Boston

Meet Boston, a handsome pit bull that Chain of Hope received a call about last January. Of course it was bitter cold and we had lots of snow. Some people called and said that the people next door had moved out and left their pit bull behind. Unfortunately this happens pretty often. I just don’t understand it, how someone can just drive off and leave their dog standing there.

The neighbors were trying to find some help for this boy. They had been feeding and watering him. They really liked him and I think felt sorry for him. I headed over to see what we could do. We were so full and had several pit bulls in our adoption program. When I got over there, this pit was standing on the front porch of the nice neighbors. He had food and water out. When I approached, he was pretty scared of me and slipped off of the porch to head around to the back.

I went around back of the house where he had lived to see what the conditions were back there. They had kept him in a home-made pen in the backyard. Now this poor boy was abandoned. We were crammed full of dogs because of the terrible weather and we had no where to put this boy. We talked to the people and told them that we could pay for all of his vetting and go ahead and get him neutered and vaccinated and heart worm tested and in the meantime, maybe a spot would open up or  we could locate a foster home. We made arrangements for me to pick him up the next week and get him vetted. I left them some more dog food so that they could keep feeding him and told them I’d see them the next week.

We had several conversations with the neighbors who were caring for this dog. They had agreed to keep him if we could vet him and bring them a dog house and a crate to use in the house. They seemed to like this dog and we were relieved that he would have somewhere decent to go.

I picked up this boy the next week. While he was at the vet, the  neighbors who had said that they would keep him called and said that they couldn’t keep him after all and for us not to bring him back. Oh my goodness, this poor boy-it was like being abandoned twice! So sad. We knew we would figure something out, we knew we had to help this wonderful dog.

We named this boy Boston. He was an amazing dog-very affectionate and grateful. We did notice that his eyes were “weird”. They just looked big and kind of wild looking. Some people were apprehensive about approaching him because of the look he had. We just thought he had kind of had freaky-looking eyes and didn’t think that much about it. He was a healthy dog, played, ate well. He didn’t act like anything was wrong with him at all.

It wasn’t long before we had a wonderful family interested in Boston. They came and met him and really, really liked him. Boston seemed to really, really like them, too! They had 2 Doxies and they brought them down to Chain of Hope to have them meet Boston, too, and they all did great! They lived out on some acreage, but were very dog savvy as far as helping him learn his boundaries, etc. Boston was doing great for a couple of weeks.

One day, Boston’s new owner noticed that Boston didn’t seem to feel well. He just acted like his eyes hurt and he was in pain. They ended up taking him to an ophthalmologist who ran tests and examined Boston. Unfortunately, Boston was diagnosed with juvenile glaucoma. It was not a good prognosis. Boston was going to eventually lose all of his vision-he would go blind. He would need daily medication and help to adjusting to life as a blind dog. The family that had adopted him ended up with some more unforeseen responsibilities in their lives and they were overwhelmed. They decided that this was something that they just couldn’t deal with at this particular time in their lives and they reluctantly returned Boston, with lots of tears.

Boston was back at Chain of Hope and still just loving life!

We decided that we would get a second opinion and so we took Boston to Dr. Susan Keil of Keil Veterinary Ophthalmology.  Dr. Keil had helped me before with a dog with severe eye problems. She was delighted to meet Boston.

Dr. Keil also diagnosed Boston with juvenile glaucoma and agreed that he was going to lose his vision. In fact, he had already lost a fair amount of it. He had had an intense spike in his eye pressure and that is when the family had taken him in the first time. That had subsided, but the goal now was to keep his pressure down in his eyes as much as we could. Boston was prescribed eye drops to be given 3x a day. She wanted to see him back in 3 weeks and we will measure the pressure and see where we’re at. We can tell, though, that Boston has had even more vision loss occur.

He’s a great dog and he loves to play! He’s great with other dogs. He’s a very handsome pit bull and he has a super personality. Boston is a happy boy! He is also one of the softest dogs in the world! His coat is gorgeous.

 

 

We love our Boston! He’s an amazing dog. We will be right here beside him, helping him transition to being a totally blind dog, at only 2 years old. He will be just fine. There is a possibility that he might need a procedure on his eyes in the future, but thanks to our supporters, Chain of Hope will take care of anything this boy needs.

Right now what Boston needs most is a foster home or a forever home! He deserves to finally land in a loving, permanent home. Maybe it’s yours!