Success Stories

Mr. Henry, July, 2000

As told by Mr. Henry's rescuer:

A volunteer working at the Sacramento County Animal shelter brought Henry to me as a rescue of CCLRR.

When I first saw him my heart broke, I truly didn't think I could do anything to save him. He had blood and mucus coming out of his nose, he had blood in his urine, and he weighed maybe 40 pounds, I had never in my life seen a dog that was as skinny as he was; every bone in his body seemed to be visible under the skin! He looked at me with the saddest eyes I'd ever seen. I thought he was somewhere between 3 & 4 years old. He didn't wag his tail, he didn't move, we carried him to my front porch and put him on a dog bed. Because of kennel cough I couldn't bring him inside with my dogs. I took him to the vet and they told me he weighed 36 pounds, that he had a severe sinus infection and secondary urinary infection, they asked if I wanted to put him down. He looked at me with those eyes, as if he understood what had been asked, he wagged his tail!

We contacted LABMED, as our Rescue was not able to fund his full treatment, they agreed to help.

Henry spent 3 days in the hospital on IV antibiotics and getting his sinus cavities flushed. When I brought him home I was faced with the challenge of trying to get him to eat, he refused. Maybe he had forgotten what food was. I spent many hours sitting on my front porch with his head in my lap, on the second day we finally came to an agreement, I would take a little piece of chicken and hold it to his mouth and he would eat it. We did this for six more days, chicken was all he would agree to.

Finally he got to the point where he would eat it out of his bowl if I held it for him; after 2 weeks he started eating it with rice mixed in. He still didn't seem to have much will to live, he would get up to go to the bathroom then come and lay back down. He hadn't wagged his tail since that first day at the vet's office. Then one day while we were sitting together on the porch he saw a grape juice bottle sitting on the other end, like a flash he was up and had the jug in his mouth, he started throwing it over his head and "attacking" it! HENRY WAS PLAYING!!

I couldn't believe it, he was having the time of his life, I started laughing and that seemed to make him happier, he "killed" that juice bottle for 30 minutes. He was having a terrific time.

After that there was no stopping him, he realized that life was actually good, great in fact, he wanted to live, and to live meant PLAY!! Henry was a nut! He would play with his metal food dish, he would play with the bottle, he found a coffee can and that became one of his favorite toys, he would stick his head into it and toss it off and catch it and do it again and again.

Henry's gusto for life amazed me, he was truly a happy boy, life was not so bad after all.

Henry is now with his second foster, where he has learned beautiful house manners and sleeps on the bed with his foster mom, we are still looking for his "forever" home. It has to be with someone who has a sense of humor, he is very well mannered but gets his greatest joy from making people laugh at his antics.

And it turns out, Henry is only a baby, the vet thinks he is 18 months old. There have been numerous people that have wanted him, but he is a very special guy and requires a very special home, so we are still looking. Henry was my sixth rescue, but he is the one I will remember forever. I saw him 2 weeks ago, I think he will always remember me too, he came running up to me and gave me a great big hug!! (I'm the only one he is still ill mannered enough to do this to!) Thank you LABMED for helping us show Henry that life really is worth living!!!