More of how good he is looking!

Ok ok--it's been a while!

So how is our Pilot? Better than ever! Still no heartworm treatment, but I'm working on it!

He is such a happy dog, and loves the routine we have. The kids play with him in the morning, and after school. He gets babied all day long by me and Maile. Tough life! He is looking better and better every day.

Ok, back to the story!

So! Where were we? Oh yes, treating him daily for mange, has heartworms, and now a tapeworm too. If he was short a leg I'd have called him Lucky.

Well, we were supposed to get him treated for the heartworms on the 15th, but the funding fell through. My husbands commission check wasn't what we thought it would be! Dang it. So now I am back ont he campaign trail with Second Chance, and hopefully they can help this time. I just do not see anywherte in the next 6 months that we will have 500.00 for his medicine and treatment.

Buthe is doing well! He is going crazy being on a lead. He used to be exhausted all day, and didn't mind it, but now that the mange is clearing up, he is feeling better. You would never know that he has heartworms. He is insane on a leash, so I got a better lead to try and control him a little better. I have to walk him daily because has more energy now. I hate to do it because of his heart, but he really enjoys it, and is starting to bark (from boredom I think!)

His mange is still clearing up, so he gets his medicine daily, and plays with the kids every chance he gets. He barks at the bus when it takes then away every morning! It's precious.

Starting to get a little color around his ears. Still a mystery!

Day 6 of treatment

Not the best picture, but he kept moving around while Lorien was taking it;).
It's only been 6 days, and he is not on the full dosage yet, but he's getting there.
We brought him into the yard while we were working on the fire pit. He is so happy just to be with us! He acts just like a puppy when he gets near the fence to see Miss Onyx (older woman), but she has a shock collar on, so they can't actually get nose to nose (preferably butt!)
Either he is weak from the heartworms, or even more fantastic than we thought. Addie is 5, and could handle him on a leash. I wonder where he came from.....?

Oh, he is a good boy!

I gave him another bath today--will post picture tomorrow. He stands so still, and is so well behaved, considering that he really doesn't have social manners. Does that make sense? He is good inthe car, but still scared to get in. We don't do too much, but are trying to keep him with the "pack" as much as possible.

Second Chance will not be helping us, so we are trying for Ashley's Angel Fund. If thast doesn't work, we will figiure something out.

At the vets

Poor guy was afriad to go through any doors. What life did he have before us? And how long was he alone? He will follow on a lead, but only after some convincing. I had to give him London Broil to get him in to the car today. He was a good car rider, but was afraid to go through doors at the vets.

He loved Dr. Cotton. Whenever she would leave, he would stand at the door and wait for it to open again.

He got a nice oatmeal bath afterwards, and was actually frisky! Not for too long though. Heart full of worms--yuck! His heart can't be likin' that. Explains the fatigue though. We probably won't know his real personality until he is into his treatment. Awfully happy to be getting loved up now.

The the slightly hairy beast meets Dr. Cotton!

Diagnosis--Demodectic Mange(if I spelled it right). Not contagious! yay for hugs and all that great stuff.

Bad news; Heartworms. A heart full of Angel Hair spaghetti. Second Chance adoptions may be able to help the little guy, but if not, we'll figure something out.

Will the name stick?

Hmmmm......not sure if we like the name Pilot. Looks great on paper (on Blog), but now we're not so sure.

Here is more of an idea of his condition.

So we had the yardsale......

and raised not too much money. But some very nice people donated to the cause, and a little went a long way.

Terrible torture keeping our hands off of him! Want to take hin for a walk, but not sure if we will encounter other dogs on the road, so we keep him on the lead.

Poor baby is itching madly, but today played a little with a Christmas hat.

Here's our boy

Pilot

How much of a coincidence could it have been? I kicked the kids out of the house this morning," TV off! Get outside and play! Out! Out!"
Lorien kept stalling, but eventually went out with Gatlin and Addie. All the while, someone in trouble was headed towards our neighborhood.

He was making his way into another shade patch to rest when Lorien spotted him. She didn't even bother to ask; she got the leash and went to bring him home. As soon as I saw his skin, I shooed everyone away. From the color of it, and how much of it could be seen, it could only be one thing: mange. We kept him on the kitchen steps while I looked online for a confirmation, and maybe a home remedy. From what I was reading it had to be mange. Poor baby. Nothing can be done without a vet. There was no way we were calling the local shelter. In that kind of shape, they would likely not want put the money and time into him. He would probably be put down.

I set about washing him with the conditioning cat shampoo we had left from our recently stolen kittens, and thought that maybe he was just some sort of mutt. Maybe he wasn't sick after all....maybe it was just his breed. But then I see his tail, and it must be mange. I just couldn't figure out his breed! All he has is this wirey hair. He seems to have lost about 85% of it, and really needs a vet. Art comes out and talks to him before going in to work. There is no way this dog is leaving our family. We are keeping him for sure. I think it's a puppy; his paws are huge.

I call around and cannot get ahold of any type of society or shelter that does mercy work. We just got back from a 3 week vacation, and live on a budget to begin with. We are right in the middle of gas and groceries crisis. Financially, he couldn't have come at a worse time.

We think that he was hurt by his previous owner. He is scared of the broom, and when I walk by with the hammer, he cowers and tries to disappear. Sure looks like a puppy to me. Doesn't play with chew toys, but I think he is exhausted. When I go to him, he licks and wants to chew my hand, but doesn't--he is wonderful.

I found a vet who will start treatment for around 140.00, which may as well be 140,000.00 right now! But we figured we may have enough stuff in the shed to have a yard sale, so we're going to go for it! This poor baby--I wonder if he knows how bad we want to hug and love him to death? Lorien wanted to call him "Rocky", because of his past. But I don't want to name him yet. Something not right. What if he's really sick, and can't be helped? I don't want to get too attatched.

When he wags his tail, it doesn't go back and forth. It goes in circles, like the propeller on a plane. And I noticed a yellow patch of hair left on his ear. Could this possibly be a Golden Retriever? Or a Yellow Lab?

I wonder if he can feel how much everyone here wants to love him. We moved to North Carolina about a year and a half ago, and lost our Chesapeake Bay Retriever/Lab mix in the process. Right before we moved, she left, and never came back. We can barely talk about her. And in the spring a beagle showed up here, but he was a biter, and chased anything with a motor, and almost caused motorcycle accidents, and almost hurt our neighbor who just had open heart surgury. He was a danger to the neighborhood, and family. So we are all of us pretty tender right now.

I keep thinking about that spinning tail. There is something so wonderful about his happy tail. We decided to call him Pilot, this sweet sick gentle baby.