Entered: 01/09/2011
Status: Adopted
Age: 10
Color: Liver/White
Weight:
Gender: Altered Female
Location: Ashburn, VA
Health: UTD, HW-, treatment for ear infections complete, deaf, severe arthritis, benefiting from medication to assist with incontinence, diagnosed with partial laryngeal paralysis and protein-losing nephropathy
Temperament: Great with adults, good with children as young as two, great with other dogs, unknown with cats
Original:
Noel was found running as a stray in Maryland and taken to a local shelter. Since the shelter was experiencing an influx of dogs along with low adoption rates, they were unable to hold Noel for very long. They called MAESSR and she was taken into foster care the next day.
Noel had some breathing issues and incontinence, so she was immediately taken to the vet to have some tests run. She was such a good girl as she was poked and prodded. Noel was started on various medicines as her foster family awaited the test results. Sadly, those results showed that she suffers from protein-losing nephropathy, an irreversible condition which leaves her with only a few months to live.
Although not much is known about her past, her foster family reports that she has been a wonderful house guest! Noel is calm around people and LOVES to snuggle with adults and children alike. She also loves to chew on hard bones and to carry around her tennis ball, making funny noises when she chews on them! In the kitchen, Noel searches for every morsel of food and loves to eat anything she can get her paws on. She is being fed a special diet to help control her protein intake.
Now that she is on incontinence medicine, Noel is dependable overnight and had been fine for up to four hours at a time when her foster parents are at work. She still has an occasional accident but that is a product of her disease. She has been given free run of the house with no problems. Noel sleeps on her dog beds, but now that her hips are feeling better, she has made it up once or twice for an afternoon nap on the human furniture. It is especially apparent that Noel is deaf when the six dogs at her foster home bark like crazy as someone comes into the house and she can be found soundly sleeping in the back bedroom, oblivious to all the noise. If she sees the other dogs barking, she will join in, even if she is not sure of the reason! 🙂
Like most Springers, Noel enjoys going for a drive and is a great rider. She does not care for being left in the car and will bark the whole time she is alone. She is great with all children and enjoys gentle pets from them. With her ears still hurting, Noel is not fond of getting them cleaned, but that may change once they start to feel better. Noel loves to roam in the backyard with the resident dogs and is content watching the younger dogs play as she gets her sniffing in.
Even with all her health issues, her foster family has decided to adopt Noel and let her live out her time as happy and comfortable as she can be. MAESSR folks have big hearts as do the Springers they love.