# I'am a noob, with a question(I want this rescue dog...but....)



## lunasea (Jun 25, 2011)

First off, I apologize if a similar scenario has been posted before..I tried searching but nothing came up.
Okay, long story short: I want to adopt this dog, but it seems his foster parent is really reluctant about it, or is willing to change his mind if we pay a lot of money for him( which includes his medical bills which he is saying would be around $20,000) and there is no guarantee the surgery he requires will work.

Now for the long story to make sense of the short story:
My family and I wanted to get a dog since I will be moving soon with my cat, but want my father to have an animal companion (he has dementia and we noticed that even though he can be alil standoffish with people, he does great with animals and still want him to have a sense of responsibility. I believe in animal therapy♥). So I was looking around petfinder for this mini chiweenie I saw in the newspaper when I stumbled across this other dog (husky/shiba inu mix), and immediately I was really smitten with him_saved from being euthanized, great and friendly with other ppl and dogs_. They indidcated on his pet finder listing that he did have Hip Dysplasia, but they were going to cover the entire cost and the outlook for recovery was very positive. So when I spoke with his foster parent on the phone, they told me the dog was currently on medication for the surgery, but their were some other costs involved. I had a hard time understanding him on the phone, but when we met today he went more into detail. 

So the foster father tells me that the dog didn't qualify for the program they were pushing for at some big vet hospital they were trying to get him into that would only charge $3,800 for the total hip replacement surgery since his conditions went away after he started taking medicine, so they didn't use the money they were saving up for the dog_so where did the money go?!_
However.....they feel he will qualify later on, and he believes along with the other original vet that diagnosed him that the situation will get worse. But now it seems they will not pay for the Hip Dysplasia surgery(and wants us to do it), and the foster father said that the vet that originally diagnosed him with the disease believes even if the dog undergoes surgery he doesn't have a high percentage of getting better, his replacements can get infected, and he may have to be put down...

My confusion in this whole thing is that my mother and I got the feeling that he doesn't want us to have the dog, or maybe wants to get money from us(the vets he listed on the paper are vets he knows personally so she feels that this extra cost will go to them).I mean,whenever we showed interest, or we would go "yeah we want him" the price for this dog would go up even more in terms of his healthcare, and then the no success for his surgery also came up and it would turn into a doom and gloom situation. Then it seems what the foster parent was telling us, was different from the big vet hospital verdict about the dog and his condition.

They diagnosed him with bilateral hip osteoarthritis secondary to hip dysplasia sub clinical on medical management. It also states that after discussion on whether the dog should have surgery or not, it was the foster parent who opted to keep the dog on medicine pain killers due to the sub clinical presentation given to him by the vet. The foster parent and the vet noted that the medicine they started giving the dog was the best option to help him with his pain and was working quite well. It also states for whoever wants to adopt this dog that at this point, they want to control the pain and not have it progress to secondary osteoarthritis by means of supplements, weight control, physical therapy, and low activity exercise. I also read up on this site to read more about the condition.


The foster father let us meet the two other dogs he had, and was more than happy for us to take them, but they just weren't the ones we were looking for. I know first impressions aren't everything, but the dogs were oblivious to us until they we were about to leave, okay correction..only one dog payed attention to us before he left, and the foster parent allowed me to walk them alil bit. Only one was responsive to me, the other didn't care I was even there. But the first dog acknowledged everyone in our family, and even though he wasn't underfoot, he would come back to us while he was walking around to let us know "hey just checkin in..okay play time,bbl!". And most of all? He really seemed to like my dad and vice versa. My father even said "hey lets get him" when my mother asked if he wanted him but didn't respond about the other two dogs _and ... the other two dogs flat out ignored my father...anyways_

Did anyone else ever experience anything like this when adopting a dog? 
This was my first time, but yeah..this was really an interesting but somewhat depressing experience for us =/. I fear in the long run its best to leave this dog alone, but in my heart I'm worried no one else would adopt him...and I would really love to give him a home with our family(if he gets along with my cat ofcourse..we yet to see how he does with cats...but the foster parent said he would test him out to see and even though showed alil resistance, was willing to bring the dog over to our house to see how he reacts with a cat on the loose). I just find it odd that the foster parents is making it like we have to pay $20,000 for the dog through him. I mean he didn't say that directly, but if one keeps mentioning costs...wouldn't you think that too?

any advice would be helpful at this point..


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## Pawzk9 (Jan 3, 2011)

wow. Lots of red flags there. (The first being I've never heard of hip replacement for a dog costing $20,000). I can tell you that if you have the surgery done, you are looking at a long period of really heavily supervised recovery, where he can only go out on leash and will need to be crated to keep him from damaging the repair. During that time, being a companion for your dad is not going to be an option. It really sounds to me like this story is bogus, and these people are trying to scam you for lots of cash. If you are absolutely set on proceeding, I would ask for the name of the consulting vet, and permission to speak to him/her, so you know exactly what you are looking at as far as cost and likelihood of recovery. But there are many dogs out there who need a good home, and would make a good companion for your dad, without needing an expensive procedure with a recovery which would take months.


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## pomergranate (Jun 20, 2011)

go to local spca or animal shelter....ginnick free dog on spot only thing you have to pay for is most often thier spay/neuter and shots. usually 100-200 bucks total. and you get a refund of spay/neuter price if you get it donw within like a month of recieving the dog


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## lunasea (Jun 25, 2011)

Thanks pawzk9 & Pomergranate! Glad to hear you think this sounds fishy too...
well the foster parent said that all costs included (surgery for both hips, and recovery fee was around $20,000 in total)
They did say if we went along with all of this, the dog would be staying somewhere else for the recovery so we wouldn't be taking care of him for 3 months.
I just find it sad that a rescue group would do all of this.. I do want to contact the other Vet that diagnosed the dog with secondary hip dysplasia to see what they think, but your right..I guess we have to find another dog somewhere else..._I just hope the one we saw today can find a good home...when I heard him crying as they bought him back to the kennel...I felt so sad.._


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## pomergranate (Jun 20, 2011)

when we were looking for a dog before we got pomergranate we tried to get 2 yorkies from a guy on craigslist. well needless to say i was at wells fargo doing the money transfer when my boyfriend decided to look up the pet currier the guy was using....didnt exsist. i sent the guy another email saying how hurt i was that he could convince me there was hope i would have these dogs and that i was upset and asked how he could live with himself scamming. never got a reply but i know i hit home with whoever it was cuz the ad was gone when i went to flag it as spam. theres lots of amazing dogs at the animal shelter we tried to get one before pom too but it just ended up not working out becuase of a horrible land lord. good luck finding your dad a companion, my grandma has a chuwinni companion also and she loves him to peices even though he has alot of health problems it helps her with her mental issues (bipolar manic depressive)


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## Pawzk9 (Jan 3, 2011)

lunasea said:


> Thanks pawzk9 & Pomergranate! Glad to hear you think this sounds fishy too...
> well the foster parent said that all costs included (surgery for both hips, and recovery fee was around $20,000 in total)
> They did say if we went along with all of this, the dog would be staying somewhere else for the recovery so we wouldn't be taking care of him for 3 months.
> I just find it sad that a rescue group would do all of this.. I do want to contact the other Vet that diagnosed the dog with secondary hip dysplasia to see what they think, but your right..I guess we have to find another dog somewhere else..._I just hope the one we saw today can find a good home...when I heard him crying as they bought him back to the kennel...I felt so sad.._


I hope he finds a good home too. The thing is, in legitimate rescue organizations, foster homes are volunteers, and so the only expense of recovery would be someone's investment of time. This whole thing smells like a three-day old market fish.


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