An early Christmas gift for us as well

Yesterday we adopted a little 5-year old female Schnauzer named Madison from a local animal shelter.

They found her about three months ago on the streets, starving, flea-infested, with open wounds, and missing much of her hair. She had obviously been on the streets for some time, and it’s a complete mystery how she managed to survive. Madison is nearly blind.

We can offer her a quiet loving environment that is also non-threatening to her in the sense that we live in a one-story home with a completely fenced-in yard and no pool. We’ll also get her the best medical treatment possible, to see if anything can be done to improve her eyesight, or at least prevent further deterioration.

There’s a nearby veterinary specialty hospital that treats only those animals suffering from the most serious injuries and/or medical conditions. They’ve pulled off some miracles for us in the past, and they have eye specialists on staff. We’re hoping they can somehow pull off another one but, either way, we’ll be taking care of Madison from here on out.

My wife and I consider Madison to be our Christmas gift to each other.

Happy holidays, everyone!

Madison got the best gift of all. A terrific home.

Wow, tis the season!

That's a lovely gift to share with each other. You and your wife are a wonderful gift to give to Madison, too!

You got me all teary eyed, Jim.

MERRY CHRISTMAS Madison!!!!!

All they really need is someone to want them and give them a little attention. In exchange they give us so much.

Keep us posted on Madison!

Marc

Could not agree more. Heres to a long, healthy future together for all of you.

That's great news and wonderful to hear.. congrats!

Just a side note:
Dogs and cats don't really need eye sight. They have such keen sense of hearing and smell (O-Vision).
My bravest cat, Lucy, had to have her eyes removed (more face to rub) as a kitten-, I called her Franken-Kitty for a time.. she still sunned herself on the window sill, never missed a meal- jumped on (and off) the couch & bed w/ me at will, demanded fresh water from the bathtub faucet and never missed the litter box.

I lost her last year- 14 years old as far as we can reckon-- when I moved to my new home, she was the first out of four cats to venture from under the bed- Brave, fearless and demanding. She ran into a few walls in her day running w/ the others but didn't let that stop her. :>)
I honestly think she didn't know she was blind- or maybe she never knew the other cats could see...
She caught a fly every summer- don't ask me how (hearing?)
I found her on the beach of Puerto Rico w/ a wicked double eye infection as a kitten, couldn't leave her...

I hope Madison teaches you as much as my Lucy taught me.

oh jim -- congrats on the new member of the family! i'm sure you'll be amazed at how quickly she adapts to her new surroundings -- especially since she knows she is secure with you and your wife.

we have a disc (frisbee) dog that required chiropractic treatments and accu-puncture for a fall she had a couple of years ago. i think you are in the dfw area -- if so, pm if you want/need any info of that sort. our oldest girl goes in for a neck adjustment once a month and the disc girl now goes as needed. had no idea that there were even vets that did that 'sort of thing' --- but i'm now a full believer! it does make a world of difference when you have access to good and affordable health care -- for dogs and humans alike.

i'm excited for you three and hope to get updates on madison and her ability to fully entrench herself into your lives!

terri

Thank you to all who responded for your kind, encouraging, and informative comments.

I just wanted to give a brief update. Madison has proven herself to be a little sweetie pie. We’ve had her for over two weeks now, and she seems to be adapting very well. She’s pretty much mastered the layout of the house, and almost never runs into things anymore. She seems to think that I’m just OK, but she’s taken a special liking to my wife. Her wagging tail in the presence of my wife tells us so.

We took Madison to see the veterinary eye specialist yesterday. As often happens with these kinds of things, there were no definitive answers on the first visit…they want to run more tests.

But, unofficially, the Doctor gave us a bit of advice: Don’t get your hopes up. He warned us that Madison’s condition is likely inoperable and, therefore, incurable. If so, she may be completely blind within a year or so.

However it turns out, we’ve signed on for the long term. As I mentioned in my earlier post, we’ll be taking care of Madison from here on out. We couldn't be happier with the new addition to our family.

Thanks again, everyone.