PIERRE WELCOMES HIS NEW FRIEND - MURPHY

Hello, You may remember me as Marilyn's friend, Vickie, with two toy poodles.  We have been on this blog before showing Mable and Henry.

Mable is our grey toy poodle we have had since she was a puppy.  She has some slipped discs in her back.  You have prayed for her in the past when Marilyn asked for prayer for her when she was not doing well.  Now she is doing fine.  She can not jump onto or off of the furniture or use the stairs, but otherwise is normal.

We rescued Henry from a breeder 2 1/2 years ago.  He lived in a cage a lot of the time.  The breeder told me that all he wanted to do was be on her lap, and she did not have time for that.  Well, Henry, is very happy here.  Henry and I visit the elderly at a nursing home, monthly.  The elderly love him.  He is perfect for them.  He is only 6 pounds.

Over several months I have been pondering a problem out there in the world of the elderly.  Many elderly own a pet and then they have to go live in a nursing home, or perhaps they die.  Then the care of their pet, falls on their adult children. Many times these adult children do not want the pet.  Sometimes, these adult children lie to their remaining parent and tell them the pet died, and they actually give it to the humane society.

Well, we went and adopted a poodle from our local humane society.  Murphy is a miniature poodle (like Pierre).  He had a rough time.  His elderly owner went to a nursing home.  The woman's adult daughter did not want to keep Murphy, so she took him to the shelter, who transferred him to our local humane society.  Murphy began straining to urinate there.  The veterinarian determined be had bladder stones and needed surgery to remove them.  He was so confused.  He is 12 years old.

Our humane society has a program called fostering-to-adopt, for animals that have special needs.  Since he was recovering from surgery (we got him 3 days post-operation) and he needed medicine daily.  We brought him back for the vet to take the staples out. We cared or fostered him  until his lab report came back on his bladder stones.  We now know what kind of dog food Murphy needs to eat the rest of his life to prevent bladder stones from forming again.

All three poodles got along from the start.  Murphy truly prefers people to dogs, but that is because he was an only dog of one elderly woman.  Henry has figured out that Murphy allows cuddling.  Murphy loves to sleep on your lap.  When I read in the recliner, Henry and Murphy are both with me.  We take turns letting one on my lap and one next to me in the recliner.  We switch the next time I sit to read.  It is a good thing Mabel does not prefer lap sitting.

If you are looking for a pet and maybe you do not want a puppy or a kitten, the humane society is a good place to look.  Older pets are overlooked all the time.  I had never thought of them until several months ago.  We are so glad he will be in our loving home the rest of his days.