Champagne Got Adopted (again!)

I've been holding my breath about posting this for fear of jinxing it!  But the trial week is almost up and I haven't heard anything, so I'm going to allow myself to feel like it's going to stick this time.  Last Saturday Champagne got adopted by a young couple.  They're both teachers and home for the summer while she settles in (awesome!) and are runners, so she'll be getting plenty of attention and exercise in her new home.  She also has some kitty cat siblings.  We tested her with our cats after she was returned and determined that it would be safe for her to have feline friends.  So Champagne joins George and Elaine and has been renamed Cosmoa (her new parents are fans of Seinfeld, can you tell?).

Woohoo!

Champagne is Back

Two years and two dozen or so dogs later, we have our very first return.  Champagne's family brought her back to us Wednesday evening.  Apparently their cat hid under the bed once and she became obsessed with looking for it under the bed (I think this went on for about a day).  Even though she was fine around the cat any other time she saw her and never actually tried to hurt her, they decided it just wasn't going to work.

And that's okay totally sucks.  Granted, the rescue has a one week trial period for every adoption for just such a reason; so that if people decide it isn't the right fit they'll bring the dog back to us instead of re-homing it on their own or developing behavior problems until they're out of control.  But I really liked these people and thought they could give Champagne the type of home she needed, but I guess not.  I'm not mad.  I'm just sad for Champagne.  And I'm not going to lie; it's kind of a blow to my ego.  I always try so hard to get my dogs into the very best homes for them and settle for nothing less than a great match.  I am not afraid to turn people down if I don't think it's good for the dog.  I was really proud of my success rate, darn it!

Back to the drawing board we go.  At least Champagne's kennel cough is sounding much better and I'm not worried I'm going to find one of her organs coughed up in her crate every morning or when I get home from work.

Plus, now she comes with lots of swag.  The family that adopted her insisted that she keep her toys.  So whoever adopts her now gets a new member of the family plus 3 stuffed animals, a Kong and a tennis ball.  Good deal, right?

Champagne's Room with a View

This afternoon we took Champagne to her new forever home in downtown Chicago.  Along with loving new parents and a feline friend, she has a great view of Lake Michigan from her living room (Thomas was disappointed he wasn't going to live there as well!).  Her new parents saw right past her illness (she's battling kennel cough, as I mentioned here) and fell in love.  Champagne's new mom said that she looks like she is straight out of Central Casting!

Champagne started to settle in right away and was immediately drawn to the huge new bed that her parents got her, along with a cool stuffed toy that looks like a chicken...or maybe it was a duck.  Anyway, it was clear that she was home.  We're sure they're going to have lots of fun going to walks along the beach and visiting a vacation home in Michigan (Champagne loves car rides!).

I took these right before we dropped her off.  She looks super happy, almost like she knows she's going to be with her forever family!

Congratulations, Champagne!

Sick Ward

When it rains, it pours, right?

This is what's been going on in the house for the last week or so

Why yes, that is an awful lot of medical stuff.  Who is it for?  More like who isn't it for!  In the last 10 days every single animal in the house has gotten sick in some way or another.

It started last week when Hancock began scratching at his ear uncontrollably one night and we quickly discovered he had a pretty yucky ear infection.  Luckily (?) I already had an appointment to take Lenny and Waldo to the vet for their yearly check up, so Hancock tagged along.  I must have looked like a crazy person walking in with two cat carriers and Hancock in tow!  So the cotton swabs and everything to the right of it are for him.  He gets a steroid pill to ease inflammation, a wash to clean his ears following by a quick cotton swabbing to get the gunk out and then medicated drops to fight the infection.

A few days after that Lenny began vomiting and...other things.  After seeing he wasn't getting better I put in a call to our vet and they said to bring him in.  We couldn't figure out what was causing this, so they sent us off with an antibiotic to help with intestinal inflammation and the kitty equivalent of pepcid (so that's the two blue bottles on the left) and orders to bring him back if he was still showing symptoms in two days.  The moment I got home with Lenny, Waldo vomited, too!  Good thing the vet had given me more than enough medicine for Lenny so I was able to split it up between them.

And did I mention that right as I was getting ready to take Lenny to the vet I heard Champagne coughing and vomiting?  I called one of our rescue directors who confirmed it was likely kennel cough and arranged to pick up some antibiotics for her (in the baggy) and was told that I could give her a little Robitussin to ease her cough until the medicine kicked in.

Whew - got all that?  We're not exactly strangers to having a sick animal in the house (it comes with the territory of fostering), but having so many all at once kind of threw me for a loop!  But now everyone is feeling much better and all but Champagne are finishing up their meds (she'll need to be on her antibiotics for a full two weeks).  So let's toast to good health!

Meet Champagne!

I'm a little behind on this one!  I brought Champagne home last Saturday and she.was.filthy.  Unfortunately (but also fortunately for her) she was spayed just a few days before arriving here from Southern Indiana (or thereabouts), which means no baths allowed for a week.  What a difference a bath makes!  Last night Thomas gave her a nice shampooing and you could see the difference in her personality (and appetite, oddly enough).  She's got more confidence and is eating better.  Plus she smells great!

Champagne is a Golden Retriever and is probably 2-4 years old (it's tricky to guess her age because she's a little white in the face but has nice teeth).  She's very sweet and has great house manners.  She doesn't try to jump up on you to greet you or to counter surf, which is a rare quality in a Golden!  She's okay with other dogs and seems completely oblivious to the fact that there are two cats in the house.  Champagne is a typical retriever in that she must have a toy in her mouth at all times and loves to play fetch.  The funniest thing she does is drop whatever toy she's holding into the water bowl while she takes a drink.  I'm still undecided as to whether this is an adorable quirk or extremely possessive behavior, but she doesn't seem to mind my approaching her and her toy while she drinks, so it's likely somewhere in between but mostly harmless.  We're sure she'll find a forever home quickly!