Tillman is home and his name is Angel

[LisainCAN]

Awww...Karen....this just hurts so much. We are all pulling for him, praying for him and it is just such a mystery. If he was with anyone else, he wouldn't have had the love he's known these last months. Your dedication and perserverance is beyond anything I have ever seen or heard of and he is repaying you the only way he can. Why can't we figure this out!!!!!

I could not have said it better. I have recently taking in a small Great Pyrenees who was chained for seven-years of her life, on A CHOKE chain, to a commercial garage. It is you and Tillman who inspired me to take in this poor deaf, senior dog so that she can know love and kindness and freedom for the rest of her days.

[Diana R.]

Karen:

Have you considered having the vet put in a gastric feeding tube. I have only had this done with my cats. My cat Charlie had stomatitis and squamous cell carcinoma in his mouth and I would have lost him the first go around if I had not had them put in a feeding tube. Diana

[GabrielDeafBlindPupFamily]

No, extreme measures are out of the question, and he is, well, not psychotic, but extremely emotionally fragile. Doesn't take much to send him screaming. Like trying to get him into a BR to let a canine aggressive dog out. Or really anything that doesn't involve being close to me and laying still. He screams. Maybe terror? I don't know. He's not talking. Sure wish he would.

Financially, it's out of the question as well. Doc said when he got here in April that a testicle was firmly embeddedin his abdomen and a neuter would involve major surgery. Being 14, he probably wouldn't survive that invasion. It was also a nice cozy warm place for cancer to flourish. We both shook our heads and said, nah, let's let him have what he has and enjoy life. Financially, well... not gonna happen. And every one else is s/n so he's no threat to anyone. My 25 # miniature AE knocks him off his feet just racing by him.

Lisa, It's Tillman, St.Jude & AmbrrNanaDog that now has me sold on Seniors! The perfect dog! Just take a look at my floor with bits of house chewed all over it. The ancients don't do much beyond lay around and growl at the youngsters who have chewed the bits of house all over. I have to rake before i vacuum. My brand new Eureka is dead. Had to p/u a hoover..

[critters]

Sigh. How sad!! That seems like something we should be able to fix so easily!! I guess you've tried cyprohep, I think it is, the appetite stimulant? You've certainly tried every food imaginable. And yes, I wouldn't worry about pancreatitis either.

[Christine]

Critters, I did not know the name, but knew there was an appetite stimulant out there. I was wondering the same thing. Karen, has Addison's disease come up at all?

[LisainCAN]

Lisa, It's Tillman, St.Jude & AmbrrNanaDog that now has me sold on Seniors! The perfect dog! Just take a look at my floor with bits of house chewed all over it. The ancients don't do much beyond lay around and growl at the youngsters who have chewed the bits of house all over. I have to rake before i vacuum. My brand new Eureka is dead. Had to p/u a hoover..

I decided that recently too! I only want to rescue or take in seniors at this point. In fact, for many reasons, we are rehoming our Doberman puppy through Doberman rescue. He really does not fit in well here with the three other seniors and he really picks on Georgia. Also, my normally animal-worshiping two-year-old does not like the dog and so after a painful period of consideration, we decided to try to find him a home more appropriate for his breed and energy-level. I don't often make mistakes when taking in a dog but I did with this guy. He was a rescue too so I felt pressured to take him even though I did not want a puppy. In any case, we have rehabbed him and he has grown into a beautiful boy in the time he has been with us.

He has also eaten everything under the sun! Want a tip? I use a shop vac! Way cheaper than the high-end vacuum and it sucks everything up. You can pick one up at Home Depot for $40-60.

Cleo sounds like Tillman. If she cannot be near me, she is upset. She is the dog-aggressive one so she has to go into the BR when I let the other ones out. God knows what she has been through but she will get all the love in the world for the rest of her days.

[critters]

Oh yeah, I meant to mention our Shop Vac too. I suggest a contractor model and the biggest hose.

[GabrielDeafBlindPupFamily]

I too am a shopvac fan, BUT and it is the biggest but of them all, bigger than mine own, it DOESN'T PICK UP DOG HAIR!

I have a small one for the porch, where I vac up bits of trees, critters (sorry critters) and the nasties Albin brings up and Allicks leaves up. But because the guy who built the house put in carpet grass, I have to take a real vacuum out there for the mountain of dog hair.

Gotta have that rolling brush for dog hair. I could knit a dog an hour in this house.

[GabrielDeafBlindPupFamily]

Well, he ate a couple tablespoons of the ceasar salad I didn't finish last night for breakfast this morning. SO tonight, I mixed tossed salad with kibble and A GENEROUS slop of ranch dressing. He ate about 3/4 cup. He's getting bony. Who would have thought that food abhorance would end a life? WHODATHUNK IT! This will be one I will carry for the rest of my life ,I can tell you. He is very active for all his disabilities, and sometimes dances backward as I march his dinner bowl into the bathroom. And then he sniffs, backs away and screams while I close the door to allow others to eat. And then I bring the bowl to me, and zippo, nada, nuthin.

Self-imposed starvation is what this will boil down to, and I will be your resident expert in it.

[GabrielDeafBlindPupFamily]

Getting meds down him is impossible. Doesn't happen. He will NOT take anything whether liquid, solid, hidden, mashed, squirted down the throat, nothing. He will, once a month or so, eat a teaspoon of canned dog food. So I KNOW he will eat if he chooses to, he chooses not to. I baked chicken yesterday and the gravey and bits of chicken mixed with some puppy chow, he ate a half cup. He will do anything once and then not again. My old standby, the pot pie, is hit or miss. I believe he is choosing not to eat, and with 4 others in the house, who will flat eat any old thing they get, cooking for him is not just time and money consuming it is wasteful. I cook for him twice a day every day, a special menu that I try and fail at. I will be cooking turkey day dinner on Friday (my best friend is leaving and her meds stopped working, stage IV, so I'm going to her house on turkey day to say goodbye) so all the pups will get a plate of Thanksgiving Dinner on Friday. If he eats turkey, dressing, veggies, sweet pots, mashed pots, that should hold him for a while. A couple of days anyway. And I anticipate a lot of leftovers for the pups, so here's hoping. Months and months ago, he ate sweet potatoes. But then he stopped.

[critters]

I wouldn't call it wasteful IF somebody else will eat the leftovers. Nothing goes to wate around here!

[GabrielDeafBlindPupFamily]

Well, RIGHT you ARE, critters. the others FIGHT over his turndowns, but Allicks gets them, 99% of the time. The bowl gets yanked up before there is a fight, and it goes to Allicks, who cannot co-exist with dogs. But grabbing it before the fight breaks out is the challenge, Tillman won't eat it, but he has 3 dogs panting at the dish and I keep them away with my leg for the ones who can't hear me and A NO for the ones who can. Allicks gets the treats because she is all by herself, unable to coexist with other canines. My only way I can treat her. And she LOVES it!

[GabrielDeafBlindPupFamily]

AngelTillman, FINALLY on video!

No plot line, lousy acting, the videographer was FIRED, but here himself is! TaaaDaaaa

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PYMP3InrH8

[Christine]

Karen,

His face is just adorable! He must be living on love, because he looks so healthy and happy. I am loving your videos - you are inspring me to learn this.

[puremutt]

you're dog is gorgeous! I was wondering if I was looking at the right video, the eyes are so shiny and he looks so healthy!
thanks for sharing , when you have more time, we want to see them all!