This is Winnie – this cute girl has been living in a small town on the way up to the rescue center. She appeared in the town square in late March. We passed her every day and stopped to feed her, she never looked great but was progressively getting worse.
She started limping, she had a deep puncture on her thigh that became abscessed. On top of that, she had mange and was very itchy. We fed her every morning and in the afternoon if we saw her, too. We asked the locals but no one seemed to know who she belonged to. On a morning in May, we lured her into a crate and brought her in. We vaccinated, wormed, and treated her for mange, external parasites and fleas. We started her on a course of antibiotics and cleaned out her abscess.
She was very thin, so we made sure that she gained some weight before spaying her. After she recovered, we planned to put her back on the street. We simply cannot keep all the dogs we bring in to sterilize. But Winnie is so sweet and gentle, so calm and retiring, we just didn’t have the heart to do this.
We were very lucky to have friends offer to foster her. Winnie has been living with Otto and Heather since late May. She lives with two other dogs, chickens, and several cats. She is calm, quiet, and easy going. She doesn’t really interact with the other dogs, pretty much ignores them. We think she would be very happy to be an only dog.
Winnie continues to limp. She appears to have some nerve damage to her foreleg. It doesn’t seem to hurt her; there is no change when we put her on Rimadyl, but it doesn’t improve. We have also struggled with itchiness with Winnie. We treated her with Bravecto, had skin scrapes and cultures done, but they came back negative, and she continued to be itchy. We finally treated her with two steroid injections and put her on Cyclosporin. This has made a world of difference and she is no longer scratching and chewing at herself. She will continue on the Cyclosporin until the end of April and we will reassess. She likely has an allergy to something in the environment locally.
She loves to go for walks, although her foster family doesn’t take her on super long walks. She is a very easy going, lower energy dog. She is quiet, well mannered, and affectionate. She likes people and is not reactive or fearful.
Winnie would be a spectacular dog for a family. We think she is between 5 and 6 years old.
