BPSBR WOULD LIKE TO SEND A HEARTFELT THANK YOU TO KAREN TRANE. Karen has been kind enough to sponsor Leo, by reducing his adoption donation to $200. Pugs & Kisses from Leo to Karen for helping him find his forever home!
** update, Leo's seizures have stopped while taking a very affordable seizure medication!( His foster Mama can tell you all about it) We are so very pleased for this sweet, fuzzy boy.
Meet Leo. Leo was found wandering around Irondequoit all by himself. A good samaritan was kind enough to pick him up and contact Buffalo Pug and Small Breed Rescue to help. He awaited his five day mandated stray hold and like the plight of so many others, nobody was missing him. He arrived at his foster home on June 24th.
When I first laid eyes on Leo, I knew he had a very long road ahead. His skin issues were unlike anything I had seen before. He had an untreated ulceration to his right eye. He was very thin and unaltered. It was clear that he suffered long-term neglect.
After weeks of medicated baths and antibiotic ointment treatment for his ulcerated cornea, Leo was making progress. He was neutered and vaccinated on August 3rd. He has recovered well from the surgery. As anticipated, his bathroom manners have improved greatly.
As if Leo hadn't been through enough, he began to have seizures in the middle of the night. This was incredibly heart-wrenching to watch. I made an appointment with the doctor and had blood drawn. Everything came back NORMAL with the exception of an elevated white count. We started him on a broad spectrum antibiotic to see if that may have been the cause of the seizures. Unfortunately, he finished the antibiotic and had a seizure the very next day. At this point, we feel it is in his best interest to start him on an anti-seizure medication. While we wait for the medication to arrive in the mail, Leo wants to begin the search for his forever home.
While the bald areas on his back, tail, and rear legs have improved, hair growth has not occurred as I had expected it to. The doctor believes that he was exposed to mites or fleas - or even himself - something that chewed on him for a very long time. At this point we believe that it is scar tissue and it may or may not grow hair over a long period of time.
In knowing and caring for Leo, I believe he was confined to a crate and used as a stud for the first several years of his life. His rear legs are weak, although improving. He doesn't bark...ever. He might squeak once in a while and even if he does - it's barely audible.
Aside from all of the long-term neglect this poor boy has been exposed to, he is incredibly loving. He LOVES nothing more than to lay on your lap. He plays - he loves stuffed toys that he can shake. He LOVES to eat - so typical of a Pug. He shows excitement by dancing back and forth on his two front feet. He walks well on a leash. He is NOT fond of a crate due to his history, although he his more than happy to sleep quietly on a comfortable bed in the kitchen while his humans are away.
