I'm staying with the rescue furever!

BURLINGTON, ON

UPDATE - JAN 16, 2024

Bob is living life as luxuriously as he can. He loves my new heated blanket. He also loves walking on this cold weather. Apparently the smells are stronger - and that’s what he walks for, gathering the neighbourhood news. He had a couple nightmares on Saturday night that upset his belly. He woke me up and I gently rubbed it until the big growls quieted. It didn’t affect his eating on Sunday.

UPDATE -- DEC 09, 2023

Hello from Bob! This handsome guy wants to say Merry Christmas to everyone! He just got his Christmas groom with his new Christmas collar and can’t wait for Santa to come and fill his very own stocking.  Bob is a snuggle monster bed hog. He will accept any challenge to make every situation a snuggle opportunity. If he thinks you are heading to sit on the couch/bed he races to beat you to your spot so you have to sit entangled with him half on your lap. Standing? No problem - he will wrap around your legs. Sitting on the floor? Perfect - he’s a lapdog. Tying your shoes? He’s got this! Wrap around your leg between your body and legs through your arms. He’s an equal opportunity snuggler though and gifts his snuggles to the whole family. He has 4 dog beds but those aren’t for poodles apparently. They’re only good for piling his toys.

Bob LOVES squeaky stuffed toys and squeak balls. He never grabs a toy alone. He will get off the couch and do a happy half turn/chase his tail bounce and look at you wagging his tail. This means you need to get up and start squeaking and tossing his toys so he can take them ALL and pile them on his bed to lay on and chew on them to see if HE can get them to squeak. While he does try to “skin” the stuffies - he’s very gentle on toys and has only ever destroyed one. Bob’s rule is that no one should ever go to the bathroom alone - him included.

 Even though he has a big backyard it’s uncivilized to go to the bathroom in it or even to go out there by himself. He gets 3 walks a day so he can do his business while we’re there with him. Bob returns the favour by making sure no one is ever in the bathroom alone. (Closing doors was a stupid human rule anyway)

Bob is obsessed (in a healthy way) with laundry. He loves to dive his head in a basket of clean laundry and snuffle around. He doesn’t take it - he just wants to smell it and rub his nose all over it. Even if it’s just been folded or if trying to be folded - he will help “If I rub my nose on it like this and it falls on the floor - that’s helping right?”

To avoid large meals and upsetting his digestion Bob gets Prescription Diet Gastrointestinal Biome - 1 cup, 4 times a day (with 1/3 a can at dinner time) It’s easy for his tummy to become very distended with stress and he’s at high risk for bloating. Sadly his heart was also damaged by this condition so he wouldn’t survivor the anesthesia to save him if he does - prevention is our only option. For his tummy and his heart Bob takes 3 types of pills 4 times a day in yummy meatballs of his canned food to try to keep him healthy and with us for as long as possible.

We love this guy SO MUCH and focus on making every single day we get with him filled with love, joy and his favourite things. ❤

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Finally free from 10+ years as a doodle breeder at a puppy mill,  Bob was scheduled to be neutered and have a dental cleaning when a pre-anesthetic EKG saved his life.

An EKG measures the electrical activity of your heart, or the impulses that cause your heart to beat, contract, and push blood out to your body. Without this EKG, we would never have known that Bob suffers from a heart arrhythmia. Surgery was cancelled and SPIN immediately approved further diagnostics to try and get to the bottom of Bob’s heart problems.

Chest x-rays and an abdominal ultrasound revealed another BIG problem. Not only did Bob have a heart arrhythmia - Bob’s stomach was the size of his abdomen (full of gas) making him at an extremely high risk for gastric torsion, otherwise known as Bloat. It was apparent Bob had been suffering from this condition long term as his stomach was now like a balloon that had been blown up too many times - it couldn’t get back to normal size and digest food effectively. Bob was put on medication to help food move through his GI tract and a special veterinary diet exclusively -- which meant, no more treats for Bob.

A Cardiologist appointment was booked - could Bob’s heart survive anesthesia? The cardiologist performed an Echocardiogram on Bob. An echocardiogram looks at the structure of your heart. The good news was that by improving Bob’s GI tract, his arrhythmia was improved. The bad news? SPIN’s help came too late and the damage to his heart was extensive.

Bob has been given 6-12 month before the cardiologist expects him to go into heart failure. He would not survive anesthesia so a neuter and a dental won’t happen. Bob’s GI issues need to closely monitored and his stress levels kept to a minimum, as he wouldn’t survive a surgery, even a surgery to save his life.

For now, Bob is doing well on his GI meds, veterinary diet and 2 medications for his heart. He can’t have any treats, BUT but he has discovered a love of car rides, balls and anything that squeaks. We love you Bob!