Teddy Bear

Teddy Bear, a 10 yr old boy, who was picked up by animal control out in no man’s land and taken to a shelter. He was grossly underweight, not neutered, and heartworm positive. Teddy has such a wonderful disposition that the shelter workers just couldn’t put him down, so they called upon GSROR to help with his rescue and provide medical treatment that would best suit this sweet boy of an advanced age. Teddy Bear came into rescue on March 13th and after performing X-rays and blood work, was determined to be a candidate for heartworm treatment, via injections. He already had his first shot and is doing great. He will need 2 more shots next month and then tested again in 6 months to make sure the heartworm disease is gone. In the meantime, he will have to live a very quiet, quiet life for about 6 to 8 weeks after each shot keeping him as calm as possible so that the worms do not travel and cause him further problems. So far, Teddy Bear’s vet bills are now over $700 now being diagnosed with hookworm and coccidia. He is responding very well to the medication and we will be back on schedule with him soon.

Update from Teddy Bear’s forever home – 10/12/2014

I thought that you would want to know that Teddy Bear had his heart worm blood test and the results came back NEGATIVE!! YEAHHHHH!!!! So we are planning on getting his ears and teeth cleaned on Sept 15th.

Teddy has acclimated to our family beautifully! His personality has slowly been coming out! He is quite a clown at times! Chan was making the bed the other day and waved at Teddy as he was coming in to check on Chan. Chan looked down to straighten the covers and looked up to find Teddy on the bed looking at him! We do not allow the dogs on the furniture, but we had to laugh at the situation as Teddy was showing us just who he is!!

Since you thought that Teddy did not know stairs we tried working with Teddy on a small stair case and the leash and found that he is very adept at stairs. We then tried him on leash and our basement stairs with no problems. So we had stopped using the baby gate on the stairs, but Teddy did not try to go down. Then last week Chan and I were in the basement and we turned around to see Teddy looking at us. He was so quiet we did not hear him coming down the stairs. He had no problem going back up!

He and Takone, our Alaskan Malamute, now check on each other and want to know where the other one is when they get separated (one outside, the other inside). A little red ball is Teddy’s security blanket of sorts. He has the ball in his mouth almost all the time. It was interesting the first time we heard him bark! He did not verbalize for about a week then all of a sudden he barked at someone walking past the house! Since then he has started doing the Shepard squeak and grunts at appropriate times! He loves his evening walks! So Teddy and us are now a wonderful family!

Update – 10/30/14

Katie,

Teddy Bear had his ears deep cleaned and had his teeth cleaned last week. He ended up having 9 teeth extracted! He had some heart problems with premature ventricular contractions under anesthesia. We have seen the cardiologist and he is on Beta Blockers (Atentol). We are now monitoring his heart with a Holter/Event Monitor for 24 hours to ensure that his heart is OK. His EKG at the last appointment was just fine. If the monitor comes up with good results we may be able to take Teddy off the Beta Blockers. He is doing just great on the outside, no outer effects! We think that he probably is just fine, that the heart got mad because of all the work being done and discomfort at the time.

As to his hearing! He can hear, he just chooses sometimes not to listen or react! They did find a huge hunk of stuff resting on his right ear drum and of course lots of wax! He is barking and acting like a real German Shepard guarding us all!

Follow Up

Teddy Bear is just doing fine! A the testing has proven that he is just an older dog that can get stressed at the Vet! He is still on Beta Blockers. We will be taking him back for a recheck in about 5 months at which time the Cardiologist will decide if we should start weaning him off the Beta Blockers. It is difficult to get off Beta Blockers whether you are a dog or a human! You cannot just STOP! So we shall see what we shall see! Otherwise, Teddy Bear is a happy laid back dog that loves his belly rubs, walks and his red ball! His belly fur is still growing back from ultra sounds and heart monitors, slowly but surely!

Take Care!

Jan, Chan, Takone & Teddy Bear