Special needs dog respite care - trade or co-op?

[annamcorbett]

We have a 60 pound paraplegic doberman and are looking to trade services or to form / join a co-op of other special needs dogs for boarding or respite care.

We recently moved to the Richmond VA area and have been unable to find a pet sitter or facility in the state willing or capable to board Maxie because of her size and extra special needs and her need for 24 hour on-site available supervision. She has a cart for outside, but requires bladder expression every several hours during the day. Kenneling overnight without supervision also doesn't work so well, since if she defecates, she can't get away from it (leading to yet another bladder infection). This means we can't go anywhere for longer than 4-6 hours without her.

We hope there may be other special need "parents" who are like-wise committed to their dogs, and have the skills and heart for extra special needs larger dogs like us, who might be willing to trade in-home boarding or respite care.

Please email me at annamcorbett@yahoo.com if you would be interested in trading care and/or forming a co-op of like-minded special needs "parents".

Thank you!
Anna Corbett

[Bobbie]

good idea, I hope you can find some exchange.

No help here on the other coast but here is what a friend did. She hired a vet tech to come over and take care of her dog, and spent a little time training her to care for her dog's needs, including expressing, it was good for the vet tech who got good experience caring for a disabled dog and good for my friend and her dog.

[Christine]

What a great idea if you could form a group to share the care . We have a resource here of pet sitters in different states who are familiar with special needs pet. Here is the link: http://handicappedpets.com/www/link-a-r ... tters.html

You might also post to several of the special needs yahoo groups for help in your locale. The vet tech idea is very good for both parties and the vet office might also share contact information with you of other special needs parents locally. At the very least, you could put up a flyer asking for participation.

[CarolC]

You can also videotape your dog's special care to give to the person you exchange with.

Are you familiar with the techniques for stimulating a dog to empty the bowel?

https://www.handicappedpets.com/mediawiki/?title=Bowel_management_in_incontinent_pets

[Toni]

GREAT idea...
I am in Minnesota and don't know people in VA, however will ask a friend of mine who was from VA.

Toni and ALL the Critters

[CarolC]

Hi Anna,

Mark has a link exchange for petsitters, and I assume they are willing to care for handicapped pets if they advertise there. (Not sure that means all handicapped dogs, I understand what you are saying about the level of care, been there, done that. Here is the link, and there is one in Midlothian VA which is not far from you. If you have already contacted them or they say they cannot help, it might be good to post back here.

http://handicappedpet.com/www/

Also, Mark approved the category in the Classifieds so it is here if you want to post the first message in it.

http://handicappedpet.net/class/index.php