Athena

Athena is a sweet girl who transferred over to Forget Me Not Animal Shelter from another shelter so she could enjoy life in a foster home until her forever home finds her. She is almost 13 and is blind. She has had a full specialty check-up at Animal Eye Clinic of Spokane, which confirmed progressive retinal atrophy and secondary cataracts, with no hope of surgical improvement. Athena’s only medication is Diclofenac eye drops which she gets once daily to regulate inflammation in her eyes as a proactive prevention for glaucoma. These meds should run around $25-$30 per month. She should have her intraocular pressure checked every 6 months to be safe.

Her geriatric blood panel showed no conditions that cause concern; other than blindness, she is a healthy, happy senior looking for a wonderful last few years of life with a loving family. From the information received from her prior shelter, we know she was often left alone outside, where she would dig under the fence to go looking for stimulation elsewhere (not uncommon for blind dogs left to their own devices). So, Athena would appreciate becoming a right-hand-dog for her new family, with companionship and walks and snuffle mats and play time and anything else that gives her stimulation. She is not super active, but does need to be involved and engaged in life. In her current foster
home, she is quite happy knowing her house and her yard and has not once tried to dig out or wander off… all she needed was some love and attention!

There are a myriad of sources if you do a Google search for “adopting a blind dog” – Athena doesn’t think of it as a hardship, it is more of a superpower that gives her a better sense of smell! This lovely girl weighs about 70 pounds.

Athena has done well with other dogs of various sizes in her foster home, and enjoys being able to go in and out as she pleases. She is good on leash, and also likes to kick up her heels and play a bit safe within the fenced yard. She enjoys car rides and loads/unloads easily. Until she learns her new location, she will tend to get down on her elbows and edge herself along carefully – once she knows her space, she is confident and joyful.

She is house-trained and would be fine with older children who understand her blindness. Are you the right person or family to give Athena the best last years of life she could possibly want?

Video: https://youtu.be/sKhN9Put5Z0

Athena is posted for Forget Me Not Shelter located in Republic, WA. Forget Me Not transports adopted pets every month to meet their new families in Monroe WA and Spokane WA.

Athena’s listing: www.forgetmenotshelter.org/Dogs/1485Athena-BLIND/
Application link: www.forgetmenotshelter.org/Application/

This is not an ODH dog; we urge prospective adopters to do their own evaluation.