Vet, cats, bath

At the vet's office

Today was all about Aja.  She's the new old girl that came a week or so ago along with another dog that I've already forgotten.  Oh, it was the black pup, Carbon, they both came at the same time, from the same shelter, but not from the same owner. 

Aja (my name for her) had come in as a stray.  They knew and contacted the owners who had reclaimed her in the past, but not this time.  She had obviously had many litters of puppies, including one fairly recently.  Apparently they were done with her and left her to die in the shelter.  Fortunately the shelter contacted the rescue, one of our volunteers sprung her, and brought her here.  From the looks of her, I didn't think she was a candidate for an immediate spay, so I put her on the back burner until I got Carbon, Babe, Rocky, and Odie moved out.













Standing on the edge of the tub,
after bath, ready to come out.

She was an easy keeper out in the kennels and she got along well with other dogs, but I brought her in as soon as Rocky vacated a crate in the office.  Today we had her initial vet visit.  She tested positive for Erlichia, but negative for heartworm and Lyme, so she will be on doxycycline for a month, but that's not a big deal.  She can be spayed any time now, and she will have a growth removed from her left front paw at the same time.  The vet couldn't tell for sure what it was today, so we'll remove it and have a biopsy done.  She didn't think it was affecting the bone of the nearby toe at least.

 


Here you can really see the pretty
sable color now that she's clean.

After the vet visit we went to the Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA to meet cats.  Aja wasn't interested in cats in cages and when the test cat hissed, she backed off fast and wanted nothing to do with it.  That's good, but she did show an inclination to run after a moving cat, so the result was a bit of a mixed bag. 

Next we went to the Fluvanna SPCA because I had a load of sheets, towels, and blankets that had been donated to VGSR that I didn't need.  My purpose in going there was actually two-fold, however, because I asked to use their dog washing tub to give Aja a much needed bath.  She didn't fight me or even really try to get out.  It must have felt good.  Her coat was full of dead hair that needed to come out.  I don't think she had ever been brushed.  I washed and pulled enough hair off of her to make two more fair sized dogs, at least.  She looked like she felt better afterwards too.  Her coat had colors in it that weren't previously visible.  She sparkled and shined in the afternoon sun when we left.




 



I swear she's smiling more now. 
She must feel so much better.

Her surgery will need to wait until after Thanksgiving, because we leave a week from today for Kentucky and I don't want to leave a post-op dog under the care of the housesitter even if I could get it done before we left. 

Aja is a great dog, she looks years younger now (we are guessing about 6 years old).  She is very friendly and I bet she was a good mother, but she has had her last litter, it's time for her to enjoy life herself.