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[rotating-posts]I have a 2 yr ancient pom that i took from a “friend” that got caught with him in a NO PETS NO EXCEPTIONS apt. She had had him for a year before moving into the apt, she is just an idiot (for lack of a better word). She questioned me to take care of him in June 09, we still have him.
The agreement was for me to take him in and take care of him for a couple weeks till she finds a new apt, well we still have him and she is still in the same apt. She was to pay for ALL expenses for the dog and come over a few days per week to take him to the dog park and spend time with him, etc.
After having him a few days i noticed that he isn’t fixed, is only pee pad trained, has very nearly no obedience training, and is being “fed” kibbles and bits. He wouldn’t eat much and was severely under weight. I questioned her about it and she said she just usually just feeds him what she eats (all quick food, she is really unbalanced individual). After a week of having him he developed an abscessed anal gland. I took him to the vet and learned that he had not had his vaccinations for over a year and wasn’t vaccinated for rabies either. I got it all done and paid the bill (called her and questioned her first, and she said she would pay me back).
Long tale fleeting she visits him even less now, she wont let me have him fixed, and has only paid me a small part of the grand she owes me in vet bills for this poor dog. I feel terrible for the dog, Gizmo, every time i let her take him for a day because he always comes back shaky, skinnier, and flea ridden. I am a bartender and she is a bar glide; she will come pick him up because she says she misses him, then i will see her out that night (observably doesn’t miss him too much, in view of the fact that she left him locked up at home to go out and drink). I feel like i am abusing poor gizmo by letting her come get him, even for just one day.
I have trained him to be obedient, he is fed on the raw diet, and i keep him healthy. But just this last time she came and got him (2 days ago) and he wont eat now. He wont eat his favorite raw diets, no treats, no cheese, nothing. And he has a bulge about the size of a small egg between the underside of his anus and his testicles (it isn’t his anal glands, as i have had to handle him for this before so i know what that looks like).
So now i dont know what to do. I have grown to see him as my own, it doesn’t look like she will ever get her life together (she is 21, acts like she is 12) much less go into a place that allows pets. She paid $300 for him from a byb and I have paid multiple times that just in vet bills for her poor care taking. I have to bathe him every time she brings him back due to the fleas, so i am worried about his skin getting dry even even if i am using a gentle oatmeal clean.
How should i get him to eat, what should i get him to eat? How do i get her to stop feeding him crap food? Is this what is making him not want to eat? Did it cause his new lump?
I am taking him to the vet this week, i just hope it doesn’t come to it because she seems like she doesn’t want to pay what she owes as it is. But i will do what i have to to keep gizzy healthy and pleased.
Sorry it is so long, i just dont know what to do in these cases. THanks for your help
she doesnt have him “officially” registered. She got him from a byb and never bothered to register him with the city.
just to be clear, i like gizmo as my own and he deserves the best. I dont mind at all providing vet care and giving all the best food and obedience. As far as the vet is concerned, he is mine, in view of the fact that she cant give me the name of her fundamental vet, because she cant remember it, my vet has be converted into his. In view of the fact that taking him in I got my own pom, Kujo, and they are best friends. I would kill me to separate them at this point
be grateful you so much for all of the positive feed back, it really helps
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Tags: Back, Bar Fly, Bartender, Couple Weeks, crappy, dilemma, Dog Fleas, Fast Food, Few Days, Fleas., Fraction, Gizmo, issues, Kibbles And Bits, Knot, No Exceptions, Obedience Training, owner, Pets, Pom, Rabies, Raw Diet, Rescue, side, Vaccinated, Vaccinations, Vet Bills, w/feeding
At this stage I’d be considering it my dog.
I’d tell her that if she officially gives you ownership of Gizmo than not to agonize about the bills – than you technically would have paid her much much more than she paid for the dog.
If she refuses then tell her you’ll be taking action to get the thousands she owes you.
She doesn’t seem to care about him at all.
Have her sign ownership of the dog over to you. Let her know she has the option to sign ownership over to you or you will be forced to take her to court to get the vet fees. Get it all in prose.
You’re in a no win situation.
She could choose to go and take”her” dog with her.
If you force her hand, she’ll take her dog out of spite. You have nothing in prose.
All you can do ( if you want) is care for the dog , expect nothing from her and get your satisfaction from know ing you have done the noble thing.
