Ginsburg - Ellettsville, IN 3/7/21

Meet Ginsburg!  He is a >12 yr old, 70 lb, neutered male Lab/Golden Retriever mix.

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Mannered Mutts Rescue pulled Ginsburg from Owen County's overflow shelter in September 2020. He was found as a stray three years ago and had been there ever since.  How does such a nice guy get overlooked and overlooked? 

 

The shelter had him listed as 12 years old, but the vet suspects that he could be a couple years older.  He is a sweet boy, very mellow (LOW energy), friendly, and well mannered. He is both dog and cat neutral, and he is good with meeting new people.

 

He has been diagnosed with Stage 2 kidney disease, Stage 4 dental disease, possible spleen cancer, and spondylitis - severe arthritis in his spine. He does enjoy short walks, but sometimes he stumbles and falls so will occasionally need help standing. He needs to be placed in a home with no more than one or two steps, or with someone who can keep him in part of their home where he won't require use of the stairs. Ginsburg does not have full control over his bladder or bowels, so will need frequent bathroom breaks. To minimize accidents inside the home, he needs to be taken out to the bathroom at least every 4 hours. A home with a fenced yard and a doggy door might be ideal, so he can let himself out. Belly bands can be used overnight if necessary. However, the vet said belly bands could possibly cause him to develop another UTI (he had three between June and October last year), so we would like to avoid extended duration use of them as much as possible.

 

His ideal home would be one without young children and high energy dogs that might play too roughly with him as it will be too overwhelming for him with his level of pain and medical conditions. He is currently on Farmina's Renal prescription dry food ($60 for 26lb bag), and we are supplementing his diet with Royal Canin's Renal wet canned food for additional moisture (twelve 12oz cans $40). He gets two Glycoflex Stage 3 ($39 for 120ct), two 300mg Gabapentin ($13 for 45 day supply), and 1/2 a 100mg caplet of Carprofen each day ($25 for 60 day supply). He is also currently receiving subcutaneous fluids once per week ($25 for five doses - gets 200ml) as part of his kidney treatment, so placing him with someone who is familiar with administering sub-fluids would be ideal. It's not hard at all!!  However, a vet can also do this for an additional cost. (We have been muzzling him for this at home.)

 

His approximate monthly maintenance cost for diet and medication management is $175. Because of his age and spondylitis, he is very easy to walk and doesn't jump up on people or things. He rarely barks. He's very good for every aspect of grooming. He lets us bathe him, clean his ears, and trim/dremel his nails at home. He also seems very comfortable in his muzzle and crate and has gotten along well with his foster brothers: a 2 year old Pit Mastiff and 10 year old Yorkipoo.

 

Overall, he is a very easy going dog. He enjoys sticking by his person's side, sleeping on soft beds/surfaces, getting face massages and ear rubs, and he LOVES food. Since he is on a special diet for his kidneys, we tend to stick to freeze dried fish skins and whole fish treats for special occasions, which he absolutely loves.

 

Mannered Mutts Rescue has adopted dogs in states as far away as Texas. However, we do not place dogs into homes with other pets if they live over 8 hours away from Bloomington, IN due to the higher risk of failure rate if the pets do not get along or they struggle to decompress. Because Ginsburg is a fospice dog, we would also need to be certain that an adopter outside of the 8 hour radius will be committed to maintaining his current level of care to ensure his best quality of life for the remainder of his life.

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We have a team of volunteers who process our applications via a separate email: adoption@manneredmuttsrescue.org. Inquiries should be sent to this email, and our team will provide them with the link to our online application form. It is a lengthy process, but it is outlined on our website under the "Adopt" tab.