Lost Dog on My Doorstep: Part 4
This post is a continuation of the Lost Dog on My Doorstep series. To view previous posts in this series, please see this page.
Part 3½ of the story ended with Gracie in a holding pattern. The foster parents were ready to take her, but her fecal test results came back positive for several contagious parasites. Because the foster parents have other dogs, she would need to be medicated to get rid of the parasites and have a clear retest before going to their home. This meant staying in boarding a bit longer than we intended.
A few days later, we got a call informing us of yet another setback. Gracie and a few other dogs in boarding now had Kennel Cough. Gracie had been vaccinated for it, but her vaccines might have been too recent to offer effective protection; or it might have been caused by a different organism than what her vaccines included protection against. Dogs that have been vaccinated for Bordetella/Kennel Cough can still become ill just the same way a person who has received a flu shot can still catch the flu.
As you might imagine, dogs that are sick with kennel cough should not be boarded. It is unknown which dog was the initial carrier, as the dog might not have been showing symptoms when it was dropped off for boarding. At any rate, all of the sick dogs had to be quarantined while they began receiving treatment, and ideally, picked up by their families as soon as possible.
For Gracie, this meant being stuck between a rock and a hard place. They needed her out of boarding, but at the same time, she shouldn’t be around the other dogs at the foster home until she is no longer contagious. As it just so happened, when it reached the point she had not been coughing for a few days and would not likely transmit illness, the foster parents were set to be out of town for a few days. Literally the same day. I got the call on Thursday that they were ready to shove Gracie out the door, and this was the exact day the foster parents would be leaving for their short trip. Sigh.
It took some finagling, but the vet’s office agreed to board Gracie until Monday (today), when the foster parents would be back and available to pick her up. I’ve paid her bill, her fecal retest results came back all clear on Friday, she hasn’t coughed in a number of days, and she is all set to go. I am excited for her to get the hell out of there! She has been boarded for 20 days now (20!). When you spring a dog from the shelter, their trip out is often called the Freedom Ride. Well, Gracie may not have been in a shelter, but vet boarding is not a whole lot better; so I still consider her first ride with her foster parents to be her Freedom Ride.
Now we just have to pray, pray, pray that Gracie and their current dogs will all get along and she is set to stay there until she gets adopted. Secretly, I hope she steals their hearts and they become “failed fosters” and just decide to keep her. They’re super nice people with a nice house and other dogs to play with… she’d be living the good life.
I’m dreaming on your behalf, Gracie.
Stay tuned for future installments. I will continue following up on this story until Gracie is adopted. Now it’s time to for me to spread the word and start networking this gal! You can find her on PetFinder HERE (please note that I did not create this listing or take the pictures for it).
… Continued in Part 5
Poor thing! I bet she’s really ready for that freedom ride and leaving the vet’s office! Sharing.
Yes, I can’t wait to hear from the foster parents after they pick her up! Thanks for sharing!!
You’re right, she’s been boarded for long enough and now is time to find her furever home. I know how difficult it can be if the dogs don’t get along, we’ve had trouble adopting before because of our resident dog’s bossiness, but we’ve had two successes– Brooks who we adopted at 11 years old and he lived with us for the rest of his life. And now Ike, who is 6 and they’re doing great together. Good luck to sweet Gracie with the cute ears!
Yes, we already knew it wouldn’t be possible for us to keep her when she showed up on our doorstep. Despite how sweet SHE is, it just would not work out with our two littles. They are fearful of larger dogs and therefore can go on the defensive. We just couldn’t risk any trouble breaking out between them. Like you say, there can be issues not because of the new dog, but because of the resident dog(s). So glad you were able to give Brooks a good home for the rest of his years and now Ike is getting another chance too! Glad he and Kelly are getting along!
We have been determined from the beginning to rehome her Gracie instead of calling our overwhelmed city shelter to pick her up; and we will continue to do as much as we can in that effort. (We have quite a few no-kill shelters in our area as well, but not a single one could take her. They all pretty much stay at capacity all the time 🙁 .) We were very lucky to find a family to foster her, so I pray that their dogs will be welcoming to her and that they will all get along. Can’t wait to find out how their first day with her went.
Awww poor Gracie! I hope that freedom ride is coming soon!
I sure hope so. I don’t know exactly what time they’ll be getting her, but I can’t wait to find out how things go.
Hooray for the Freedom Ride! I hope Gracie find her furever home soon. Poor kid. I wonder what she went through before she found you?! She looks so sweet.
I don’t know. She was pretty thin, but tough to tell exactly how thin due to her fur. All I know is that she was dying for people to pay attention to her. She ran right up to us when we were outside, and just never wanted to leave (and that’s where the story began). I did everything I could to look for her family, but they seemed to not be looking for her. I’m glad she found us though. Running free with no tags and not spayed… poor girl could’ve found herself pregnant in no time. But we took care of all that. No puppies for this Li’l Miss.
And yes, she is incredibly sweet. No one is a stranger as far as she’s concerned. So I’m really hoping that it goes well in the foster home.
We hope she is a perfect fit with the foster family and gets to stay there forever too!
We hope so too! Paws crossed that it all works out!
Wow poor girl sounds like she has had a rough time in such a short amount of time! It’s amazing that you’ve done so much for this stray dog who showed up on your doorstep.
Yes, she has! Which is even more of a reason that I want to get her into foster care ASAP and then into a good home. We’re just doing our best for her, since we can’t just keep her ourselves.
Poor sweet girl, she’s really been through it hasn’t she? Fingers crossed it all works out for her!
Yep, I just heard today that she really tore up the isolation room last night. Yikes. Poor girl’s just had enough! Thank goodness she’s getting out of there today. Got some tentatively good news too, but won’t share that unless/until it becomes something more concrete.
What a sting of bad luck. Hopefully all is behind and Gracie will be in a happy place!
Yep, hopefully very, very soon!
Phew…set back after set back. Glad the vet agreed to keep her (and that they got the parasites and kennel cough under control.) I will keep my fingers (and toes, and the dogs paws and tails) all crossed over here that she gets along with the other dogs at her new foster home – and that she finds her forever home soon!
And I know in another post you said not to keep thanking you, but tough! Thanks for doing so much for this sweet girl!