What I would do is just stop letting her take the dog. I would just flat out tell her that she’s not fit to be the owner, and she hasn’t paid you back for all the vet bills, so I bet she’d be more than willing to surrender the dog to you if you forgive her debt. I just couldn’t keep turning him over to her for her to abuse. He observably needs vet care that she’s not willing to provide, and you seem like you’re willing and able. I’d just take the dog. She’s going to have a really hard time proving it’s hers.
You know she doesn’t have the money, so forcing her hand to turn the dog over to you is in everyone’s best interest. Like the others said, tell her to sign the dog over to you, or you’ll be forced to take her to small claims.
Who is he officially registered to , this other lady?
If so tell her to sign him over, and you will forget the bills.
And next time she comes for him tell her no, because the
dog is getting baffled. Dogs need to know who is in their
pack and as you know, they need stability. I can see you
just want to give him a excellent home.
If you can seek legal advice.
Tell her if she doesnt give the dog over to you your calling the police for animal cruelty charges. you can try calling the ASPCA in your area or the police and twelling them about this lump and about what is going on question them for their advice. let them know u want to do this all legally if you call the police before she does (adage u stole her dog or somthing) and clarify they will be on your side and not thinking you stole her dog and abused it should she call and lie.
You are basically stuck with full care and cost on this situation, unless you have a written agreement to the effect otherwise.
Tell her to get lost, assume full car of the animal and like the small bugger to fatality.
Get it to the vet and get full treatment for all ailments and get the dog licensed in your name and chipped in case she wants a fight, she dumped the dog on you and you place hundreds into care and feeding and if she wants it back then she can fight you in court after she pays up.
As for food, some smaller dogs you have to feed some dogs soft food and some can handle the kibble, it depends on their teeth, the teeth of small dogs are sensitive and frankly small Gozmo is probably hurting every time it eats.
I had a dog named Gozmo she was a Shih-Tzu and passed 13 years ago, I am sorry you have so much distress but I must go and wipe my eyes.
Oh, you are in a hard positon. I would tell her to either sign the dog over to you and if she refuses tell her you will hand him into a shelter as an abandoned dog. I know you wouldn’t do that but the threat of it might promote her to sign a change of ownership document.
I would not allow her to take the dog away from you for any period of time. She’s not caring for him and causing him harm. As this self is no “friend” you won’t be sorry to lose her.
She will probably threaten to take you to court and that would be a excellent thing if she follows through. I doubt she would. As you’ve had the dog for so long and have paid for his food, care, and all his vet fees I doubt the court would rule that she has any claim on him at all. If it came to it a court of law would declare you as the legal owner of the dog.
Really, you have nothing to lose by refusing her access to the dog. You’re doing a splendid job with him but people like her do not appreciate what others do to get them out of distress.
This small dog is a very lucky boy indeed to have you caring for him.
I’m sure the lump on his butt is making him feel very sick which is probably why he is refusing to eat. I would take him to the vet ASAP. He needs immediate vet care.
I’m very sure a judge would award you the dog at this point, and I agree that you ought to tell her in view of the fact that he lives with you and she owes you so much money, if she will sign him over to you (to make it legal and so she can’t renege on you) she won’t have to pay you for what you’ve spent on him, and you won’t take her to small claims court. If she refuses, then take her to court. I see no reason why you wouldn’t win, Just make sure you’ve kept all your vet payment, food, and anything else you’ve spent on him receipts, and documented how long you’ve had him. If you can get witnesses that have seen her at the bar hanging out when she’s taken the the dog home with her because she “misses” him, that would help your case, too.
On getting him to eat, have you tried high quality canned food, like Blue Buffalo Wilderness? Give him liquid baby vitamins; they taste excellent and he won’t refuse them.
I can see you’ve already spent a tub on the small guy, but only a vet can tell you what the lump is for sure, so it looks like you need to get a diagnosis. If it turns out it’s something that will need surgery, then you can appeal that to the judge as well.
Best wishes, and if you can follow through on this, it looks like to me he’s yours. I wouldn’t try anything illegal when as it stands, the law is on your side.
Awww….excellent work on helping him. But PLEASE do not ever give that dog back to her, even for an hour. She’s a borderline animal abuser and at some point, Gismo has the aptly to a safe, secure home (that would be yours).
There’s a couple underside lines. This arrangement needs to end asap. Gizmo is your dog. And also he needs a vet try out asap. If he’s not eating at all, this has to be tomorrow, because you don’t want this lagging into the weekend. If you have enough money to microchip him, do it then and there. The dog is now yours. (Possession is 9/10 of the law). And then refuse to give her the dog when she wants it. If you say no, she has no recourse.
