I found an ad on craigslist from a woman who was down on her luck and needed someone to house her dog for a few months while she lives with a friend who's complex doesn't allow pets. I agreed to take Sasha, an 8 year old ACD who's had 7 homes in her lifespan. This dog is riddled with hot spots, constantly scratching and chewing, about 40% of her body is bald from hair loss, and her breath is so bad I feel sick whenever I get a wiff of it. She's also so fat she can barely walk right.

This dog's nails are so long they're twisting her toes. Tonight I muzzled her and clipped them with only a mild fight from her, and realized that not only her are toes twisted, but the nails themselves are twisting. I clipped what I could, which was a lot.
While muzzled, she was stress panting with her mouth as wide as she could go and I noticed at least one back molar so incrusted with gunk it's completely brown. This tooth probably needs to be taken out ASAP before an infection sets into the jaw unless it's already happened.
I also believe the dog has arthritis and pain from it in her hocks. I wouldn't be surprised if she's in pain in other places.

I'm just not sure what to do. This dog needs medical care ASAP and while I can afford it I don't know what to do. The woman is unable to house herself, much less meet her dog's medical needs. She doesn't need a dog at this point, if ever again. Sasha is suffering and I can't stand by and do nothing, but my only options is to beg the woman to surrender her to me or bring her to animal control. If I bring her to AC then the owner will be unable to pay her 'bail' fee plus the vet care they'll insist the dog gets and Sasha will be put down.

What would you do in this situation? I feel the woman wants what's 'best' for her dog so instead of abandoning her at AC she's found a place for her to stay. I think she may be reasonable enough to surrender her to me but if she says no I'm not sure what to do.

I'm betting that if you feed this dog a decent diet, especially a raw diet, with lots of raw meaty bones, and not hardly any kibble, she looses weight and her teeth get a whole lot better. Some topical flea dope would be in order too. You could give her ecotrin occasionally for her arthritis, which will really improve once she weighs less.

Most likely the owner has been feeding the cheapest possible dog food, and this contributes to terrible skin problems.

I think you have a lot of guts to muzzle an 8 yr old ACD bitch that you hardly know and cut her nails. !!!!!!

I think you can really help this dog, at first, without veterinary assistance --- at least to see where that gets you. Good food and not much of it, a little exercise everyday, flea treatment--- you might see a real change sooner than you can imagine!

She might be a diabetic---some of the real fat ones are---that contributes to the bad teeth and breath. But, maybe not. Try a little good care, see where it gets you!

Food can make a night and day difference for sure...my hairless sick foster's primary "medicine" was good diet, gentle but constant grooming, and SUPER gentle exercise for both the mind (encourage creativity and healthy play habits) and the body. I'd also stick some gloucosamine in her food...


I'd do bloodwork as that's not too expensive and may tell you a lot. I'd also marker train her so you can play with her mouth, see if that tooth is still actually a tooth....

Yeah diet will definitely help A LOT...the thing with her nails being all twisted sounds like fungal infection of the nail bed. I used to see that a lot on fat dogs on poor diets, their skin would be horrible too, loaded with hotspots or bare patches, flakes and gunk.

I was worried the woman would say no, but she did call me back and agreed to surrender the dog to me so that I can bring her to the vet. I'm calling them tomorrow and having blood work done. Depending on what they say about the tooth (or teeth) we'll go from there.

Sad fact - she's had the dog for 9 months.

Jamie and Betty totally nailed it.

My heart dog Luna .... when she came to me, she was a horrible stinky yeasty skin-staph bad-breath mess. She had very little quality of life because of the itching (all night long, too).

An extended bath with Malaseb or similar (maybe two in a row), an excellent diet (even starting with canned if you prefer, and then fresh raw), a concentrated flea program (and the bath will get that started too) .... fish oil and E .... probiotics .... these were a turnaround for my Luna. We did have to go on to a derm vet for her allergies, but even before that, she was probably three-quarters "cured" .... she was sleeping, her skin no longer stank, the chewies had broken off some of the tartar that was in 1/3-inch lumps (yes) .... the long bath with me sitting beside the tub playing games and a towel lining the tub so she wasn't sliding and scared .... that bath gave her some immediate relief.

I'd very gently wash the hot spots, but if you also see/smell layers of Malassezia, I'd scrub those (gently) with a washcloth. You can remove layers of yeast this way.

I'd get a spray bottle of Vetericyn Hot Spot for a few minutes of relief with each spray, plus increased cleanliness (without antibiotics and steroids).

http://www.lambertvetsupply.com/product.asp?itemid=1977&gclid=CIKq5MaVxbsCFTDhQgodFl0AmQ

(If you will PM me your address I'll order and send a bottle.)




ETA
Just wanted to add that the full dental with extractions changed Luna's life, from mouth stink gone to mouth pain gone to ability to chew on both sides. This fat dog may be advised to lose a few pounds first .... but I don't know for sure. I do know that general anesthesia is no longer scary to me, what with the newer drugs like sevoflurane and isoflurane gas anesthesia plus a staff member monitoring the dog throughout, and venous access (catheterization) prepared in advance.

Edited by Connie Sutherland (12/22/2013 08:40 PM)
Edit reason: eta

Watch her with "procedures".

You want an ACD to believe that you are on their side.

There is a reason why this dog has had 7 owners in 8 years.

Some of the old style female ACDs can have strong ideas about what is going to be done to their bodies.

If you take her to the vet I'd bring some hi value treats and let the tech do the dirty work.

Seconding the ACD temperament with multiple procedures....If she gets annoyed I'd set her up to let her strike out in ways that end up helping (have a bar ready for her to bite and rage on so you can see her teeth, be ready for paws to the eye sockets and catch them to check pads, don't even try to fight the barrel roll and kick but rub her belly and check for lumps, etc. And if at all possible try to avoid letting the tech do that grab and "hug" thing to hold her still....with the amount of dogs I've brought to the vet it seems that anything ACD (Ryuk included and he LOVES the vet) that's when the sh*t hits the fan...all the other dogs surrender or calm....not the ACDs...it's when the barrel roll kick thrashing starts...even in a dog that's not in pain...


When I brought home my foster Willow she had gnarly stinky nails (was the strangest thing to me....I had never seen that). However they were SUPER long as she'd been running stray on pavement. Since she had a good deal other problems that we had to tackle first it was recommended I just keep them clean and trimmed I found that introducing nightly pedicures did a TON of good and taught her to enjoy her foot being handled. I would scrap out the underside of the nail (this obviously doesn't work for tube nails, but you can break those open which always seems to result in healthier nails in this house) wash her feet, play with her pawpads, apply anti-fungal cream between her toes (because seriously...YUCK..they were green -_-). By the time her more serious issues had cleared up so had her feet. New healthy nail growth, normal "popcorn" smell, and bonus a dog who would immediately roll over and give you her feet when you got the clippers out XD.

"The barrel roll and kick" "Paws to the eye socket"


What a great description!! Jamie nailed it, those behaviors must be hard wired in ACDs.

I would mention that if the above doesn't "work" to stop the offending exam in some ACDs, old-timey farm ones, the situation could escalate to a dog on a pole. So know what your goals are before you get to the vet and don't let things get out of hand.

"The barrel roll and kick" "Paws to the eye socket"


What a great description!! Jamie nailed it, those behaviors must be hard wired in ACDs.

I would mention that if the above doesn't "work" to stop the offending exam in some ACDs, old-timey farm ones, the situation could escalate to a dog on a pole. So know what your goals are before you get to the vet and don't let things get out of hand.