Dre 13-112 [1]

April 27, 2013

Dre is a large, magnificent golden retriever. Large in 107#. His personality is ‘large’ as well. Our boy came to us a week ago unaltered and no vaccinations and horribly dirty. He also came with a huge mass on his chest and towards his front two legs. His teeth are wore down and he did have a painful abscessed front canine. I am thankful we kept our large wire crate!

Dre is 12 years old – birthday is May 1, 2001. As you will see from the photos, he looks about 6 and it is truly hard to believe that is his age. Other than the above, Dre is in very good health. No hip issues, no other issues that we are aware of; his blood work came back fine. Heartworm negative which is a bonus because he was mostly kept outside. He came from a home with another dog and children.

Since he has come into our care, he has been to my groomer (Bless you Ronita and gang!) and cleaned up so nice. Now when you see Dre out in the sun, he no longer stinks, your hands don’t turn dark brown and this boy has the most stunning coat! Cannot say just how beautiful it really is………dark sorrel – red with very shiny copper highlights. Ever so slight gray on his muzzle, but barely any. His coat is nice and thick; and he did just fine for the gals at the grooming (he had never had one before). So that was a huge step. [I have such a fantastic groomer and she ‘donates’ these baths and grooming(s) for Ragom, not to mention she also has events where she has raised money for Ragom as well].

He has had 2 vet visits. The first of which was to just get him vaccinated and looked over. During that it was discovered that the front canine was abscessed and broken off and many teeth are wore down, and the mass, not sure what it was, really needed to come off due to size and location, which are all things that could be done while he also needed to be neutered as well. He behaved fine at the vet, just a little ‘worried’ and didn’t want treats or anything. The mass in the front was about the size of a salad plate and very ‘leathery.’ Cannot really get a photo of it due to the area and totally covered with his hair. Considering all the poking and prodding he did just fine.

The second visit a few days later was the neuter, tooth extraction and mass removal. Happy to report all went wonderful. The mass was a little over 2# which is HUGE and it was just a lipoma (fatty growth) and no signs of any melanoma at all, yahoo! The surgery was long and went well. It has just been a couple days now and he is doing fine. His pills for pain and antibiotics, etc. go in his food and he eats them right up. He is doing amazing for just having all that done. The incisions looks good. He does not like having his mouth checked as I am sure it is still quite sore therefore I just leave it alone. He will have a re-check and suture removal in 12-14 days.

Dre stats:

• 12 years old
• Neutered, UTD, HW negative, frontlined, and on HW treatment. He is also microchipped.
• He is BIG BOY coming in at 107#
• He is very good (and submissive) with our 2 resident dogs (corgi and border collie/eskie mix)
• He is good with cats
• He loves LOVES his pets, and is still ‘needy’ I think from no prior attention
• He enjoys car ride
• He walks well on a leash
• He has had NO accidents in home; tried to mark first day and half but all is well now

More to come on this fantastic, big hunk of a golden…..he is going to make a fantastic companion. He could be an only dog or not. He is so SHY of the camera so I fear my photos are not the best. The camera and the click of the camera really makes him shy away, even if he ‘thinks’ you have it! Not sure why but we do our best.....