first time venturing anywhere in the house besides the kitchen. He was afraid to come in, though. As I knew I would, against my ‘no drool’ policy, I lifted him on the bed so his poor bones could rest on something soft for once, and I aimed the fan on him because he was panting.

Went to visit a friend in the apt downstairs for about 40 min, and when I came back, Ivan was in distress. Shallow rapid breaths, 78 per minute. He couldn’t stand. He couldn’t raise his head. I was really scared.

I called my friends and we decided to take him to the Emerg Vet. Along the way talked about euthanasia possibilities, which broke my heart and angered me, all at once…after all, I just adopted him 2 days ago.

To make this shorter, we spent most of the night there, where he, by Murphy’s Law, decided to make me look foolish by wagging his tail at the staff and sitting up.  The vet gave him a very low Body Condition Score and thought he may have thrown a clot or have heartworms and had a heartworm go to a lung accounting for the sudden difficulty breathing and weakness.

He’s still very weak today. But he is eating …hopefully will poop later.

Keep your fingers crossed!

 

 

 

The story I got was that Ivan was tied out on a chain and somehow was entangled, and chewed off his paw. These photos don’t look like that to me, but as a nurse I have only dealt with human amputations. I know that when I had dogs before and gave them bones, they left jagged, chipped stringy flesh. Maybe he licked it smooth, I don’t know. But to me, it just looks like his paw was cut off.