Rucker

Rucker came to his ODH final refuge home in pretty terrible condition. Unfortunately, this is a common story. He was terribly matted, he had an ulceration in one eye and breathing difficulties and was terrified. His teeth were so rotten that they were sitting in pockets of infection which caused his tonsils to swell. No wonder he had swallowing and breathing problems! After several months of vet care and love from his foster dad, Rucker has emerged to a funny, playful, trusting and adorable little fellow. He loves his foster mom, but is tired of her constantly administering medication and eye drops and taking him for vet visits where they do all kinds of bad things to him. We are not sure if Rucker understands that all the intensive vet care has made him feel so much better than he has for years. He is an 11-pound Maltese and likely was used for breeding by someone who did not care about him, which would account for the extreme neglect. He is one smart little boy and wants to please so potty training and learning some basic social skills came easily. He bonded quickly with his ODH final refuge siblings. It is a joy to watch him and his dad do yard work or just sit and watch TV cuddled up together. Rucker will be given the love and care that he was denied for so long until the end of his days. Little Rucker’s struggles with a strange neurologic problem progressed to the point that his ODH mom couldn’t ask him to stay with her any longer. He’d fought it so uncomplainingly but breathing became difficult and sleeping did to. Rucker had a year with more love, comfort and care than he’d likely had in his younger years and he will be very much missed. He passed away May 5, 2014.