Althea

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Updated 4/6/05: Althea had surgery to correct her eyelids and it turned out wonderfully. She looks a little weird since the vet clipped her facial fur short for the surgery, but the hair will grow back. Allie is much happier now that she is not dealing with the pain of her eye problems.

Much to her foster mom’s surprise, Allie has proven herself to be housebroken. She is very well behaved in the house and does not get on furniture. Allie has also proven herself to be good with people and children as young as four. This sweet young lady would love the opportunity to show some family how grateful she is just to be with them. She is ready for an adopting family who will be just as grateful to share their love with her.

Original: Althea was pulled from a shelter in the Richmond, Virginia area. She had been there since October. When she was pulled, she had a bad case of hookworms and was extremely skinny. Her foster mom has been supplementing her food with pasta to try to put some weight on her. Althea also had bad infections in both eyes when she was picked up. She went to the vet the next morning for a complete exam. The vet determined that there were several issues going on with the eyes. One issue is “dry eye” in both eyes. This means the eye is not (or cannot) produce adequate tears for good eye health. Also, on both eyes, the eyelids were rolled inward so that the hair on the eyelids was rubbing the eyeball, and both eyes were very infected.

The good news is that no ulcers had developed on the eyes. Althea is currently being treating with an eye antibiotic with steroids in it for the infection. Her foster mom is giving her special eye drops to encourage tear production. Hopefully, in a couple of weeks, it can be determined if Allie will need surgery to correct her eyelids. In addition, poor Allie had both yeast and bacterial infections in both ears. This now seems to be cleared up.

Shining through all the discomfort of her health issues is Allie’s wonderful, fun-loving personality. She has patiently allowed her foster mom to put in eye medicine several times a day and then gets very excited for the pieces of hot dog that she gets when it is all done. Allie has not been socialized in any way. She is crate trained and sleeps in a crate at night. She does not know any commands and pulls on her leash. She is not house broken at this time, but her foster family is working on that with her. MAESSR will require her adopting family to take this girl to an obedience class so she can develop some confidence and become a well-behaved member of her new family.

Allie desperately wants someone to love her and to have fun with her. Once her health issues are resolved, she will be ready for someone who will enjoy helping her to widen her world and who will allow her to become a cherished part of their life. Is that someone you?