how yoda came to live with us.

yoda was surrendered to the SPCA where i work by her owners. they had been evicted and could not take her, or her mother, with them. yoda is 13 and her mom, Princess, is 14. they had been outside dogs their whole lives so it was highly likely that they were not house trained, unsocial, and therefore plain unadoptable.

from the moment i saw yoda i loved her. her name was "fifi" and she would hide under the Kuranda beds at the shelter out of stress. she would wiggle out when i came to her kennel for a treat, then retreat back under. i would climb in with her and hug her while i fed her treats, visiting her as much as i could throughout the day because i know the kennel can be awful for a dog. i could see it was affecting her negatively.

then yoda fell ill. she has mucus coming from her nose, a cough, and she wasn't eating. she was put in ISO while the equivalent of kennel cough ravaged her. the vet techs at work stated, even in her medical records, that she was depressed, ill, and euthanasia was likely.

thankfully a volunteer at the shelter who runs Rescue Ridge decided that just because she was old didn't mean she had to die. i wholeheartedly concurred. it takes 5 signatures to put a dog to sleep at our shelter. there were 5 on her sheet. the volunteer simply asked to take the dog to see a vet at Red Bank Vet Hospital and get a second opinion. thank god - that second opinion saved her life.

yoda had pneumonia. she was put in critical care in an oxygen tent for two days. the morning after being admitted she started eating again.

fast forward to three weeks later; today. we are still on meds as her pneumonia slowly heals. we are slated for four more weeks of antibiotics, but she is slowly coming around. she gets spunkier every day. we are fostering her until her medical stuff is cleared, then we adopt.

the little old dog who "wasn't attached to humans" follows me around everywhere. she loves ear scratches, jerky treats, and going for walks. she never wants to be alone. it is as if she has been here for 10 years. realistically i know i won't have her that long, so the psychic feeling of already having had her here is satiating enough.

she doesn't have many teeth, has some hip problems, and is mostly deaf, but we love her.