Reggie 13-428 [1]

Sponsored by:

Billie Ralston

 Thanks to Foster Mom for taking great care of Reggie!-Angie M

Best wishes!! -Anonymous

My sweet foster boy!! -Jen Guse

A Golden Paw form Beau 14-117 and his family -Ann Myers

Reggie is a golden doodle that joined the RAGOM family due to a divorce situation & a family that no longer wanted him. He came to us a week ago, just in time for the Christmas holiday. We had a houseful  (4 goldens of our own, our other foster dog, 2 dogs that we were dog sitting for a week, plus 3 more that came for Christmas....for a grand total of 10 dogs!) but Reggie met the whole clan without any issues. Reggie is 6 years old, & 98 pounds of cuteness....he is a big, gentle giant. He is up to date on all his vaccines, neutered, & microchipped. For the most part he is house trained (more on that later), gets along well with our 2 cats, rides great in the car, kennels easily with a small treat. He also pulls horribly on the flat collar leash ( I need to get a larger gentle leader for him), does great with kids (but I am recommending 10+ age due to his size & his hunger issues, again, more to follow), doesn't need a fence, could be an only dog, & is very submissive with our other dogs.

Unfortunately Reggie does have some health concerns. While he was in boarding waiting for a foster it was discovered that he has a large abdomen, tremendous thirst, frequent urination & some abnormal lab values. The thought is that he has Cushings disease which is an endocrine disorder, often due to a benign tumor of the pituitary gland. This causes an excess of cortisone levels in his bloodstream. Most common symptoms include increased thirst & urination, increased hunger & panting, a pot bellied abdomen, loss of hair  &  lack of energy. Further testing will be done after his next issue is taken care of....his tail. Reggie is a sweet, sweet dog who also has a "happy tail". What that means for him is that somewhere along the way he probably cracked the tip of his tail & it didn't heal properly, thus getting infected. Even though he was started on antibiotics when he got to boarding it wasn't enough & gangrene set in. He is now scheduled for a partial tail amputation this Friday .

Reggie also has something called pica...whether it is a learned behavior or a side effect of the Cushings will take time to discern. Reggie is ravenous & will eat just about anything. Over the holidays he got into some bananas, a turkey carcass, frozen hamburger plus some non food things being books, coffee pods, &  hand warmers. Unfortunately the last cost him a unpleasant trip to the emergency room & an over night hospital stay. Thank goodness my daughter caught him eating the hand warmers! We called animal poison control & they had us induce vomiting. Unfortunately the hand warmers didn't come back up right away. Because the 2 warmers were a fatal dose we rushed off to the emergency vet. They continued to induce vomiting until the warmers (now empty) come up. He was given several meds, X-rays were done & he stayed over night. He will continue on several meds (11 doses a day) for the next week since the iron from the hand warmers can cause internal bleeding & gastrointestinal upset. He is also on a bland diet, getting mostly rice or boiled hamburger, & applesauce.

Let's see, what else....as I said he is mostly house trained. I say this because although I think he is really completely house trained he is having occasional accidents through no fault of his own. It is very stressful for a dog to change family situations so they increase their water intake as a result of the stress. Plus,  as part of the Cushings he also drinks bowlfuls at a time. Thus his bladder gets filled very quickly. We try to let him out more frequently but sometimes we forget & he is so quiet & we don't always see him by the door  waiting to go out, thus accidents happen. Also because of his increased hunger I am also suggesting that he only be around older kids. I don't think Reggie has a mean bone in his body but with his appetite he is not gentle taking treats. I don't think he considers little fingers as treats but I also don't want to find out!

After Reggie's tail is taken care of he will be undergoing more testing for the probable Cushings. After that, in all likelihood, he will be started on medication to treat that. I am hoping that once treatment is started his appetite will return to normal, as will his desire for normal food ( no more books!).

Reggie has been running up the vet bills since he joined the RAGOM family & will continue to do so with his upcoming surgery & then testing for the Cushings (it's an all day vet visitor that too)& treatment. RAGOM doesn't put a dollar limit on each dog but their resources do limit the number of dogs that we can take in. If at all possible please consider making a donation to RAGOM to help with Reggie's vet care. He is a wonderful dog , gentle as can be, & deserving of a happy, & healthy life. Thanks!!