Buffy – Age 11
Rescued January 2014
Deaf and partially blind, Buffy’s was surrendered by her owners

12 yrs, old, 45 lbs, blond, female, AKC

Buffy was surrendered to us by her owner who had had her since she was a puppy since she was no longer able to care for Buffy’s increasingly costly medical needs. Buffy is, to understate the situation somewhat, a bit of a medical train wreck…she is visually impaired and also quite hard of hearing as well as suffering from significant arthritis in her hips and spine. She also seems to possess the dwarfism gene (result of poor breeding and/or inbreeding) which affects other parts of her body as well as the indicators of her stature (short legs, disproportionally large head, etc). Specifically, this gene can cause other irregularities, especially in the thyroid and the reproductive organs. Since Buffy was purchased to breed but never came into heat and never had a litter, this leads some credence to the presence of dwarfism. Although not prevalent in Goldens, this condition is far from rare in the breed.

When we got Buffy she had horrific ear infections that had obviously been chronic in nature. Since they had been left untreated, much of her hearing loss is attributable to irreparable damage to her ears. She also had numerous intestinal worms and in general, was just a product of neglect, having not been seen by a vet since 2006.

We have started Buffy on Rimadyl (with Tramadol as needed), and have treated her ear infections and intestinal worms and we have made her as comfortable as possible. As she has settled in, her foster mom observed what appears to be some degree of dementia since Buffy gets very worried and confused with even the smallest changes in her routine and environment. Given this, we felt that a changes that would result from re-homing her would just be too unsettling to this sweet girl and that she would be better off and happier as a Permanent Foster.

Buffy now lives in a wonderful caring Forever Foster home…filled with gentle hands, good food and plenty of orthopedic dog beds. We don’t know how long we will have Buffy or be able to give her the quality of live she deserves. We do know that whatever days or months she has left will be filled with love.