Happy Patches...finally

Patches found a rat hole, or perhaps a crab hole, and was happier than I have seen him in a year. He pranced about and chased and ran for the longest time.

We got Patches a little over two years ago. He had been mistreated by his first owner, and tossed out amid the two hurricanes that came here three years back. A neighbor was able to grab him and bring him in during the second hurricane, and most unfortunately lost her home during that one. Thankfully, she and her husband (and Patches) were not injured.

Anyway, she loved Patch so very much, but without a home, and living with relatives that did not want him about, they put his photo on free-cycle. Since he looked so much like our last pup, Jake, who died of cancer a few years prior to that, We just had to give him a home.

Just as he began to relax and no longer flinch when a hand came near him, nor fear going out alone (My husband dubbed him "Happy Patches") he went out in our fenced in yard to play. We heard a loud yelp and ran out to find him very shaken. His tail appeared to have been stung by a bee or something, and as it did not get better we took him to emergency the next morning. They poo pooed it and said nothing much was wrong "just a hot spot".

Anyway, he stopped walking with me, and started being quite morose. I went from doctor to doctor to find what might be wrong, and finally one (a year into this) agreed to xray him. Well, come to find out his tail has been broken in such a way as to be quite painful. We now have him on natural pain medication and some pharmaceuticals. He seems to be feeling a bit better.

On top of that, we have adopted a cat...a very nice cat, indeed, but he has still felt a bit displaced. So, since the cat wakes me up at 5:00 each morning, I take Patches for a nice drive and we go for a walk almost every day now. It makes him feel special, it isn't so hot, and it is always a treat to watch the sun come up. But, he has been still so ...withdrawn and low.

But today he found this hole and you would have thought he had just won the lottery. It was really good to see. We are still trying to find out what can be done about his tail, so if anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear about it.