Read Westley's story
in his mum's own words.
"Westley arrived with our WRC area director and was very anxious to get to the backyard to meet our Havanese, Cody, who greeted him with an unwelcome growl, but before long they were off together smelling the backyard. Wes was clipped about as short as was possible all over his little body, but was full of energy. He had been turned into Westie Rescue by a young lady who said she was moving to the States and couldn't take him with her. I was informed that he had Addison's Disease and needed daily medication to stay alive. I also learned that he had been kept in a cage most of his waking hours during the day, while his owner was a work, but slept with her at night. He had also been kenneled frequently on the weekends with no reason given.
He was unable to get through the night without having to pee and for the first few nights peed in his cage before I could get him outside. I got him to the vet and it was discovered that he had a severe urinary tract infection and he was put on medication. The messing in the house and the alarm set for 2 AM to get him outside continued, but within 3 weeks we could all get through the night with no accidents. From the beginning he had not been caged at any time during the day and now the training had to begin for him to sleep in his own bed rather than a crate at night. Having another dog in the house to show him what to do seemed to help a lot since it didn't take him long to understand he had his own bed to sleep in, but both had to be in the people bed at 5 AM each morning, for another hour of rest.
His first Addison's ratio was borderline crisis so his medication had to be raised and we kept his world as routine as possible with minimal stress. With the assistance of the Yahoo AD group, a wonderful person with Addisonian dogs and volumes of info off the Internet, the signs to watch for were now noted. Our first major crisis that required hospitalization for the day on an IV didn't come until 5 months after he came to live with us. He was enjoying his homemade dog food and cookies so much that he had gained a little weight and it was just enough to require more medication to get his sodium and potassium levels back up to normal. Just previous to this, he had a seizure like episode that was diagnosed as Peripheral Vestibular Disorder which involved his eyes spinning around in his head and he was totally disoriented. This was corrected with Prednisone. We hope we have a handle on everything now too since he has been fine ever since.
A green eye, that showed up very pronounced in photos, was also a concern and a visit to an ophthalmologist confirmed a cataract. A follow-up visit to Guelph University Hospital diagnosed a detached retina and complete blindness in that eye, so for now that just has to be monitored.
He was very possessive with food growling at me if I went near his food dish, very defensive of anything he had when Cody went near him and would run away whenever I tried to catch him to put him in his cage, if I needed to go out. Eventually he learned "off", "sit" and that I would only be gone for short periods of time, and now will go in his Superyard when told. He was also very rough when playing with our neighbour's Westie, Calvin, and again learned with intervention, and by watching Cody and Calvin playing, what was acceptable play.
Westley needed some firm training and guidance and he is now a lovely little dog who is our social butterfly, greeting everyone who visits with great exuberance and lots of kisses. He loves to play with Cody, go for walks and car rides, chase anything that flies, and has learned that toys, especially ropes and balls, are great things to throw around the room and get attention from people. He has started his agility training and his favourite pastime is watching TV, because there just might be a dog in one of those commercials, again following the great example of his doggy teacher, Cody. My vet's comment kind of sums up Westley now, "He is the nicest little Westie I have ever seen," and I am so glad I decided to be a foster mom for Westie Rescues!"
Note from WRC ... Once in a while, WRC gets in a Westie that is very hard, if not impossible to place due to health and/or other reasons. As we do not consider euthanasia an option for those Westies who can go on to lead a relatively normal life, yet are deemed virtually unadoptable as they may require ongoing expensive treatments and/or medications, we place these Westies in permanent care homes, whereby WRC covers most, if not all of the veterinary expenses incurred. Sometimes these conditions are relatively short-term and the Westie may eventually be adopted; other times, they may be in the permanent care home for the rest of their life.
As you may imagine, this can be a very expensive undertaking by WRC and is why we are so very thankful to all the WRC supporters who come out to our events to raise the much-needed funds to help Westies like Westley.
WRC are also very grateful to the special foster mums like Carol, who open their homes and hearts to Westies like Westley.
If you are interested in becoming a WRC foster home, please read through our Policies and Procedures section.
If you would like to support our organization and/or make a donation, please visit our Fundraising section and see the many ways you can help.
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