We have a new dog – Tiny!

Tiny.

One of our friends who works at the local shelter (the same one where we got Penny) told us that there was a 14 year old and sick yorkie at the shelter whose elderly owner had died. The family did not want to keep her.

We went to the shelter to meet Tiny. She seemed lethargic and sort of sick. She had a stubborn infection. She had some rotting teeth that gave her very bad breath. She is mostly blind and deaf. Her lower jaw is off center. The shelter was not sure how long she would last.

We brought Penny and Shaffron to meet her at the shelter and Tiny mostly ignored the other dogs.

We took Tiny home as a foster dog. The shelter stated that they didn’t expect any heroic efforts to keep her alive. This was in mid-November.

We brought her home. She wasn’t eating very much. She is not completely house-trained, though she eventually got used to using pee pads inside the house. We thought it was a fairly short-term commitment so we decided to make it an official adoption for hospice care to keep her comfortable.

Tiny wishing everyone Happy Holidays!

And then… we tried a second round of stronger medicine on her infection and a different medicine for a parasite. Those both worked.  We found a rare dog food brand that she loves – of course it requires special order at a pet store 25 miles away. She began eating much more and putting weight back on. Over the next few weeks, she perked up a lot – she was running around the house in the mornings and pacing circles around the kitchen all evening.

At a recent vet visit, her blood work and liver and kidney functions were back within normal range. She is now healthy enough to have her rotting teeth removed which should help her bad breath. If her teeth can be fixed, the vet said she could see Tiny living another several years!

With that prognosis, we knew we needed to get Tiny a sweater for the cold winter. After the success of Pennyguin, we wanted something similar. We found a raccoon sweater for Tiny.

Tiny’s raccoon sweater – when wearing it, we call her Tinooki.

For those fans of Mario – we thought it looked a bit like Tanooki suit Mario so we started calling her Tinooki when she is wearing her sweater.

Tiny looking bright and perky.