Then make up a TOTAL cost estimate of everything the dog has cost you – vet bills, food, etc. Tell her you’ll restore the dog if she reimburses you for all of it (if you reckon she has the money don’t do this). If she has the money, then tell her she has legally abandoned her pet, you’ve spoken with an attorney and if she wants him back, she needs to go through the courts. Very few people will do this.
But please please don’t make him go back there ever. You may never see him again.
you shouldnt let her take him anymore maybe tell her the reason for no more visits is that your paying all this money to care for him so you want him trained the way you want him to be and when she takes him he comes back spoiled and you have to retrain him and its not honest to you dont tell her what a rotten dog self she is do whatever you got too the keep poor dog
Tell her to pay you in full immediately or you’re taking her to court. Tell her that you plot to question for custody of Gizmo in view of the fact that you’ve had him for very nearly a year and you’ve been caring for him. As for Gizmo, tell her you’ll trade her a keg of beer for the dog. Gizmo needs to be treated for the lump. If he isn’t eating, it may be something to do with his intestines. It could be from the junk food she feeds him. It’s really not excellent for him to be going from genteel care to neglect, then to genteel care, back to neglect. You deserve him more than she does and anyone in their aptly mind would agree to give you ownership of Gizmo.
As far as custody goes, she really doesn’t deserve the dog back. I reckon you should try to get ownership of the dog. Here are some options:
1) Tell your friend you will not make her pay half the money she owes for veterinary care, food, etc (or you could even be nice and offer to let her forget the entire debt) if she signs ownership over to you. Make sure you both sign a written contract that says you now own the dog and she only owes you X amount of money for his care. This is the kind, gentle way.
2) Handle the dog like an abandoned pet. In my state, you send the owner a qualified letter stating that you need your debt taken care of and/or a permanent home found for him or you will consider him abandoned and take ownership of him yourself. She would have 10 days to respond after getting that letter. Your vet will know your state’s pet abandonment law pretty well because there are always the occasional jerks who never pick their pet up because the surgery bill was too high.
3) Talk to your vet, animal control, or the ASPCA in your area. Find out if you can legally assume ownership of Gizmo without her consent, and what steps you must take to do so.
4) You also have an option to take her to small claims court and sue her for the money she owes you. In fact, you could probably do this even if she gives him to you as long as you don’t offer to forgive the debt. You may or may not get everything she owes, but you could get a excellent chunk of it. It doesn’t matter that you didn’t have a written agreement. The fact that you had an oral agreement for you to watch Gizmo and her to pay you back is obvious by the fact that she has been making no have a crack to get him back from you permanently. And you can prove by the vet bills (and a statement from the vet) that everything was a medically necessary expense. Her only defense would be to claim she gave you the dog. You could refute that with any email or text messages she sent in which she talked about him as hers (like “I’m picking up my dog tonight” or “You can’t neuter my dog.”) If you had an email exchange now about the money she owes, that would be useful evidence.
The problem here is that in view of the fact that she’s is still legally the owner you probably can’t just keep him for yourself without taking other steps like I suggested above. If you try to sue for the money before ownership his settled, the judge could make you give him back to her (unless you offer to keep him in exchange for part of the debt – say $300 worth AND she agrees). If you just try to keep him, she could sue you.
As for his medical issues…
Diet: He needs to stay on the same diet whoever he is staying with. Changing diets suddenly can throw off a dog’s inclination. Even getting too many unusual table scraps can upset his stomach. Whatever diet he ends up on should be balanced and healthy. I recommend commercial canned or dry diets – homecooked meals are hard (but possible) to balance and a lot of work, and raw diets can apply bacteria around your home. But frankly, as long as it’s balanced, anything is better than quick food junk.
To start getting him to eat, find something that he likes. Don’t agonize about balancing it at first. Try canned dog food, chicken breast, or even baby food pureed meats. Once he’s eating, start mixing it with more and more regular dog food.
Unfortunately, you can’t make her stop feeding crap food until Gizmo is no longer her dog. You can try to tell her “the vet wants him to only eat this from now on.” Who knows, you might be pleasantly surprised by her listening to you.
As far as the lump goes, I doubt it was caused by poor diet. It might be what’s causing his poor inclination it it’s uncomfortable. But all you can really do about it is to have the vet try out it out as soon as possible. It could be very nearly anything.