Minky

From Minky’s ODH family:
We have been lucky enough to welcome into our home Minky (AKA, “The Minkster” because he has become surprisingly sporty, and “The Mink” because he manages to make 10 pounds look stout). A 15 year old Shih Tzu is a grand departure for us (we have bigger dogs). Like a lot of ODH dogs, Minky came with his share of health issues.. Minky showed up with bladder stones, thin fur, nonstop itching, sight and hearing loss,and some trouble with weakness and coordination. On paper, that all sounds like a dog on his last lap. In reality, he arrived at our home with no sign of “quit” in his attitude. Within a half hour, he had personally inspected every square foot of our house. Within two days, he began explaining to the other dogs that, little did they know, the little man was in charge of the show. Five months later, most of his health problems have been successfully treated, although some of them will require ongoing help and vigilance for the rest of his life. His muscles have improved drastically and his coordination along with it. He had surgery for the bladder stones and recovered like a champ. We’ve found a medicine, albeit rare and expensive, to control the itching, and just in the past month he has gone from a balding old man to a tiny yeti, with a thick coat and a spring in his step. The Mink is part of our family now, he’s doing very well, and he may be getting younger by the day. We are so thankful to have him.

Update from his ODH mom: We lost our dear 15+ year old Minky, our first ODH Final Refuge dog, and he shared his life with us for almost 15 months. He had a spunky personality and had little trouble giving the the big dogs his 5-tooth salute, despite his 9-10 pound size and all of his health problems. He even challenged the vets who diagnosed his pulmonary hypertension by hanging in there for over 7 months instead of their “most optimistic” prediction of 4. I miss him at every turn. His sweet face, his soft fur, his snuffling under furniture to find stray cat food, his silky ears, his presence at night next to our bed, his Mink Mink sound when he was annoyed, and his wonderful huggableness! Thanks for spending your last months with us, Mink! I hope you’re running through the fields and spending time in the arms of your first Mom.