In animal sanctuaries there are dogs of all shapes and sizes… and some of them are very old. Milo was, until recently, one such dog. It’s hard for sanctuaries to find homes for dogs like Milo; they are often ill or needy and require a lot of attention and patience. Additionally, many people worry that it will be too sad to befriend an animal who has only a few months left to live. At Ethical Pets, we have cared for a dog like this before, called Beth: we found living with her a wonderful and fulfilling experience, so we have decided to do it again! This time, we are keeping a blog in the hope that maybe others will consider adopting their own little Beth or Milo one day. So, here it is: our record of Milo’s Last Miles.
We went to Bleakholt Anim
al Sanctuary on Monday and found a very very old doggie called Milo in desperate need of a home. He was feeling unhappy living in the Old Woofs kennel but because he is a bit odd looking and sickly he wasn’t likely to find a home. We couldn’t bear for him to live out his last few weeks feeling so sad and so he has come home to live with us!
We rescued a dog like this before, the wonderful and gentle Beth (who we wrote about here). We didn’t really talk about Beth much while she was alive – every day with her was such a blessing and they flew by, somehow we never found time to put pen to paper. This time, however, we are going to make an effort to document how we get along with Milo. Caring for a dying animal is a strange job, especially if you haven’t known the dog all its life, but its also a very fulfilling job. We hope that we can encourage more people to think about looking after one for themselves 🙂
Getting to know you
Today is only our second day with Milo, and we are still trying to understand what he needs and how he is feeling. Has a few tumours on his face and a large fluid sack that hangs down just behind his front legs. The fluid sack looks quite shocking but apparently doesn’t hurt at all: he doesn’t seem to bothered by it actually, which surprised us as it’s quite big. Our main concerns so far have been to cheer him up and get him eating. He looks a bit dilapidated right now – but we learned with Beth that with a bit of patience and kindness a rescue dog “on deaths door” can sometimes have a whole happy year before the time comes. That said, we don’t want Milo to suffer unnecessarily, so we hope he will improve quite quickly. Thankfully, he has made some progress already.
Things he likes
He is pretty quiet at the moment, but he really likes eating tinned spaghetti and little bits of fruit and veg. He also likes going for little walks – he is quite slow but seems very happy sniffing around. He seems to like watching our elderly next door neighbour doing the gardening too. Also, it usually takes dogs a while to work out where “home” is – but Milo seemed to settle in straight away and knows where the doors and refreshments are already. He also really enjoys having a massage with his lavender massage oil. The other dogs don’t seem to be very interested in him and he ignores them completely so far!
Teething trouble
We need to get him to eat, but he has no interest in dog food whatsoever! Also, when he needs to go to the toilet, he needs to go… er… now! It took us a few messes to work out that when we take him for a longer walk, he drinks a lot, and so needs to go out for a second peepee about 20 mins later. Luckily he has already worked out the back door steps so he is very quick as exiting 🙂
Anyway – that’s all for now – we will keep you posted!